One-Time Actions with -ну-

Level 5Sounds Like adnakratnyâ dzeâslovy na -nu

-ну- means once, quickly: Хтосьці стукнуў у дзверы. (Someone knocked on the door.)

How It Works

Verbs for quick sounds and movements come in pairs. The plain imperfective verb means doing it over and over or for a while. A perfective partner with -ну- means doing it once:

  • крычаць (shout) → крыкнуць (give a shout)
  • стукаць (knock) → стукнуць (knock once)
  • міргаць (blink) → міргнуць (blink once)
  • ківаць (nod) → кіўнуць (give a nod)
  • махаць (wave) → махнуць (give a wave)
  • чхаць (sneeze) → чхнуць (sneeze once)
  • свістаць (whistle) → свіснуць (give a whistle)

Forms. They conjugate with -н-: крыкну, крыкнеш, крыкне; past крыкнуў, крыкнула; imperative крыкні, махні. Like any perfective, the present form means the future: Я стукну. (I will knock.) Do not add буду.

Once or many times. For a single moment, use -ну-. For something repeated or ongoing, use the plain verb: Хтосьці стукаў увесь вечар. (Someone kept knocking all evening.)

Not every -ну- verb. Some verbs in -нуць are imperfective and mean a slow change: сохнуць (dry out), мокнуць (get wet), гаснуць (fade). They have no one-time meaning.

Examples (6)

  1. Хтосьці стукнуў у дзверы.

    Someone knocked on the door.

    Word by Word: Someone knocked-once on door.

  2. Яна міргнула мне і ўсміхнулася.

    She winked at me and smiled.

    Word by Word: She blinked-once to-me and smiled.

  3. Бацька моўчкі кіўнуў.

    Dad nodded silently.

    Word by Word: Father silently nodded-once.

  4. Кот чхнуў і схаваўся пад канапу.

    The cat sneezed and hid under the sofa.

    Word by Word: Cat sneezed-once and hid under sofa.

  5. Махні мне рукой, калі ўбачыш аўтобус.

    Wave to me when you see the bus.

    Word by Word: Wave-once to-me with-hand, when you-see bus.

  6. Хлопчык гучна свіснуў.

    The boy gave a loud whistle.

    Word by Word: Boy loudly whistled-once.

Common Mistakes

  • Using a one-time verb for a continuing action.

    Дзеці крыкнулі ўвесь вечар.
    Дзеці крычалі ўвесь вечар.

    Увесь вечар describes a long stretch of time, but крыкнуць means one shout. Use the imperfective крычаць.

  • Adding буду to a -ну- verb.

    Я буду стукнуць у дзверы.
    Я стукну ў дзверы.

    Стукнуць is perfective, so its future is the simple form стукну. Буду goes only with imperfective infinitives.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

One-Time Actions with -ну-Level 5

Learn This First

One-time actions follow suffix pairs.