Андрій

Slide 1 — Translation of the Absolute Genitive
Absolute genitive = independent genitive form
Common patterns: “at the butcher’s,” “at John’s”
Ukrainian requires explicit noun or locational phrase
Strategies: addition, specification, cultural adaptation
The absolute genitive in English functions without an expressed head noun. It commonly appears in phrases like at the doctor’s or at my sister’s. When translating into Ukrainian, we usually need to add the implied noun, specify the location, or adapt the phrase culturally. This is because Ukrainian grammar does not allow the same degree of ellipsis as English does.
Most often, a word denoting an establishment or place is added: at the butcher’s →→ у м'ясній крамниці (у м'ясника).
When it comes to housing, we add a house, apartment, dwelling: at John’s → at John’s house
Some expressions may have established equivalents. For example, the names of companies or shops may simply be transliterated or left without additional words if they have become well-known (e.g. Lloyd’s). This also applies, for example, to St. Paul’s (cathedral, church).

Slide 2 — English Adjectival Units in Translation
Adjective positions: attributive, predicative, postpositive
Ukrainian typically pre-positions adjectives
Postpositive adjectives require restructuring
Multiword adjectival phrases → syntactic transformation
English adjectives can appear before the noun, after a linking verb, or occasionally after the noun. In Ukrainian, adjectives almost always come before the noun, so we must adjust word order. Postpositive English adjectives often require restructuring. Complex adjectival units may need to be translated using participles, relative clauses, or noun-based constructions.
The problem arises with postpositive adjectives in English, which come after a noun. They are usually shortened from relative clauses: The man responsible is here (shortened from The man who is responsible is here).
Restructuring: To translate postpositive adjectives into Ukrainian, it is often necessary to transform them into a subordinate clause: The people present → People who were present.

Slide 3 — Translation of Substantivized Adjectives
English: “the rich,” “the poor,” “the elderly”
Function collectively, grammatically singular
Ukrainian uses plural nouns or descriptive phrases
Requires lexical expansion
English makes wide use of substantivized adjectives to refer to social groups. Ukrainian cannot use an adjective as a noun without additional morphology or an explicit noun. Therefore, substantivized adjectives like the unemployed must be translated as безробітні or люди без роботи. This ensures grammatical and semantic accuracy.
In English, substantive adjectives, such as the young, the homeless, the deaf, function as plural nouns and denote a particular social group. Grammatically, they require a plural verb (The rich are getting richer).

Slide 4 — Correspondences to Adjectival Constructions
English adjectival structures: participles, complements, infinitives
Ukrainian equivalents: adjectival phrases, participial phrases, clauses
English compaction vs. Ukrainian explicitness
Functional restructuring is common
English adjectival constructions tend to be compact and can express complex relations in a short form. Participial constructions, infinitive patterns, or adjective + preposition structures may need to be rendered through relative clauses or descriptive noun phrases.
English tends to compact, creating complex but short adjectival structures: participial inflections, infinitive inflections, noun-determinants. For example, a problem-solving approach, a statement to be read. These constructions allow for the effective transmission of complex relations.
Ukrainian, as a rule, prefers explicitness. What in English is a single phrase, in Ukrainian often requires expansion into a whole sentence or significant syntactic maneuver:
Participial structures: the documents attached → документи, що додаються (subordinate clause).
Infinitive complements: the task to be completed → завдання, яке має бути виконане
The translator's task is to ensure functional restructuring, that is, to preserve the semantic load, but at the same time adapt the structure so that it sounds natural Ukrainian, and not like a tracing paper.

Slide 5 — Translation of Verb Categories (Aspect)
English: progressive vs. non-progressive
Ukrainian: perfective vs. imperfective
Continuous → imperfective
Simple forms depend on context
English aspect is based on the opposition between progressive and non-progressive forms, while Ukrainian relies on perfective and imperfective verbs. An English Continuous form usually corresponds to the imperfective aspect in Ukrainian.
Progressive (Continuous) Tenses: They almost always convey an action in progress, so they correspond to the imperfect tense in Ukrainian: He is reading → Він читає (недоконаний).
Simple forms require contextual interpretation to choose the correct Ukrainian aspect. Simple Forms are ambivalent. He read the book. This can mean that he read it to the end (result, perfective: прочитав) or simply was busy reading at a certain moment (process, imperfective: читав).
Choosing the correct Ukrainian form depends entirely on contextual interpretation and is often one of the most difficult problems for translators.

Slide 6 — Translation of Verb Categories (Tense)
English: extended tense system
Ukrainian: relies on context and adverbials
Present Perfect often requires markers
Functional, not formal equivalence
English has a wide range of tense forms, especially in the perfect and continuous categories. Ukrainian does not mirror these forms structurally; instead, it uses contextual clues or adverbs like вже or ще. Therefore, translating tense requires focusing on the function of the form rather than reproducing the structure mechanically.
English has a complex system of tenses (Present Perfect, Past Perfect, Future Perfect Continuous, etc.) that convey complex temporal relations and sequences. Ukrainian is more analytical and often relies on lexical means (adverbs, particles) and verb form to convey these same relations.
The Present Perfect (I have done) is particularly difficult to translate, as it combines a past action with a present result. Ukrainian has no direct structural equivalent.
The translator must determine what function the Present Perfect performs (experience, result, incompleteness):
Result to date: I have already eaten → Я вже поїв (використання частки вже та доконаного виду).
Experience: I have seen that movie → Я бачив цей фільм.

Slide 7 — Translation of Verb Categories (Voice)
English uses analytical passive frequently
Ukrainian: passive participles, impersonal forms, active restructuring
Choose most natural Ukrainian equivalent
The English passive voice is heavily used and mostly analytical. Ukrainian uses passive forms more selectively and often prefers impersonal or active constructions. Translators should choose the variant that sounds most natural in Ukrainian while preserving the communicative intention of the original sentence.