Intransitive verbs without -ся

Треба працювати. One must work.

Діти люблять грати в парку. Children like to play in the park.

Чи можна сидіти тут? May I/can one sit here?

Будь ласка, говоріть повільно! Please speak slowly!

Цілий день ми стояли в черзі. We stood in a queue all day.

Мама спить. Mum is sleeping.

Чого ти так говориш? Why are you speaking in such a way?

Лікар мовчав. The doctor was silent (did not speak).

Intransitive verbs with -ся

At times the dividing line between 'intransitive' and 'reflexive' -ся verbs can be a fine one. The former essentially expresses 'doing X oneself, while the latter is more akin to 'doing X to oneself; very often an intransitive verb has a transitive partner (without -ся) that expresses 'doing X to another'. This is the case in the following:

Учитель знову розсердився. Once again the teacher became angry.

vs. Учитель розсердив батька. The teacher made father angry.

Вони одружилися. They got married.

vs. Борис вирішив одружити сина. Borys decided to marry (off) his son.

Ми залишилися позаду. We lagged (stayed) behind.

vs. Я залишив листа на столі. І left the letter (caused it to stay) on

the table.

Стілець зламався. The stool/seat broke.

vs. Хлопець зламав стілець. The boy broke the stool/seat.

Similarly:

різнитися - різнити to be different - to make different

переселитися - переселити to move to another place – to remove, make settle in another place

повернутися - повернути to return, go back - to return (something)

сушитися - сушити to get dry - to dry (something) скінчитися - скінчити to come to an end - to finish, end початися - почати to begin - to begin (something)

Many other -ся verbs may be treated as simple intransitives, as they will not have semantically satisfactory partners without -ся (in other words, corres­ponding verbs without this particle do not simply mean 'doing X to another').

Thus:

Ми дізналися, як туди добратися. We found out how to get there.

But: дізнати to investigate, explore

добрати to make up for, supplement

Compare also:

наїдатися to eat one's fill, too much

but

наїдати to eat a certain quantity

договоритися to come to an agreement

but

договорити to finish speaking

простудитися to catch a cold, to be cooled/frozen through

but

простудити to cool, make cold (not *to give someone a cold!)

удаватися to succeed in

but

удавати to pretend, feign, simulate

проспатися to wake up, to have a good sleep

but

проспати to miss by oversleeping, to sleep for some time

We also find -ся verbs without corresponding base verbs:

посміятися to laugh (a little) but: no form without -ся

розплатитися to settle (financial) accounts but: no form without -ся прислухатися to give an ear to, listen

but: no form without -ся in the literary language (although one does occur in dialects)

Some of the apparent incongruities are due to the particular prefix in ques­tion, as a number of combinations of prefix + ся express very specific notions: for example, на + verb + ся generally expresses 'to do something to excess'.

When the reader comes across a new -ся verb that is not obviously reflexive (as in the next group to be discussed), a dictionary will explain whether that verb is a simple intransitive or one that has a suitable transitive partner. Note particularly that the occasional -ся verb may appear to have transitive meaning, for example, дивитися 'to look at', 'to watch', but where an object is used a preposition will be required, as а -ся verb will generally not occur alone with an accusative object: дивитися на телебачення, на програму 'to watch television, a programme', не дивлячись на це 'notwithstanding', 'nevertheless'. But дивитися телевізор is possible.

Reflexive or reciprocal verbs with –ся

умити - умитися to wash - to wash oneself (refl.)

убити - убитися to kill - to kill oneself (refl.)

показати - показатися to show - to show oneself (as . . .) (refl.)

томити - томитися to tire (out) - to tire oneself (out) (refl.)

одягати - одягатися to clothe, dress - to dress oneself (refl.)

уплести - уплестися to braid - to braid one's own hair (refl.)

відкидати - відкидатися to throw back—to throw oneself back(wards) (refl.)

бачити - бачитися to see - to see each other, meet (recip.)

перепросити - перепроситися to apologize - to apologize to each other (to make up) (recip.)

рубати - рубатися to cut, hew - to slash each other (recip.)

гризти - гризтися to gnaw, bite - to quarrel, bicker (lit. 'gnaw at each other'!) (recip.)

мирити - миритися to reconcile, mediate - to make peace (with each other) (recip.)

It is also possible for a reciprocal -ся verb not to have a corresponding base verb without the particle:

листуватися to correspond (with each other)

but

not *листувати

Literature: 1-3, 8

LECTION 5. THE ADVERB IN THE CONTRASTED LANGUAGES