Help:IPA/Ukrainian

This is the pronunciation key for IPA transcriptions of Ukrainian on Wikipedia.

It provides a set of symbols to represent the pronunciation of Ukrainian in Wikipedia articles, and example words that illustrate the sounds that correspond to them. Integrity must be maintained between the key and the transcriptions that link here; do not change any symbol or value without establishing consensus on the talk page first.

For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

Shortcut

H:IPA-UK

This article includes inline links to audio files. If you have trouble playing the files, see Wikipedia Media help.

The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents Ukrainian pronunciations in Wikipedia articles. For a guide to adding IPA characters to Wikipedia articles, see Template:IPA and Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Pronunciation § Entering IPA characters.

Ukrainian distinguishes hard (unpalatalized or plain) and soft (palatalized) consonants (both phonetically and orthographically). Soft consonants, most of which are denoted by a superscript j, ⟨ʲ⟩, are pronounced with the body of the tongue raised toward the hard palate, like the articulation of the y sound in yes.

See Ukrainian phonology and Ukrainian alphabet for a more thorough look at the sounds of Ukrainian.

Consonants
Hard				Soft
IPA	Examples		English approximations	IPA	Examples		English approximations
b	бог^[1]	[bɔɦ]^ⓘ	boot	—
d	дим^[1]	[dɪm]^ⓘ	do	dʲ	дім, мідь^[1]	[d⁽ʲ⁾im]^ⓘ, [midʲ]	media
dz	дзе́ркало^[1]	[ˈdzɛrkɐlo]^ⓘ	pads	dzʲ	ґедзь, дзьоб^[1]	[ɡɛdzʲ]^ⓘ, [dzʲɔb]^ⓘ	pad's yours
dʒ	джміль^[1]	[dʒmilʲ]^ⓘ	jump, ridge	—
f	фа́рба	[ˈfɑrbɐ]^ⓘ	fool
ɡ	ґа́нок^[1]	[ˈɡɑnok]^ⓘ	good
ɣ	чахохбі́лі^[1]	[tʃɐxoɣˈbil⁽ʲ⁾i]	between good and hood
ɦ	газе́та	[ɦɐˈzɛtɐ]^ⓘ	behind
—				j	йти, гай, їда́льня	[jtɪ]^ⓘ, [ɦɑj]^ⓘ, [jiˈdɑlʲnʲɐ]^ⓘ	yes
k	ключ	[klʲutʃ]^ⓘ	scar	—
l	лось	[lɔsʲ]^ⓘ	bell	lʲ	лід, сіль	[l⁽ʲ⁾id]^ⓘ, [s⁽ʲ⁾ilʲ]^ⓘ	million
m	мир	[mɪr]^ⓘ	moot	—
n	не́бо	[ˈnɛbo]^ⓘ	noon	nʲ	ні́жний, день	[ˈn⁽ʲ⁾iʒnɪj]^ⓘ, [dɛnʲ]^ⓘ	canyon
p	пил	[pɪl]^ⓘ	spare	—
r	лі́кар	[ˈl⁽ʲ⁾ikɐr]^ⓘ	trilled r, like in Spanish riesgo	rʲ	рі́чка	[ˈr⁽ʲ⁾itʃkɐ]^ⓘ	trilled r, like in Spanish riesgo
s	суп	[sup]^ⓘ	soup	sʲ	сі́но, вісь	[ˈs⁽ʲ⁾ino]^ⓘ, [wisʲ]	assume (RP)
ʃ	шпари́на, ви́ще	[ʃpɐˈrɪnɐ]^ⓘ, [ˈwɪʃtʃe]^ⓘ	shop	—
t	тин	[tɪn]^ⓘ	star	tʲ	тінь, мить	[t⁽ʲ⁾inʲ]^ⓘ, [mɪtʲ]^ⓘ	stew (RP)
ts	цибу́ля	[tsɪˈbulʲɐ]^ⓘ	cats	tsʲ	ціна́, віне́ць	[ts⁽ʲ⁾iˈnɑ]^ⓘ, [wiˈnɛtsʲ]^ⓘ	cat's young
tʃ	очере́т, вище	[otʃeˈrɛt]^ⓘ, [ˈwɪʃtʃe]^ⓘ	choose	—
u̯	вчи́тель, став^[2]	[ˈu̯tʃɪtelʲ]^ⓘ, [stɑu̯]	tow
v	Афганіста́н^[1]	[ɐvɦɐn⁽ʲ⁾iˈstɑn]	vine
w	віл^[2]	[wil]^ⓘ	between wine and vine
x	ховра́х	[xou̯ˈrɑx]	Bach, loch
z	зуб^[1]	[zub]^ⓘ	zoo	zʲ	зі́ллю, рі́зьблення^[1]	[ˈz⁽ʲ⁾ilʲːʊ], [ˈr⁽ʲ⁾izʲblenʲːɐ]^ⓘ	presume (RP)
ʒ	жи́то^[1]	[ˈʒɪto]^ⓘ	measure	—
Vowels
Stressed				Unstressed
IPA	Examples		English approximation	IPA	Examples		English approximation
ɑ	гай	[ɦɑj]^ⓘ	father	ɐ	гарма́та	[ɦɐrˈmɑtɐ]^ⓘ	hug
ɛ	день, єсть	[dɛnʲ]^ⓘ, [jɛsʲtʲ]^ⓘ	met	e	ефі́рний	[eˈfirnɪj]^ⓘ	rate
i	кіт, і́кла	[kit]^ⓘ, [ˈiklɐ]	meet	i	біле́т	[biˈlɛt]^ⓘ	meet
ɪ	ми́ша	[ˈmɪʃɐ]^ⓘ	bit	ɪ	кра́сний^[3]	[ˈkrɑsnɪj]^ⓘ	bit
ɔ	по́ле, льон	[ˈpɔle]^ⓘ, [lʲɔn]	off	o	ору́дний	[oˈrudnɪj]^ⓘ	cold
u	дух, лють	[dux]^ⓘ, [lʲutʲ]^ⓘ	fool	ʊ	туди́	[tʊˈdɪ]^ⓘ	put
Other symbols
IPA			Explanation
ˈ◌			stress (placed before the stressed syllable)
ˌ◌			secondary stress (placed before the stressed syllable)
◌ː			gemination (the consonant is pronounced twice as long)^[4]
◌⁽ʲ⁾			optional nature of consonant palatalization before /i/

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l Voiceless obstruents /p t tʲ ts tsʲ tʃ k x f s sʲ ʃ/ are voiced [b d dʲ dz dzʲ dʒ ɡ ɣ v z zʲ ʒ] before other voiced obstruents. [ɣ] and [v] only ever occur in this case.
^ ^a ^b The phoneme /w/ (spelled ⟨в⟩ has variable pronunciation, but is generally labiodental [ʋ]; it is [w] before /ɔ/ or /u/ and is vocalized to [u̯] before a consonant at the beginning of a word, after a vowel before a consonant or after a vowel at the end of a word. For simplicity, we will use ⟨w⟩ for both [ʋ] and [w].
^ May also be realized as [e].
^ In Ukrainian, geminates are found between vowels: бага́ття [bɐˈɦɑtʲːɐ] 'bonfire', подру́жжя [poˈdruʒːɐ] 'married couple', обли́ччя [oˈblɪtʃːɐ] 'face'. Geminates also occur at the beginning of a few words: лля́ний [ˈlʲːɑnɪj] 'flaxen', forms of the verb ли́ти 'to pour' (ллючи́ [lʲːʊˈtʃɪ], ллю [lʲːu], ллєш [lʲːɛʃ] etc.), сса́ти [ˈsːɑtɪ] 'to suck' and derivatives.[citation needed]

[voiced-1] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l Voiceless obstruents /p t tʲ ts tsʲ tʃ k x f s sʲ ʃ/ are voiced [b d dʲ dz dzʲ dʒ ɡ ɣ v z zʲ ʒ] before other voiced obstruents. [ɣ] and [v] only ever occur in this case.

[V-2] The phoneme /w/ (spelled ⟨в⟩ has variable pronunciation, but is generally labiodental [ʋ]; it is [w] before /ɔ/ or /u/ and is vocalized to [u̯] before a consonant at the beginning of a word, after a vowel before a consonant or after a vowel at the end of a word. For simplicity, we will use ⟨w⟩ for both [ʋ] and [w].

[3] May also be realized as [e].

[4] In Ukrainian, geminates are found between vowels: бага́ття [bɐˈɦɑtʲːɐ]^ⓘ 'bonfire', подру́жжя [poˈdruʒːɐ]^ⓘ 'married couple', обли́ччя [oˈblɪtʃːɐ]^ⓘ 'face'. Geminates also occur at the beginning of a few words: лля́ний [ˈlʲːɑnɪj] 'flaxen', forms of the verb ли́ти 'to pour' (ллючи́ [lʲːʊˈtʃɪ]^ⓘ, ллю [lʲːu], ллєш [lʲːɛʃ] etc.), сса́ти [ˈsːɑtɪ]^ⓘ 'to suck' and derivatives.^{[citation needed]}

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]