Essential Ukrainian phrases

'Good day' — the default greeting. Lviv is the most consistently Ukrainian-speaking of Ukraine's big cities, and opening in Ukrainian rather than Russian matters more here than anywhere else in the country.

'Thanks, that's great' — 'файно' is the Galician word for fine or lovely and is used constantly here and almost never in Kyiv. Using it correctly is the fastest way to sound like you live here rather than visit.

The interwar Lviv street-dandy: a charming, hard-drinking, guitar-carrying rogue. The батярський revival is why you will find brass bands in courtyards and 1930s songs in bars — it is the city's idea of itself.

A cup of coffee — 'філіжанка' rather than 'чашка', a Galician borrowing that survives here. Lviv takes coffee seriously enough that the word for the cup is a local marker.

A sandwich, from the Polish. Along with 'пляцок' (a cake or tart) and 'кнайпа' (a small bar or pub), it belongs to a Galician vocabulary that is genuinely different from the eastern Ukrainian one.

'Enjoy your meal', said constantly. Answer 'дякую'. In a city this food-obsessed you will hear it from strangers at the next table.

Air-raid alert. Lviv's distance from the front buys more warning time than Kyiv gets, not safety — the city has been hit. 'Відбій тривоги' is the all-clear.

Shelter. Lviv has no metro, so shelters here are marked basements, underpasses and school and church cellars rather than deep stations. Find yours on the city map on day one — this is the practical difference from Kyiv.

Outage schedule. Rolling power cuts run by queue ('черга'), published a day ahead. Ask which queue a flat is in before you rent it.

Curfew — midnight to 05:00 in Lviv, as in Kyiv. The кнайпи empty by half past eleven and everyone means it.

'The bill, please.' Contactless everywhere, but keep cash for blackout days when the terminals are dark.

Shoes, bicycle, jar — three everyday Galician words that a Kyivan would render completely differently (туфлі, велосипед, банка). Lviv Ukrainian is its own dialect and locals are quietly proud of it.