--- title: Only joking! Swearing — and Christmas Eve — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Only joking! Swearing — and Christmas Eve», a lesson of the ukrainian street course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: A tease went too far and Sashko looks hurt. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/ukrainian-street/27-only-joking-swearing-and-christmas-eve/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Ukrainian street](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/ukrainian-street/) / Only joking! Swearing — and Christmas… # Only joking! Swearing — and Christmas Eve Lesson 27 of the ukrainian street course of Mova's primary school: 17 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/ukrainian-street/27-only-joking-swearing-and-christmas-eve/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/ukrainian-street/27-only-joking-swearing-and-christmas-eve/0/) — A tease went too far and Sashko looks hurt. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/ukrainian-street/27-only-joking-swearing-and-christmas-eve/1/) — Three phrases fix it: "tse prykol" (it's a joke), "ya pozhartuvav" (I was joking) and "ne obrazhaisya" (don't be offended) — said kindly, with a real sorry. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/ukrainian-street/27-only-joking-swearing-and-christmas-eve/2/) — You will also hear about "mat" or "matyuky", the strong swear words; know only that they exist and shock grannies — never say them at a friend's home — and if an adult says "ne lai!", don't swear, you answer "vybachte". - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/ukrainian-street/27-only-joking-swearing-and-christmas-eve/3/) — Then the best night of winter: SvYat-vechir, Holy Evening, Christmas Eve. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/ukrainian-street/27-only-joking-swearing-and-christmas-eve/4/) — The whole family waits at the window for the first star, and only then the supper of dvanAdtsyat strav, twelve meatless dishes, begins. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/ukrainian-street/27-only-joking-swearing-and-christmas-eve/5/) — Neighbours greet each other "KhrystOs rodYvsya!" — Christ is born! — and the fixed answer is "SlAvimo Yoho!", let us praise Him; children go from house to house singing kolyadky, carols, and get sweets or coins. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/ukrainian-street/27-only-joking-swearing-and-christmas-eve/6/) — "prykol" means a joke or a prank, and "prykolno" means funny; "tse prykol", it's a joke, softens a tease. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/ukrainian-street/27-only-joking-swearing-and-christmas-eve/7/) — "ya pozhartuvav" means "I was joking", said by a boy to make up after a tease went too far; "zhart" means a joke. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/ukrainian-street/27-only-joking-swearing-and-christmas-eve/8/) — "ne obrazhaisya" means "don't be offended", said after a joke that hurt. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/ukrainian-street/27-only-joking-swearing-and-christmas-eve/9/) — "mat" or "matyuky" are the strong swear words; older kids and some adults use them, they shock grannies, and they are never said at a friend's home. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/ukrainian-street/27-only-joking-swearing-and-christmas-eve/10/) — "ne lai" means "don't swear", said by an adult telling a kid off, and the answer is "vybachte". - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/ukrainian-street/27-only-joking-swearing-and-christmas-eve/11/) — "zaichyk" or "zaya", bunny, is a loving nickname that mums and grannies give little ones; between boys of nine or ten it may embarrass. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/ukrainian-street/27-only-joking-swearing-and-christmas-eve/12/) — "Rizdvo" means Christmas; since 2023 Ukraine's official Christmas is on 25 December, and some families still celebrate on 7 January. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/ukrainian-street/27-only-joking-swearing-and-christmas-eve/13/) — "KhrystOs rodYvsya!" means "Christ is born!", the Christmas greeting, and the fixed answer is "SlAvimo Yoho!", "Let us praise Him!". - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/ukrainian-street/27-only-joking-swearing-and-christmas-eve/14/) — "SvYat-vechir" means Holy Evening, Christmas Eve, a big family supper that starts when the first star appears in the sky. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/ukrainian-street/27-only-joking-swearing-and-christmas-eve/15/) — "dvanAdtsyat strav" means the twelve dishes of the Christmas Eve supper; they are meatless, such as kutia (sweet wheat with honey and poppy seeds), borshch, varenyky, fish and mushrooms. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/ukrainian-street/27-only-joking-swearing-and-christmas-eve/16/) — "kolyadky" are carols; children go from house to house singing them, and the hosts give sweets or coins. - ← previous: [Friendly name-calling and real insults (meanings only)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/ukrainian-street/26-friendly-name-calling-and-real-insults/) - next →: [Shchedryk, New Year, Easter eggs and birthdays](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/ukrainian-street/28-shchedryk-new-year-easter-eggs-birthdays/) - ↑ back to [Ukrainian street](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/ukrainian-street/)