Урок 1.

Абетка
Lesson 1. The Alphabet
Ukrainian
Language
 Notes
PRONUNCIATION

Ukrainian vowels are pronounced clearly.

Stressed vowels sound a bit longer than unstressed ones (i.e. the stressed í
sounds similar to i in routine). Stress is only marked in school textbooks and
dictionaries.

SPELLING

Ukrainian uses the Cyrillic script, and spelling is generally very consistent with
pronunciation.

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 Абетка
The alphabet
Now it is time to learn the Ukrainian alphabet. It is based on
the Cyrillic script, whose most ancient version was attributed to
two brothers, St. Cyril and St. Methodius, Greek Christian
missionaries in Slavic lands.

Currently, the Cyrillic script is used with minor variations by

nations who speak Slavic languages and historically belong to
the Orthodox Christian Church. These are: Ukrainians,
Russians, Belarussians, Bulgarians, Serbians, Northern
Macedonians and Montenegrins (as well as by other ethnic
groups living in their states).

Both the Roman and the Cyrillic letters are based on the same
prototype, the ancient Greek alphabet. However, they went
different paths in their development. Part of the Cyrillic
characters look and are pronounced similarly to their Roman
counterparts; some may only differ in their lowercase forms;
some look completely unfamiliar; and finally, some are tricky,
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as they are pronounced not the way you expect from their look.
Overview of the alphabet

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 Overview of the alphabet
Meet and greet the Ukrainian
characters. During the next hour, we
will review each one of them and
practice their pronunciation.
The picture shows their handwritten
and printed forms.
The cursive (handwritten) forms are
still studied at school but you are quite
unlikely to encounter them, most
probably on decorative inscriptions.

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 Voiced and unvoiced consonants
Voiced Romanized Pronunciation Unvoiced Romanize Pronunciation
d

B P
Бб
B as in
Пп
P as in “poke”
“boy”

V V as in “Venus”
В в* (but W as in “water”
before consonants
F as in “five”
(but sounds like PH in
or word-final) Фф F “phew” in some dialects)

H KH
Гг
H as “home”
Хх
like the Spanish J as in
BUT IT IS “Julio”
BETWEEN “H” AND
“G”

G K
Ґ ґ**
G as in “egg”
Кк
K as in “king”

D T
Д д(д)
D as in “day”
Т т (т)
T as in “top”

* Strictly speaking, В and Ф are not counterparts in Ukrainian;

** Ґ is quite rare, mainly used in foreign names and recent borrowings; otherwise, the English G often corresponds to the 6
Ukrainian Г in non-recent borrowings, e.g. algebra = алгебра (pronounced “alhebra”)
*** The cursive forms of the lowercase Д and T are visibly different from the printed forms
 Voiced and unvoiced (continued)
Voiced Romanized Pronunciation Unvoiced Romanized Pronunciation

ZH as S in “measure” SH SH as in “shadow”
Жж Шш
Z Z as in S S as in “same”
Зз “zoom” С с** (never as in “resign”)

DZH J as in “jam” CH CH as in “chip”

дж* Чч
DZ DZ as in “adze” TS TS as in “dots”
дз* Цц
ZHDZH very intense SHCH combination of SH + CH
ждж* version of ZH Щщ
* The asterisks marks combinations of multiple consonants to express specific sounds
** Note that C in Ukrainian, contrary to the English S, does not tend to be pronounced as Z 7
between vowels as in “resign”
 Non-paired consonants
Voiced Romanized Pronunciation

Y Y as in “May”, “boy”, “yellow”

Йй
L L as in “long”
Лл
M M as in “mom”
Мм
N N as in “number”
Нн
R R (thrilling, as in Spanish)
Рр
Л as a graphic form is only used in printed texts; people generally reduce it to Λ
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(in order to make it more distinct from П)
 Vowels
“Hard Romanized Pronunciation “Soft Romanized Pronunciation
vowels” vowels”
A A as in Ya YA as in “yard”
Аа “car”, “jar” Яя
E E as in “bed”(East) Ye YE as in “yes”
Ее or A as in
“bad”(West)
Єє
Y Close to “tip”, “bit”, I EE as in “deep”
Ии but it sounds more
muffled
Іі
Yi YEA as in “year”
Її
O AW as in
Оо “awesome”

U OO as in “book” Yu U as in “use”, “union”

Уу Юю
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Stress makes each vowel a bit longer, unstressed vowels are a bit shorter;
the unstressed “o” may sound as in “today”
 Softening (palatalization)
Combinations Romanized Pronunciation

Ñ as in Spanish “dueña”
Нь or GN in French “ligne”, “peigne”

NIA
Ня
NIE
Нє
NI as English “knee”
Ні
NIU as English “knew”
Ню
The softening sign (when the consonant
Ь is not followed by another vowel)

When soft vowels occur after consonants, they lose their Y. Instead, the preceding consonant is 10
pronounced “softer”, as if followed by a very short version of “ee”.
What if we want to keep
the Y before soft vowels?
Then we insert an apostrophe:
П’ять, дев’ять, комп’ютер

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 Reading practice
Note that foreign names (cities, first and last names) are spelt in Ukrainian according to
their pronunciation, rather than their original spelling.
For example, Montreal is Монреаль
(without T, because T is not pronounced in French in this position)
Try reading these geographic names:
Канада, Онтаріо, Торонто, Монреаль, Калґарі, Ванкувер, Саскатун, Оттава,
Київ, Берлін, Лондон, Гавана, Токіо, Мадрид, Багдад,
Україна, Іспанія, Панама, Ірак, Іран, Сербія, Аргентина, Куба

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 More reading practice
Try reading some other international words:
Студент, професор, метро, аеропорт, офіцер, консул, міністр, президент, парламент,
бойкот, ембарго, віза, паспорт, транзит, комп’ютер, дата, долар, танк, машина,
кілометр, телефон, телевізор, віскі, кола
Try reading some common English or French names:
Пітер, Джон, Джеймс, Мартін, Джастін,
Маргарет, Кейт, Мері, Софі, Елізабет,
П’єр, Жак, Жан, Клод, Ів, Віктор
Івонна, Маріанна, Жанна, Марі

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 Writting practice
• мама • кіт
• тато • берег
• місто • сон
• око • ліс
• луг • дім
• вікно • гора
• село • стіл
• берег • книга
• вода • садок
• ведмідь • дерево

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