тримати язик за зубами
Literally to hold the tongue behind the teeth
Means to keep quiet, not reveal a secret
English idiom to hold one's tongue
Example Про нашу розмову тримай язик за зубами, добре?
Keep quiet about our conversation, all right?
An idiom is a phrase you cannot translate word for word. Here are the 26 most common Ukrainian idioms, ranked by how often you will actually meet them, each with its literal translation, real meaning, the closest English idiom where one exists, and an example sentence with an English translation, so you know what natives actually mean.
Common Ukrainian idioms are everyday expressions whose meaning cannot be guessed from the individual words. For example, тримати язик за зубами literally means "to hold the tongue behind the teeth" but is used to mean to keep quiet, not reveal a secret. This free page ranks the 26 most common Ukrainian idioms by how often you meet them, each with its literal translation, meaning, the closest English idiom where one exists, and an example sentence with an English translation.
All 26 idioms, most common first.
Guess the meaning, then tap a card to check.
Idiom list verified as of August 2026.
тримати язик за зубами
Literally to hold the tongue behind the teeth
Means to keep quiet, not reveal a secret
English idiom to hold one's tongue
Example Про нашу розмову тримай язик за зубами, добре?
Keep quiet about our conversation, all right?
як сніг на голову
Literally like snow on the head
Means completely sudden and unexpected
English idiom out of the blue
Example Новина про звільнення впала як сніг на голову.
The news about the layoffs came out of the blue.
водити за ніс
Literally to lead by the nose
Means to deceive someone over a long time with promises that lead nowhere
English idiom to string someone along
Example Він уже пів року водить нас за ніс із тим ремонтом.
He has been stringing us along about that renovation for half a year.
робити з мухи слона
Literally to make an elephant out of a fly
Means to exaggerate something trivial into a big problem
English idiom to make a mountain out of a molehill
Example Заспокойся, не треба робити з мухи слона.
Calm down, there is no need to make a mountain out of a molehill.
на сьомому небі
Literally on the seventh heaven
Means overjoyed, delighted beyond words
English idiom on cloud nine
Example Коли її взяли на роботу, вона була на сьомому небі.
When she got the job, she was on cloud nine.
Note Often extended to на сьомому небі від щастя, literally on the seventh heaven from happiness.
як кіт наплакав
Literally as much as a cat has cried
Means a very small amount of something
English idiom next to nothing
Example Грошей до зарплати лишилося як кіт наплакав.
There is next to nothing left until payday.
як дві краплі води
Literally like two drops of water
Means looking exactly alike
English idiom like two peas in a pod
Example Брати схожі як дві краплі води.
The brothers look like two peas in a pod.
золоті руки
Literally golden hands
Means great skill at making or fixing things by hand
Example У нашого сусіда золоті руки, він полагодить будь-що.
Our neighbour is brilliant with his hands, he can fix anything.
ні пуху ні пера
Literally neither down nor feather
Means said to wish someone luck before an exam or another hard test
English idiom break a leg
Example Завтра іспит? Ні пуху ні пера!
Exam tomorrow? Break a leg!
Note The set reply is До біса (to the devil), and answering дякую is believed to jinx it.
собаку з'їв
Literally (he) has eaten a dog on it
Means to be very experienced and skilled at something
English idiom to know something inside out
Example У ремонті машин він собаку з'їв, звертайся тільки до нього.
He knows car repairs inside out, go to him and no one else.
Note Colloquial. The verb agrees with the subject, so собаку з'їла, собаку з'їли.
бити байдики
Literally to beat baidyky (small blocks of wood)
Means to idle, to do nothing useful
English idiom to twiddle one's thumbs
Example Замість того, щоб готуватися до іспиту, він цілий день бив байдики.
Instead of preparing for the exam, he twiddled his thumbs all day.
Note Байдики were blocks split from a log for carving spoons, the easiest job in the workshop.
ловити ґав
Literally to catch crows
Means to be inattentive and miss what is going on
Example Переходячи дорогу, не лови ґав, дивись на всі боки.
When you cross the road, do not let your attention wander, look both ways.
накивати п'ятами
Literally to wave with one's heels
Means to run away fast, usually from trouble
English idiom to take to one's heels
Example Побачивши поліцію, злодій накивав п'ятами.
When he saw the police, the thief took to his heels.
ні риба ні м'ясо
Literally neither fish nor meat
Means bland and indecisive, neither one thing nor the other
English idiom neither fish nor fowl
Example Його відповідь була ні риба ні м'ясо, ніхто нічого не зрозумів.
His answer was neither fish nor fowl, nobody understood a thing.
грошей кури не клюють
Literally the chickens do not peck at the money
Means to have an enormous amount of money
English idiom to be rolling in money
Example Кажуть, у нього грошей кури не клюють.
They say he is rolling in money.
замилювати очі
Literally to soap up someone's eyes
Means to mislead people with a pretty picture
English idiom to pull the wool over someone's eyes
Example Політики часто замилюють очі виборцям гучними обіцянками.
Politicians often pull the wool over voters' eyes with loud promises.
заварити кашу
Literally to brew the porridge
Means to start a messy business that someone will have to sort out
English idiom to open a can of worms
Example Заварив кашу, тепер сам її і розхльобуй.
You made this mess, now clean it up yourself.
Note Usually paired with розхльобувати кашу, literally to spoon the porridge back up, meaning to deal with the mess.
жити як сир у маслі
Literally to live like cheese in butter
Means to live in comfort and plenty
English idiom to live in clover
Example Вони переїхали до міста і тепер живуть як сир у маслі.
They moved to the city and now they are living in clover.
брати бика за роги
Literally to take the bull by the horns
Means to tackle a hard matter head on instead of putting it off
English idiom to take the bull by the horns
Example Досить зволікати, берімо бика за роги.
Enough dithering, let's take the bull by the horns.
товкти воду в ступі
Literally to pound water in a mortar
Means to waste time on pointless, repetitive effort
English idiom to go round in circles
Example На цих зборах ми вже другу годину товчемо воду в ступі.
We have been going round in circles at this meeting for two hours now.
збити з пантелику
Literally to knock someone off the pantelyk
Means to confuse someone completely
English idiom to throw someone off
Example Своїм питанням ти зовсім збив мене з пантелику.
Your question threw me off completely.
Note Пантелик has no meaning of its own outside this phrase.
ведмежа послуга
Literally a bear's favour
Means help that ends up causing harm instead
Example Твоя порада виявилася ведмежою послугою.
Your advice did more harm than good.
сьома вода на киселі
Literally the seventh water on kysil (a thin fruit jelly)
Means a very distant, barely related relative
Example Той чоловік мені сьома вода на киселі, я його майже не знаю.
That man is a very distant relative of mine, I hardly know him.
як з гуски вода
Literally like water off a goose
Means criticism or trouble leaves someone completely unbothered
English idiom like water off a duck's back
Example Йому хоч що кажи, а з нього як з гуски вода.
You can say anything to him, it is like water off a duck's back.
передати куті меду
Literally to put too much honey in the kutia
Means to overdo something and spoil the effect
English idiom to go overboard
Example З компліментами він явно передав куті меду.
He clearly went overboard with the compliments.
Note Кутя is the sweet wheat and poppy seed dish served at the Christmas Eve supper.
як Пилип з конопель
Literally like Pylyp out of the hemp field
Means blurting something out abruptly and at the wrong moment
Example Він вискочив зі своїм запитанням, як Пилип з конопель.
He barged in with his question at completely the wrong moment.
Note Folksy and usually teasing, and it almost always goes with the verb вискочити (to jump out).
An idiom is a phrase whose meaning is fixed by convention, not built from its words. That is why a word-for-word translation fails: Тримати язик за зубами comes out as "to hold the tongue behind the teeth", which makes no sense until you know it means to keep quiet, not reveal a secret.
Learn a few at a time, not a whole list. Pick the ones you keep running into, say them out loud in a real sentence, and you will remember them far longer than by drilling flashcards.
The most reliable way to absorb idioms is to meet them in context, again and again, in things you actually read. Parallel text and audio let you catch an idiom in a real Ukrainian sentence and check what it means without breaking your reading. That is what reading in Lingo7 is built for.
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The most common Ukrainian idioms, ranked by everyday frequency, start with тримати язик за зубами, як сніг на голову, водити за ніс, робити з мухи слона, на сьомому небі. Each one means something you could not guess from the words alone, which is exactly why learners have to meet them in context. This page lists 26 of them with meanings and example sentences.
In Ukrainian, "тримати язик за зубами" translates literally as "to hold the tongue behind the teeth", but it actually means to keep quiet, not reveal a secret. The closest English idiom is "to hold one's tongue". Example: Про нашу розмову тримай язик за зубами, добре? ("Keep quiet about our conversation, all right?")
The Ukrainian equivalent is "тримати язик за зубами", literally "to hold the tongue behind the teeth". Example: Про нашу розмову тримай язик за зубами, добре? ("Keep quiet about our conversation, all right?")
In Ukrainian, an idiom is called фразеологізм, and a proverb is прислів'я. In Ukrainian a fixed figurative phrase is a фразеологізм (in everyday speech people also say сталий вислів), while a прислів'я is a complete sentence carrying folk wisdom, and its shorter, unfinished cousin is a приказка.
Idioms are non-compositional: their meaning is fixed by convention, not built from the individual words. Тримати язик за зубами translates literally as "to hold the tongue behind the teeth", yet it means to keep quiet, not reveal a secret. Translate word for word and you get nonsense, so idioms have to be learned as whole units.
The fastest way is to meet them in context and reuse them, not to memorize a list. Learn a handful at a time, notice them while reading and listening, and try them in your own sentences. Reading real Ukrainian with tap-to-translate, the way Lingo7 works, turns every page into idiom practice.