Ukrainian alphabet - Українська абетка (українська мова для іноземців, урок 1)

Урок 1. Абетка. Lesson 1. The Alphabet. D. Lytov – October 2022 Ukrainian. Level A1.1

2 Notes. PRONUNCIATIONUkrainian 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. SPELLINGUkrainian uses the Cyrillic script, and spelling is generally very consistent with pronunciation.

3 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, as they are pronounced not the way you expect from their look.

Overview of the alphabet. Meet and greet the Ukrainian characters. During the next hours, 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.4

Voiced and unvoiced consonants5{20 FA8241-712 C-4432-A070-094 FFF41 A44 E}Voiced. Romanized. Pronunciation. Unvoiced. Romanized. Pronunciation. Б б. BB as in“boy”П п PP as in “poke”В в*VV as in “Venus” (but W as in “water” before consonants or word-final)Ф ф. FF as in “five”(but sounds like PH in “phew” in some dialects)Г г. HH as “home”Х х. KHlike the Spanish J as in “Julio”Ґ ґ**GG as in “egg”К к. KK as in “king”Д д(д)DD as in “day”Т т (т)TT as in “top”* Strictly speaking, В and Ф are not counterparts in Ukrainian; see the notes about their pronunciation** Ґ is quite rare, mainly used in foreign names and recent borrowings; otherwise, the English G often corresponds to the 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)6{20 FA8241-712 C-4432-A070-094 FFF41 A44 E}Voiced. Romanized. Pronunciation. Unvoiced. Romanized. Pronunciation. Ж ж. ZHas S in “measure”Ш ш. SHSH as in “shadow”З з. ZZ as in“zoom”С с**SS as in “same”(never as in “resign”)дж*DZHJ as in “jam”Ч ч. CHCH as in “chip”(not as in “cheap”)дз*DZDZ as in “adze”Ц ц. TSTS as in “dots”ждж*ZHDZHvery intense version of ZHЩ щ. SHCHcombination of SH + CH* 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 between vowels as in “resign”

Non-paired consonants7{20 FA8241-712 C-4432-A070-094 FFF41 A44 E}Voiced. Romanized. Pronunciation. Й й. YY as in “May”, “boy”, “yellow”Л л. LL as in “long”М м. MM as in “mom”Н н. NN as in “number”Р р. RR (thrilling, as in Spanish)Л as a graphic form is only used in printed texts; people generally reduce it to Λ(in order to make it more distinct from П)

Vowels8{20 FA8241-712 C-4432-A070-094 FFF41 A44 E}“Hard vowels”Romanized. Pronunciation“Soft vowels”Romanized. Pronunciation. А а. AA as in“car”, “jar”Я я Ya. YA as in “yard”Е е. EE as in “bed”(East) or A as in “bad”(West)Є єYe. YE as in “yes”И и. YI as in “tip”, “bit”І іIEE as in “deep”Ї їYi. YEA as in “year”О о. OAW as in “awesome”У у. UOO as in “book”Ю ю. Yu. U as in “use”, “union”Stress makes each vowel a bit longer, unstressed vowels are a bit shorter; the unstressed “o” may sound as in “today”

Softening (palatalization)9{20 FA8241-712 C-4432-A070-094 FFF41 A44 E}Combinations. Romanized. Pronunciation. НьÑas in Spanish “dueña” or GN in French “ligne”, “peigne”Ня. NIAНєNIEНіNIas English “knee”Ню. NIUas English “knew”ЬThe softening sign (when the consonant is not followed by another vowel)When soft vowels occur after consonants, they lose their Y. Instead, the preceding consonant is 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’ютер10

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, Куба11

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, ВікторІвонна, Маріанна, Жанна, Марі12