Ukrainian Verb Conjugation Guide: бути, мати, робити

You can know the Ukrainian words for home, time, and coffee and still stall on the verb. I am at home, I have time, and I am making coffee are beginner sentences, but Ukrainian verb conjugation does not build them the way English does. The present ending names the person. The past ending names the gender, not the person. And “to do” splits into an ongoing verb and a finished one.

Quick answer: Бути means “to be”, мати means “to have”, and робити means “to do” or “to make”. Бути is irregular. In the present it is є for every person, and everyday sentences usually leave it out: Я вдома (I am at home). Мати follows the regular -ати pattern, like читати: маю, маєш, має, past мав, one-word future матиму. Робити is regular and imperfective. When the action is finished, switch to its perfective partner зробити, which has no true present. Present, past, and a short future are below, including how Ukrainian forms the future for these three verbs.

Бути and мати are the first two verbs on our Ukrainian list, and робити is the everyday verb for doing and making. In VerbPal we treat that trio as something you produce, not something you recognise on a chart. Я вдома (I am at home), маю час (I have time), and роблю каву (I am making coffee) should come out while you are still thinking about the coffee.

What an English speaker relearns about Ukrainian verb conjugation

Ukrainian verbs agree with a subject. The six slots on every table are я (I), ти (you, informal singular), він/вона/воно (he/she/it), ми (we), ви (you, formal or plural), and вони (they). One “they” covers every group. There is no second plural pronoun hiding a gender split.

In the present of мати and робити, the ending already names the person, so you can drop я, ти, or ми. Бути is the exception: you usually drop є, and you keep the pronoun.

Маю час. (I have time.) 🔊

Роблю каву. (I am making coffee.) 🔊

In the past, keep the pronoun. Був can be я, ти, or він. The ending will not tell the listener which.

English “you” covers more than one Ukrainian choice.

• Informal singular ти takes the second-person singular ending: Ти маєш час? (Do you have time?)
• Ви takes the second-person plural ending for a group and for one person you are being polite with: Ви маєте час? (Do you have time? — plural, or formal singular.) In writing, polite singular Ви is often capitalised. The verb does not change.

The present covers both English “I make” and “I am making”. Ukrainian has no separate continuous tense.

If you already speak Russian, the past gender pattern will feel familiar, and so will leaving out the present of “to be”: Я вдома works the way Russian Я дома does. The Ukrainian form to add is the one-word imperfective future, which Russian lacks: робитиму (I will be doing) beside буду робити, and матиму beside буду мати. Буду робити is the shape you may reach for first.

Three present shapes are worth knowing before you open a longer list. Бути is irregular. Мати follows the regular -ати pattern, and робити belongs to a different regular class. Говорити (to speak, to say) is the same class as робити. Its я and вони forms are говорю and говорять, without the л of роблю and роблять: говорю, говориш, говорить, говоримо, говорите, говорять (I speak, you speak, he/she/it speaks, we speak, you speak, they speak). Читати (to read) is the regular -ати pattern мати follows: читаю, читаєш, читає, читаємо, читаєте, читають (I read, you read, he/she/it reads, we read, you read, they read).

Pro Tip: For one day, drop я and ти on present-tense мати and робити only. If the listener can still tell who you mean, the ending is doing its job. Put the pronoun back as soon as you step into the past.

Present tense of бути, мати, and робити

Learn these three present paradigms until you can say them in order. Бути and мати are on our бути and мати pages, and робити is on the робити page. In VerbPal, the present drill asks you to type the form, which is a different skill from nodding at a table.

Бути: є for every person

The infinitive бути does not look like its present. Every person is є. Nothing else in this guide is a shortcut to that fact, and everyday speech often skips the word anyway.

Identity and location usually drop є. For identity, the noun or adjective stays in the nominative.

• Я вдома. [Ya vdoma] (I am at home.) 🔊
• Він студент. (He is a student.)
• Вона студентка. (She is a student.)
• Я готовий. (I am ready. — male speaker.)
• Я готова. (I am ready. — female speaker.)
• Ми вдома. (We are at home.)

Use є when you mean “there is” or “there are”.

Тут є кава. [Tut ye kava] (There is coffee here.) 🔊

Є does not change for gender. The word you are describing often does, which is why готовий and готова split above.

Мати: маю, маєш, має

Мати follows the regular -ати pattern, like читати. The endings are -ю, -єш, -є, -ємо, -єте, -ють: маю, маєш, має beside читаю, читаєш, читає. Past мав and the one-word future матиму follow читав and читатиму.

• Я маю час. [Ya mayu chas] (I have time.) 🔊
• Ти маєш час? (Do you have time?)
• Вона має час. (She has time.)
• Ми маємо час. (We have time.)
• Ви маєте план? (Do you have a plan?)
• Вони мають час. (They have time.)

Має does not change for він, вона, or воно. Gender shows up in the past.

Робити: роблю, робиш, робить

Робити is the regular pattern to copy for this class. The endings are -ю, -иш, -ить, -имо, -ите, -ять. Л is written in the я and вони forms: роблю and роблять.

• Я роблю каву. [Ya roblyu kavu] (I am making coffee.) 🔊
• Що ти робиш? (What are you doing?)
• Вона робить каву. (She is making coffee.)
• Ми робимо каву. (We are making coffee.)
• Що ви робите? (What are you doing? — formal or plural.)
• Вони роблять каву. (They are making coffee.)
• Щодня я роблю каву. (I make coffee every day.)

Він, вона, and воно share робить, just as they share є and має. The gender split waits for the past.

Pro Tip: Say the three present chains out loud as single breaths: є for all six persons — then маю, маєш, має, маємо, маєте, мають — then роблю, робиш, робить, робимо, робите, роблять.

Past tense: the ending carries gender, not person

English “was” and “had” hide the speaker. Ukrainian past forms hide the person and show the gender instead. Our conjugation pages list the masculine singular for я, ти, and він, and one plural for ми, ви, and вони. A female speaker uses a different singular ending. Воно uses a third. The plural does not split.

Masculine singular and the plural, as listed on the conjugation pages

• Вчора я був удома. [Vchora ya buv udoma] (Yesterday I was at home. — male speaker.) 🔊
• Я мав час. (I had time. — male speaker.)
• Він був удома. (He was at home.)
• Ми були вдома. (We were at home.)
• Ви були вдома? (Were you at home?)
• Вони були вдома. (They were at home.)
• Я робив каву. (I was making coffee. — male speaker, process or habit.)

Я був, ти був, and він був are the same verb form. The pronoun is the only person marker. Spaced repetition is what keeps the gender ending from slipping. Our drills use the SM-2 algorithm to bring був and була back before you forget them, and you have to produce the form, not pick it from a list.

Feminine singular and neuter singular

For бути, мати, and робити, the masculine singular ends in -в, the feminine singular in -ла, the neuter singular in -ло, and every plural in -ли. Other verbs keep feminine -ла as well. Йти has йшла, and нести has несла. What changes is the masculine: йшов beside йшла, and ніс beside несла.

• Бути: була (I, you, or she), було (it).

• Мати: мала (I, you, or she), мало (it).

• Робити: робила (I, you, or she), робило (it).

• Вчора я була вдома. [Vchora ya bula vdoma] (Yesterday I was at home. — female speaker.) 🔊

• Я мала час. (I had time. — female speaker.)

• Вона була вдома. (She was at home.)

• Сонце було високо. [Sontse bulo vysoko] (The sun was high.)

• Я робила каву. (I was making coffee. — female speaker.)

• Кошеня робило безлад. (The kitten was making a mess.)

Ми були, ви були, and вони були stay put for a group of women, a mixed group, or a group of men. Ukrainian does not give the plural past a second gender ending.

The conditional on the same pages is that past form plus a particle: би after a consonant, б after a vowel. The listed forms are був би (would be), були б (would be), мав би (would have), мали б (would have), робив би (would do), and робили б (would do). A woman says була б, мала б, and робила б. Neuter is було б, мало б, and робило б.

Ongoing past versus finished past

Робити in the past is the movie still running: a process, a habit, or an action with no claimed result. Зробити is the snapshot. Зробити is the perfective partner of робити. Its past is the робити past with з- on the front: зробив, зробила, зробило, зробили. Зробити does not have its own conjugation page.

• Я робив каву. (I was making coffee. — male speaker.)
• Я зробив каву. (I made the coffee. — male speaker, it got done.)
• Я робила каву. (I was making coffee. — female speaker.)
• Я зробила каву. (I made the coffee. — female speaker.)

Pro Tip: Label every past sentence “male”, “female”, or “plural” before you say it. The plural label is one form. Switch singular gender only after a week of clean reps, then check був / була, мав / мала, and робив / робила as pairs.

Future tense, briefly: буду, a one-word imperfective, or зробити

Ukrainian future is more than one machine. The three future patterns for бути, мати, and робити are below, and what you need from them is small. Бути has its own future. Мати and робити are imperfective, so each has a one-word future, and you can also say буду plus the infinitive. Зробити uses neither of those. It uses a single word that looks like a present tense and means the future.

Бути: буду, будеш, буде

This future does not change for gender.

• Завтра я буду в Києві. [Zavtra ya budu v Kyyevi] (Tomorrow I will be in Kyiv.) 🔊
• Ти будеш удома? (Will you be at home?)
• Вона буде вдома. (She will be at home.)
• Ми будемо в Києві. (We will be in Kyiv.)
• Ви будете вдома? (Will you be at home?)
• Вони будуть удома. (They will be at home.)

Мати and робити: the one-word future on the pages

Because мати and робити are imperfective, this future is the process, the habit, or the action with no claimed finish. It does not change for gender. A woman says я матиму час and я робитиму каву with the same words as a man.

You can also use the future of бути plus the infinitive. Я буду мати час. (I will have time.) Я буду робити каву. (I will be making coffee.) Same imperfective meaning, two shapes. The tables use the one-word form. Do not put -му on зробити.

• Я матиму час. (I will have time.)
• Завтра я робитиму каву. (Tomorrow I will be making coffee. — the process.)

Зробити: a future that looks like a present

Зробити has no true present. You use it when the action will be completed. Its one-word forms are the present endings of робити with з- on the front, and they mean the future: зроблю, зробиш, зробить, зробимо, зробите, зроблять.

• Я зроблю каву. [Ya zroblyu kavu] (I will make the coffee.) 🔊
• Ти зробиш це? (Will you do it?)
• Вона зробить каву. (She will make the coffee.)
• Ми зробимо це разом. (We will do it together.)
• Ви зробите це сьогодні? (Will you do it today?)
• Вони зроблять це завтра. (They will do it tomorrow.)

Зроблю does not change for gender. Gender returns when you step into the past: зробив for a man, зробила for a woman, зробило for neuter, зробили for every plural.

Pro Tip: Before a future sentence, choose the picture. Movie: робитиму or буду робити. Snapshot: зроблю. Then conjugate only the picture you chose.

Negation, commands, and a short production drill

The three tenses above are enough to start speaking. Two more patterns keep those sentences usable: не in front of the verb, and the short command forms.

Put не in front of the verb

Не sits immediately before the conjugated verb. Present бути is usually still absent, so location just takes не in front of the rest.

• Я не вдома. (I am not at home.)
• Я не маю часу. (I do not have time.)
• Я не роблю каву. (I am not making coffee.)

With не мати, the object goes into the genitive, so час becomes часу: Я не маю часу. With робити, and with most other transitive verbs, modern Ukrainian commonly keeps the accusative: Я не роблю каву. The genitive Я не роблю кави is possible, but it is not required. The affirmative stays Я маю час. (I have time.) and Я роблю каву. (I am making coffee.) The noun’s case is a different job from the verb ending. Verb conjugation and the case system keep those two skills apart.

Commands you will actually hear

The informal singular command is будь (be) for бути and роби (do) for робити. Polite or plural ви takes будьте (be) and робіть (do). Ми takes будьмо (let’s be) and робімо (let’s do). For a third person, робити uses нехай plus the present: нехай робить (let him/her/it do), нехай роблять (let them do). Бути uses нехай plus its future, because the present є is not the command: нехай буде (let him/her/it be), нехай будуть (let them be). Use будь when you are telling one person to be. Мати uses май, маймо, and майте (have). You will need будь and роби much sooner.

The perfective command is the same ending with з-: зроби to one person, зробіть to ви.

• Будь удома. (Be at home.)
• Будьте вдома. (Be at home. — formal or plural.)
• Роби це повільно. (Do it slowly. — the process, imperfective.)
• Зроби це. [Zroby tse] (Do it. — get it finished.) 🔊

Роби keeps the action open. Зроби asks for the result. Same movie-or-snapshot test, now as a command.

Twelve sentences to produce from memory

Cover the Ukrainian, say the sentence, then check. For мати and робити, the future line is the one-word form printed on the conjugation pages. Я буду мати час (I will have time) and Я буду робити каву (I will be making coffee) are the same imperfective meaning if that shape comes out first.

1. I am at home. — Я вдома.
2. She has time. — Вона має час.
3. What are you doing? — Що ти робиш?
4. Yesterday I was at home. (male) — Вчора я був удома.
5. Yesterday I was at home. (female) — Вчора я була вдома.
6. Tomorrow I will be in Kyiv. — Завтра я буду в Києві.
7. I will have time. — Я матиму час.
8. I am making coffee. — Я роблю каву.
9. I will be making coffee. (process) — Я робитиму каву.
10. I will make the coffee. (finished) — Я зроблю каву.
11. I made the coffee. (male) — Я зробив каву.
12. I made the coffee. (female) — Я зробила каву.

When a form feels shaky, open the page for that verb rather than guessing a neighbour: бути, мати, and робити. The Ukrainian verb guide is the wider map, and the Ukrainian conjugation tables list the rest. A wider starter list, with a different job, is the survival verb core.

Pro Tip: Run the twelve sentences once from English to Ukrainian and once from Ukrainian to English. The second direction catches the forms you only half-know.