він/вона/воно

Third-person Singular Pronouns

Level 1Sounds Like vín/vona/vono

Він (he/it), вона (she/it), and воно (it) are used to refer to people or objects. Unlike English, the choice depends on the grammatical gender of the noun being replaced.

How It Works

In Ukrainian, third-person singular pronouns serve two roles: referring to people and replacing nouns.

1. Grammatical Gender Agreement
Every Ukrainian noun belongs to one of three genders: masculine, feminine, or neuter. When you replace a noun with a pronoun, you must match that gender:

  • Він: Used for males and masculine nouns (e.g., телефон - phone).
  • Вона: Used for females and feminine nouns (e.g., машина - car).
  • Воно: Used for neuter nouns (e.g., місто - city).

2. Pro-drop and Emphasis
Ukrainian is a 'pro-drop' language. Because verb endings usually show who is performing the action, pronouns like він or вона are often omitted in the present tense unless you want to emphasize the subject or clarify who you are talking about. However, they are frequently used in the past tense because past tense verbs only show gender, not person.

3. Shared Forms
To become confident with personal pronoun case forms, remember that він and воно share identical forms in all cases except the Nominative (subject) case (e.g., both use його, йому).

4. The 'н-' Prefix and Instrumental Case
Third-person pronouns gain an initial н- when they follow a preposition (e.g., з нього - from him). Note that in the Instrumental case, the forms ним and нею always start with н, even without a preposition.

Examples (5)

  1. Де мій телефон? Він на столі.

    Where is my phone? It is on the table.

    Word by Word: Where my phone? He on table.

    'Телефон' is masculine, so we use 'він' (he/it) to refer to it.

  2. Це моя сестра. Вона вчителька.

    This is my sister. She is a teacher.

    Word by Word: This my sister. She teacher.

    'Сестра' is a female person, so we use 'вона'.

  3. Я бачу вікно. Воно велике.

    I see a window. It is big.

    Word by Word: I see window. It big.

    'Вікно' is neuter, so we use 'воно' (it).

  4. Він працює, а вона відпочиває.

    He is working, but she is resting.

    Word by Word: He works, but she rests.

    Pronouns are used here to contrast two different people.

  5. Я йду до нього.

    I am going to him.

    Word by Word: I go to him.

    The pronoun 'його' becomes 'нього' because it follows the preposition 'до'.

Common Mistakes

  • Using 'воно' for all inanimate objects.

    Де книга? Воно тут.
    Де книга? Вона тут.

    In English, 'it' is used for objects. In Ukrainian, you must use the pronoun matching the noun's gender. Since 'книга' is feminine, you must use 'вона'.

  • Forgetting the 'н-' prefix after prepositions.

    Я говорю про його.
    Я говорю про нього.

    When a third-person pronoun follows a preposition like 'про', 'на', or 'з', it must start with 'н-'.

  • Confusing 'воно' with 'це' for identification.

    Воно мій брат.
    Це мій брат.

    Use 'це' (this/it) to identify or introduce something for the first time. Use 'він/вона/воно' to describe something already mentioned.

How It Connects

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він/вона/воноLevel 1Third-person Singular Pronouns

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вонавоно