який (питальний)

The pronoun який is one of the most versatile words in Ukrainian. It serves three main roles:

1. Interrogative: Asking for information about qualities or selection.

• Яка сьогодні погода? (What is the weather like today?)
• Який колір тобі подобається? (Which color do you like?)

Note: When asking "What color is [object]?", Ukrainian uses the Genitive case: Якого кольору твоя машина? (What color is your car?). While який is general, the word котрий is sometimes used when choosing from a specific, limited set or asking about time (e.g., Котра година?).

2. Relative: Connecting two parts of a sentence. In this role, it starts a relative clause. Important: In Ukrainian, a relative clause starting with який must always be preceded by a comma. If the relative clause is embedded in the middle of the main sentence, it must be enclosed by commas on both sides (e.g., Фільм, який я бачив, був дуже цікавим.). Additionally, preposition stranding is strictly forbidden; if a preposition is needed, it must come directly before the relative pronoun.

• Це фільм, який я бачив. (This is the movie that I saw.)
• Це фільм, про який я говорив. (This is the movie that I talked about.)

The word що is a standard and very common alternative to який in relative clauses because it is an invariant word that does not change for gender or number. However, unlike який, this invariant що cannot be used with prepositions. (Note: When що is used as a standalone pronoun meaning 'what' or 'that which', it fully declines and does take prepositions, e.g., Це те, про що я говорив).

3. Exclamatory: Expressing surprise or emphasis.

• Який гарний день! (What a beautiful day!)

Important Distinction: Use який with nouns and adjectives (Яка квітка! Який гарний!), but use як with adverbs or verbs (Як гарно!).

Agreement Rules:
Because it acts like an adjective, you must change the ending based on the noun's gender, number, and case. It declines in all six cases exactly like a standard hard-stem adjective. However, in relative clauses, while який agrees with the noun it refers to in gender and number, its case is determined entirely by its grammatical role inside the relative clause. Here are the Nominative and Accusative forms:

• Masculine: який (Nom.); Accusative: який (inanimate) or якого (animate).
• Feminine: яка (Nom.); яку (Acc.).
• Neuter: яке (Nom./Acc.).
• Plural: які (Nom.); Accusative: які (inanimate) or яких (animate).

Derivatives: The pronoun який serves as the base building block for common indefinite and negative pronouns like якийсь (some/a certain), будь-який (any), and ніякий (no/none). These derivatives decline exactly the same way as the base word.