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:
| нариодти | 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.