Once you can name the 33 letters, the next question is: what sound does each one make? This page gives the citation value of every letter — the full, clear sound it has in a stressed syllable when nothing is interfering with it. That is the value to learn first, because everything else in Ukrainian pronunciation is a modification of it. The good news for Ukrainian specifically is that there are far fewer modifications than in Russian: Ukrainian vowels keep their value even when unstressed (no "akanye"), and voiced consonants stay voiced at the end of a word. So the citation value you learn here will carry you a long way. Assimilation in clusters, the apostrophe, and the soft sign get their own pages — here we learn the letters at full strength.
The full letter-to-sound table
| Letter | Citation sound (IPA) | English anchor | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| А а | /a/ | a in "father" | сад (garden) |
| Б б | /b/ | b in "bed" | бар (bar) |
| В в | /w ~ ʋ/ | w/v with lips, no teeth | вода́ (water) |
| Г г | /ɦ/ | voiced h, as in "ahead" | гра (a game) |
| Ґ ґ | /ɡ/ | g in "go" | ґа́нок (porch) |
| Д д | /d/ | d in "do" | дім (house) |
| Е е | /ɛ/ | e in "met" | небо (sky) |
| Є є | /jɛ/ or soften+/ɛ/ | ye in "yes" | моє́ (my, n.) |
| Ж ж | /ʒ/ | s in "measure" | жук (beetle) |
| З з | /z/ | z in "zoo" | зуб (tooth) |
| И и | /ɪ/ | i in "bit" (hard, central) | дим (smoke) |
| І і | /i/ | ee in "see" | сік (juice) |
| Ї ї | /ji/ | yee | ї́жа (food) |
| Й й | /j/ | y in "boy" | чай (tea) |
| К к | /k/ | k in "kit" | кіт (cat) |
| Л л | /l/ | l in "lamp" | лі́то (summer) |
| М м | /m/ | m in "map" | мак (poppy) |
| Н н | /n/ | n in "no" | ніс (nose) |
| О о | /ɔ/ | o in "more" | о́ко (eye) |
| П п | /p/ | p in "pen" | піп (priest) |
| Р р | /r/ | rolled r (Spanish/Italian) | рак (crayfish) |
| С с | /s/ | s in "sun" | сир (cheese) |
| Т т | /t/ | t in "top" | тут (here) |
| У у | /u/ | oo in "boot" | сум (sadness) |
| Ф ф | /f/ | f in "fish" | фа́рба (paint) |
| Х х | /x/ | ch in Scottish "loch" | хата (cottage) |
| Ц ц | /ts/ | ts in "cats" | цар (tsar) |
| Ч ч | /tʃ/ | ch in "church" | чай (tea) |
| Ш ш | /ʃ/ | sh in "shop" | шум (noise) |
| Щ щ | /ʃtʃ/ | "fresh cheese" | щу́ка (pike) |
| Ь ь | — | silent: softens the letter before | день (day) |
| Ю ю | /ju/ or soften+/u/ | u in "use" / yoo | юна́к (youth) |
| Я я | /ja/ or soften+/a/ | ya in "yard" | я́ма (pit) |
The iotated vowels: я, є, ю, ї
Four letters do double duty. Я, є, ю, ї each have two readings depending on where they sit, and you need both from day one.
Reading 1 — carry an initial /j/ ("y"). Word-initially, after another vowel, or after the apostrophe, these letters begin with a clear /j/ glide: я = /ja/, є = /jɛ/, ю = /ju/, ї = /ji/. (Ї always has the glide — that is its whole job.)
я́блуко
apple — word-initial я = /ja/, 'YA-bluko'.
ї́жа
food — ї = /ji/, 'YEE-zha'; ї always carries the glide.
моє́
my (neuter) — є after the vowel о = /jɛ/, 'mo-YE'.
Reading 2 — soften the consonant before them. After a consonant (with no apostrophe), я, є, ю make the preceding consonant soft (palatalized) and then add the plain vowel — no separate /j/ is heard.
ля́лька
doll — ля = soft л + /a/, not 'l-ya'; the л itself is softened.
си́нє
blue (neuter) — нє = soft н + /ɛ/; compare hard синій, soft синє.
So the same letter я is "ya" at the start of я́блуко but a softening flag in ля́лька. Which reading applies is purely positional, and the apostrophe is the switch that forces reading 1 even after a consonant (м’я́со "meat" = м + /j/ + /a/). The full glide story is on iotation; the apostrophe rule has its own page.
The two i-letters head-on: і versus и
This is the contrast English ears and Russian-trained ears get wrong most, so meet it now (it has a whole page of its own):
- і = /i/ — a clear, front "ee" as in "see." It also palatalizes the consonant before it.
- и = /ɪ/ — the Ukrainian "hard i," a central vowel like the i in English "bit." It does not soften the preceding consonant.
пи́ти
to drink — both vowels are и /ɪ/: 'PY-ty', the hard-i sound twice.
дім
house — і = /i/; the д is softened by it: 'deem' with a soft d.
сир
cheese — и /ɪ/: 'syr', hard s, central vowel. Contrast сік (juice), with і.
If you read и as "ee" you will sound like a Russian speaker reading Ukrainian; if you read і as the hard-i, you will sound like the reverse. Keep them strictly apart.
Г versus Ґ: voiced h, not g
Here is the single most characteristic sound of Ukrainian. The letter г is a voiced glottal fricative /ɦ/ — like the h in English "ahead" or "behind," but with the vocal cords buzzing. It is breathy and soft, not the English hard "g." The hard /g/ of "go" is a separate letter, ґ, which appears in a small set of native and borrowed words.
гра
a game / playing — г = /ɦ/, a breathy voiced h: 'hra', never 'gra'.
ґа́нок
porch — ґ = /ɡ/, a hard g as in 'go': 'GA-nok'.
гара́ж
garage — the first г is /ɦ/ (breathy h), giving 'ha-RAZH'; the loanword keeps the Ukrainian h-sound.
Mixing them up is not a small slip: гра́ти ("to play") and the borrowed hard-g of ґа́тунок ("sort, grade") are different sounds and different letters. The full account, including which words take ґ, is on Г vs Ґ.
The sounds Ukrainian does not have
It is as useful to know what is absent as what is present:
- No English "th" — neither the th of "think" nor of "this" exists. Loanwords substitute т or ф (теа́тр "theatre," ма́рафон "marathon").
- No English "w" — the letter в is a lip sound /w ~ ʋ/, but the citation value English speakers should aim for is closer to a soft "v"; do not insert an English "w."
- Х is a rough /x/, the scrape of Scottish "loch" or German "Bach" — not an English "h" and not a "ks." That breathy true-h job belongs to г.
теа́тр
theatre — Ukrainian has no 'th', so the borrowed word uses plain т: 'te-ATR'.
хо́лодно
(it's) cold — х = rough /x/: 'KHO-lod-no', a scrape at the back of the throat.
Source-language comparison
English spelling is famously unreliable — one letter, many sounds ("c" in cat vs city). Ukrainian is the opposite: the printed letter is an honest, near-one-to-one guide to the sound, once you fix the false friends. The two places this breaks down a little are exactly the two this page flags: the iotated vowels (which read one way at a word edge and another after a consonant) and the і/и contrast (which has no English equivalent — English has only one "ee" and one "ih," not a palatalizing one and a non-palatalizing one). Everything else you can largely read off the page.
Common Mistakes
❌ гра → reading the г as English 'g' ('gra')
Incorrect — Ukrainian г is the breathy voiced /ɦ/; 'hra' is right.
✅ гра → 'hra'; ґа́нок → 'ganok'
г = voiced h, ґ = hard g; they are different letters and sounds.
❌ дим → 'deem'
Incorrect — и is the hard /ɪ/, not 'ee'; this is 'dym' (smoke). 'deem' would be дім (house), with і.
✅ дим = 'dym', дім = 'deem'
smoke vs house — и and і split the meanings.
❌ ї́жа → 'izha' (no glide)
Incorrect — ї always carries the /j/ glide: 'YEE-zha'.
✅ ї́жа → 'YEE-zha'
food — ї = /ji/.
❌ хо́лодно → reading х as English 'h' ('holodno')
Incorrect — х is the rough /x/ of 'loch'; the breathy true-h is г, not х.
✅ хо́лодно → 'KHO-lod-no'
(it's) cold — х = /x/.
❌ моє → 'mo-e' (no glide on є)
Incorrect — after a vowel, є = /jɛ/: 'mo-YE'.
✅ моє́ → 'mo-YE'
my (neuter) — є carries the glide after the vowel о.
Key Takeaways
- This page gives citation values; clusters, the apostrophe, and the soft sign adjust them on their own pages.
- Я, є, ю, ї are iotated: they carry /j/ at a word edge or after the apostrophe, but soften a preceding consonant; ї always carries the glide.
- і = /i/ ("ee," palatalizing) and и = /ɪ/ ("bit," non-palatalizing) are two different vowels — the contrast English has no model for.
- Г = voiced h /ɦ/ ("ahead"); ґ = hard g /ɡ/ ("go"). They are different letters.
- Ukrainian has no "th," no English "w"; х is the rough /x/ of "loch," not an English "h."
Now practice Ukrainian
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning Ukrainian→Related Topics
- The Ukrainian AlphabetA1 — All 33 letters of the modern Ukrainian Cyrillic alphabet — their printed forms, names, and approximate sounds — sorted into the familiar friends, the dangerous false friends that look Latin but aren't, and the brand-new shapes, plus the four letters (і ї є ґ) that mark Ukrainian apart from Russian at a glance.
- І, И, and Ї: The Three i-SoundsA1 — The trio і / и / ї is the feature English learners — and Russian-trained learners especially — get wrong most: і = /i/ (a clear 'ee' that softens the consonant before it), и = /ɪ/ (the hard central 'bit' vowel that does not soften), and ї = /ji/ (always iotated, never after a consonant).
- Г vs Ґ: The Two g-LettersA2 — Why Ukrainian has two g-letters — the breathy г (/ɦ/) of the everyday vocabulary versus the hard plosive ґ (/g/) of a small, learnable word list — plus the Soviet ban that explains why older texts drop ґ entirely.
- The Soft Sign ЬA1 — The soft sign ь (м’який знак) spells no sound of its own — it marks that the preceding consonant is soft (palatalized). It appears word-finally and before consonants, only after д т з с ц л н дз, never after a vowel or at the start of a word, and it is the exact opposite of the apostrophe.
- The Apostrophe (Апостроф)A1 — The Ukrainian apostrophe ’ is a full orthographic sign, not punctuation: it marks that a hard consonant is followed by an iotated vowel (я ю є ї) pronounced with a clear /j/ glide — blocking the softening that would otherwise happen. It is written after the labials б п в м ф and after р, and after consonant-final prefixes.
- Ukrainian Pronunciation: OverviewA1 — A map of Ukrainian pronunciation built on four pillars — clear near-unreduced vowels, free meaning-distinguishing stress, hard/soft consonant pairs, and the absence of final devoicing — and the headline news that Ukrainian is far more phonetic than Russian.