Where does the pronoun go?

[bliskucha]

I'm not sure about something: usually, most of the time, I see the receiving pronoun precede the verb. Such as in 'Ya tebe kokayu' (I love you). I have seen, in some Ukrainian songs, the receving pronoun follow the verb, as in, 'Ya kokayu tebe.' Are they both grammatically correct? Is one in more common usage than the other? Does it vary in different sections of the country?
Thanks for any help anyone can give me on this.

Sonya

[Zbyszek]

Originally posted by bliskucha
I'm not sure about something: usually, most of the time, I see the receiving pronoun precede the verb. Such as in 'Ya tebe kokayu' (I love you). I have seen, in some Ukrainian songs, the receving pronoun follow the verb, as in, 'Ya kokayu tebe.' Are they both grammatically correct? Is one in more common usage than the other? Does it vary in different sections of the country?
Thanks for any help anyone can give me on this.

Sonya

Sonya, your question proves that Polish and Ukrainian are close languages. I am somewhat surprised that I love you is Ya tebe kokhayu and not Ya tebe lyublyu like in Russian. Are kokhaty and lyubyty synonyms? (In Polish, lubits means only to like and not necessarily to love).
In Polish, there is so subtle difference between (Ja) kocham[pron. kokham] cie and Ja ciebie kocham. Both terms are gramatically correct but the first one suits better when you are going to declare that you love your boyfriend. It suits better to whisper directly into your dear's ear...

[bliskucha]

Zbyszek, thanks for your reply. It was very interesting!

Sonya

[bliskucha]

Kathy, your post was very interesting. I knew something about word order and word placement in Ukrainian, but I'm teaching myself the language and do not have the benefit of a teacher or a Ukrainian friend to ask my questions--no one to give me a clear and definitive answer. But you helped a lot Kathy, as you usually do! Having studied Spanish in school where word order is similar to English, subject-verb-object seems so intuitive. Word order not mattering because other dynamics are involved, is a truly fascinating concept--and one my language books, unfortunately, did not really touch upon to any degree--I wish they had!

Thanks again
Sonya

[Edited by bliskucha on 10th May 2003 at 18:36]

[BigJoe]

Zbyszek is right, it's true this is not strong defined how to build your sentence but it's a metter of style. Sometimes it sounds horrible. As you feel the language as eloquent you are.

[Edited by BigJoe on 7th June 2003 at 00:18]

[Zbyszek]

Originally posted by BigJoe
Zbyszek is right, it's true this is not strong defined how to build your sentence but it's a metter of style. Sometimes it sounds horrible. As you feel the language as eloquent you are.

[Edited by BigJoe on 7th June 2003 at 00:18]

Hi BigJoe, maybe you could give an answer to my question about the difference between kokhaty and lyubity in Ukrainian. As to the sequence of words, I love being in a Warsaw theatre from time to time. It is incredible what a good actor can do with his mother tongue. There is a joke here that for a good actor it is enough to say: "Sir, your dinner is on the table" to shake the audience to the bone.
Then, you feel unhappy that you have a wooden tongue and delighted that the God gave you ears to listen.
Greetings Katya, as to the original question of Bliskucha, maybe you remember a song that was sung by Bobby Vinton "Moya droga ya cie kokham" (I love you my dear). He is of Polish descent and of course these five words are more than enough to recognize that he is a Polish American. Nevertheless, this expression sounded as lovely in his mouth. Could you express it in Ukrainian changing it to a female version? Blikucha would be glad I think.

[Freedom1]

I thought koxaty meant " to hug " not "to love".

As Baba would say, " Nu koxay!", "give me a hug!".

Frickin' immigrants taught me bad Ukrainian!?!?