Learn Ukrainian

Learn Ukrainian with guided lessons in sounds, reading, vocabulary and grammar, plus interactive A1–A2 practice.

Learn the Ukrainian alphabet

Meet all 33 letters in small groups, with a capital and lowercase partner for each.

A familiar-looking beginning — Meet a, o, em, te, ka and practise telling them apart.
Familiar shapes, surprising sounds — Meet ve, en, er, es, u and practise telling them apart.
Three sounds from the throat and back — Meet he, ge, kha and practise telling them apart.
B, d, and p in new shapes — Meet be, de, pe and practise telling them apart.
Dots, a small arc, and different vowels — Meet e, y, i, yi, yot and practise telling them apart.
A buzz, a hum, and flowing air — Meet zhe, ze, el, ef and practise telling them apart.
Hisses, ch, and little tails — Meet tse, che, sha, shcha and practise telling them apart.
Softness and the y-vowels — Meet soft sign, ye, yu, ya and practise telling them apart.

Look beyond familiar shapes. Compare vowels, h and g, and letters with tiny tails.

Cyrillic letters are not Latin lookalikes — В is v-like, Р is r, Н is n, and С is s. Learn the sound attached to the Cyrillic character instead of borrowing a Latin sound.
One dot, two dots, or a little arc? — И is a vowel close to i in bit; І is ee; Ї is yi; Й is the consonant y in yes. Compare the marks and the body of each letter.
Г, Ґ, and Х are different sounds — Г is a voiced h-like sound. Ґ is hard g and adds a small upturn. Х is the friction sound in loch. These letters are distinct in Ukrainian.
Check the tail before you choose — Ц is ts; Ч is ch; Ш is sh; Щ is sh followed by ch. The small lower-right tail distinguishes Щ from Ш.

Understand softness, the apostrophe, and vowel combinations; then read and review.

Small signs, important differences — See what ь and the apostrophe tell you about the sounds around them.
When do є, ю, and я start with y? — Read the vowel in context, and remember that ї keeps its y sound.
Your first Ukrainian words — Put familiar letters together to read four useful words.
Final review · the whole alphabet — One recognition question for every letter, in a fresh random order.

A1 foundations: pronouns, agreement and three regular present-tense verbs.

Pronouns and introductions — Identify people and write short present-tense introductions.
Gender, adjectives and my things — Match simple adjectives and possessives to nouns.
Reading: читати — Practise all six present person/number slots with a common regular verb.
Listening: слухати — Practise all six present person/number slots with a common regular verb.
Waiting: чекати — Practise all six present person/number slots with a common regular verb.

Two more regular verbs, questions, negation and useful object forms.

Playing: грати — Practise all six present person/number slots with a common regular verb.
Knowing: знати — Practise all six present person/number slots with a common regular verb.
Negation and questions — Ask yes/no and information questions about known actions.
Food and the accusative — Order food and use feminine objects with matching adjectives.
Shopping, quantities and absence — Use a small set of genitive phrases instead of guessing endings.

Practical case patterns followed by past and future narration.

Location and destination — Distinguish where something is from where someone goes.
Needs, feelings and recipients — Use dative pronouns and a few recipient forms.
With people and by transport — Use selected instrumental nouns and pronouns.
Yesterday: past agreement — Describe past activities with gender and number agreement.
Tomorrow: future plans — Build the compound imperfective future for all persons.

A2-oriented aspect, requests, comparisons and connected reading.

Activity and completion — Contrast reading as an activity with finishing a text.
Travel requests and addressing people — Read a ticket request, ask for help and use a vocative.
Daily routines and comparisons — Read frequency words and compare simple prices and sizes.
Reasons and connected plans — Join familiar clauses with and, but, because and if.
Read and complete a travel message — Combine cases, time references and written comprehension.

Keep the full alphabet beside your lessons.