What does 'чудовий' mean in Ukrainian?
Цікаві факти про капібару, найбільшого гризуна світу
B1 Ukrainian listening practice · Standard Ukrainian · Picked for people who know some
Чудовий is one of Ukrainian’s most-reached-for positive adjectives, somewhere between wonderful, marvelous, and lovely. The root is чудо (miracle, marvel), so a чудовий swim, day, dish, or kid is one that delights you. Speakers use it where English reaches for great (at the praise end), not for fine (at the meh end).
Here the narrator pegs capybaras with « капібари чудові плавці » (capybaras are чудові swimmers) and « чудових створінь » (чудові creatures) twice in the same minute. The clip rides a warm tone: gentle pack life, friendly habits, breath-holding under water. Чудовий is the through-line that lets Ukrainian wildlife shows feel kinder than the average BBC narrator.
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Source: wordfreq 3.1.1 (general) · OpenSubtitles 2018 (HermitDave) (spoken). These numbers are close, not perfect.
- ▸On Ukrainian nature programming on Суспільне (UA:Перший) and lifestyle segments on 1+1 and СТБ
- ▸In Ukrainian children’s books from publishers like Видавництво Старого Лева and А-БА-БА-ГА-ЛА-МА-ГА where animal characters get the чудовий treatment
- ▸At Ukrainian zoos and reserves like Київський зоопарк and Асканія-Нова when keepers introduce visiting families to their animals
- ▸In Ukrainian everyday praise like чудовий день (lovely day) and чудова робота (great work), across Українська правда lifestyle features and Ukrainian Instagram