Ukrainian language

East Slavic language

The Ukrainian language (Ukrainian: українська (мова), transliteration: ukrajins'ka mova) is an Eastern Slavic language. This language is a part of the Indo-European language family.

Ukrainian
  • українська мова
  • ukrajinśka mova
Pronunciation[ukrɑˈjinʲsʲkɑ ˈmɔwɑ]
Native toUkraine
EthnicityUkrainians
Native speakers
45 million (2007)[1]
Early form
Official status
Official language in
Recognised minority
language in
Regulated byNational Academy of Sciences of Ukraine: Institute for the Ukrainian Language, Ukrainian language-information fund, Potebnya Institute of Language Studies
Language codes
ISO 639-1uk
ISO 639-2ukr
ISO 639-3ukr
Glottologukra1253  Ukrainian
Linguasphere
  • 53-AAA-ed < 53-AAA-e
  • (varieties: 53-AAA-eda to 53-AAA-edq)
Ukrainian-speaking world
Ukrainian language and Ukrainians with their neighbors in the early 20th century.
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.
Percentage of people in Ukrainian regions who speak Ukrainian as their native language (for 2001)
Percentage of people in Ukrainian regions who speak Ukrainian as their native language (for 2001)
A poem being read in Ukrainian
Ukrainian language

Ukrainian is the second most spoken Slavic language. It is the official language of Ukraine. There are 37 million speakers in Ukraine. Most of them are native speakers. All over the world there are more than 50 million speakers.

The Ukrainian language is written with Cyrillic letters.

Some words are similar to the Polish language.

Alphabet change

The Ukrainian alphabet with transliteration and German transcription:

Capital letter
(HTML-Entity)
Small letter
(HTML-Entity)
Academic
transliteration
English
transcription
German
transcription
А (&#1040;) а (&#1072;) A a A a A a
Б (&#1041;) б (&#1073;) B b B b B b
В (&#1042;) в (&#1074;) V v V v W w
Г (&#1043;) г (&#1075;) H h H h H h
Ґ (&#1168;) ґ (&#1169;) G g G g G g
Д (&#1044;) д (&#1076;) D d D d D d
Е (&#1045;) е (&#1077;) E e E e E e
Є (&#1028;) є (&#1108;) Je je Ye ye Je je
Ж (&#1046;) ж (&#1078;) Ž ž Zh zh Sch (Sh) sch (sh)
З (&#1047;) з (&#1079;) Z z Z z S s
И (&#1048;) и (&#1080;) Y y Y y Y y
І (&#1030;) і (&#1110;) I i I i I i
Ї (&#1031;) ї (&#1111;) Ji ji Yi yi Ji ji
Й (&#1049;) й (&#1081;) J j 1 Y y J j
К (&#1050;) к (&#1082;) K k K k (instead ks x) K k (instead ks x)
Л (&#1051;) л (&#1083;) L l L l L l
М (&#1052;) м (&#1084;) M m M m M m
Н (&#1053;) н (&#1085;) N n N n N n
О (&#1054;) о (&#1086;) O o O o O o
П (&#1055;) п (&#1087;) P p P p P p
Р (&#1056;) р (&#1088;) R r R r R r
С (&#1057;) с (&#1089;) S s S s S s (between vowels ss)
Т (&#1058;) т (&#1090;) T t T t T t
У (&#1059;) у (&#1091;) U u U u U u
Ф (&#1060;) ф (&#1092;) F f F f F f
Х (&#1061;) х (&#1093;) Ch ch Kh, kh Ch ch
Ц (&#1062;) ц (&#1094;) C c Ts ts Z z
Ч (&#1063;) ч (&#1095;) Č č Ch ch Tsch tsch
Ш (&#1064;) ш (&#1096;) Š š Sh sh Sch sch
Щ (&#1065;) щ (&#1097;) Šč šč Shch shch Schtsch schtsch (Stsch stsch)
Ь (&#1068;) ь (&#1100;) ’ (apostrophe) before vowel j 2 ’ (apostrophe) before vowel y (Soft sign) (–) bzw. j
Ю (&#1070;) ю (&#1102;) Ju Ju Yu yu Ju ju
Я (&#1071;) я (&#1103;) Ja ja Ya ya Ja ja
’ (apostrophe)3 (–) (–)

Notes change

1only before o
2only after consonants; a capital letter does not exist; the soft sign ь is not a letter representing a sound, but modifies the sound of the preceding letter, indicating palatalisation ('softening').
3an apostrophe (’) is used to mark de-palatalization of the preceding consonant.

References change

  1. Mikael Parkvall, "Världens 100 största språk 2007" (The World's 100 Largest Languages in 2007), in Nationalencyklopedin
  2. The status of Crimea and of the city of Sevastopol is since March 2014 under dispute between Russia and Ukraine; Ukraine and the majority of the international community consider Crimea to be an autonomous region of Ukraine and Sevastopol to be one of Ukraine's cities with special status, whereas Russia considers Crimea to be a federal subject of Russia and Sevastopol to be one of Russia's three federal cities.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 "List of declarations made with respect to treaty No. 148 (Status as of: 21/9/2011)". Council of Europe. Archived from the original on 2012-05-22. Retrieved 2012-05-22.
  4. "National Minorities Policy of the Government of the Czech Republic". Vlada.cz. Retrieved 2012-05-22.
  5. "Implementation of the Charter in Hungary". Database for the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. Public Foundation for European Comparative Minority Research. Archived from the original on 27 February 2014. Retrieved 16 June 2014.
  6. Matthew H. Ciscel (December 19, 2008). "Uneasy Compromise: Language and Education in Moldova". International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism. 11 (3–4): 373. doi:10.1080/13670050802148756. S2CID 143698116. Retrieved July 21, 2020.