Essential Ukrainian phrases

'Good day' — the standard greeting from mid-morning to evening. 'Добрий день' is equally correct; both mark you instantly as someone making the effort in Ukrainian rather than defaulting to Russian.

'Thank you' and the reply. 'Прошу' doubles as 'here you are' and 'go ahead' — you will hear it a dozen times a day at counters and doorways.

'Glory to Ukraine' and its obligatory reply, 'Glory to the heroes'. Since 2018 it has been the official greeting of the armed forces. It is not a slogan you deploy casually as a foreigner, but you must know the answer when it is said to you.

'Excuse me, I don't speak Ukrainian.' Say this rather than opening in Russian or English — the apology in Ukrainian is what changes the temperature of the conversation.

Literally 'everything will be Ukraine' — a deliberately ungrammatical wartime idiom meaning it will all come right. Written on shop shutters and coffee cups; understanding it tells you more about the city's mood than any statistic.

Air-raid alert. The single most important phrase in this list — it is what the sirens, the app notifications and the shop announcements say. 'Відбій тривоги' (vid-BIY tree-VO-hy) is the all-clear.

Shelter. Signposted across the city in blue and white, on metro stations, underpasses and basements. 'Де найближче укриття?' — where is the nearest shelter — is a sentence to be able to say without thinking.

Outage schedule. Strikes on the grid mean rolling power cuts by queue ('черга'), published in advance by the DTEK app and the city channels. Knowing your queue number is a normal part of Kyiv life.

'The bill, please.' Almost everywhere takes contactless — Ukraine is one of the most card-native countries in Europe — but keep cash for the days the power is out and the terminals are down.

Curfew. In Kyiv it runs midnight to 05:00. Being outside without a pass during it means a police stop, so restaurant bookings, taxis and last metros are all planned backwards from it.

'Coffee with me' — coffee to go, and the ordering phrase in a city with an unusually serious third-wave coffee culture for its price level. Ask for 'фільтр' or 'флет вайт' and you will be understood.

'Enjoy your meal' — said by waiters, colleagues and strangers passing your table. The expected reply is 'дякую'.