слід + Infinitive

Слід Plus Infinitive

Level 5Sounds Like slíd + ínfínítiv

Слід + infinitive is the standard way to express 'should' or 'it is necessary' in formal, academic, and professional Ukrainian.

How It Works

The pattern слід + інфінітив is essential for writing essays, legal documents, or giving professional advice.

1. Usage and Nuance:
It acts as a 'soft' imperative. While мусити implies strong compulsion and треба implies general need, слід suggests that an action is advisable, correct, or required by a certain standard. It is often translated as 'one should' or 'it is necessary to.'

2. Tense Changes:
Because слід is a static predicative, it requires the auxiliary verb бути to change tenses:

  • Present: Слід пам'ятати (One should remember)
  • Past: Слід було пам'ятати (One should have remembered)
  • Future: Слід буде пам'ятати (It will be necessary to remember)

3. The Logical Subject:
If the person performing the action is mentioned, they must be in the Dative case. For example: Вам слід... (You should...), Студентам слід... (Students should...). However, in formal writing, the subject is often omitted to make the statement sound more objective and universal.

Examples (4)

  1. Слід урахувати всі можливі ризики.

    One should take into account all possible risks.

    Word by Word: Should to-take-into-account all possible risks.

    A typical formal sentence where the subject is omitted to create a general rule.

  2. Вам слід було попередити нас заздалегідь.

    You should have warned us in advance.

    Word by Word: To-you should was to-warn us in-advance.

    Uses the Dative 'Вам' and the past tense marker 'було' to express a past recommendation.

  3. Слід зазначити, що результати дослідження є позитивними.

    It should be noted that the research results are positive.

    Word by Word: Should to-note, that results [of] research are positive.

    A very common academic phrase used to introduce a point.

  4. Студентам слід вчасно здавати роботи.

    Students should submit their work on time.

    Word by Word: To-students should on-time to-hand-in works.

    The logical subject 'студентам' is in the Dative case.

Common Mistakes

  • Using the Nominative case for the person who 'should' do something.

    Ви слід перевірити документи.
    Вам слід перевірити документи.

    Since 'слід' is impersonal, the person is not a grammatical subject but an experiencer in the Dative case.

  • Using a conjugated verb instead of an infinitive.

    Слід перевіриш це.
    Слід перевірити це.

    Modal predicatives like 'слід' must always be followed by the infinitive form of the verb.

  • Using the verb 'слідує' instead of the predicative 'слід'.

    Слідує зауважити...
    Слід зауважити...

    Using 'слідує' in this context is a Russicism. In correct Ukrainian, use the predicative 'слід' or 'варто'.

How It Connects

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слід + InfinitiveLevel 5Слід Plus Infinitive

Learn This First

To use 'слід + інфінітив', learners must first be familiar with the Ukrainian infinitive form. Additionally, familiarity with similar impersonal modal constructions (like 'варто') helps in understanding the formal register and syntactic behavior of 'слід', which functions as a non-conjugated modal word expressing necessity.

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Words in This Pattern

слід