Spelling and Pronunciation
Ukrainian spelling is based on the four principles: phonetic, morphological, historical/traditional, and symbolic/ideographical.
According to the phonetic principle, the words are spelled the way that they are pronounced in the literary language: голова [holov`a] (head), рука[ruk`a] (hand).
The morphological principle implies that the same part of the word (root, prefix, suffix, ending) is spelled the same in all words regardless of their pronunciation: людство [`liutstvo] (humanity), людський [`liuts’ky] (human).
The historical or traditional principle means that the word spelling can’t be explained so you have to just memorize it: ясний [`yasny] (clear), кишеня [kysh`enia] (pocket), клас [kl`as] (class).
In keeping with the fourth principle, you have to find out the meaning of each of the two similar words to distinguish them, although they are pronounced likewise: компанія [komp`ania] (company) - кампанія [kamp`ania] (campaign).
Vowels
There are six vowel sounds: а, о, у, е, и, і which indicate ten vowel letters - а, о, у, е, и, і, ї, є, ю, я. No long or short vowels can be found.
In the process of word change and word formation, the vowel sounds interchange, and this phenomena is called gradation:
Rules |
Examples |
I.Vowels о, е in an open syllable alternate with і in the closed syllable. 1. Vowel gradation occurs: a. when the word changes; b. when the word is formed. 2. Gradation doesn’t occur: a) if the sound appears in the words or is absent there; b) in the groups -ор-, -ер-, -ов- between consonants; c) in the groups -оро-, -оло-, -ере-, -еле-; d) In the Genitive case plural of the neuter nouns ending in -ення. |
Київ (Kyiv) - Києва (of Kyiv),сім (seven) -семи (of the seven) будова (structure) - будівник (builder),село (village) - сільський (rural) день (day) - дня (of the day), кінець (end) - кінця (of the end) шовк (silk) - шовку (of the silk), вовк (wolf) - вовка (of the wolf) коловорот (whirlpool), шелест (rustle) значень (of the meanings) (значення) |
II. Vowels е and о after ж, ч, ш, щ, дж, й: a. е precedes a soft consonant and the syllable consisting е or и; b. о precedes a hard consonant and the syllables with а, о, у, и |
пшениця (wheat), учень (student), черниця (nun) бджола (bee), його (his) , шостий (the sixth) |
III. Vowel gradation in verb stems: a. о alternates with а in some verbs changing their meaning; b. e alternates with і in the roots of the verbs of the perfective and imperfective aspect. |
гонити (to chase) - ганяти (to drive), котити (to roll) - качати (to swing) вигребти (to get something scratched out) - вигрібати (to scratch out), підмести (to get swept) - замітати (to sweep) |
Consonants
Consonants are characterised and classified by the following features:
- voice and noise (work of vocal chords);
- place of production (active speech organ);
- manner of production;
- hardness and softness (palatalisation);
- nasalisation.
Consonants |
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Sonorant |
Noise |
Hard |
Soft |
|
Voiced |
Voiceless |
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[в] [м] [н] [н’] [л] [л’] [р] [р’] [j] |
[б] [д] [д’] [ґ] [ж] [з] [з’] [дж] [дз] [дз’] |
[п] [т] [т’] [к] [ш] [с] [с’] [х] [ч] [ц] [ц’] [г] [ф] |
[д] [т] [з] [с] [ц] [дз] [л] [н] [р] - [в] [м] [п] [б] [ф] [г] [ґ] [х] [к] [ж] [ч] [ш] [дж] |
[д’] [т’] [з’] [с’] [ц’] [дз’] [л’] [н’] [р’] [j] |
The softest is the sound [ j ] (letter й), so it is always called a soft consonant. Other consonants are softened to a lesser extent, therefore they are called softened. These include: [д'], [т'], [з'], [с'], [ц'], [дз'], [н'], [л'], [р']. In addition, there are semi-softened consonants mainly before [ i ]: [б'], [п'], [в], [м'], [ф], [ж'], [ч'], [ш'], [дж'], [ґ'], [к'], [x'], [г'].
Most of the Ukrainian consonants are compliant with the English ones. Two consonant sounds - дж (dzh = j like in jam) and дз (dz like in dead zone) - have no separate sign so they are indicated by two letters. The consonants щ, ц and ч are formed of two sounds:
щ (shch) = ш + ч | щастя [shch`astia] (happiness) |
ц (ts) = т + с | цілувати [tsiluv`aty] (to kiss) |
ч (ch) = т + ш | чарівний [charivn`y] (wonderful) |
Gradation
Rules |
Examples |
I. Consonant gradation occurs at word change and word formation: г - ж; к - ч; х - ш a. in the Vocative case; b. at word formation; c. in verbal forms. г - з; ґ - дз; к - ц; х - с a. In declensional forms of the noun; b. at word formation. |
(young man) - юначе
пастух (shepherd) - пастушка (shepherdess) колихати (to wave) - колишу (I wave) книга (book) - книзі (to the book) грек (Greek) - Греція (Greece) |
II. Gradation in the verb stems: д - дж; ст - щ; зд - ждж; б - бл; з - ж; т - ч; с - ш; п - пл; м - мл; ф - фл; т - д; в - вл. III. Gradation in different parts of speech: д - ж; т - ч |
Любити (to love) - люблю (I love), висіти (to hang) - вишу (I hang), їздити (to drive) - їжджу (I drive) Освіта (education) - освічений (educated), правда (truth) - справжній (true) |
To indicate the softness of the preceding consonant, the letter ь (soft sign) is used: лінь [lin’] (laziness), кінь [kin’] (horse). The ь sign doesn’t indicate any sound.
Designation of softness in writing
Rules |
Examples |
The softness of sounds is most often designated by: 1. the soft sign ь;; 2. the letters я, ю, є; 3. the letter i |
навшпиньках [navshp`yn’kah] (on the toes) земля [zeml`ia] (land) cвіт [sv`it] (world) |
I. Put the soft sign: 1. in the end of the word and syllable; [д’], [т’], [з’], [с’], [ц’], [н’], [л’], [дз’] 2. after soft consonants in the middle of the syllable before o; 3. in the words with the suffixes -еньк-, -оньк-, -есеньк-, -ісіньк-, -юсіньк-; -зьк-, -ськ-, -цьк-; 4. after soft л before the following consonant etc. |
мідь [mid’] (copper), тінь [tin’] (shadow) , кінець [kin`ets’] (end) сьогодні [s’oh`odni] (today), льон [l’on] (linen) малесенький [mal`esen’ky] (tiny), тонюсінький [ton`iusin’ky] (very thin) близький [blyz’k`y] (close) пальці [p`al’tsi] (fingers), їдальня [jid`al’nia](canteen) |
II. Don’t put the soft sign:
|
вісім [v`isim] (eight), ніж [nizh] (knife) , дощ [doshch] (rain) гіркий [hirk`yi] (sour), секретар [sekret`ar] (secretary) кінчик [k`inchyk] (tip), менший [m`enshy] (smaller) |
Use of an apostrophe
Rules |
Examples |
Put the apostrophe before я, ю, є, ї 1. In the Ukrainian words: a. after б, п, в, м, ф if they are not preceded by other consonants (except for р)which belong to the word root; b. after the hard р; c. after б, п, в, м, ф, к, р in proper nouns; d. after prefixes and first part of compound words endingin hard consonant. |
кав’ярня [kav`jarnia] (coffee shop), м’ясо [m`jaso] (meat) кур’єр [kur`jer] (delivery man) В’ячеслав [vjachesl`av] (Vyacheslav (the name)), Прип’ять [Pr`ipyat’] (Pripyat, the town) [pivjevr`opy] (half Europe) |
2. In the loan words: a. After б, п, в, м, ф, г, к, х, ж, ч, ш, р and prefixes ending in a consonant; b. After a shortened particle де and afterthe particle о in the last names. |
бар’єр [bar`jer] (barrier), інтерв’ю [interv`ju](interview) д’Акоста [dak`osta] (d’Acosta), О’Генрі [oh`enri] (O.Henry) |
Don’t put the apostrophe: 1. Before я, ю, є in the Ukrainian and loan words: a. after б, п, в, м, ф if the other preceding consonants (except for p) belonging to the root; b. after б, п, в, м, ф, ж, ч, ш, г, к, х, р which designate soft consonants. c. before йо. |
духмяний [dukhm`iany] (fragrant), свято [sv`iato] (holiday), цвях [tsv`iah] (nail), but черв’як [tcherv`jak] (worm) Гюго [hiuh`o] (Hugo), пюре [piur`e] (puree), буря [b`uria] (thunderstorm) мільйон [mil`jon] (million), серйозний [ser`jozny] (serious) |
There is no complete correspondence between sounds and letters in the Ukrainian language: you can see more letters written but hear less of them pronounced.
There are words with different meanings that are spelled similarly but sound differently, e.g. зАмок [z`amok] (castle) and замОк [zam`ok] (lock). The word stress moves to the other syllable depending on the form of the word:
стінА [stin`a] (a wall) - на стінІ [na stin`i] (on the wall)
стІни [st`iny] (the walls) - на стІнах [na st`inah] (on the walls).
Pronunciation
А а |
jar |
Б б |
big |
В в |
very |
Г г |
house |
Ґ ґ |
give |
Д д |
dog |
Е е |
bed |
Є є |
yes |
Ж ж |
measure |
З з |
zoo |
И и |
image |
І і |
sea |
Ї ї |
yield |
Й й |
you |
К к |
cook |
Л л |
like |
М м |
mother |
Н н |
no |
О о |
long |
П п |
lip |
Р р |
rice (rolling R!) |
С с |
song |
Т т |
tool |
У у |
good |
Ф ф |
face |
Х х |
Richter |
Ц ц |
rats |
Ч ч |
cheese |
Ш ш |
shop |
Щ щ |
rush charge |
Ь ь |
(soft sign) |
Ю ю |
you |
Я я |
Yahoo |