Ukrainian and Russian - Chrystyna Lucyk-Berger

Cyrillic is the alphanet used by many Slavic people, including Russian and Ukrainian people. Compare the Russian with the Ukrainian. What differences do you see?

Russian Alphabet

A a	a as in father
Б б	b as in but
В в	v as in van
Г г	g as in get
Дд	d as in dress
E e	ye as in yesterday
Е ё	yo as in yonder
Ж ж	zh as in measure
З з	z as in zoo
И и	ee as in meet
И й	y as in toy

K к	k as in class
Л л	l as in love
MM	m as mother
Н н	n as in name
О о	o as in bottle
П п	p as in paper
P p	r as in error
С с	s as in smile
T т	t as in ten
У у	u as in cool
Ф ф	f as in farm

X x	h as in loch
Ц ц	ts as in its
Ч ч	ch as in chess
Ш ш	sh as in fish
Щ щ	shsh in fresh chat
Ъ	“hard sign”
Ы ы	i as in bill
ь	“soft sign”
Э э	e as in bet
Ю ю	yu in Yugoslavia
Я я	ya as in yard

Ukrainian Alphabet

А а	like a in father
Б б	like b in bat
В в	like v in valve
Г г	like h in hat
Ґ ґ	like g in got
Д д	like d in dog
Е е	like e in let
Є є	like ye in yes
Ж ж	like ge in garage
З з	like z in zoo
И и	like i in it or y in myth

І і	like ee in meet
Ї ї	like yie sound in yield
Й й	like y in yolk
К к	like k in kit
Л л	like l in lab
М м	like m in more
Н н	linke n in no
О о	like o in off, dot
П п	like p in poor
Р р	like r in error
С с	like s in sit

У у	like oo in boot
ф Ф	like f in fit
Х х	like ch in Loch Ness
Ц ц	like ts in bats
Ч ч	like ch in chip
Ш ш	like sh in shot
Щ щ	like sh ch in fresh cheese
Ь ь	“soft sign”
Ю ю	like the word you
Я я	like ya in yacht
У у	like oo in boot

What is transliteration?

How can English speakers still read Ukrainian words? By transliteration. That means assigning the English alphabet to the Ukrainian alphabet and sounds. If you look at the Ukrainian chart, the transliteration key is available to you. For fun, try spelling these words from the Latin into Cyrillic letters in Ukrainian. Check your answers by clicking on the box. You’ll get the definition, too!

Chorne More

Чорне море
Black Sea

Yurko

Юрко
George

Stefa

Стефа
short for Stephanie

holubtsi

голубці
cabbage rolls, a popular dish

Pysanka

писанка
a traditional, hand-painted Easter egg

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