# Ukrainian language

| Ukrainian |
| --- |
| * українська мова
* **ukrayinska mova**
 |
| Pronunciation | [ukrɑˈjinʲsʲkɑ ˈmɔwɑ] |
| Native to | Ukraine |
| Ethnicity | Ukrainians |
| Native speakers | 45 million (2007) |
| Language family | Indo-European
* Balto-Slavic
	+ Slavic
		- East Slavic
			* **Ukrainian**
 |
| Early form | Old East Slavic
 |
| Writing system | * Cyrillic (Ukrainian alphabet)
* Ukrainian Braille
 |
| Official status |
| Official language in | * Ukraine
* *Crimea*
* *Transnistria*
 |
| Recognised minority language in | * Bosnia and Herzegovina
* Croatia
* Czech Republic
* Hungary
* Moldova
* Poland
* Romania
* Serbia
* Slovakia
 |
| Regulated by | National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine: Institute for the Ukrainian Language, Ukrainian language-information fund, Potebnya Institute of Language Studies |
| Language codes |
| ISO 639-1 | `uk` |
| ISO 639-2 | `ukr` |
| ISO 639-3 | `ukr` |
| *Glottolog* | `ukra1253`  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. |
|

Percentage of people in Ukrainian regions who speak Ukrainian as their native language (for 2001)
A poem being read in Ukrainian
Ukrainian language
The **Ukrainian language** (Ukrainian: **українська (мова)**, transliteration: ukrayinska mova) is an Eastern Slavic language. This language is a part of the Indo-European language family.

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.

Many words are similar to the Polish language.

## Alphabet

The Ukrainian alphabet with transliteration and transcription (to English and German):

| 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 | (–) | (–) |

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.