A short guide to Ukrainian pronunciation

Ukrainian is a phonetic language with more or less consistent rules of pronunciation. In the
guide that follows, the English RP equivalents are necessarily somewhat approximate. The
IPA symbols give a closer guide to the actual sounds.

Vowels
All the main vowels are simple and short ( as in Italian )
a as in car or anatomy [а,ɐ]
e as in ten [ɛ,e]
i as in kiss or ee as in meet [i]
o as in cot [ɔ]
u as in put [ʊ]
y i as in bit [ɪ]

Consonants
b, v, d, z, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, f similar to English ( r is rolled as in Scots r )
j y as in yak [j]
h as in behind [ɦ]
g as in gaggle [g]

Diftongs and other

ts as in Tsar [ ts ]
ch as in cheese [ t∫ ]
sh as in hash [∫]
zh s as in pleasure [ʒ]
kh ch as in (Scots) loch [x]
shch as in fresh cheese [ ∫t∫ ]
(') make previos consonant "softer", f.ex. in word vechirn'e - [ v ɛ t∫ i r n' e ]