Що сталося?

Привіт! Today you make one small time jump: from зараз to учора. You will learn how to say what happened, ask Що ти робив/робила?, and keep the past ending matched to the person or thing you are talking about.

You already know how present-tense verbs change for the person: я читаю, ти читаєш, він читає. Past tense is different. In the simple A1 pattern here, the past verb shows gender in the singular, not person.

The useful question is:

Що ти робив? - What were you doing? (to a male speaker)

Що ти робила? - What were you doing? (to a female speaker)

Діалоги

Past endings map

Понеділок на роботі

Олена: Що ти робив учора?
Тарас: Я читав книжку.
Тарас: А ти що робила?
Олена: Я готувала вечерю.
Олена: А що робив Іван?
Тарас: Він гуляв у парку.
Тарас: А Марія?
Олена: Вона працювала вдома.

Support after the Ukrainian lines:

The grammar work is small but important:

• Тарас says я читав because he is male.
• Олена says я готувала because she is female.
• Іван takes гуляв.
• Марія takes працювала.

Вихідні

Марія: Як ти провів вихідні?
Іван: Добре. У суботу я ходив на концерт.
Іван: У неділю я дивився фільм.
Іван: А ти що робила?
Марія: Я читала роман і ходила в кафе.
Марія: Ми їли торт.
Іван: Ви пили каву?
Марія: Так, ми пили каву.

Support after the Ukrainian lines:

Notice the plural forms: ми їли, ми пили, ви пили. In the plural, use -ли. Do not add present-tense person endings after it.

For now, just understand концерт - concert and роман - novel when you see them in the dialogue. You do not need to use them yet.

Choose the past form

Минулий час

The A1 way to build many past-tense forms is:

infinitive base + past ending

For verbs ending in -ти, remove -ти and add the ending:

The endings are the lesson:

• masculine singular: -в;
• feminine singular: -ла;
• neuter singular: -ло;
• plural: -ли.

Compare present and past:

Good A1 questions:

• Що ти робив учора, Іване? - Ivan, what were you doing yesterday?
• Що ти робила учора, Олено? - Olena, what were you doing yesterday?
• Що вони робили у неділю? - What were they doing on Sunday?

Short details help the past sentence sound real:

A past sentence can grow by one small detail at a time.

• що? - Я їв сніданок. / Я їла сніданок.
• куди? - Я йшов до школи. / Я йшла до школи.
• яку? - Я читав цікаву книжку. / Я читала цікаву книжку.

The time marker учора tells you the action is before now. The beginner formation is still the same: use -в for masculine, -ла для жіночого forms, -ло for neuter, and -ли for plural.

A quick check with names you know is enough: Іван читав. Марія читала. Same action, different subject gender.

Keep the grammar here narrow. Practice only the endings -в, -ла, -ло, and -ли with familiar verbs.

Gender, not person

Sort the forms

Практика

Start with one subject and one action:

• Тарас читав. - Taras was reading.
• Олена читала. - Olena was reading.
• Кіно було цікаве. - The movie was interesting.
• Друзі читали. - The friends were reading.

Then add a place or time:

• Учора Тарас читав книжку. - Yesterday Taras read a book.
• Учора Олена готувала вечерю. - Yesterday Olena cooked dinner.
• У суботу ми гуляли в парку. - On Saturday we walked in the park.
• У неділю вони дивилися фільм. - On Sunday they watched a film.

For я, choose the ending for the speaker:

For ти, choose the ending for the person you are speaking to:

• to Ivan: Ти читав?
• to Olena: Ти читала?
• to two friends: Ви читали?

That is why the past tense is not a person table. Я, ти, and він can all use читав when the subject is masculine singular. Я, ти, and вона can all use читала when the subject is feminine singular.

Repair traps

Use the repair list to keep English habits from taking over:

The last line looks ahead to future tense. The repair is simple for now: after буду, use the infinitive читати, not a past form.

You may see other past forms such as прочитав, полетіли, ніс, віз, or мерз. Just recognize that they are past forms. For speaking today, stay with regular forms like читав, читала, читало, читали.

The next time step is future tense. For now, one future repair is enough: after буду, use an infinitive, as in Я буду читати завтра.

Mini story practice

Use one speaker and keep the gender consistent:

Male speaker: Учора я працював. Потім я гуляв. Увечері я дивився фільм.

Yesterday I worked. Then I walked. In the evening I watched a film.

Female speaker: Учора я працювала. Потім я гуляла. Увечері я дивилася фільм.

Yesterday I worked. Then I walked. In the evening I watched a film.

The story can be short. What matters is that every past form agrees with the same speaker. Do not start with я працював and then switch to я гуляла unless the speaker changes. A clean A1 story repeats one pattern until your ear notices it.

📋 Підсумок

Use this compact map:

Ask about yesterday:

• Що ти робив учора?
• Що ти робила учора?
• Що ви робили учора?

Answer with one clear sentence:

• Я читав книжку.
• Я читала книжку.
• Ми гуляли в парку.

Self-check:

1. Can you say я читав or я читала for yourself?
2. Can you change він працював to вона працювала?
3. Can you change вона говорила to вони говорили?

Stop here when the endings feel visible. The next module uses the same forms to tell a simple story about yesterday.

Ремонти

Past endings map

(see lesson, §Діалоги)

Choose the past form

(see lesson, §Вихідні)

Gender, not person

(see lesson, §Минулий час)

Sort the forms

(see lesson, §Минулий час)

Check the past form

Build short past sentences

From one subject to many

Repair the A1 past tense

Say it in Ukrainian

Find the ending that does not fit