In short

The genitive (родови́й відмі́нок) is the “of” case. It answers кого́? (of whom?) and чого́? (of what?). Reach for it whenever English would use of, an apostrophe-s, or the word without: кни́га сестри́ = “sister’s book”, скля́нка води́ = “a glass of water”, чай без цу́кру = “tea without sugar”.

We pull it early because three other A1 topics cannot work without it:

• Absence. To say something is not there you use нема́є + genitive: нема́є ча́су (there is no time).
• Not having. The negative of “I have” is у ме́не нема́є + genitive: у ме́не нема́є кни́ги (I don’t have the book).
• Quantity. After бага́то, ма́ло, кі́лька, тро́хи, скі́льки the noun goes genitive (usually genitive plural): бага́то книг (many books).

The rule

The genitive marks a noun that stands in one of these roles:

1. Possession / “of”. The owner or the whole is put last and in the genitive; Ukrainian has no apostrophe-s. маши́на бра́та = “brother’s car” (literally “car of-brother”), центр мі́ста = “the centre of the city”.
2. Absence — negation of existence. є (“there is”) negates to нема́є (also spelled нема́), and what is missing goes genitive: нема́є уро́ку (there is no lesson). This holds at every tense: present нема́є, past не було́, future не бу́де — always + genitive.
3. The negative of “have”. у ме́не є кни́га (I have a book) becomes у ме́не нема́є кни́ги (I don’t have a book). The thing you lack switches from nominative to genitive.
4. Quantity words. бага́то, ма́ло, кі́лька, тро́хи, скі́льки govern the genitive. Countable things take the genitive plural (кі́лька студе́нтів), mass/uncountable things take the genitive singular (ма́ло ча́су, тро́хи води́).
5. After certain prepositions: без (without), для (for), від (from), до (to, until), з / із (from, out of — з in its “with” sense takes the instrumental instead, see lesson 21), пі́сля (after), бі́ля (near).

Singular endings. Feminine -а/-я becomes -и/-і; neuter and most masculine nouns take -а/-я; masculine mass and abstract nouns often take -у/-ю (час → ча́су).

Forms & patterns

Genitive singular

Genitive plural (this is the form quantity words usually need)

Notice that masculine nouns usually add -ів/-їв, while many feminine -а and neuter -о nouns take a zero ending (кни́га → книг, сло́во → слів) — sometimes inserting a vowel to break the final cluster (гри́вня → гри́вень).

Examples

Common mistakes

• у мене немає книга -> у ме́не нема́є кни́ги — after нема́є the noun must be genitive, never nominative.
• немає час -> нема́є ча́су — negation of existence takes the genitive; час → ча́су.
• книга сестра -> кни́га сестри́ — “sister’s book”: the owner goes in the genitive, because there is no apostrophe-s in Ukrainian.
• багато книги -> бага́то книг — countable nouns after бага́то take the genitive plural, not the singular.
• я не маю книгу -> я не ма́ю кни́ги — a negated direct object drops the accusative and becomes genitive.
• без цукор -> без цу́кру — the preposition без (“without”) governs the genitive.

Tips

• Test yourself with English: if you could slot in of or ‘s, or the word without, Ukrainian almost certainly wants the genitive.
• Possession puts the owner last and in the genitive: маши́на бра́та (“car of-brother”), дім дру́зів (“the friends’ house”).
• The absence pattern is one frame across all tenses — present нема́є, past не було́, future не бу́де — and everything after it is genitive: нема́є / не було́ / не бу́де ча́су.
• To say you lack something, flip the “have” frame: affirmative у ме́не є … becomes negative у ме́не нема́є … + genitive.
• With quantity words, let the noun tell you the number: countable → genitive plural (кі́лька днів), mass → genitive singular (тро́хи води́, ма́ло ча́су).
• Memorise the genitive prepositions as a set: без, для, від, до, з / із, пі́сля, бі́ля — with the one caveat that з is genitive only when it means “from, out of” (з кімна́ти); з meaning “with” takes the instrumental (з дру́гом).
• Numerals from five upward also demand the genitive plural (п'ять студе́нтів) — see Numeral–noun agreement.