The Ukrainian language has its own grammatical features, and one of the common mistakes is the use of the forms тыжни and тыждни, writes the Industrialka website. Is there a difference between these options, and which form is normative? Let's consider this issue in more detail.
Correct form: тыждень
The only correct plural form of the noun “тыжден”in Ukrainian there is “weeks”.
Examples:
- The past weeks were very intense.
- The next weeks will be crucial for the project.
- All weeks of the academic semester are distributed evenly.
The form “weeks” is normative, and it is used in official documents, educational materials, and literature.
Why is “weeks” an error?
The form “weeks” is grammatically incorrect and does not comply with the norms of the modern Ukrainian language.
The error arises due to the analogy with some other words that retain the consonant “d” in the plural, for example:
- гриб – грибы,
- дуб – дубы,
- дид – диды.
However, the word “week” in the plural loses “d”, similar to such words as:
- air – air,
- stump – stump,
- horse – horses.
Therefore, in the correct plural form, you should say “weeks”, and not “weeks”.
Also read how to say affirm or affirm correctly in Ukrainian.
If “week”, then why “weekly”?
Nouns of the soft and mixed groups in the Ukrainian language can lose a consonant sound when changing to the plural form. Such changes are a common phenomenon and reflect the natural patterns of language phonetics.
Example of similar changes in the plural:
- fire – fires
- root – roots
- man – men
The same goes for week → weeks.
Common mistakes and how to avoid them
❌ The next few weeks will be difficult. (incorrect)
✅ The next few weeks will be difficult. (correct)
❌ He worked for several weeks without days off. (incorrect)
✅ He worked for several weeks without days off. (correct)
❌ Winter weeks are always the coldest. (incorrect)
✅ Winter weeks are always the coldest. (correct)
How to remember the correct form?
- If you can say “this week”, then the plural will be “these weeks”.
- According to the rules of Ukrainian phonetics, “d” before “n” drops out.
- Analogy with other words: horse – horses, root – roots, week – weeks.
The only correct plural form of the word “weeks” is “weeks”. The option “weeks” is grammatically incorrect and is not used in the normative Ukrainian language. To avoid mistakes, always remember the rule of dropping “d” in the plural, which is characteristic of a number of words in our language.
Read also how to correctly use the word to insist or to insist.
