# Ukrainian: зовешся



## jarvisa

From Без Тебе by Ані Лорак:

Чи для іншої ти любов'ю зовешся

If you love ??? for another


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## Angelo di fuoco

I'm not Ukrainian, but iI think t should be "If your name is Love for another (girl)".


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## Natalisha

I understand it the same way as Angelo. "If another girl calls you Love/ are you named/called Love by another girl".


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## Natabka

I would translate it the same way, only it's not "if" but rather "or":

Or for another [girl] you are called love?

*зовешся *(2nd person sing., present) is derived from *зватися *("_llamarse_" in Spanish, "_to be called_") and it is a poetic variant of the verb conjugation, everyday word will be "звешся/називаєшся".


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## Natalisha

Dear Natabka, there is no problem when this phrase is used in the form of a question. But can you explain please whether "чи" means "if" in such a sentence: "I wonder if another girl calls you Love".


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## Aquatarkus

Natalisha said:


> Dear Natabka, there is no problem when this phrase is used in the form of a question. But can you explain please whether "чи" means "if" in such a sentence: "I wonder if another girl calls you Love".


I think "чи" rather means "whether" in this sentence: "I wonder whether another girl calls you Love"


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## Orlin

Aquatarkus said:


> I think "чи" rather means "whether" in this sentence: "I wonder whether another girl calls you Love"


 
По-моему всегда возможно поставить "if" вместо "whether" не изменяя значение, но не наоборот.


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## Natabka

Natalisha said:


> Dear Natabka, there is no problem when this phrase is used in the form of a question. But can you explain please whether "чи" means "if" in such a sentence: "I wonder if another girl calls you Love".



Yes, definitely. *Чи* can be translated as *if/whether/or*. It depends on the context and in the case of "Чи для іншої ти любов'ю зовешся" we are lacking context. Why have I opted for "or" then? Well, because if it is a separate question (without "I wonder if/Мені цікаво, чи..." but beginning with "Чи") then "чи" feels like "or" 
And just general grammatical remark: if we were to translated English questions Do..?/Does..?/Did..? into Ukrainian, we would say "Чи..?"


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## Natalisha

Natabka said:


> And just general grammatical remark: if we were to translated English questions Do..?/Does..?/Did..? into Ukrainian, we would say "Чи..?"


 
You mean "чи" corresponds to Russian "ли"? 
_"Чи (не) бажаеш...?" - "(Не) хотел бы ты...?"_ 
But is it impossible to say "Бажаеш порозмовляти?"


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## Natabka

Natalisha said:


> You mean "чи" corresponds to Russian "ли"?
> _"Чи (не) бажаєш...?" - "(Не) хотел бы ты...?"_
> But is it impossible to say "Бажаєш порозмовляти?"



Yes! I think, we have 100% correspondence here. But rendering general questions with "ли" in Russian would be a little bookish/formal, wouldn't it? The same with "чи" in Ukrainian, I guess. So, better to say "_(Не) хотел бы ты...?" (Rus) = "Ти б не хотів...?" (Ukr)_ or simply "Хочеш (порозмовляти)?"


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