Script guide › Cyrillic
How to recognize Ukrainian
Ukrainian 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
- Has і, ї, є and ґ — a dotted i in Cyrillic text means Ukrainian.
- If you see ы, ъ or э instead, it's Russian.
What Ukrainian looks like
Всі люди народжуються вільними і рівними.
Київ — столиця України.
Борітеся — поборете!
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
- Ukraine
Easy to confuse with
- Russian — Ukrainian has the dotted і and ї; Russian has ы and э instead. A dotted i in Cyrillic means Ukraine. On street signs, Ukrainian shortens вулиця (street) to вул., Russian улица to ул.
- Bulgarian — Ukrainian has the dotted і/ї; Bulgarian has neither but uses ъ as a vowel constantly.