Lesson 1: The Ukrainian Alphabet. Vowels and Consonants.

Привіт-привіт, my dear students!

Welcome to the 1st lesson of the course “From Absolute Beginner to a Confident Speaker”. We will learn with you today how to read the Ukrainian Alphabet. Also, we will practice how to pronounce each vowel and consonant correctly. Let`s get it started!

!Notes:
*There is a mistake in the video: the letter є is a combination of й+е. 

*There is a mistake in the 4th slide: 4 hard ones read as 4 soft ones – я, ю, є, ї. There are always 2 vowels in the letter ї [йі] (IPA: [ji]). Depending on the position in the word, the letters я, ю, є can indicate either one [´a], [´у], [´е], or two sounds [йа], [йу], [йе].

Please remember in the Ukrainian language, there are 33 letters and 38 phonemes. Among them, 10 letters are vowels including both hard: А, О, У, Е, И, І, and soft: Я, Ю, Є, Ї, and 22 are consonants: Б, В, Г, Ґ, Д, Ж, З, Й, К, Л, М, Н, П, Р, С, Т, Ф, Х, Ц, Ч, Ш, Щ.

For all beginner students, it is very important to practice reading the Ukrainian alphabet many times. So please watch the 1st video several times. Also, you can listen to the audio file of how I pronounce each letter and repeat it after me. 

Ukrainian Alphabet Song 

There is another way how you can practice the pronunciation of the Ukrainian Alphabet. You can just sing the Alphabet song together with me. Check out the video below. Enjoy!

Ukrainian Cursive 

If you want to learn Ukrainian writing, please, first of all, check out this picture how what it looks like.

Then please check out my video lesson and practice writing it together with me. 

If you want to practice handwriting more in the Ukrainian language, I would like to recommend you download this PDF file below. Please print it out and write each letter. 

Writing Practice

Alphabet material

Also, if you need to get a Ukrainian keyboard, you can purchase it at our website here. When you get the keyboard, you can practice typing on it with the help of this simulator – Typing Study.

Exercises

Exercise 1 (Вправа 1): Match cursive letter with the print one.

Exercise 2 (Вправа 2):  Listen and compare the Ukrainian vowels/consonants. Read the words aloud.

Exercise 3 (Вправа 3):  Listen to the examples (1, 2, 3) given below and answer the questions. Mind your intonation.

Наприклад: 1) – Звук [ж] – приголосний (consonant)?

– Так, звук [ж] – приголосний.

2) – Звук [а] – приголосний?

– Ні, звук [а] – не приголосний, звук [а] – голосний (vowel).

3) – Звук [ж] – голосний чи приголосний?

– Звук [ж] – приголосний.

1. Звук [ц] – приголосний?
2. Звук [у] – приголосний?
3. Звук [в] – приголосний?
4. Звук [е] – голосний чи приголосний?
5. Звук [о] – голосний?
6. Звук [л] – голосний чи приголосний?
7. Звук [р] – голосний?
8. Звук [ф] – приголосний?
9. Звук [и] – приголосний?
10. Звук [г] – голосний чи приголосний?

Record your answer from Exercise 3 and send it to the chat on Telegram for the tutor to check on your pronunciation.

Exercise 4 (Вправа 4): Listen to the Ukrainian song and fill in the missing letters.

Ч___му тебе ран___ше не зустр___в?
Чому життя так скл___л___ся?
Не т___ раніше люб___в…
Любив, чи так здав___л___ся…

Чому т___кії очі, як твої
Мен___ не зустріч___лися?..
Не т___ я очі любив…
Любив, чи так здавалос___…

Чому не т___ої ніжнії вуста
Зі мною ___ілува___ися?..
Не ___і ву___та я любив…
___юбив, ___и так здавалося…

___ому не ніжні рученьки т___ої
___о мене доторкалися?..
Не ті я ___уки любив…
Лю___ив, чи так здавалося…

І ось тебе наре___ті я зустр___в –
Це, слава Богу, ___талося!
Я ту те___ер полюбив!…
___булося, що бажалося!…

Чому тебе рані___е не зустрів?..

Answers (Lesson 1)

Print out the exercises (Lesson 1)

The 1st lesson is finished! Well done! We did a great job – we read, listened, and sang the Ukrainian Alphabet. Also, we practiced how to write it. Now it is time to do your homework – a quiz. Good luck!

 Homework assignment:

1. Learn the Ukrainian Alphabet by heart. 

2. Record on audio your pronunciation of the alphabet.

3. Practice handwriting with the PDF file (if you want to be able to write in Ukrainian). 

4. Do the quiz.

To type in Cyrillic, you can purchase this keyboard. The shipping is free.