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While making translations you should remember that the translation style should be respective of the Ukrainian language rules and easy to read. Therefore, try to avoid excessively complicated and uncommon constructions.

Language General Style

Numbered and Bulleted Lists

Lists are used to clarify one’s point, to unclutter a long paragraph, or to give more than two items in a series. Use the following guidelines for lists:

• Put words common to each item in an introductory phrase or sentence.
• Use a colon at the end of the introductory sentence or phrase.
• Use the same tense and part of speech for each list item (parallel structure).
• If the items are complete sentences, each should begin with a capital and end with a period.
• If the items continue an introductory phrase, each begins with a small letter and ends with a semicolon except last one which ends with a period.

One or two words

Constructions of the type “SIM card” “IP address” should be written in Ukrainian as compound words divided by hyphen (SIM-картка, IP-адреса). In some cases they also may be translated as two words (код PIN). Some English two-word combinations may be translated as one word in Ukrainian (e.g. video clip – відеокліп). Please refer to the spelling dictionaries.

Capitalization Rules

The brief rules of capitalization in Ukrainian are as follows:

1. The first word of the independent sentence or if the sentence follows the one that ends with a full stop, exclamation mark, question mark, is capitalized.
2. The first word in a numerated or bulleted list if every sentence in the list ends with a full stop. If the parts of the list end with a semicolon, the first word is not capitalized.
3. In Ukrainian, the first word of the sentence coming after colon is not capitalized.
4. Names and nicknames are capitalized.
5. Names of the highest state and international posts are capitalized (e.g. Президент Сполучених Штатів Америки).
6. Names of states and autonomous political units are capitalized. If a name of a state or a unit consists of several words, every single word is capitalized. However, only the first word is capitalized in the word combinations that are the names of state, party, civil and trade unions and other institutions and organizations (e.g. Національна гвардія, Палата мір і вимірних приладів).
7. Use all uppercase letters for acronyms, some abbreviations, and certain legal requirements, for instance, PIN, SAR, ІФЧ.
8. Use sentence style for translations of headings, table column headings, table cells, and nouns followed by numerals or letters for a specific place in a numbered series, for example, Chapter 1 – Розділ 1, Appendix A – Додаток А.
9. Use sentence style capitalization for bulleted items (unordered lists); do not capitalize subsequent words if they are not proper names. Example: Sony Ericsson Car Kit Phone – Автомобільний телефон Sony Ericsson.
10. The translation of “you” and “your” should be always capitalized in case the text is addressed to you directly (for example, in a letter): Ви, Ваш, Вас etc. (Not ви, ваш, вас).

Numbers, Date and Address Formats

Numbers

In Ukrainian, the decimal separator is a comma and the thousand separator is a space

(1 500).

Note: Decimals are marked by a comma in Ukrainian: 4,5.

Use minimal required case ending in Ukrainian for ordinals:

20-й, 20-а, 20-е, до 26-го.

Standard Date Format

The names of days and months are not capitalized. The week starts on Monday. Please use the following standard abbreviations:

Months: січ лют бер кві тра чер лип срп вер жов лис гру

Days: пн, вт, ср, чт, пт, сб, нд

The correct format for dates is (day-month-year):

24 June 2015 = 24 червня 2015 р.

April 17 2015= 17 квітня 2015 р. (do not reduce to “2015”)

April 17 2015 = 17.04.15 р.

When the dates occur in short form, the format order is dd.mm.yy:

06/24/15 = 24.06.15

In Ukrainian translation 24-hours format should be used:

2:00 PM = 14:00

Standard Phone Number Format

The full phone numbers are written in the following manner: 0038 (044) 111-11-11 where 0038 is the international phone code, (044) is the city code, and 111-11-11 is a phone number. If a phone number is also a fax number, then it is written in the following manner: 0038 (044) 111-1111.

Standard Address Format

Addresses are written in the following manner:

Name

Street, house, building (if any), apartment,

City,

Region (if not a regional centre)

Country

Postal code (5 digits)

Note: Please remember that foreign addresses should not be translated into Ukrainian.

Units of Measurement

Unit symbols and abbreviations are used only with a numerical value before them. Use the singular form for a unit symbol or abbreviation. Each unit symbol represents both singular and plural.

Note: You should follow a unit symbol or abbreviation with a period only at the end of a sentence.

Some commonly used units are showed in the table below:

Ukrainian uses the following abbreviations:

kilometer = км

meter = м

decimeter = дм

centimeter = см

millimeter = мм

For squared units use the superscript 2 (м²), for cubed ones use the superscript 3 (м³).

Punctuation Rules

Space

No space should be left before colons and semi-colons, question marks or exclamation marks. However, there should be a single space after these punctuation marks. Ensure that there is a single space after a comma or a period and no space before. There should be no spaces between parentheses and the text contained in them.

Dash vs. Hyphen

Dash and hyphen are different symbols. Dash is used in syntax constructions and has spaces before and after it. Hyphen links or separates parts of a word and has no spaces before or after.

Ukrainian punctuation rules do not make difference between m-dash (Alt+0151) and n-dash (Alt+0150). If there is a need of dash please use the n-dash (for consistency) but do not confuse it with the hyphen (-). Dash is longer and has a space before and after it. Using dash instead of hyphen and vice-versa is an error.

Quotation Marks

Quotation marks indicate repeated words, clauses, phrases, sentences, and paragraphs spoken or written by someone else, that is, from another source. Ukrainian quotation marks are the same as the English ones, i.e. consist of opening and ending curly quotation marks (“…”). Straight quotation marks are accepted. In documentation (help files, brochures, license agreements, EULAs) — chevrons («») must be used. English straight quotation marks (“”) should be used when translating software texts (UI options included) and texts for Web pages.

Quotation marks for “quotation in quotation” are different and the scheme is as follows:

Відомий також під назвою “«cookie» від третьої сторони“.

Note: It is important to remember that a full stop is to be placed outside the quotation marks and not inside as it is in English.

Parentheses and Brackets

When a whole sentence is between parentheses, quotation marks or brackets, the period is placed inside.

If only part of the sentence is between parentheses or quotation marks, the period is placed outside:

Загальну інформацію про стандарт P3P див. у документі P3P Public Overview (англійською мовою).

Note: It is important that periods and commas should be followed by only one space.

Hyphen, En Dash, Em Dash

When hyphenating please refer to the formal grammar rules. The hyphenation rules of the Ukrainian language should be followed (hyphen is to be used on the edge of syllables). Remember that it is necessary not to break the names of the companies, commands, menus etc.

If a digit is a part of the composite ordinal numeral, the word should not be hyphenated like this:

Incorrect: 128-ми бітний.

Correct: 128-бітний.

Client Style Guides – please refer to the specific instructions of the project, which should contain information on how to obtain client-specific style guides for the target language.