/ˈaɪ.pə/

Ukrainian

Family: Indo-European · Eurasia · ISO ukr · Glottolog · 33,000,000 speakers
35
Consonants
6
Vowels

The phoneme inventory below shows every sound that functions as a meaningful unit in Ukrainian — a Indo-European language spoken in Eurasia . With 41 phonemes, it has an average-sized inventory compared to the world's languages. Sounds marked with a dashed border (*) are marginal: they appear only in loanwords or highly specialized contexts and are not part of the core phonological system.

Consonants

affricate

d̪z̪ ~ t̪s̪ʲ ~ t̪s̪ ~ d̪z̪ʲ ~ d̠ʒ ~ t̠ʃ ~ t̠ʃʲː ~

approximant

ʋ ~ j ~

fricative

ɦ ~ f ~ x ~

lateral fricative

ɫ ~ lʲ ~

nasal

n̪ʲ ~ n̪ ~ m ~

sibilant fricative

z̪ ~ sʲ ~ z̪ʲ ~ s̪ ~ ʃ ~ ʒ ~ ʃʲː ~ ʒʲː ~

stop

t̪ ~ d̪ʲ ~ tʲ ~ d̪ ~ p ~ b ~ k ~ ɡ ~

trill

rʲ ~ r ~

Vowels

u ~ ɔ ~ i ~ ɪ ~ ɑ ~ ɛ ~

* Marginal phoneme — occurs only in loanwords or rare contexts.

How large is this inventory?

Smaller (11) Average (36) Larger (141)
41
phonemes

Ukrainian has 41 phonemes, placing it in the 65th percentile of languages by inventory size — larger than most languages.

Compared to English

For English speakers learning Ukrainian, these are the sounds that will require the most focused practice.

In Ukrainian, not in English (30)

These sounds don't exist in English — English speakers will need to learn them from scratch.

d̪z̪ t̪s̪ʲ t̪s̪ d̪z̪ʲ t̠ʃʲː ʋ ɦ x ɫ lʲ n̪ʲ n̪ z̪ sʲ z̪ʲ s̪ ʃʲː ʒʲː t̪ d̪ʲ tʲ d̪ p k rʲ r u ɔ ɪ ɑ

In English, not in Ukrainian (34)

English speakers learning Ukrainian won't use these sounds — they'll need to suppress them.

h l n pʰ s w ŋ e iː oː d ʊ z v ts ɒ ɐ ð θ ɘ ɹ kx ɐː ʉː iə eə oe æe ɑe ɵː æo ɐʉ ɒɯ ʉə
Full phoneme comparison: English vs Ukrainian →

Most phonologically similar languages

Ranked by Jaccard similarity — the proportion of phonemes shared relative to the combined inventory of both languages.

Lithuanian 38%
Compare →
Shona 36%
Compare →
MANCHU 35%
Compare →
Ilocano 32%
Compare →
Slovene 32%
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Compare Ukrainian with another language

See which sounds are shared and which are unique.

vs Hakka Chinese vs SEDANG vs Kharia vs Bhumij vs Kota vs Burushaski vs Kabardian vs Lak vs Ket vs Yao