ми

The pronoun ми is essential for plural communication, but its usage depends on the verb tense:

• Pro-drop in Present/Future: In the present and future tenses, verb endings are unique to the subject. This includes perfective future verbs, the auxiliary verb будемо (we will), and the synthetic future suffix -мемо (e.g., робитимемо). Therefore, ми is often dropped unless you want to emphasize 'we'.
• Inclusive Imperatives: To form 'Let's...' commands, Ukrainian uses the first-person plural imperative. While these also refer to 'we', they use distinct endings like -імо or -мо (e.g., Ходімо! — Let's go!) which are different from the standard present tense endings.
• Required in Past Tense: In the past tense, the plural ending (-ли) is identical for 'we', 'you', and 'they'. To be clear who you are talking about, you should include ми.
• The 'Comitative' Construction: To say 'My friend and I,' Ukrainians use ми з другом (literally 'we with friend'). This phrase uses the Instrumental case for the companion, often refers to just two people, and importantly, the verb must be conjugated in the plural (e.g., Ми з другом йдемо). A highly common example is ми з тобою, which is the standard, everyday way to say 'you and I'.

Morphology and Case Forms:
As a personal pronoun, ми changes its form based on its role in the sentence. While ми is the nominative (subject) form, you will see other forms like нас. This single form нас serves as the Genitive (used in у нас є to show possession), the Accusative (direct object), and the Locative (e.g., на нас — on us). Other forms include нам (to us — Dative) and нами (with/by us — Instrumental).

Unlike third-person pronouns, the forms of ми are stable: they do not add a prefix 'н-' after prepositions (it is always до нас, з нами, never *до ннас).

Importantly, the Dative form нам is frequently used in impersonal constructions to express physical or emotional states (e.g., нам холодно — we are cold), necessity (нам треба — we need), or preferences (e.g., нам подобається — we like).

Note on Possession: Do not confuse ми with the possessive adjective наш (our). While ми refers to the people, наш describes something belonging to them and must agree with the noun it modifies (e.g., наш дім, наша мама).