In this section: Alphabet
The Ukrainian alphabet
All 33 Ukrainian letters with their names, an approximate sound guide and an example word, plus the letters that trip up English readers.
On this page
What you will learn
By the end of this page you will be able to name and recognise all 33 letters of the Ukrainian alphabet, you will have a rough idea of the sound each one stands for, and you will know which letters look familiar but mean something different from what an English reader expects.
The sound descriptions here are approximate. English and Ukrainian do not share the same set of sounds, so a comparison such as “like the oo in food” only gets you close. The next page, Pronunciation basics, explains the sounds in more detail.
Before you start
This is the first page of the course, so there is nothing to read first. You do not need to know any other language that uses Cyrillic.
The alphabet at a glance
Ukrainian is written in a form of the Cyrillic alphabet with 33 letters. Every letter has a capital and a small form (official orthography, section 4.1):
А Б В Г Ґ Д Е Є Ж З И І Ї Й К Л М Н О П Р С Т У Ф Х Ц Ч Ш Щ Ь Ю Я
The apostrophe (’) is also used in spelling, but it is not a letter and it is not part of the alphabet (official orthography, section 4.1). It is covered below.
The letter names below are the official ones from the same alphabet table. Vowels are named by their sound. Most consonants are named with an added е, so б is бе and л is ел.
All 33 letters
Every example word below was checked for stress in the Горох dictionary and, where it lists the word, in «Словники України». The mark over a vowel (as in апте́ка) shows the stressed syllable. Ordinary Ukrainian text does not show it; see Stress and transliteration.
| Letter | Name | Approximate sound | Example | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| А а | а | an open a, roughly as in "father", but short | апте́ка | pharmacy |
| Б б | бе | b | борщ | borshch (beet soup) |
| В в | ве | v before a vowel; close to w at the end of a syllable | вода́ | water |
| Г г | ге | a voiced, h-like sound made in the throat; not the g of "go" | гора́ | mountain |
| Ґ ґ | ґе | g as in "go" | ґа́нок | porch |
| Д д | де | d | дім | house, home |
| Е е | е | e, roughly as in "bed" | е́хо | echo |
| Є є | є | ye, as in "yes"; after a consonant, a softened consonant plus е | Євро́па | Europe |
| Ж ж | же | like the s in "pleasure" | жук | beetle |
| З з | зе | z | зима́ | winter |
| И и | и | roughly the i in "sit"; further back than і | ри́ба | fish |
| І і | і | roughly the ee in "see", but short | кіт | cat |
| Ї ї | ї | always yi: й plus і | ї́жа | food |
| Й й | йот | y as in "yes"; after a vowel, a short i-like glide | чай | tea |
| К к | ка | k, without a puff of breath after it | ка́ва | coffee |
| Л л | ел | l; the hard л is a "dark" l | ліс | forest |
| М м | ем | m | мо́ва | language |
| Н н | ен | n (not h) | ніс | nose |
| О о | о | a rounded o, also when unstressed | о́зеро | lake |
| П п | пе | p, without a puff of breath after it | п’ять | five |
| Р р | ер | a rolled or tapped r (not p) | рука́ | hand, arm |
| С с | ес | s (not k) | сестра́ | sister |
| Т т | те | t, without a puff of breath after it | та́то | dad |
| У у | у | roughly the oo in "food", but short (not y) | ву́лиця | street |
| Ф ф | еф | f | фо́то | photo |
| Х х | ха | like the ch in Scottish "loch" (not ks) | ха́та | house, cottage |
| Ц ц | це | ts, as in "cats" | цу́кор | sugar |
| Ч ч | че | ch, as in "church" | час | time |
| Ш ш | ша | sh, as in "shop" | шко́ла | school |
| Щ щ | ща | ш and ч together, roughly "sh-ch" as in "fresh cheese" | ща́стя | happiness |
| Ь ь | м’яки́й знак | no sound of its own; makes the consonant before it soft | сіль | salt |
| Ю ю | ю | yu, as in "you"; after a consonant, a softened consonant plus у | юна́к | young man |
| Я я | я | ya, as in "yard"; after a consonant, a softened consonant plus а | я́блуко | apple |
The name of Ь, м’яки́й знак, means “soft sign”. The plain-English comparisons in the table are this site’s approximations. The descriptions of the Ukrainian sounds behind them follow a published phonetic study and an encyclopedia entry by a specialist.
Letters that look familiar but are not
Several Ukrainian letters have the same shape as Latin letters but stand for different sounds. These are the ones most often misread:
| Ukrainian letter | Looks like | Actually sounds like | Example | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| В в | B | v | вода́ | water |
| Н н | H | n | ніс | nose |
| Р р | P | r | рука́ | hand, arm |
| С с | C | s | сестра́ | sister |
| У у | y | u (oo) | ву́лиця | street |
| Х х | X | a throaty h, as in "loch" | ха́та | house, cottage |
Common mistake
Do not read Р as p, Н as h or С as k. Ukrainian spells p with П, h-like sounds with Г or Х, and k with К.
И and І
Ukrainian has two different i-like vowels, and the letters are easy to mix up:
- І і is close to the ee in “see”, but short.
- И и is further back in the mouth and a little lower. The phonetic study describes it as further back and lower than і, close to the IPA vowel [ɪ]. As a rough English comparison (ours, not the study’s), it is nearer to the vowel of “sit” than to that of “see”.
The difference changes meaning:
И and І change the word
Common mistake
The capital И looks like a mirrored Latin N, and the small и looks like a Latin u. Neither stands for n or u. The letter for the u sound is у.
Г and Ґ
These are two separate letters for two different sounds (official orthography, §5, §6):
- Г г is a fricative made in the throat. It is voiced, so it sounds like a breathy h with the voice switched on. It is the far more common letter.
- Ґ ґ is a stop made with the back of the tongue, like the g in “go”. It appears in a limited number of Ukrainian words and in Ukrainian names (official orthography, §6).
Г and Ґ
Є, Ї, Ю and Я: one letter, two sounds
The letters є, ю, я stand for two sounds, й plus a vowel, in three positions: at the start of a word, after a vowel, and after an apostrophe (official orthography, §4). After a consonant they do something different. They show that the consonant is soft and add the vowel е, у or а (official orthography, §4).
Ї is simpler: it always stands for й plus і (official orthography, §3).
| Position | Example | Meaning | What you hear |
|---|---|---|---|
| start of a word | я́блуко | apple | й + а at the start |
| start of a word | юна́к | young man | й + у at the start |
| after a vowel | моя́ | my (feminine) | о, then й + а |
| after a consonant | лю́ди | people | a soft л, then у; no separate й |
| after a consonant | дя́дько | uncle | a soft д, then а |
| after an apostrophe | м’я́со | meat | a hard м, then й + а |
Ї is always й + і
Й
Й stands for a y sound like the one in “yes”. After a vowel it forms a short glide with it, as in чай (tea) and мій (my, masculine). At the end of a syllable it is a short i-like glide rather than a full consonant.
Щ
Щ stands for two sounds together, ш followed by ч. English has the same pair across a word boundary in “fresh cheese”. In fast speech it can be shortened.
Щ
The soft sign Ь
Ь has no sound of its own. It shows that the consonant before it is soft (palatalised), roughly as if a hint of y were blended into it. It is written after д, т, з, с, ц, дз, л, н at the end of a syllable (official orthography, §26) and before о (§8).
The soft sign
Some letters you may see in other languages written in Cyrillic, such as Russian, are not part of the Ukrainian alphabet, and Ukrainian has no hard sign (official orthography, section 4.1). If a word contains a letter missing from the table above, it is not Ukrainian spelling.
The apostrophe
The apostrophe is not a letter, but it matters for pronunciation. It shows that a hard consonant is pronounced separately from the following я, ю, є or ї. The vowel then keeps its й sound (official orthography, §7). Compare:
With and without an apostrophe
The most common places for an apostrophe are after б, п, в, м, ф and р, and after a prefix ending in a consonant (official orthography, §7). You do not need these rules to read: when you see ’, pronounce the й.
Note
This site writes the apostrophe as ’ (a curly apostrophe), as the official orthography does. Many people type the straight keyboard apostrophe instead; it marks the same thing.
Common mistakes
Common mistake
- Reading look-alike letters as Latin. В is v, Н is n, Р is r, С is s, У is u and Х is a throaty h.
- Treating Г as g. In Ukrainian, Г is an h-like sound. The g of “go” is written Ґ.
- Swapping И and І. І is the ee-like vowel; И is further back. They distinguish words such as дім and дим.
- Reading Ь as a vowel. It has no sound of its own.
- Dropping the й after an apostrophe. In м’я́со you hear м, then й + а.
Pages in Alphabet
Pronunciation basics
The six Ukrainian vowels, hard and soft consonants, Г and Ґ, В at the end of a syllable, Й, Щ, the apostrophe and voicing, with the mistakes English speakers make most often.
Stress and transliteration
Where Ukrainian word stress falls, how this site marks it, and how the official 2010 system writes Ukrainian names in Latin letters, with its limits.
Practice
Recordings
The recordings of the example words are from Wikimedia Commons, made by volunteer native speakers. Words whose meaning depends on the stress have no recording, because a recording cannot show which word it is.
- рестора́н, дім, дим, кіт, кит, гора́, ґа́нок, ґу́дзик, ї́жа, що, ще, ща́стя, день, сього́дні, бур’я́н, буря́к, п’ять, а, апте́ка, борщ, вода́, де, є, же, жук, ри́ба, і, чай, ка́ва, ліс, мо́ва, ніс, о, о́зеро, рука́, сестра́, те, та́то, у, ву́лиця, ха́та, це, цу́кор, час, шко́ла, юна́к, я, я́блуко, моя́, лю́ди, дя́дько, м’я́со: recorded by Галя Раптова, Nicolas Vion, CC BY 3.0 US.
- Украї́на, сіль: recorded by Женя Музика, Nicolas Vion, CC BY 3.0 US.
- е, Євро́па, и, ї, ю: recorded by Tohaomg, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- зима́: recorded by Галя Раптова, Vion Nicholas, CC BY 3.0 US.
- ша: recorded by Po ukraińsku (Andriana), CC0.
Sources
- Стандарт державної мови «Український правопис». Офіційне видання (Національна комісія зі стандартів державної мови)
- Ukrainian (Illustrations of the IPA). Journal of the International Phonetic Association 47(3), 2017, 349–357 (Bernd Pompino-Marschall, Elena Steriopolo, Marzena Żygis, International Phonetic Association / Cambridge University Press (open-access copy on edoc-Server, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin))
- Ukrainian language (section “Phonetics and phonemics”). Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (George Yurii Shevelov, Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (originally Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 5, 1993))
- Горох — онлайн-бібліотека словників української мови: Словозміна, Тлумачення (goroh.pp.ua)
- «Словники України» online (Український мовно-інформаційний фонд НАН України (ULIF))
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