Relative Pronouns in Ukrainian

Overview

Relative pronouns connect a subordinate clause to a noun in the main clause, allowing you to create descriptive and defining relative clauses. At the CEFR B1 level, mastering the relative pronoun який/яка/яке (who/which/that) and its full declension is essential for constructing sophisticated sentences.

The key challenge of Ukrainian relative pronouns is that який must agree with its antecedent in gender and number while simultaneously taking the case required by its grammatical role in the relative clause. This dual agreement makes який one of the most complex pronouns to use correctly.

Ukrainian also has alternative relative pronouns: що (informal/colloquial equivalent of "that/which"), котрий (formal/literary equivalent of який), and specialized forms like чий (whose).

How It Works

Який: Full Declension

Case	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Plural
Nom	який	яка	яке	які
Gen	якого	якої	якого	яких
Dat	якому	якій	якому	яким
Acc	якого (an) / який (in)	яку	яке	яких (an) / які (in)
Inst	яким	якою	яким	якими
Loc	якому	якій	якому	яких

Agreement Rules

1. Gender/number matches the antecedent noun
2. Case is determined by the pronoun's role in the relative clause

Example analysis:

• "Жінка, яку я знаю" -- яку is feminine (agrees with жінка) and accusative (object of знаю)
• "Дім, у якому живу" -- якому is masculine (agrees with дім) and locative (after preposition у)

Examples in Context

Ukrainian	English	Note
Жінка, яку я знаю.	The woman (whom) I know.	Fem acc
Дім, у якому живу.	The house in which I live.	Masc loc
Люди, які прийшли.	The people who came.	Pl nom
Все, що мені потрібно.	Everything (that) I need.	Що for things
Книга, яку читаю.	The book I'm reading.	Fem acc
Друг, якому дзвоню.	The friend I'm calling.	Masc dat
Місто, яке відвідав.	The city I visited.	Neut acc
Людина, чия думка важлива.	A person whose opinion matters.	Чий (whose)
Дівчина, з якою працюю.	The girl I work with.	Fem inst
Причини, через які це сталося.	The reasons this happened.	Pl acc

Common Mistakes

Wrong case of який

• Wrong: Дім, у який живу. (accusative instead of locative)
• Right: Дім, у якому живу.
• Why: After у for location, locative is required.

Gender mismatch

• Wrong: Жінка, який прийшла.
• Right: Жінка, яка прийшла.
• Why: Який must be feminine to match жінка.

Using що where case marking is needed

• Wrong: Людина, з що працюю.
• Right: Людина, з якою працюю.
• Why: Що cannot combine with prepositions in relative clauses. Use який for oblique cases.

Usage Notes

In colloquial speech, що frequently replaces який in nominative and accusative relative clauses: "Людина, що прийшла" instead of "Людина, яка прийшла." This is widely accepted but considered less precise in formal writing.

Котрий is a literary/formal alternative to який with identical declension. It is common in academic and legal texts.

Practice Tips

1. Який declension drills: Practice combining який with nouns of different genders in all cases.

2. Sentence combination: Take two simple sentences and combine them using the appropriate form of який.

3. Case analysis: For each relative clause, explicitly identify the antecedent's gender and the pronoun's required case.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Complex Sentences -- relative clauses are a type of complex sentence