Bulgarian Letter Ш: How to Say Ш (sh)
Ш is the 25th letter of the Bulgarian alphabet. The Bulgarian letter Ш sounds like the “sh” in “ship” [ʃ], slightly deeper and harder. Its name is шъ (“shuh”) and it transliterates as sh. Do not confuse it with Щ, which has a small tail and sounds like “sht”.
The Bulgarian letter Ш is the 25th letter of the alphabet and spells [ʃ], the “sh” in “ship”. It is a three-pronged letter with no Latin twin, and it is the base shape for its neighbor Щ. Learn Ш well and Щ comes almost free.
How to pronounce the Bulgarian letter Ш
Ш is close to English “sh”, made with the tongue a little further back and lips slightly rounded. The result is a deep, “hard” hush. The name of the letter is шъ, said “shuh”. Like Ч and Ж, Ш has no soft partner, so it is never followed by the soft sign Ь, and Bulgarian writes ша and шу rather than шя or шю.
Ш takes part in voicing changes. Before a voiced consonant it can be voiced to [ʒ]. More often you meet the reverse: Ж at the end of a word sounds like Ш. The phonology literature gives мъж (“man”) as [mɤʃ]. So a final “sh” sound may be spelled with Ж.
| Bulgarian | Streamlined | Meaning | Hear |
|---|---|---|---|
| шапка | shapka | hat, cap | |
| шест | shest | six | |
| шише | shishe | bottle | |
| шоколад | shokolad | chocolate | |
| душа | dusha | soul |
Ш and Щ: one tail apart
The only visual difference between Ш and Щ is the small tail under the right side of Щ. In fast reading or small print, it is easy to miss. The sound difference is large: шум (shum) is “noise”, while щука (shtuka) is “pike” (the fish). If a word seems odd, look at the bottom right corner.
Some people also mistake Ш for a Latin W, especially in all-caps signs. Unicode keeps them as separate characters (Ш is U+0428), so a typed W will never stand in for it.
Transliteration of the Bulgarian letter Ш
Under the Transliteration Act, Ш becomes sh: Шумен is Shumen and Шипка is Shipka, the famous mountain pass. Academic ISO 9 uses š. Since Latin “sh” could in theory also stand for the pair сх, a reverse conversion is a best guess; in real words ш is by far the more common reading. The transliteration guide lists other ambiguous pairs.
Reading tip: when Ш and Щ appear in small print, scan the bottom right corner first. No tail means “sh”; a tail means “sht”. Practice with both on our Bulgarian alphabet chart.
Ш as a grammar ending
Ш is the signature of the informal “you” in the present tense. Almost every verb ends in -ш when you talk to one person you know well: имаш (imash, “you have”), говориш (govorish, “you speak”), искаш ли? (iskash li?, “do you want?”). Listen for that final “sh” in conversations, songs and films, and in our Bulgarian phrases list.
Where the shape came from
Ш has no Greek source. It is usually traced to the Glagolitic letter sha (Ⱎ), which the creators of Cyrillic kept for a sound Greek lacked. You can compare the two on the Glagolitic alphabet page.
Common mistakes with the Bulgarian letter Ш
- Confusing Ш and Щ. Check for the tail.
- Reading Ш as W on capitalized signs.
- Writing a final “sh” sound with Ш when the word has Ж, as in мъж and нож (nozh, “knife”).
- Writing шя after Ш. Bulgarian uses ша.
- Dropping the final -ш of informal verbs: имаш, not има, means “you have”.
Frequently asked questions
What sound does the Bulgarian letter Ш make?
Ш is [ʃ], like the sh in “ship”, said with the tongue a little further back.
What is the difference between Ш and Щ in Bulgarian?
Щ has a small tail at the bottom right and sounds like sht. Ш has no tail and sounds like sh.
Why does мъж end in an sh sound?
Final ж is devoiced to [ʃ] in Bulgarian, so мъж is pronounced [mɤʃ], although it is spelled with ж.
How is Ш transliterated?
As sh in the official Streamlined System, so Шумен becomes Shumen.
Sources
- Transliteration Act of Bulgaria (2009), English text, Ministry of Regional Development
- Bulgarian phonology (Wikipedia)
- Unicode code charts (Cyrillic block U+0400)
- Bulgarian alphabet (Wikipedia)