Unit 1 - The alphabet
1.6 - The hard vowels
The hard (normal) vowels all sound roughly like English vowels. Click on a letter to hear how it sounds.
Doubly useful vowels!
Most of the above vowels also function as words in their own right (these are very useful and easy to learn):
|
I У A O |
means and is one of the words for in is a contrastive and/but is used (when telling the time) for at |
In spoken Ukrainian, as in many other languages, the vowel sounds play an important part in expressing emotion:
|
A-а-а... E-е-е... I-і-і... O-о-о... У-у-у... |
astonishment, annoyance, disappointment confusion, suspicion, doubt, indignation, disagreement, regret, reproach surprise, disappointment, doubt, reluctance despair, enthusiasm, surprise, incredulity fear, annoyance, reproach, threat (as well as surprise, delight); also used for booing, howling and wailing!! |
