# Ukrainian: 1st person plural verb conjugation



## Go-Moskva-go

Hi! 

I've been wondering a lot about the endings of the 1st person _plural_ present tense conjugation of
Ukrainian verbs. I've come across native speakers of Ukrainian using both the ending *-м* and *-мо*.
I initially thought that the ending *-м* is simply a more Russianized variant perhaps used mostly by people 
living in Russian-speaking regions of Ukraine. However, I've recently come across it in newspapers etc. and
even in the lyrics of the Ukrainian national anthem, where it reads as follows.



_Душу й тіло ми положи*м* за нашу свободу_
_І — покаже*м*, що ми, браття, козацького роду!_

So my question is, if it is in fact acceptable to use both endings in literary Ukrainian and whether
there are some rules regarding the choice of ending. Would it be acceptable to say e.g. _Нічого не може*м* зрозуміти._
instead of _Нічого не може*мо* зрозуміти. _?Дякую за всі вашi відповіді!


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## Selyd

Here you can see
_http://lcorp.ulif.org.ua/dictua/dictua.aspx
_Is in fact acceptable to use both endings in literary Ukrainian.
Але*
Нічого не можем зрозуміти гірше*, ніж *Нічого не можемо зрозуміти*.


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## Mona 999

Its difficult for me to judge from grammatical point of view, because I'm a native speaker, but I can state the following. Both variants are suitable and correct, but Нічого не може*м* зрозуміти. is more convenient in every day communication, while Нічого не може*мо* зрозуміти. is a more literary one. Будь ласка


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## swintok

Interesting.  I was also taught that both forms are correct, but that Нічого не може*мо* зрозуміти is the standard form and Нічого не може*м* зрозуміти is the more poetic/literary one.

Anecdotally, I would also say that I hear the Нічого не може*мо* зрозуміти form more frequently in Western Ukraine (and the traditional Ukrainian communities abroad) and the Нічого не може*м* зрозуміти form more frequently in Central and Eastern Ukraine.  Whether this is a dialectal difference, an influence of Russian, or simply and erroneous observation, I cannot say.


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## Mona 999

I guess that the main difference is in the stylistic usage of these two sentences. I would say that for me as a native speaker може*мо* sounds formal, and може*м* informal.


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## Robbyt

You should better use the ending *-мо*, which is always correct, regardless of whether it is formal or informal communication. The current official orthography in Ukraine doesn't mention the form with the *о* omitted at all (see p. 108 here: http://izbornyk.org.ua/pdf/pravopys2012.pdf). However, it should be noted that the orthography recognizes the existence of this kind of contracted form for the future tense (*покажемо*, and rarely *покажем *- see p. 113 above).

Nevertheless, the contracted ending without the *o* is indeed typical of the spoken language, and is widely used in literature too. Here is a website to help you with the conjugation of Ukrainian verbs.


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## jasio

Robbyt said:


> Nevertheless, the contracted ending without the *o* is indeed typical of the spoken language, and is widely used in literature too. Here is a website to help you with the conjugation of Ukrainian verbs.


Just for curiosity: is there a difference with this respect between Eastern, Central and Western Ukraine? My foreign ear would identify this contraction - perhaps incorrectly - as a Russian influence.


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## Ukrainito

As someone who learned to speak his first language—i.e. Ukrainian—while living temporarily at my grandparents’ in a village in the Dnepropetrovsk region of Ukraine, I can say than I and all those around me, as far as I remember, used the *–мо* ending. However, the *–м* ending sound just as natural and not in the least "foreign" to my ears. By the way, the official name of the variety of Ukrainian that happens to be my mother tongue is *степова говірка південно-східного діалекту української мови.*


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