# Ukrainian: відправлення vs. відправка



## mateo19

Good morning, Ukrainian speaking colleagues!

I was just at the bus station to see a friend of mine off.  When it was time for her bus to leave, the announcer used to word відправка to mean "departure".  I asked my friend, a Ukrainian, why the announcer didn't say відправлення (which was the word I learned for "departure").  She said that they don't use the word відправлення for buses (she is a native speaker from Закарпаття)...  I just looked in the dictionary and it says:

ВІДПРАВКА, -и, ж., розм. Те саме, що відправлення 1.

So, they are synonyms...  But is there some sort of small difference?  Do we say відправлення for trains and відправка for buses?  I also bought a train ticket this morning and it clearly says: відправлення.

I'm just curious.  Thank you in advance for your answers.


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## slavic_one

Hi!
Відправлення is actually _departing_. If it tells you the difference, it's same as in Slovak: odchádzanie (відправлення) and odjazd/odchod (відправка). It would be strange (in both languages) if the driver used the first form. Same goes for trains!
I just don't know how to explain it better, and can't think of any example where відправлення would sound good (especially where it can't be exchanged with відправка).


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## slavic_one

You can try to ask that in some other language, you'll probably get better answers, it's all the same (Croatian: odlaženje & odlazak; Czech: odcházení & odjezd/odchod...).


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## Orlin

slavic_one said:


> You can try to ask that in some other language, you'll probably get better answers, it's all the same (Croatian: odlaženje & odlazak; Czech: odcházení & odjezd/odchod...).


 
Međutim, nisam siguran da svi jezici imaju takvu diferencijaciju - npr. na bugarskom koristimo samo glagolsku imenicu заминаване (ili ponekad sinonime тръгване i отпътуване), gotovo sam siguran da nemamo ekvivalent hrvatskog odlazak, češkog odjezd/odchod, slovačkog odjazd/odchod itd.


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## iobyo

The difference between them, as I see it and slavic_one described with examples, is that _відправка_ is the noun ("a/the departure") while _відправлення_ is the verbal noun ("departing").


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## Awwal12

Yes (Rus. "отправка", "отправление"). And verbal nouns are usually more formal (at least in East Slavic languages).


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## ectuohy

Good question--I was puzzled by відправка too, also from a non-native-speaker standpoint...

After a bit of checking, it seems that there's no consistent rule [even accounting for the greater variation in Ukrainian compared to within other Slavic languages] of using відправлення with trains/planes and відправка with buses. "Відправлення автобусів" has 10x more Google hits, for example, and the Kyiv avtovokzal uses Відправлення/Прибуття, same as the train station and airport. 

If I had to guess, maybe there's a distinction between short-and long-distance buses? [like in non-American English, with "bus"=city bus, distinguished from "coach"=long-distance bus]


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## Awwal12

1. I doubt that there is a sufficient difference between the use of these words in Ukrainian and in Russian (вiдправленння vs вiдправка and отправление vs отправка). If there is, then native speakers will correct me.
2. I suppose that Ukrainians don't use "вiдправленння" about buses, trains etc. in colloquial speech because it sounds too formal (but still can use it in another meanings - maybe "поштове відправлення"?). At least I see the problem this way. Again, if I'm mistaken, I hope native speakers will correct me.


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## ectuohy

So if I understand correctly, the difference in both languages is one of formality? Does it sound stilted/overly formal to use вiдправлення/отправление in speaking, then? (There are parallels in English; at a bus terminal you're as likely to hear "The bus to X is now leaving from Gate 139" as the more formal "The bus is now departing"...


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## Awwal12

> So if I understand correctly, the difference in both languages is one of formality?


As long as these verbs refer to buses and other means of transport - yes, it is.  However, I can speak for sure only about Russian, - since I, of course, understand Ukrainian, but I don't speak it after all.


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## mateo19

Thanks for all the answers.  I asked another Ukrainian friend and she said that the biggest difference was the formality of it.  I had missed in the slovnyk.net definition "rozm" which is розмовна форма.  She pointed out another small difference too, that I didn't quite understand... she said that *відправка *had a narrower sense (maybe because it's more informal?) than*відправлення *and that the latter could be used for departures and the act of sending off... or something along those lines.

It's interesting, too, because we don't often have the occasion to use such a noun.  In normal speech we just say прибуває приміскьий поїзд or *відправлається *автобус...  I think only the announcer at the bus station would say such a thing: *відправка *o 06.50, for example.


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