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# 32. Politeness and hedging

**On this page**

1. [1. Face, strategies and the Ukrainian means](#1-face-strategies-and-the-ukrainian-means)
2. [2. *Ти* and *Ви*](#2-ти-and-ви)
3. [3. The capital *Ви* in writing](#3-the-capital-ви-in-writing)
4. [4. Address: the vocative and its forms](#4-address-the-vocative-and-its-forms)
5. [5. Name and patronymic, *пане*, *пані*, *друже*](#5-name-and-patronymic-пане-пані-друже)
6. [6. Diminutives as politeness](#6-diminutives-as-politeness)
7. [7. Softening a request: aspect, *би*, minimisers](#7-softening-a-request-aspect-би-minimisers)
8. [8. Hedges: *мабуть*, *напевно*, *здається*, *ніби*, *типу*](#8-hedges-мабуть-напевно-здається-ніби-типу)
9. [9. Boosters and the absence of hedging](#9-boosters-and-the-absence-of-hedging)
10. [10. Impoliteness](#10-impoliteness)
11. [11. Deltas by region, generation and style](#11-deltas-by-region-generation-and-style)
12. [12. How Mova handles it](#12-how-mova-handles-it)
13. [13. Sources](#13-sources)

Politeness is how speakers protect each other's face — the wish to be approved of and the wish not to be imposed on — while still asking, refusing, criticising. Hedging is how they weaken their commitment to what they say. Ukrainian does both with grammatical choices English does not have: the polite plural ***Ви*** (capitalised in letters), the **vocative** of address with *пане*, *пані*, *друже* or the name and patronymic, **diminutives** that make an imposition small (*хвилинку*, *водички*), **aspect** (the imperfective imperative of invitation), the conditional ***би***, and a set of hedging words — *мабуть*, *напевно*, *здається*, *ніби*, *нібито*, *може*, *типу*. This chapter describes the forms and their social rules, measures them in UD 2.18 Ukrainian treebanks and in the Leipzig news corpus (2026-11-06), gives the varietal and generational deltas over the literary standard, and says what Mova reads: no Ukrainian politeness or hedge feature exists yet; the fact extractor rejects every vocative and every parenthetical hedge because of the comma.

Contents

1. [Face, strategies and the Ukrainian means](#1-face-strategies-and-the-ukrainian-means)
2. [*Ти* and *Ви*](#2-%D1%82%D0%B8-and-%D0%B2%D0%B8)
3. [The capital *Ви* in writing](#3-the-capital-%D0%B2%D0%B8-in-writing)
4. [Address: the vocative and its forms](#4-address-the-vocative-and-its-forms)
5. [Name and patronymic, *пане*, *пані*, *друже*](#5-name-and-patronymic-%D0%BF%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B5-%D0%BF%D0%B0%D0%BD%D1%96-%D0%B4%D1%80%D1%83%D0%B6%D0%B5)
6. [Diminutives as politeness](#6-diminutives-as-politeness)
7. [Softening a request: aspect, *би*, minimisers](#7-softening-a-request-aspect-%D0%B1%D0%B8-minimisers)
8. [Hedges: *мабуть*, *напевно*, *здається*, *ніби*, *типу*](#8-hedges-%D0%BC%D0%B0%D0%B1%D1%83%D1%82%D1%8C-%D0%BD%D0%B0%D0%BF%D0%B5%D0%B2%D0%BD%D0%BE-%D0%B7%D0%B4%D0%B0%D1%94%D1%82%D1%8C%D1%81%D1%8F-%D0%BD%D1%96%D0%B1%D0%B8-%D1%82%D0%B8%D0%BF%D1%83)
9. [Boosters and the absence of hedging](#9-boosters-and-the-absence-of-hedging)
10. [Impoliteness](#10-impoliteness)
11. [Deltas by region, generation and style](#11-deltas-by-region-generation-and-style)
12. [How Mova handles it](#12-how-mova-handles-it)
13. [Sources](#13-sources)

Related chapters: the vocative's endings in [11. Nouns](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/languages/uk/11-nouns/); personal pronouns in [12. Pronouns, determiners and numerals](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/languages/uk/12-pronouns-determiners-numerals/); diminutive suffixes in [17. Derivation: suffixes](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/languages/uk/17-derivation-suffixes/); requests in [31. Speech acts](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/languages/uk/31-speech-acts/); register in [37. Register and variation](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/languages/uk/37-register-and-variation/); the English chapter [32. Politeness and hedging](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/languages/en/32-politeness-and-hedging/) for Brown and Levinson's model and Lakoff's hedges.

---

## 1. Face, strategies and the Ukrainian means

Brown and Levinson's model (described in the English chapter) distinguishes **positive face** (the wish to be liked and included) and **negative face** (the wish to be free from imposition), and orders the strategies for a face-threatening act: bald on record, positive politeness, negative politeness, off record, or not doing the act. The Ukrainian means map onto them:

| strategy | Ukrainian means | example | gloss |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| bald on record | perfective imperative, infinitive command | *Сядь!* *Не палити!* | 'Sit down!' 'No smoking!' |
| positive politeness: intimacy, solidarity | *ти*, first name, diminutive name, vocative of kin (*брате*, *друже*), affectionate diminutives, *ходімо* | *Галю, сонечко, подай-но чашку.* | 'Halia, sweetie, pass me the cup, will you.' |
| negative politeness: distance, deference | *Ви*, *пане/пані*, name + patronymic, *будь ласка*, *прошу*, *перепрошую*, conditional *би*, negated question, imperfective of invitation, diminutive minimisers | *Перепрошую, пане Іване, чи не могли б Ви зачекати хвилинку?* | 'Excuse me, Mr Ivan, could you wait a moment?' |
| off record | hints, statements of state | *Щось тут холодно…* | 'It's rather cold in here…' |
| hedging the content | *мабуть*, *здається*, *ніби*, *напевно*, *може*, *типу* | *Мені здається, ви помиляєтеся.* | 'I think you may be mistaken.' |

## 2. *Ти* and *Ви*

### 2.1 The rule

*Ти* (*ty*) is the singular of intimacy and equality; *ви* (*vy*), the plural, is also the polite singular. *Ти* goes to family members (traditionally not to parents, §2.3), children, friends, close colleagues of one's own age, animals, God and the saints in prayer (*Отче наш, що єси на небесах…*), and the personified nation or land in poetry (*Україно!* … *ти*). *Ви* goes to strangers, older people, superiors, officials, customers, teachers. The switch from *ви* to *ти* is negotiated (*Давай на «ти»?* 'Shall we say *ти*?'); the older or higher person usually offers it.

### 2.2 Agreement with polite *Ви*

| element | agreement with polite *Ви* | example | gloss |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| finite verb | plural | *Ви прийшли вчасно.* | 'You (sg. polite) came on time.' |
| past tense | plural (no gender) | *Ви казали…* | 'You said…' |
| possessive | *Ваш* | *Ваша дочка* | 'your daughter' |
| reflexive possessive | *свій* | *Візьміть свою сумку.* | 'Take your bag.' |
| predicate noun | the real number and gender of the addressee | *Ви справжній друг.* / *Ви справжня подруга.* | 'You are a true friend.' |
| predicate adjective | usually the real number and gender | *Ви такий уважний.* / *Ви така уважна.* | 'You are so attentive.' |

The verb agrees with the pronoun, the nominal predicate with the person: the common usage, also in the press and in fiction, is *Ви такий добрий* to a man and *Ви така добра* to a woman; the plural adjective (*Ви такі добрі*) is understood as plural address or as more formal.

### 2.3 *Ви* to parents

Traditional Ukrainian usage, especially in villages and among older generations, addresses **parents and grandparents with *ви*** while they answer with *ти*: *Мамо, ви вже поїли?* 'Mum, have you eaten yet?'. The asymmetry expresses filial respect, not distance; it is one of the clearest differences from Russian and from English. Urban and younger speakers more often use *ти* to their parents. The corpora show both: in the 40 characters after an address to a parent or grandparent (*мамо*, *тату*, *матусю*, *бабо*, *бабусю*, *діду*, *дідусю* followed by a comma or *!*) Brown-UK has 3 forms of *ви* and 3 of *ти*, the Leipzig news corpus 3 of *ви* and 14 of *ти* (counted 2026-11-06; small numbers, quoted speech only). The written press of 2024, then, has mostly the urban *ти*; fiction, which quotes village speech, keeps the traditional *ви*.

### 2.4 In the treebanks

Forms of the second person plural pronoun (*ви*, *вам*, *вас*, *вами*) and the possessive (*ваш…*), counted by first letter case in all positions (UD 2.18, 2026-11-06):

| treebank | capitalised (*Ви*, *Вам*, *Вас*, *Ваш…*) | lowercase |
| --- | --- | --- |
| IU (written: letters, posts, fiction, news) | 101 | 136 |
| ParlaMint (parliamentary transcripts) | 72 | 492 |

These counts include sentence-initial forms. The parliamentary transcript writes *ви* lowercase in most of its *Ви*-addresses to one deputy, which follows the orthography (§3): a transcript is not a letter. IU's high share of capitals comes from letters and comments addressed to one reader.

## 3. The capital *Ви* in writing

The 2019 orthography (`ukrainskyi-pravopys-2019`, § 60.2) prescribes the capital *Ви*, *Ваш* "as a form of politeness in addressing one particular person in letters, official documents and the like": *Повідомляємо Вам…*, *Вітаємо Вас…*, *у відповідь на Ваш запит…*. In addresses to several people, in fiction and in quoted dialogue the pronoun is lowercase.

What the corpora show (mid-sentence forms only, i.e. after a letter or a comma and a space, 2026-11-06):

| corpus | mid-sentence capital *Ви…* | lowercase *ви…* | share of capitals |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Leipzig news 2024 (14.2 M words) | 1,700 | 45,481 | 3.6% |
| Brown-UK (1.04 M words, mixed genres) | 62 | 968 | 6.0% |

News capitalises *Ви* in interviews (journalist to guest), letters and appeals to readers; elsewhere, including generic *ви* 'one', it is lowercase, as the rule requires. Usage beyond the rule: commercial and online texts capitalise *Ви* to every customer, even in mass mailings, which the rule (one particular person) does not cover; it is the norm of customer service rather than of the orthography.

## 4. Address: the vocative and its forms

### 4.1 The vocative is the norm

Ukrainian addresses in the **vocative case** (chapter [11. Nouns](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/languages/uk/11-nouns/) for the endings): *Іване!*, *Маріє!*, *Олено!*, *мамо!*, *тату!*, *друже!*, *брате!*, *колего!*, *пане!*, *сину!*, *доню!*. The orthography (§ 74 n. 1–2, § 87 n. 1–4) requires the vocative in **every** inflected word of a compound address: *Оксано Іванівно*, *Ярославе Андрійовичу*, *пане лейтенанте*, *друже Грицю*, *колего Степане*, *пані Гаркуше* (with the feminine *пані*, which does not inflect, the surname takes the vocative). The vocative is neutral, not solemn: it is the ordinary way to call a child, a friend or a colleague.

### 4.2 Usage: the nominative of address

In speech the nominative is also used for address, particularly with first names and name-plus-patronymic. Heads of the UD `vocative` relation, all splits, counted 2026-11-06:

| treebank | `vocative` arcs | in `Case=Voc` | in `Case=Nom` | proper nouns Voc / Nom | common nouns Voc / Nom |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| IU | 101 | 89 | 10 | 18 / 7 | 70 / 3 |
| ParlaMint | 759 | 645 | 114 | 66 / 103 | 575 / 11 |

Common nouns of address (*колеги*, *пане*, *друже*, *депутате*) are in the vocative 98% of the time in parliament; proper names are more often nominative (61%). The ParlaMint treebank shows both side by side: *Вибачте, Олександре Валентиновичу* (NSDC_UA_28_Feb2014-383) against *Дякую, Тарас Іванович* (ParlaMint-UA_2022-01-25-m0.u93.p1.lang1.s1) and *Іван Олександрович, не стрибайте по залі* (ParlaMint-UA_2004-11-27-m0.u23.p17.lang1.s3) 'Ivan Oleksandrovych, don't jump around the hall'. The treebank's authors (`shvedova-2025-developing-universal-dependencies-treebank-ukrainian`) parsed 88 million tokens of Rada transcripts (1990–2024) and found more than 128 thousand vocative contexts, with large variation between the cases that depends on the lemma; they observe that "the modern norm recommends only the vocative" while practice varies. The nominative of address with a name and patronymic is a spoken habit shared with Russian; it is not codified, and in writing (letters, official addresses) the vocative stands.

The nominative is also normal for nouns without a distinct vocative (plurals: *Шановні колеги!*; indeclinable *пані*, foreign names), and in the vocative-nominative compromise *пане* + nominative surname (*Пане Кушнарьов*, ParlaMint-UA_2004-11-27-m0.u42.p6.lang1.s1), frequent in speech.

## 5. Name and patronymic, *пане*, *пані*, *друже*

| form | example | relation | note |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| first name, vocative | *Олено!* | familiar, equals, younger | with *ти* or *ви* |
| diminutive first name | *Олю!*, *Петрику!*, *Галю!* | intimate, family, children | with *ти* |
| name + patronymic | *Ганно Петрівно!*, *Іване Івановичу!* | respectful, workplace, older people, teachers | Soviet-era official standard, kept by older and middle generations and in schools; with *Ви* |
| *пане/пані* + first name | *Пане Іване!*, *Пані Олено!* | respectful but personal | the pre-Soviet and Western usage, spread nationally since the 1990s |
| *пане/пані* + surname | *Пане Шевчуку!*, *Пані Коваленко!* | formal, public | parliament, media |
| *пане/пані* + title | *Пане професоре!*, *Пане Голово!*, *пані міністерко* | formal, official | *Дякую, пане Голово* (ParlaMint-UA_2022-01-25-m0.u94.p1.lang1.s1) 'Thank you, Mr Chairman' |
| *шановний/шановна* + any of the above | *Шановний пане Іване!* | letters, speeches | the standard salutation of a letter |
| *друже*, *брате*, *сестро*, *колего* | *Друже, допоможи!* | solidarity | *друже* also in the Plast scouts and the army |
| *добродію/добродійко* | *Добродію!* | old formal 'sir/madam' | literary, archaic now |
| kin terms to strangers | *бабусю*, *дядьку*, *тітко*, *синку* | warm or condescending | to older or younger strangers in villages and markets |

In ParlaMint the most frequent addressees in the `vocative` relation are *колега* (421), *депутат* (85), *Володимир* (38), *пан* (37), *Олександр* (28), *друг* (20) (2026-11-06). *Пане* + title has replaced the Soviet *товаришу* + title in official life; the address by name and patronymic remains the respectful norm between colleagues of the older generations and in schools, beside the newer *пане/пані*.

Feminine titles: current usage forms feminine nouns of profession (*міністерка*, *директорка*, *професорка*), which the 2019 orthography describes (§ 32.4: *авторка*, *директорка*, *редакторка*); in address *пані директорко*, *пані професорко* are now common in media and universities, while *пані директоре* (masculine title for a woman) remains in older official usage. Synchak and Starko (2022, `synchak-2022-feminine-dictionaries`) document how online dictionaries and corpora have recorded the growing set of feminine personal nouns. Here usage moved first and the orthography of 2019 caught up.

## 6. Diminutives as politeness

Simovych (1919, `simovych-1919-hramatyka-ukrainskoi-movy-dlia`, § 112) observed that Ukrainians use diminutive and affectionate forms "very gladly and on every occasion", not only to children, in love or in grief, but in ordinary talk. In politeness they do two jobs:

1. **Minimising the imposition** (negative politeness): *Зачекайте хвилинку* 'Wait a moment (dim.)', *Одну секундочку* 'Just a second', *Можна водички?* 'Could I have a little water?', *Ще шматочок?* 'Another little piece?', *Підпишіть тут, будь ласка, і ще тут, трішки нижче* 'Sign here, please, and here, a little (dim.) lower'. The thing asked for is made small, so the request is.
2. **Warmth and hospitality** (positive politeness): *Сідайте, ось вам чайку, варення* 'Sit down, here's some tea (dim.) for you', *Пригощайтеся, пиріжечки свіжі* 'Help yourselves, the little pies are fresh', *Доню*, *синочку* to a young stranger.

The diminutive of minimisation is not childish and not limited to private life. In the parliamentary treebank the chair asks for time with diminutives: *одну секундочку*, *одну хвилинку*, *одну хвилиночку* 17 times against *одну секунду*, *одну хвилину* twice (ParlaMint, all splits, 2026-11-06), e.g. *Одну секундочку, колеги, будь ласка, не розходьтесь, бо ми зараз будемо голосувати* (ParlaMint-UA_2022-01-25-m0.u197.p4.lang1.s1). In the news corpus *хвилинку* (17), *хвилиночку* (7), *секундочку* (4), *водички* (5), *чайку* (2) occur in quoted speech; the minimisers *трішки* (325) and *трошки* (259) beside neutral *трохи* (2,676) (Leipzig news 2024, 2026-11-06).

Limits: diminutives of the addressee (*Іванку*, *Оленко*) or of their belongings to a stranger or superior can sound condescending; a diminutive of the topic of criticism makes it ironic (*Ну й проєктик ви подали* 'Quite a little project you've submitted', chapter 34).

## 7. Softening a request: aspect, *би*, minimisers

| device | plain | softened | gloss of softened |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| imperfective of invitation | *Сядьте.* | *Сідайте, будь ласка.* | 'Do sit down, please.' |
| *будь ласка* | *Дайте ручку.* | *Дайте, будь ласка, ручку.* | 'Could you give me the pen, please.' |
| conditional *би* | *Я хочу запитати.* | *Я хотів би запитати.* | 'I would like to ask.' |
| negated conditional question | *Зачиніть двері.* | *Чи не могли б Ви зачинити двері?* | 'Could you perhaps close the door?' |
| permission question | *Дайте води.* | *Можна води?* | 'May I have some water?' |
| *може* + infinitive / noun | *Відпочиньте.* | *Може, відпочинете?* | 'Perhaps you'd like a rest?' |
| minimiser | *Зачекайте.* | *Зачекайте хвилинку.* | 'Wait a moment.' |
| *-но* (familiar) | *Подай.* | *Подай-но.* | 'Pass it, will you.' |
| apology first | *Як пройти до вокзалу?* | *Перепрошую, як пройти до вокзалу?* | 'Excuse me, how do I get to the station?' |
| ethical dative *собі* | *Сиди.* | *Сиди собі.* | 'Just sit (don't bother).' |

The perfective/imperfective choice is the most Ukrainian of these. *Сідайте* to a guest says the act is expected and welcome; *Сядьте* says it is required now, and is used by a teacher, a doctor or a police officer. *Беріть!* offers food; *Візьміть* asks someone to take a specific thing (chapter 31 §5).

## 8. Hedges: *мабуть*, *напевно*, *здається*, *ніби*, *типу*

### 8.1 The inventory

Hedges weaken the speaker's commitment to the truth (shields) or loosen the fit of a word (approximators), in Prince et al.'s terms used in the English chapter.

| hedge | romanization | type | example | gloss |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| *мабуть* | mabut | epistemic, "probably" | *Він, мабуть, спить.* | 'He's probably asleep.' |
| *напевно*, *напевне* | napevno | "probably"; literary also "certainly" | *Напевно, запізниться.* | 'He'll probably be late.' |
| *певно* | pevno | colloquial "probably" | *Певно, дощ буде.* | 'There'll be rain, I expect.' |
| *можливо* | mozhlyvo | "possibly, perhaps" | *Можливо, ви праві.* | 'Perhaps you're right.' |
| *може* | mozhe | colloquial "maybe"; offers | *Може, він уже вдома.* | 'Maybe he's already home.' |
| *здається*, *мені здається* | zdaietsia | evidential, "it seems, I think" | *Здається, хтось іде.* | 'Someone seems to be coming.' |
| *видно*, *видать* | vydno | inferential, "evidently" | *Видно, втомився.* | 'He must be tired.' |
| *вочевидь* | vochevyd | "evidently" (literary) | *Вочевидь, план змінився.* | 'Evidently the plan has changed.' |
| *ніби*, *наче*, *мов* | niby, nache, mov | approximator, "as if, sort of" | *Він ніби спить.* | 'He seems to be asleep / he's sort of asleep.' |
| *нібито*, *начебто* | nibyto, nachebto | reportative, "allegedly" | *Він нібито хворий.* | 'He is supposedly ill.' |
| *либонь* | lybon | literary-dialectal "probably" | *Либонь, не прийде.* | 'He won't come, I suppose.' |
| *типу* | typu | colloquial approximator and quotative, "like, sort of" | *Він типу не знав.* | 'He, like, didn't know.' |
| *якби (то)*, *так би мовити*, *скажімо*, *як на мене*, *на мою думку*, *я думаю*, *по-моєму* | — | phrasal shields | *Це, так би мовити, компроміс.* | 'This is, so to speak, a compromise.' |
| *трохи*, *дещо*, *досить* | — | approximators of degree | *Це трохи складно.* | 'It's a bit difficult.' |

### 8.2 Syntax

Most hedges are **parenthetical words** (*вставні слова*) and are set off by commas (*Він, мабуть, спить*); UD Ukrainian attaches them as `discourse` or `parataxis`, sometimes as `advmod`. *Ніби*, *наче*, *мов* are also comparative conjunctions (*mark* in UD: *ніби* 14 times as `mark` in IU) and enter the comparison system (chapter 24). *Здається* is a verb form (3 sg of *здаватися* 'seem') used parenthetically, and the full clause *мені здається, що…* is a matrix clause with a complement (`ccomp`).

Attachment of the hedges in the treebanks (all splits, 2026-11-06):

| lemma | IU | ParlaMint |
| --- | --- | --- |
| *можливо* | `discourse` 8, `advmod` 6, `root` 5, other 2 | `parataxis` 20, `discourse` 6, `advcl` 3, `root` 3, other 2 |
| *мабуть* | `discourse` 10, `advmod` 1 | `parataxis` 9 |
| *напевно*, *напевне* | `advmod` 3, `discourse` 1 | `parataxis` 6, `advmod` 1 |
| *ніби* | `mark` 14, `discourse` 6 | `mark` 1, `discourse` 1 |
| *нібито* | `discourse` 8, `mark` 1 | `discourse` 5, `parataxis` 1 |
| *очевидно* | `discourse` 2, other 4 | `root` 7, `parataxis` 6, other 2 |

The two treebanks annotate the same parenthetical words differently (IU mostly `discourse`, ParlaMint mostly `parataxis`); a model trained on one and evaluated on the other will lose points on these words for reasons that are not grammatical.

### 8.3 Frequency

Word counts, Leipzig news 2024 (14.2 M words, case-insensitive, 2026-11-06): *можливо* 3,031, *нібито* 3,226, *здається* 1,149, *начебто* 743, *ніби* 708, *напевно* 607 (+ *напевне* 45), *мабуть* 562, *вочевидь* 252, *певно* 56, *либонь* 3. The news register prefers *можливо* (the impersonal possibility) and the reportative *нібито* (distance from a claim) over the personal *мабуть*. In parliamentary speech the colloquial *може* dominates (166 tokens of *може*, many of them the verb 'can'; *здається* 21, *мабуть* 9, *напевно* 7, *нібито* 6; ParlaMint text, 2026-11-06). *Типу* is ambiguous with the genitive of *тип* 'type' (2,184 in the news corpus, nearly all the noun); as a hedge it is colloquial and young (*Він типу такий крутий* 'He's, like, so cool') and comes from Russian *типа*; the surzhyk spelling *тіпа* keeps the Russian pronunciation (chapter 37).

## 9. Boosters and the absence of hedging

Boosters strengthen commitment: *звичайно* 'of course', *безперечно* 'undoubtedly', *справді* 'really', *звісно* 'naturally', *авжеж* 'certainly', *ще б пак* 'and how', *точно* 'definitely', *таки* (counter-expectation), *ж* (shared knowledge), *адже* (known reason). A Ukrainian boosting particle often does the work of English emphatic *do*: *Я ж казав!* 'I *did* tell you!'. Overuse of *звичайно* in answers can sound condescending ('obviously'), as English *of course* can.

## 10. Impoliteness

| act | Ukrainian means | example |
| --- | --- | --- |
| unwanted *ти* to a stranger or elder | pronoun choice alone | *Ти чого тут стоїш?* to an older stranger |
| nominative or diminutive address to a superior | *Іван!*, *Ванько!* | — |
| bare perfective imperative without *будь ласка* to a stranger | *Дай!* *Покажи!* | — |
| *ну* + imperative | *Ну, говори вже!* | 'Out with it!' |
| *хіба* / *невже* question as reproach | *Хіба не видно?* | 'Can't you see?' |
| ironic politeness | *Дуже Вам дякую* (said of a harm) | chapter 34 |
| ironic diminutive | *Ну й розумничок!* | chapter 34 |

Korotenko and Kyslyi (2026, `korotenko-2026-two-axis-framework-analyzing-ukrainian`) separate **relational conduct** (respect, engagement, conflict handling) from **substantive contribution** in Ukrainian online discussions (Telegram channels and a news forum): annotators agreed better when the two were scored separately, and comments can be rude but substantive or polite but empty. Politeness and impoliteness are on the first axis only.

## 11. Deltas by region, generation and style

Each row lists what changes against the literary standard of §§2–8; everything else holds.

| variety, generation, style | address delta | politeness formula delta | hedge delta |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| older generations, villages (all regions) | *ви* to parents and grandparents; kin terms to strangers (*бабусю*, *дядьку*, *синку*); name + patronymic to officials | *спасибі*, *дай Боже здоров'я*, *бувайте здорові* | *либонь*, *певно*, *видно* |
| urban middle generation | name + patronymic at work; *ти* to parents | *дякую*, *будь ласка* | *мабуть*, *напевно*, *здається* |
| younger urban, since the 2010s | *пане/пані* + name in formal settings; first name with *ви* at work; *ти* widely online | *дякую*, *дяки* (slang), *сорі* (from English) | *типу*, *ніби*, *якби*, *чесно кажучи* |
| South-western (Galicia, Bukovyna, Transcarpathia) | *пане/пані* as the traditional respectful address, continuous in the West and the diaspora | *прошу* 'you're welcome', *перепрошую*, *красно дякую*, *Слава Ісусу Христу* | *певно* |
| Eastern and Southern, surzhyk speakers | nominative of address (*Іван!*); Russian forms of name and patronymic | *спасібо*, *ізвініть*, *пажалуста* | *тіпа*, *наверно*, *вобщем* |
| official writing | *Шановний пане …!*, capital *Ви*, *Вам*, *Ваш* | *Прошу розглянути…*, *Дякуємо за розуміння* | impersonal: *можливо*, *вочевидь*, *імовірно* |
| parliamentary speech | *шановні колеги*, *пане Голово*, name + patronymic (often nominative) | *будь ласка* as turn-giver; diminutive *секундочку* | *скажімо*, *так скажімо*, *можливо* (`parataxis`) |
| diaspora (North America, older emigration) | *пане/пані* + name; *Ви* to parents | *прошу*, *дякую красно* | literary hedges |

The rows on generation are tendencies observed in usage, not rules; the treebank and corpus counts of §§2–8 support the parliamentary, news and nominative-of-address rows.

## 12. How Mova handles it

### 12.1 Politeness and hedges in `prag` and `world`: English only

- The sentence label `hedge` (0/1) is part of the closed schema ([`prag/src/schema.rs`](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/prag/)); the feature that sets it is the first hedge found in the cue list [`prag/data/cues.tsv`](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/prag/), 34 English entries (*maybe*, *perhaps*, *probably*, *i think*, *it seems*, *sort of*, *kind of* …). No Ukrainian hedge is listed.
- The politeness strategies of the dialogue layer (`politeness` in [`world/src/talk.rs`](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/world/), weights after Danescu-Niculescu-Mizil et al. 2013) match English strings: *thank*, *please*, *sorry*, *could you*, *would you*, *by the way*; the greeting/leave-taking classifier `som_kind` and the indirect-request reader `indirect_request` likewise.
- Nothing in `prag` or `world` distinguishes *ти* from *Ви* or reads the vocative, a diminutive or aspect.

### 12.2 The Ukrainian fact extractor

`kg` ([`kg/src/uk.rs`](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/kg/)) reads the grammar that carries politeness — the plural of *Ви*, the dative of *дякувати*, the imperative's aspect — but no politeness meaning. Its punctuation gate rejects every sentence with a comma, so every vocative and every comma-delimited hedge is out of reach. Measured 2026-11-06 (CPU, `kg parse`, worktree commit `ac9a23149`, VESUM, empty name list):

| sentence | `kg` output | verdict |
| --- | --- | --- |
| *Дякую Вам.* | predicate *дякувати* `pres.1`, implicit subject; `object:v_dav` *ви* (plural, 2nd person) | right; polite singular not distinguished from plural |
| *Дайте мені водички.* | `impr.perf.2` *дати*; `object:v_dav` *я*; `object:v_rod` *водичка* | right; *водичка* is a separate lemma, not linked to *вода* or marked diminutive |
| *Зачекайте хвилинку.* | not covered by the rules | the accusative of duration is not an object of *зачекати* in its rules |
| *Я б випив кави.* | predicate *випити* (past, perf.); subject *я*; `object:v_rod` *кава*; `particle` *б* | structure right; the conditional mood is not a grammar value (the particle is kept) |
| *Він мабуть спить.* (no commas) | predicate *спати*; subject *він*; `adverbial` *мабуть* | parsed; no hedge flag |
| *Мабуть, він спить.* | rejected: punctuation `,` |  |
| *Здається, дощ іде.* | rejected: punctuation `,` |  |
| *Він ніби спить.* | rejected: conjunction *ніби* | *ніби* is on the conjunction list |
| *Мамо, іди сюди.* | rejected: punctuation `,` | vocative not reachable |
| *Пане професоре, дозвольте.* | rejected: punctuation `,` |  |

### 12.3 Not there yet

- No Ukrainian hedge or politeness lexicon; no `hedge` label for Ukrainian.
- No reading of *ти*/*Ви*, of the capital *Ви*, of the vocative or the nominative of address, of name and patronymic, of *пане/пані*.
- No link from a diminutive to its base and its politeness or irony value.
- No aspect-based politeness (imperfective of invitation).
- The conditional *б/би* is kept as a particle but not as a mood in the fact.
- The `kg` comma gate excludes vocatives and parenthetical hedges; lifting it requires a treatment of parentheticals and address that `kg` does not have.

## 13. Sources

- *Український правопис.* 2019. § 32.4 (feminine personal nouns), § 60.2 (capital *Ви*), § 74 n. 1–2 and § 87 n. 1–4 (vocative in compound addresses). `ukrainskyi-pravopys-2019` (official text)
- Simovych, Vasyl. 1919. *Граматика української мови…* § 112 (diminutives). `simovych-1919-hramatyka-ukrainskoi-movy-dlia` (public domain)
- Shvedova, M., Lukashevskyi, A., Rysin, A. 2025. Developing a Universal Dependencies Treebank for Ukrainian Parliamentary Speech. UNLP. `shvedova-2025-developing-universal-dependencies-treebank-ukrainian` (CC BY 4.0)
- Synchak, O., Starko, V. 2022. Ukrainian Feminine Personal Nouns in Online Dictionaries and Corpora. COLINS. `synchak-2022-feminine-dictionaries` (CC BY 4.0)
- Korotenko, A., Kyslyi, R. 2026. A Two-Axis Framework for Analyzing Ukrainian Dialogues. UNLP. `korotenko-2026-two-axis-framework-analyzing-ukrainian` (CC BY 4.0)
- UD Ukrainian-ParlaMint 2.18 (CC BY-SA 4.0): quoted by `sent_id`; counts. UD Ukrainian-IU 2.18 (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0): counts only. Counted 2026-11-06 with `awk` over all splits.
- Leipzig Corpora Collection, Ukrainian news 2024 (CC BY): counts with `grep`, 2026-11-06. Brown-UK (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0): counts only.
- Brown, P., Levinson, S. 1987; Prince, Frader & Bosk 1982; Lakoff 1973; Danescu-Niculescu-Mizil et al. 2013: as described in the English chapter and in [`world/src/talk.rs`](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/world/); not read for this chapter.
- Mova: [`prag/src/schema.rs`](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/prag/), [`prag/data/cues.tsv`](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/prag/), [`prag/src/feats.rs`](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/prag/), [`world/src/talk.rs`](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/world/), [`kg/src/uk.rs`](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/kg/).
- The English counterpart: [32. Politeness and hedging](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/languages/en/32-politeness-and-hedging/).
- [← previous 31. Speech acts](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/languages/uk/31-speech-acts/)
- [next → 33. Implicature and presupposition](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/languages/uk/33-implicature-and-presupposition/)
- [↑ back to Ukrainian: a reference manual for Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/languages/uk/)