| 33 letters | 10 vowel letters: а, е, є, и, і, ї, о, у, ю, я | о́зеро / мо́ре | lake / sea |
| Я, ю, є, ї | two sounds at the start of a word: /ja/ · /ju/ · /jɛ/ · /ji/ | я́блуко / ї́жа | apple / food |
| Щ | one letter, two sounds: /ʃt͡ʃ/ | ща́стя | happiness |
| Ь | has no sound: it softens the consonant before it | сіль / день | salt / day |
| Г and ґ | г is /ɦ/, ґ is /ɡ/ | гора́ / ґу́дзик | mountain / button |
| И and і | и is /ɪ/, і is /i/: two different sounds | ри́ба / лі́то | fish / summer |
| Capital letter | names, cities, countries and the start of a sentence | Оле́на живе́ в Ки́єві. | Olena lives in Kyiv. |
| Small letter | languages and nationalities | Я украї́нець, я говорю́ украї́нською. | I'm Ukrainian, I speak Ukrainian. |
| Handwriting | handwritten т looks like Latin m; д has a loop below | — | |
| Trap | the Ukrainian alphabet has no ы, э, ъ or ё | ми / йо́гурт | we / yogurt |