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Ukrainian language facts for kids

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Ukrainian
  • українська мова
  • ukrajinśka mova
Native to Ukraine
Ethnicity Ukrainians
Native speakers 45 million  (2007)ne2007
Language family
Early forms:
Old East Slavic
  • Ukrainian
Writing system
  • Cyrillic (Ukrainian alphabet)
  • Ukrainian Braille
Official status
Official language in
Recognised minority language in
Regulated by National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine: Institute for the Ukrainian Language, Ukrainian language-information fund, Potebnya Institute of Language Studies
Linguasphere
  • 53-AAA-ed < 53-AAA-e
  • (varieties: 53-AAA-eda to 53-AAA-edq)
Ukrainian in the world.svg
Ukrainian-speaking world
Ukrainians en.svg
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)

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 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

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 (–) (–)
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.


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See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Idioma ucraniano para niños

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