Unit 14 - Self and others
14.2 - Reflexive and reciprocal
As can be seen from page 14.1, verbs which have the suffix -ся in Ukrainian can be expressed in various ways in English. Given below is an attempt to list the different ways in which -ся is used with verbs in Ukrainian, the shades of meaning it can convey, and how best to express these in English.
1. Actions done to oneself:
|
помити |
to wash (something or somebody) |
Де тут можна помити машину? |
Is there anywhere one can wash the car? |
|
помитися |
to wash (oneself) |
Помитися в лазні відтепер коштує 5 гривень. |
Washing (yourself) in a public bath now costs 5 hryvnias. |
2. Mutual or reciprocal actions:
|
зустріти |
to meet (someone), to encounter, to greet |
Ми зустріли мандрівників в Карпатах. |
We met some hikers in the Carpathians. |
|
зустрітися |
to meet, to meet up |
Президент і прем'єр зустрілися в Одесі. |
The president and prime minister met in Odesa. |
3. Actions performed (apparently) of one's own accord:
|
народити |
to give birth to, to bear |
«Народи мені, дівчино, сина ...» |
"Young woman, bear me a son ..." (from a 1970s poem by Oles Berdnyk) |
|
народитися |
to be born |
Вона народилася в Києві. |
She was born in Kyiv. |
4. To add shades of meaning to the basic verb, usually “to the full extent” or “widely”, with the prefixes на-, ви-, з-, за-, роз-:
|
їсти |
eat |
наїстися |
eat one's fill |
|
ходити |
walk (repeatedly) |
находитися |
walk a lot or to exhaustion |
|
спати |
sleep |
виспатися |
have a good sleep |
|
говорити |
speak |
виговоритися |
speak until there's no more to say |
|
горіти |
burn |
розгорітися |
burn (more) strongly |
|
кашляти |
cough |
закашлятися |
have a coughing fit |
5. In impersonal phrases, usually indicating additional subjective shades of meaning, for example feeling, pain, emotion:
| objective | subjective (expressing state of mind) |
| він не хоче ... he doesn't want to ... |
йому не хочеться ... he couldn't be bothered to ... |
| вона не спить she's not asleep |
їй не спиться she can't sleep |
6. A number of verbs denoting one’s state of mind (and its outward expression) have the ‑ся ending. In some of these, the addition of ‑ся changes the basic meaning. Some common examples are:
| дивуватися | wonder, be amazed |
| хвилюватися | worry, be anxious |
| обурюватися | be angry, annoyed |
| насолоджуватися | be pleased with, enjoy |
| захоплюватися | be very enthusiastic about |
| сердитися | be angry, irritated |
| лаятися | swear, quarrel, use bad language |
7. A number of verbs (also frequently denoting state of mind or emotions) exist only with the ‑ся ending in modern Ukrainian, for example:
| боятися | be afraid |
| намагатися | try |
| старатися | make an effort, try |
| прокинутися | wake up |
| сподіватися | expect, hope |
| надіятися | hope |
| сумніватися | doubt |
| сміятися | laugh |
| скаржитися | complain |
8. In Ukrainian the passive is frequently avoided by using verbs ending in ‑ся. For more about this see page 14.3.
N.B. For brevity, the particle -ся can be abbreviated to -сь, except before consonants which are phonetically similar, e.g. с, з, ц, ж, т, д, ч. This may also be done for stylistic reasons or in dialectal speech.
