Start here

If you are new to Ukrainian, this page suggests an order to read the site in. You don’t need any knowledge of grammar to start. Each step builds on the one before, and each page says what you will be able to do after reading it.

Before you begin

• Ukrainian uses the Cyrillic alphabet. Learning to read it comes first. Everything else on the site depends on it.
• Examples show stress marks. An accent such as the one in мо́ва shows which syllable is stressed. Ordinary Ukrainian text doesn’t have these marks; they are here to help you learn.
• There are two words for “you”. Examples are labelled informal (ти) or formal or plural (ви). With people you don’t know, use ви.

Step 1: the alphabet and pronunciation

1. The alphabet: the 33 letters, their names, and which ones look like Latin letters but sound different.
2. Pronunciation: how the vowels and consonants sound, soft and hard consonants, and the apostrophe.
3. Stress and transliteration: why stress matters, and how Ukrainian is written in Latin letters.

Step 2: first sentences

Once you can read Cyrillic, you can start using the language straight away. These pages give you reusable sentence patterns with short explanations.

4. Greetings: hello, goodbye, and how are you.
5. Introductions: your name, where you are from, and what you do.
6. Politeness: please, thank you, sorry, and asking someone to repeat.

The Beginner sentences section has four more situations: everyday needs, directions, shopping and time. Come back to them whenever you need them.

Step 3: how the grammar works

The grammar section explains why the sentences look the way they do. Start with the overview, then read the topics in order.

7. Grammar overview: a short map of how Ukrainian grammar differs from English.
8. Sentence structure: word order, no words for a and the, and leaving out is.
9. Nouns and gender: every noun is masculine, feminine or neuter.
10. Pronouns and the present tense: talking about what you and others do.
11. Cases, an overview: why nouns change their endings.

The grammar overview lists all the grammar topics in order, including the past and future tenses, adjectives, questions, negation and prepositions.

Along the way

• Vocabulary has small word lists by theme, with the gender of each noun and the aspect of each verb.
• The glossary explains grammar terms such as case, aspect and agreement in plain English.
• About and sources explains how the site is written and checked, and lists the references.