The Bulgarian Alphabet (Азбука)

Learn the 30 Cyrillic letters, their sounds, and examples of their use.

Welcome to your first Bulgarian lesson! The Bulgarian alphabet, or "Азбука" (AZ-boo-kah), uses the Cyrillic script. It has 30 letters. Many will look familiar, but some have unique sounds. Let's dive in!

Understanding Cyrillic

Cyrillic was developed in the First Bulgarian Empire. It's used by many Slavic languages. Bulgarian Cyrillic is phonetic, meaning letters usually represent the same sound.

Key Letters & Sounds (Examples)

А а (ah): like 'a' in father
Б б (buh): like 'b' in book
В в (vuh): like 'v' in vase
Г г (guh): like 'g' in go
Д д (duh): like 'd' in dog
Ж ж (zhuh): like 's' in pleasure
Ш ш (shuh): like 'sh' in shoe
Щ щ (shtuh): like 'sht' in fresh tuna
Ъ ъ (uh (schwa)): like 'u' in but (short 'uh')

Pronunciation Tip

Grammar Tip

Pay close attention to stressed syllables. Bulgarian stress can change a word's meaning or sound. We'll cover stress in more detail later.

For a full list of letters and their sounds, please refer to the Alphabet section in the "Word Lists" page. Practice saying each letter aloud.

Key Takeaways

The Bulgarian alphabet has 30 letters.
It is based on the Cyrillic script.
Generally, letters are pronounced consistently (phonetic).
Some letters like Ж, Ш, Щ, Ъ have sounds that might be new to English speakers.

Further Practice

Alphabet Game

Test your knowledge of the letters and sounds with our Alphabet Adventure game!

Play Alphabet Game

Test Your Knowledge