COMMON AND DISTINCTIVE FEATURES OF THE CONDITIONAL MOOD IN GERMAN AND UKRAINIAN IN THE TRANSLATION ASPECT

Abstract

The article "Common and Distinctive Features of the Conditional Mood in German and Ukrainian in the Translation Aspect (Based on Newspaper Articles about the European Union)" is devoted to a comparative analysis of the functioning of the conditional mood in German and Ukrainian within the framework of journalistic discourse. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of grammatical, semantic, and pragmatic features of conditional constructions used in newspaper texts devoted to the activities of the European Union, with the aim of identifying the challenges and regularities in translating from German into Ukrainian. The study examines the structural, grammatical, and lexical features of the conditional mood in both languages. The research material includes authentic German-language articles from leading print and online media outlets (such as Die Zeit, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Süddeutsche Zeitung) and their Ukrainian translations or parallel texts in Ukrainian media.The article analyzes the use of Konjunktiv I and Konjunktiv II in German texts to convey hypothetical situations, indirect speech, assumptions, doubt, or evaluation, as well as the means of reproducing these meanings in Ukrainian – analytical constructions with the particle би, conditional conjunctions, intonation patterns, and others. Special attention is paid to translation techniques, among which are the use of the indicative mood, the Ukrainian conditional mood, modal constructions, omission of the conjunctive form, syntactic restructuring, and constructions with the conjunction ніби ("as if"). The study shows that the conditional mood in journalistic texts often serves not only a grammatical but also a stylistic function – softening statements, indicating hypothetical content, or expressing political politeness. This requires the translator to demonstrate not only linguistic but also cultural and discursive sensitivity. The article emphasizes the importance of adequate rendering of the conditional mood to preserve the modal meaning and pragmatic force of the original text. The findings may be useful for professionals in the fields of translation, media linguistics, and intercultural communication.