Romanization of Ukrainian

representation of the Ukrainian language using Latin letters

Romanization or Latinization of Ukrainian is how to write the Ukrainian language in Latin letters. Latin letters are the type that are currently used for this article.

This makes the language easier for non-Ukrainian people to read and pronounce.

There are two different kinds of Romanization. These methods are transliteration, representing written text, and transcription, representing the spoken words.

Transliteration change

Transliteration is the letter-for-letter representation of text using a Latin writing system.

The International scholarly system, also called scientific transliteration, is most often seen in linguistic publications about Slavic languages. Each character represents one phoneme, one meaningful unit of sound. This is based on the Croatian Latin alphabet.

Transcription change

Transcription is the representation of the spoken word. Phonetic transcription represents every single sound, or phone, and can be used to compare different dialects of a language. It is more specifed as the Transliteration.

Table of latinization Ukrainian letters change

Common systems for latinization Ukrainian
Cyrillic Scholarly Nationala French German Alternative
А а a a a a a
Б б b b b b b
В в v v v w v (Before vowels), w (Before Consonants)
Г г h h, ghb h h q
Ґ ґ g g g g g
Д д d d d d d
Е е e e e e e
Є є je ie, yec ie je je
Ж ж ž zh j sh zh
З з z z z s z
И и y y y y y
І і i i i i i
Ї ї ji i, yic ï, yi ji ji
Й й j i, yc i j j
К к k k k k k
Л л l l l l l
М м m m m m m
Н н n n n n n
О о o o o o o
П п p p p p p
Р р r r r r r
С с s s s s, ss s
Т т t t t t t
У у u u ou u u
Ф ф f f f f f
Х х x or ch kh kh ch x
Ц ц c ts ts z c
Ч ч č ch tch tsch ch
Ш ш š sh ch sch sh
Щ щ šč sch chtch schtsch sch
Ю ю ju iu, yuc iou ju ju
Я я ja ia, yac ia ja ja
Ь ь j
- h
a Notes for the Ukrainian National system
  • Transliteration can be rendered in a simplified form:
    • Doubled consonants ж, х, ц, ч, ш are simplified, for example Запоріжжя→Zaporizhia.
    • Apostrophe and soft sign are omitted, except for ьо and ьї which are always rendered as ’o and ’i.

b. gh is used in the romanization of зг (zgh), avoiding confusion with ж (zh).
c. The second variant is used at the beginning of a word.