How to say cheers in Ukrainian: toasts for every table

The Ukrainian word for cheers: Будьмо!

The most Ukrainian way to say cheers is Будьмо! (búdmo) — literally let us be! It's the imperative of бути, to be, and it carries a whole wish inside it: let us live, let us be well, let us go on.

At a festive table, Будьмо! often gets a reply: the whole table answers Гей! (hei). Friends sometimes repeat the call three times, a little louder each time, before everyone drinks. It's joyful, a bit theatrical, and very Ukrainian.

Other ways to say cheers in Ukrainian

Будьмо! is the classic, but most toasts are simply За…! (za) — to…! — followed by whoever or whatever you are drinking to. The noun after за goes into the accusative case, which for many words looks the same as the dictionary form.

• За здоров'я! (za zdoróvia) — To your health! The safe, universal choice.
• За нас! (za nas) — To us!
• За вас! (za vas) — To you! Polite, or to a group. To one friend: За тебе! (za tébe).
• За зустріч! (za zústrich) — To our getting together! Perfect when you haven't seen each other in a while.
• За кохання! (za kokhánnia) — To love! A favourite at weddings and anniversaries.
• За дружбу! (za drúzhbu) — To friendship!
• За господиню! (za hospodýniu) — To the hostess! At a family dinner, this one is practically obligatory.
• За перемогу! (za peremóhu) — To victory! A toast you hear at many Ukrainian tables since 2022.

And if someone says До дна! (do dna) — to the bottom! — that's bottoms up. You're allowed to smile and take a sip.

На здоров'я: why it isn't the toast you think

Many English speakers arrive convinced that na zdorovie is how Slavs say cheers. In Polish, na zdrowie really is a toast. In Ukrainian, На здоров'я (na zdoróvia) mostly has a different job.

It literally means for (your) health, and it's what you say when you give something to someone or when they thank you for it — above all for food. Think you're welcome, enjoy, my pleasure. After a meal at your Ukrainian friend's mum's house, the conversation goes like this:

Will anyone be offended if you raise your glass and say На здоров'я? No — people will understand you, and you may even hear it at the table now and then. But it sounds like you are offering the drink rather than toasting with it. За здоров'я! or Будьмо! is what you're looking for.

How to make a toast at a Ukrainian family dinner

At weddings and big Soviet-style banquets there was often a тамада — a toastmaster, a word borrowed from Georgian. At a Ukrainian family dinner there is usually no such role. The host normally raises the first toast, and after that anyone can take a turn: a guest thanking the hosts, a grandparent remembering someone, a friend wishing the couple well. Being invited to say a few words is a sign of warmth, not an exam.

A good Ukrainian toast has three parts: who you're speaking to, a thank-you or a story, and a wish. Then you finish with За…! Here are the building blocks:

• Можна я скажу тост? (mózhna ya skazhú tost) — May I say a toast?
• Я хочу підняти келих за… (ya khóchu pidniáty kélykh za) — I'd like to raise a glass to…
• Давайте вип'ємо за… (daváite výpiemo za) — Let's drink to…
• Дякую за цей чудовий вечір. (diákuiu za tsei chudóvyi véchir) — Thank you for this wonderful evening.
• Бажаю вам… (bazháiu vam) — I wish you… : здоров'я (health), щастя (happiness), миру (peace), любові (love).

Put together, a short toast for your partner's parents might sound like this:

Then look people in the eye and clink glasses — цокнутися (tsóknutysia). Давайте цокнемося! (daváite tsóknemosia) means let's clink glasses!

Toasts without alcohol

Nothing in a Ukrainian toast requires alcohol. You can raise a glass of juice, mineral water, компот (kompót, a home-made fruit drink) or, on Christmas Eve, узвар (uzvár, a drink of dried fruit) — and say exactly the same words. Children at family celebrations do it all the time.

If someone offers you a drink you don't want, these are polite and completely normal:

• Я не п'ю, дякую. (ya ne piu, diákuiu) — I don't drink, thank you.
• Я за кермом. (ya za kermóm) — I'm driving.
• Мені сік, будь ласка. (mení sik, bud láska) — Juice for me, please.
• Мені трохи. (mení trókhy) — Just a little for me.

What not to do at a Ukrainian table

• Don't use На здоров'я as your main toast — keep it for when someone thanks you.
• Don't clink glasses at a wake. At поминки (pomýnky), the meal after a funeral, people drink without clinking. The same goes for a toast to those who have died, including the defenders who gave their lives for Ukraine: it's raised in silence, often standing, glasses untouched.
• Don't start eating before the first toast at a festive meal, if the hosts are clearly about to say one.
• At a wedding, expect Гірко! (hírko) — bitter! Guests shout it and the newlyweds kiss to make the drink “sweet” again. It's a tradition, not a complaint about the wine.

Raise your glass in Ukrainian

Toasts are one of the nicest ways to start speaking Ukrainian with a family: short, warm and remembered long after dinner. If you'd like to prepare one for a real occasion — a wedding, a birthday, meeting your partner's parents — we can write and rehearse it together in my Ukrainian lessons online. And for what goes on the table, see Ukrainian food and meals; for birthday wishes, congratulations in Ukrainian. My free guide to the first 100 Ukrainian words is a good companion too.