Lesson 3: The Ukrainian alphabet

How to read Ukrainian Lesson 3

Free Ukrainian Course
How to read Ukrainian

Lesson 3: Special Ukrainian sounds


In this lesson you will learn:

  • The Ukrainian letters Є Ї Ю Ж Х Ч Ш Щ Ф
  • Their possible combinations

By now, we have seen more than half of the Ukrainian alphabet. And yet, this lesson is not going to be very easy. Here, we have gathered some speacial Ukrainian sounds that will require more practice and patience. The good new is that after this lesson, you’ll be able to read most of Ukrainian words.

New Ukrainian letters

Letters: Є Х Ш

Let’s learn two useful questions to use in a foreign country: “Who is this?” and “What is this?”

ХТО ЦЕ?
[h t o] [ts e]
Who (is) this?
ЩО ЦЕ?
[shch o] [ts e]
What (is) this?

Try to memorize these questions and imitate the sounds. We are going to practice them in different combinations later in this lesson. And now, let’s add one more phrase to our vocabulary: “My hobby is chess”.

МОЄ ХОБІ – ШАХИ
[m o je] [h o b i] [sh a h y]
My hobby (is) chess

Don’t mix up the letters “є” and “е”. Our new letter “є” is pronounced like “ye” in “yellow” unlike the letter “е” which has a very open sound, somewhat similar to “a” in the word “cat”.

The sound of the letter “х” is similar to an intense version of the English “h”.

And finally, pay attention to these two letters: Ш and Щ. They look almost the same but their sound is different. Ш is pronounced like “sh” in “ship”. And Щ is a combination of “sh” and “ch” pronounced together: shch. Don’t worry if you can’t notice much difference between these sounds at once. You’ll train your hearing to do it with time.

Reading practice

Reading practice

Let’s see if you can read new letters in other combinations. Listen to the audio and repeat:

ЄД ЄН ХО ХЕ ШО ШЕ ХІ ХУ ШУ ЄШ

ЄМН ЄДН ХРО ХЛУ ШТУ ХОР ШОР ЄДО ЄНА

ХІША ХУШИ ШОХА ШИХО ШУМА

ТВОЄ ХЛІБ ШАХРАЙ ХАТА ШАФА ХУТІР

New Ukrainian letters

Letters: Ч Щ

After working so hard with those complicated Ukrainian letters, we are going to relax and have a snack. How about pizza? Or do you feel brave enough to try the most famous Ukrainian dish?

ПІЦА ЧИ БОРЩ
[p i ts a] [ch y] [b o r shch]
Pizza or borshch?

Have you ever been to Ukraine? If you have then you probably know a very popular dish called “борщ”. It is made of meat, vegetables and beetroot. As you can see, this word contains the tricky letter “щ”. Remember that it’s more intense and voiced than “ш”. Try to pronounce “sh” and “ch” simultaneously to get this sound correctly.

Reading practice

Reading practice


As usual, we are going to practice the sounds of the letters we have learnt so far. Pay special attention to the difference in pronunciation of “ш” and “щ”.

ЧА ША ЩА ЧЕ ШЕ ЩЕ ЧУ ШУ ЩУ ШО ЩО

ПЧУ УЧУ ЧИМ ЯЧИ АЧИ ЮЧИ ЩАС ЩУК ЧУВ РУЧ ЩОК

ЧИТО ЩОКО МИЧЕ ЧИНЕ КІЩЕ ЩОСЕ ЩОВЕ

ЩАСТЯ ЧАС КУЩ ЧОБІТ ЧУТКА ЩУР ЧИЙСЬ

New Ukrainian letters

Letters: Ю Ї Ж Ф

Let’s keep on our conversation about food:

Я ОБОЖНЮЮ ЇСТИ ФРУКТИ
[ja] [o b o zh n iu ju] [ji s t y] [f r u k t y]
I love to eat fruit

Pay attention to the letter “Ж”. It is easy to mix up with letters “Ш” and “Щ” since their sounds are very similar. In order to propounce this letter correctly think of the word “bridge” in which the letter “g” can be trascribed as “dzh”. Remove the sound “d” from there and you will get the sound of the Ukrainian letter “Ж”. The sound of “Ж” is the same we hear in French names like “Jean”.

Reading practice

Reading practice


ЖУ ФУ ЇВ ЮВ ЖА ФА їХ ЮХ ЖЕ ФЕ ЇС ЮС

ЖРУ ФРУ ЇСТ ЮСТ ЖУФ ЇМО ЮМО ЖІН ЇНА

ЖОНУ ЇВНА ЮВНА ФОНА ФІЗИ НЕЖИ ФІГЕ ЖЕНЕ

ЖИРАФ ЇХАТИ ФАРБА ЖІНКА ЇЖАК ЮВІЛЕЙ

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