21.4 Present Tense of Verbs (Бути)

Ціка́во!

The verb бу́ти, when conjugated, takes the hard-vowel endings of the first conjugation, like the verbs писа́ти and жи́ти (я бу́ду…). However, the conjugated forms of this verb have future meaning. In the present tense, this verb only has one form, є. Є is used in all persons and is equivalent to the English “am,” “is,” or “are.” For example:

Тут є моро́зиво? (Is there ice-cream here?)
Там є смачні́ торти́. (There are tasty cakes there.)

Most often in the present tense, however, є is not used but rather implied, as in the second line of the dialogue above, or in the following examples:

– Де ви? (Where are you?)
– Ми в кіно́. (We are at the movies.)

Є is only required in sentences about the existence of something, or what are “there is”/“there are” sentences in English. For example:

В університе́ті є бібліоте́ка. (There is a library at the university.)
Тут є чоти́ри ба́нки. (There are four banks here.)

Ціка́во!

Є is often used with the construction в/у + noun/pronoun in the genitive case. Such sentences express possession – but when translated literally, they are still about existence. Hence, the use of є. For example:

У ме́не є брат. (Literally: By me there is a brother. = I have a brother.)
В ма́ми є два комп’ю́тери. (Literally: By mom there are two computers. = Mom has two computers.)

As Module 21.1 showed, Ukrainian also has a regular verb that expresses possession – ма́ти. Sentences with the above construction and those with ма́ти are identical in meaning:

У ме́не є цуценя́. = Я ма́ю цуценя́.
В та́та є вели́кий рюкза́к? = Та́то ма́є вели́кий рюкза́к?

Note, however, that there can be contexts in which є is not required with the в/у construction of possession. Compare the question above with the following one, which is about the size of a backpack rather than its existence:

– В та́та вели́кий рюкза́к? – Ні, мале́нький.

See Module 7.1 for the в/у construction of possession with nouns and Module 13.3 for the same construction with pronouns.

Важли́во!

Unlike with other verbs, to negate є, you need to use the form нема́є (or нема́ in less formal situations). For example:

– Тут є туале́т?
– Ви́бачте, нема́є. (Or: Нема́.)

Важли́во!

In sentences that identify, define, or describe someone or something, є is implied rather than used explicitly:

Я студе́нтка. (I am a student.)
Мої́ батьки́ – інжене́ри. (My parents are engineers.)

Note how in the last sentence above, є is replaced with a dash. The dash is used when the subject of the sentence expressed by a noun (батьки́) is defined or described by means of another noun (інжене́ри). It is not used if one of these elements is a pronoun or an adjective, as in Я студе́нтка.