Ukrainian Keyboard

How to type Ukrainian with this keyboard

Choose how you want to type with the tabs on the keyboard:

• Standard ЙЦУКЕН: the layout used on keyboards in Ukraine, with ґ included. Each of your keys types the letter in that position: F is а, S is і, Q is й.
• Phonetic: each English key types the Ukrainian letter that sounds like it. D is д, I is і and Y is и. The letters with no English match are close by: ` is ї, \ is є and = is ґ.
• Translit: type in Latin letters and they become Cyrillic. dyakuyu becomes дякую, pryvit becomes привіт. Two-letter sounds join up as you type: zh → ж, sh → ш, ch → ч.

Press Esc to switch between Ukrainian and normal English typing. The buttons above the keyboard add the apostrophe ʼ, the « » and „ “ quotes, the dash, the № sign, the hryvnia sign ₴ and stress marks. When you're done, press Copy and paste the text into a chat, an email, a document or a search box.

Ukrainian keyboard layout

The standard Ukrainian layout is ЙЦУКЕН, the same arrangement as the Russian one, with the four Ukrainian letters in place of the Russian-only ones. It is the "Ukrainian" keyboard on Windows, Mac, iPhone and Android. The small letter on each key is the English key in the same place.

• і is on S, where the Russian layout has ы. ї is on ] (Russian ъ) and є on ' (Russian э).
• ґ is on the \ key, above Enter. Windows calls this layout Ukrainian (Enhanced); the older "Ukrainian" layout has no ґ key.
• The apostrophe ʼ is on the key left of 1, where Russian keeps ё, and Shift on that key gives the hryvnia sign ₴.
• The home row is ф і в а п р о л д ж є, with а and о under your index fingers. The bottom row is я ч с м и т ь б ю, the full stop on the / key and the comma on its Shift.
• Shift on the number row gives ! " № ; % : ? * ( ) instead of the US symbols, so the question mark is Shift+7.

Phonetic Ukrainian layout: which key types each letter

The phonetic layout puts letters where English speakers expect them. It follows the common student layout for Russian, adapted for Ukrainian: Y is и and I is і, as in transliteration.

Most letters sit on the obvious key (а on A, б on B, д on D). The ones to learn:

• H is ч (ch), because G is taken by г, which sounds like h. X is х (kh).
• W is ш (sh), ] is щ (shch), ' is ж (zh), C is ц (ts).
• Q is я (ya), [ is ю (yu), \ is є (ye), ` is ї (yi).
• J is й, ; is the soft sign ь, and = is ґ. The apostrophe ʼ has its own button above the keyboard.

Here is every letter with its key in both modes:

Ukrainian alphabet chart

All 33 letters, capital and small, in order, with the usual Latin spelling under each. Download it to print.

Download the ukrainian alphabet chart (PNG)

The Ukrainian alphabet

Ukrainian has 33 letters, plus the apostrophe, which is part of the spelling but not counted as a letter. Here is each letter with its name, sound and Latin spelling.

Letters that look English but aren't

Cyrillic shares many shapes with the Latin alphabet, and some stand for a different sound:

How Ukrainian differs from Russian

The two alphabets look alike, but a Russian keyboard can't type Ukrainian correctly. The key differences:

Because of these, place names differ too: Київ is Kyiv (Russian Kiev), Харків is Kharkiv (Russian Kharkov), Львів is Lviv (Russian Lvov).

The apostrophe and the soft sign

Ukrainian uses an apostrophe to keep a consonant hard before я, ю, є or ї, where Russian would write ъ. It comes after б, п, в, м, ф, р and after prefixes, and it is spelled with the curly ʼ, not the straight typewriter mark:

The soft sign ь does the opposite: it softens the consonant before it, and can change the meaning: рис (rice) but рись (lynx). Unlike Russian, Ukrainian also writes ь inside words before о: льон, сьогодні, дьоготь.

Translit: typing Ukrainian in Latin letters

Translit is how Ukrainians write Ukrainian when they only have a Latin keyboard, and it is what the Translit tab turns into Cyrillic as you type. The rules follow the official Ukrainian romanization where possible.

• y is и and i is і: pryvit → привіт, Kyyiv → Київ. y before a vowel makes я, ю, є or ї: ya → я, yi → ї.
• h is г and g is ґ, the opposite of what an English speaker might guess: harno → гарно, gudzyk → ґудзик.
• Two-letter sounds join as you type: z gives з, then h turns it into ж. The same for sh → ш, ch → ч, kh → х, shch → щ.
• j is й on its own: dobryj → добрий, mij → мій.
• The signs: one apostrophe for ь (den' → день), two for the Ukrainian apostrophe ʼ (sim''ya → сімʼя).

Common Ukrainian words and how to type them

Each word with its meaning, what to type in Translit mode and the keys to press in Phonetic mode.

Stress marks (наголос)

Ukrainian stress is not written in normal text, but dictionaries and textbooks mark it with an acute accent, and it can change the meaning:

To add a stress mark here, type the vowel and click the ◌́ button above the keyboard. It is a separate character placed over the letter, so the word still copies and searches as normal text.

Ukrainian punctuation and symbols

How to add a Ukrainian keyboard to your device

For a few words, this page is enough. If you type Ukrainian every day, add it to your device so it works in every app.

Frequently asked questions