Introduction to Ukrainian language

stasya | 20.01.2011 | 8

The first thing one should start from, when learning a new language, is the alphabet.

Knowing the letters and sounds you will encounter during your long journey sure is useful and helps a lot with learning new words.

Once you have mastered the alphabet consider yourself officially in!

To be serious I find it really hard for English-speaking (or people whose native language is based on Latin alphabet) people to actually understand and “see” Cyrillic letters. Very often they confuse letters like “b” and “ь” or “R” and “Я” or “n” and “п” etc., which leads to some sort of mutant words. Can't say I can blame them, but if you want to study well and understand what you're studying you shouldn't mix the letters thus preventing the mess in your head and other people's heads.

Coming to the point, let's look through the actual alphabet:

Upright Italic Pronunciation Tips
Аа Аа /ɑ/ like in "bus"
Бб Бб /b/ like in "best"
Вв Вв /w/a like in "vest"
Гг Гг /ɦ/  
Ґґ Ґґ /g/ like in "ground"
Дд Дд /d/, /dʲ/ like in "deck"
Ее Ее /ɛ/ like in "end"
Єє Єє /jɛ/ or /ʲɛ/ like in "yellow"
Жж Жж /ʒ/ like in "pleasure"
Зз Зз /z/, /zʲ/ like in "zap"
Ии Ии /ι/ like in "trip"
Іі Іі /i/, /ʲi/ like in "bee"
Її Її /ji/ like in "yeast"
Йй Йй /j/ like "j" sound in "play"
Кк Кк /k/ like in "crowd"
Лл Лл /l/, /lʲ/ like in "loud"
Мм Мм /m/ like in "mother"
Нн Нн /n/, /nʲ/ like in "nest"
Оо Оо /ɔ/ like in "folk"
Пп Пп /p/ like in "pride"
Рр Рр /r/, /rʲ/ like in "rest" but harder
Сс Сс /s/, /sʲ/ like in "steak"
Тт Тт /t/, /tʲ/ like in "test" but not so soft
Уу Уу /u/ like in "bull"
Фф Фф /f/ like in "fun"
Хх Хх /x/ like in "heart"
Цц Цц /͡ts/, /͡tsʲ/ like "ts" in "tsunami"
Чч Чч /͡tʃ/ like in "chest"
Шш Шш /ʃ/ like "sh" in "shelf"
Щщ Щщ /ʃ͡tʃ/ combination of "sh" and "ch"
Ьь Ьь /ʲ/ a soft sign
Юю Юю /ju/ or /ʲu/ like in "you"
Яя Яя /ja/ or /ʲa/ like in "yard"

 

Remember:

  1. Ukrainian consonants by themselves are not and can not be soft. Thus don't pronounce letters “р” (r), “т” (t), “ч” (ch), “ш” (sh), “щ” (shch) softly like in English;

  2. “ь” is a consonant, but it can't be pronounced by itself. It's only purpose is to soften consonants before it.

More about letters

Vowels

There are two types of vowels in Ukrainian language:

  1. Hard vowels: а, е, и, і, о.

  2. Iotified vowels: я, ю, є, ї. The name comes from the consonant “й” (iot).

    й + а = я

    й + у = ю

    й + е = є

    й + і = ї

Consonants

You may find the names of the following groups a bit hard to understand or memorize, that's why I recommend to focus on the consonants from each group instead.

  1. Labials (б, п, в, м, ф): these consonants can't be soft and can never be doubled (remember them well, because they will appear in the article about apostrophes).

  2. Post-alveolar sibilants (ж, ч, ш, щ): can't be soft either. They never come in pair with iotified vowels я, ю, є, ї or soft sign ь. Сan be doubled.

  3. Dentals (д, з, л, н, с, т, ц): these letters can be both hard and soft. Can be doubled.

  4. Alveolar (р): this letter can be either hard or soft. It is always hard at the end of a syllable. It is always hard at the end of a word and is never followed by a soft sign. Сan never be doubled.

  5. Velars (г, ґ, к, х): these letters are always hard. Can never be doubled.

 

One more thing. You may find in different sources that the consonants: б, п, в, м, ф / ж, ч, ш, щ / г, ґ, к, х can be both soft and hard (unlike above), which is actually due to a fact that in Ukrainian language we have two categories for “soft”: soft and softened. The second one means that the consonant isn't soft fully, but only in a half. Nevertheless, I don't think you will understand such explanation in full, but still I have to notice this to guard myself from further questions on this.

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