хто

Question Word Хто

Level 1Sounds Like hto

Хто (Who) is used to identify people and animals. It always triggers singular masculine verb agreement, even if you expect a plural answer.

How It Works

The word хто is the primary way to ask about animate beings in Ukrainian. Here are the key rules for using it at Level 1:

  • Animate Only: Use хто for people and all animals (including wild animals and insects). For objects or abstract concepts, use що (what).
  • Grammatical Agreement: Even if you are looking at a group of people, the question must use a singular masculine verb. For example: Хто прийшов? (Who came?) is correct, while Хто прийшли? is not.
  • Declension: While you start with the nominative хто, you will soon encounter its other forms depending on the verb's requirements:
    • Nominative: хто (Who - subject)
    • Genitive/Accusative: кого (Whom / of whom)
    • Dative: кому (To whom)
    • Instrumental: ким (With whom)
    • Locative: кому / кім (e.g., на кому - on whom)
    Note: Do not use кого to mean "Whose"; that requires a different word (чий).
  • Sentence Structure: In simple identification, it is often paired with це (this/that). Example: Хто це? (Who is this?).
  • Relative Pronoun: It can also function as a relative pronoun meaning 'the one who', often seen in the construction той, хто.
  • Pro-tip: Once you become confident with these forms, you will also be able to decline ніхто (nobody) and хтось (someone), as they follow the exact same pattern.

Examples (4)

  1. Хто це такий?

    Who is that?

    Word by Word: Who this such?

    A common way to ask 'Who is this person?' using the nominative case.

  2. Хто знає відповідь?

    Who knows the answer?

    Word by Word: Who knows answer?

    Notice that 'знає' is in the third-person singular, matching the singular nature of 'хто'.

  3. Кому ти телефонуєш?

    Whom are you calling?

    Word by Word: To-whom you call?

    Here, 'хто' changes to the dative form 'кому' because the verb 'телефонувати' requires the recipient to be in the dative case.

  4. Кого ти бачиш?

    Whom do you see?

    Word by Word: Whom you see?

    The accusative form 'кого' is used here because the person is the direct object of the verb 'бачити'.

Common Mistakes

  • Using plural verbs with 'хто'.

    Хто там стоять?
    Хто там стоїть?

    Even if you see multiple people standing there, 'хто' always requires a singular verb form.

  • Using 'що' to refer to people.

    Що написав цю книгу?
    Хто написав цю книгу?

    While 'що' is 'what', 'хто' must be used when the subject is a person.

How It Connects

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

хтоLevel 1Question Word Хто

Learn This First

To use 'хто' (who), a learner needs to be familiar with the Cyrillic alphabet and understand that Ukrainian sentences often omit the verb 'to be' in the present tense. Since 'хто' functions as a subject, basic knowledge of the nominative case is also required.

Learn Next

Patterns that build on this one.

Words in This Pattern

хто