LingoflyUkrainian alphabet
The Ukrainian alphabet is the Ukrainian Cyrillic: 33 letters. 33 letters: a few read the way they look, six only look Latin, and the rest are new shapes. The characters are grouped: five letters to watch, two letters that surprise, the other twenty-six. Below is a table with sound and a breakdown by groups.
All 33 letters in one list
а (a), б (b), в (v), г, ґ, д, е, є (ye), ж (zh), з (z), и, і (i), ї (yi), й (y), к, л, м, н, о (o), п, р, с, т, у (U), ф, х, ц, ч, ш, щ, ь, ю, я (ya)
Five letters to watch
і (i) is the ee of "see". и looks like a mirrored N and sounds shorter, close to the i of "sit": дим (dym) is smoke, дім (dim) is a house. ї (yi) is always yee, and є (ye) is ye. ґ is a plain g, found in only a handful of words.
Two letters that surprise
г looks like the Greek gamma, but it is an h with the voice on, never a g. щ is two sounds in a row: sh and then ch.
The other twenty-six
Six read the way they look: а (a), е, к, м, о (o), т. Six only look Latin: в (v) is v, н is n, р is r, с is s, у (U) is oo, and х is the ch of Scottish "loch". The other fourteen are new shapes. Thirteen of them stand for sounds you already know, and ь has no sound: it softens the letter before it.
- А аa as in "father"
- Б бb as in "book"be
- В вv as in "van"ve
- Д дd as in "door"de
- Е еe as in "bet"
- Ж жzh as in "measure"zhe
- З зz as in "zoo"ze
- Й йy as in "yes"yot
- К кk as in "kite"ka
- Л лl as in "lamp"el
- М мm as in "map"em
- Н нn as in "no"en
- О оo as in "more"
- П пp as in "pen"pe
- Р рa rolled rer
- С сs as in "sun"es
- Т тt as in "top"te
- У уoo as in "food"u
- Ф фf as in "fun"ef
- Х хch as in Scottish "loch"kha
- Ц цts as in "cats"tse
- Ч чch as in "church"che
- Ш шsh as in "ship"sha
- Ь ьno sound, softenssoft sign
- Ю юyoo as in "you"yu
- Я яya as in "yard"ya
What to know about this script
There are 33 letters, and most of them stand for one steady sound. Four pack a y and a vowel into one letter: я (ya), ю, є (ye) and ї (yi). The soft sign ь has no sound of its own.
The apostrophe (ʼ) is not a letter. It stands between a consonant and я (ya), ю, є (ye) or ї (yi) and keeps their y: мʼясо (miaso) (meat) reads m-yaso.
Stress is not marked in ordinary writing, so learn it together with each word.
Where this script came from and why it looks the way it does
The letter ґ is the only one the Ukrainian alphabet has lost and won back: the reform of 1933 threw it out, and in 1990 it returned. It is exactly the letter for the plain “g” of “go”; few words use it, a few dozen roots: ґанок (ganok), ґудзик (gudzyk).
The current ‘Ukrainskyi pravopys’ [Ukrainian orthography], Potebnia Institute of Linguistics, 2019 edition
Test yourself
Five characters at random. No need to answer aloud — just pick; the answer appears at once.
- Which character reads as “a as in "father"”?
A pure open a as in "father"
- Which character reads as “h with the voice on”?
Looks like the Greek gamma, but it is never a g. The g of "go" has a rare letter of its own, the same shape with a small hook on top
- Which character reads as “e as in "bet"”?
It never adds a y in front of itself: for ye, Ukrainian has a separate letter
- Which character reads as “z as in "zoo"”?
An ordinary z as in "zoo"
- Which character reads as “yee as in "yield"”?
It keeps its y wherever it stands: yisty (to eat)
How to learn letters so they stay
You cannot learn a table by staring at it. What works: see a character, try to recall its sound, get it wrong, see the right answer — and come back to that character in a day, not in an hour.
- Recalling beats re-reading. Covering the translation and trying to remember it does more than reading it ten more times.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · 188 experiments, 272 comparisons. g = 0.61; against plain re-reading 0.51, against passive review 0.93.
- It is better to test yourself the next day than at the end of the same session. That is why a word comes back to you tomorrow.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · g = 0.82 when tested a day or two later, against 0.56 on the same day.
- Studying a little every day gets more into your head than spending the same total time in one sitting.checked many timesDonovan & Radosevich, 1999, Journal of Applied Psychology 84(5) · 63 studies compared, difference d = 0.46 — a sizeable figure for a learning effect.
That is why the alphabet in the app is learned a few characters at a time, not all at once: nobody holds 33 signs in one sitting.
Frequently asked
How many letters in the Ukrainian alphabet?
33 letters — Ukrainian Cyrillic: а (a), б (b), в (v), г, ґ, д, е, є (ye), ж (zh), з (z), и, і (i), ї (yi), й (y), к, л, м, н, о (o), п, р, с, т, у (U), ф, х, ц, ч, ш, щ, ь, ю, я (ya). The characters have capital and small forms.
Can I listen to how the Ukrainian letters sound?
Not yet: we have no recordings for this script. That is why there is no sound button either — it would be silent.
How long does it take to learn the Ukrainian alphabet?
A few characters a day — one to two weeks, if you come back to what you covered. The whole alphabet crammed in an evening is remembered for an evening: without reviews the next day and three days later, the characters are almost entirely gone.
Where to start: letters or words?
With the letters. A word in an unfamiliar script cannot be read at all, and a word card tells you no more than a picture.