Ukrainian language

The **Ukrainian language** (Ukrainian: **українська (мова)**, transliteration: ukrajinśka 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 (А)|а (а)|A a|A a|A a|
|Б (Б)|б (б)|B b|B b|B b|
|В (В)|в (в)|V v|V v|W w|
|Г (Г)|г (г)|H h|H h|H h|
|Ґ (Ґ)|ґ (ґ)|G g|G g|G g|
|Д (Д)|д (д)|D d|D d|D d|
|Е (Е)|е (е)|E e|E e|E e|
|Є (Є)|є (є)|Je je|Ye ye|Je je|
|Ж (Ж)|ж (ж)|Ž ž|Zh zh|Sch (Sh) sch (sh)|
|З (З)|з (з)|Z z|Z z|S s|
|И (И)|и (и)|Y y|Y y|Y y|
|І (І)|і (і)|I i|I i|I i|
|Ї (Ї)|ї (ї)|Ji ji|Yi yi|Ji ji|
|Й (Й)|й (й)|J j <sup>1</sup>|Y y|J j|
|К (К)|к (к)|K k|K k (instead ks x)|K k (instead ks x)|
|Л (Л)|л (л)|L l|L l|L l|
|М (М)|м (м)|M m|M m|M m|
|Н (Н)|н (н)|N n|N n|N n|
|О (О)|о (о)|O o|O o|O o|
|П (П)|п (п)|P p|P p|P p|
|Р (Р)|р (р)|R r|R r|R r|
|С (С)|с (с)|S s|S s|S s (between vowels ss)|
|Т (Т)|т (т)|T t|T t|T t|
|У (У)|у (у)|U u|U u|U u|
|Ф (Ф)|ф (ф)|F f|F f|F f|
|Х (Х)|х (х)|Ch ch|Kh, kh|Ch ch|
|Ц (Ц)|ц (ц)|C c|Ts ts|Z z|
|Ч (Ч)|ч (ч)|Č č|Ch ch|Tsch tsch|
|Ш (Ш)|ш (ш)|Š š|Sh sh|Sch sch|
|Щ (Щ)|щ (щ)|Šč šč|Shch shch|Schtsch schtsch (Stsch stsch)|
|Ь (Ь)|ь (ь)|’ (apostrophe) before vowel j <sup>2</sup>|’ (apostrophe) before vowel y  (Soft sign)|(–) bzw. j|
|Ю (Ю)|ю (ю)|Ju Ju|Yu yu|Ju ju|
|Я (Я)|я (я)|Ja ja|Ya ya|Ja ja|
||’|’ (apostrophe)<sup>3</sup>|(–)|(–)|

### Notes

- <sup>1</sup>only before o
- <sup>2</sup>only 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').
- <sup>3</sup>an apostrophe (’) is used to mark de-palatalization of the preceding consonant.

## Infobox (language)

- **name**: Ukrainian
- **states**: Ukraine
- **ethnicity**: Ukrainians
- **speakers**: million
- **date**: 2007
- **ref**: ne2007
- **familycolor**: Indo-European
- **fam2**: Balto-Slavic languages, Balto-Slavic
- **fam3**: Slavic languages, Slavic
- **fam4**: East Slavic languages, East Slavic
- **ancestor**: Old East Slavic
- **agency**: National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine: Institute for the Ukrainian Language, [http://www.ulif.com.ua/UMIF/ Ukrainian language-information fund],  [http://www.inmo.org.ua/ Potebnya Institute of Language Studies]
- **iso1**: uk
- **iso2**: ukr
- **iso3**: ukr
- **map**: Ukrainian in the world.svg
- **mapcaption**: Ukrainian-speaking world
- **map2**: Ukrainians en.svg
- **mapcaption2**: Ukrainian language and Ukrainians with their neighbors in the early 20th century.
- **notice**: IPA
- **glotto**: ukra1253
- **glottoname**: Ukrainian