Script guide › Cyrillic
How to recognize Bulgarian
Bulgarian is one of 8 languages in Grafle's Cyrillic group. Here's what it looks like, where you'll see it on signs, and how to tell it apart from its lookalikes.
Spot it fast
- Uses ъ as an everyday vowel (България, съм) — mid-word ъ everywhere is Bulgarian.
- No і, ї or ј.
What Bulgarian looks like
Всички човешки същества се раждат свободни и равни по достойнство.
Добър ден! Как сте? Благодаря, добре съм.
България е красива страна.
Cyrillic scripts: Look for reversed-looking letters like я and и, plus shapes like ж, д, б, ч.
Where you'll see it on signs
- Bulgaria
Easy to confuse with
- Russian — Bulgarian uses ъ as an everyday vowel (България, съм); in Russian ъ is rare and silent.
- Serbian — Serbian mixes in the Latin-looking ј (је, сија); Bulgarian's tell is the vowel ъ mid-word.
- Ukrainian — Ukrainian has the dotted і/ї; Bulgarian has neither but uses ъ as a vowel constantly.
- Macedonian — Macedonian has ј (plus ѓ and ќ); Bulgarian has none of those and uses ъ as a vowel.