Macedonian vs Bulgarian Alphabet: Letters Compared

The Macedonian vs Bulgarian alphabet comparison starts with two numbers: Macedonian has 31 Cyrillic letters, Bulgarian has 30, and 24 letters are shared. Macedonian adds seven letters (Ѓ Ѕ Ј Љ Њ Ќ Џ); Bulgarian has six that Macedonian does not use (Й Щ Ъ Ь Ю Я).

The two languages are closely related South Slavic languages, and speakers of one can usually follow a good deal of the other. Their standard alphabets, though, follow different design choices, as the tables below show. This page sticks to the letters; the relationship between the two languages is a sensitive topic, and we note the main positions at the end.

Macedonian vs Bulgarian alphabet: shared letters

These 24 letters appear in both alphabets with broadly the same sounds: А Б В Г Д Е Ж З И К Л М Н О П Р С Т У Ф Х Ц Ч Ш. A reader of either language can sound out most words in the other once the remaining letters are learned.

Both languages also use a grave accent on some vowels to separate words that would otherwise look the same. Bulgarian has one such form, ѝ (“her”), distinct from и (“and”). Macedonian uses ѝ and ѐ. In neither language are these counted as separate letters.

The seven letters only Macedonian has

The Macedonian standard alphabet was agreed by a commission in Yugoslav Macedonia in May 1945 and officially adopted on 7 June 1945. It follows a one-sound-one-letter principle, like Serbian Cyrillic. Four letters (Ј, Љ, Њ, Џ) were taken from Serbian Cyrillic, Ѕ was revived from early Cyrillic, and Ѓ and Ќ were created for sounds specific to Macedonian.

Macedonian letter	IPA	Approximate sound
Ѓ ѓ	[ɟ]	voiced palatal stop, between “gy” and “j”
Ѕ ѕ	[dz]	“ds” in “adds”
Ј ј	[j]	“y” in “yes”
Љ љ	[ʎ]	“lli” in “million”
Њ њ	[ɲ]	“ny” in “canyon”
Ќ ќ	[c]	voiceless palatal stop, between “ky” and “ch”
Џ џ	[dʒ]	“j” in “jam”

Ѓ and Ќ are the hardest for English speakers. They are palatal stops: the tongue presses against the hard palate, giving a sound between “gy” and “j” or between “ky” and “ch”. Pronunciation varies by region.

The six letters only Bulgarian has

Bulgarian keeps letters with long histories in the Cyrillic tradition. Macedonian handles the same sounds differently, or does not have them in the standard language:

Bulgarian letter	Macedonian spelling
Й й	Macedonian writes ј: Bulgarian край vs Macedonian крај (end)
Щ щ	Often matches ќ: Bulgarian нощ vs Macedonian ноќ (night)
Ъ ъ	No letter; the vowel is absent from the standard: Bulgarian добър vs Macedonian добар (good)
Ь ь	Softness is shown with љ and њ instead
Ю ю	Macedonian writes ју or љу: Bulgarian любов vs Macedonian љубов (love)
Я я	Macedonian writes ја: Bulgarian ябълка vs Macedonian јаболко (apple)

The most visible difference is ъ. In Bulgarian it is a full vowel, close to the “u” in “but” ([ɤ]), found in very common words. The 1945 Macedonian commission chose not to include it; where the sound occurs in some Macedonian words, it is written with an apostrophe. You can hear the Bulgarian vowel on the letter Ъ page.

Macedonian vs Bulgarian alphabet in real words

Related words show how the letter systems map onto each other. The play buttons read the Bulgarian words only.

English	Bulgarian	Macedonian
night	нощ ▶	ноќ
house	къща ▶	куќа
star	звезда ▶	ѕвезда
good day	добър ден ▶	добар ден
apple	ябълка ▶	јаболко

Across the Macedonian vs Bulgarian alphabet, a pattern stands out: Bulgarian щ often corresponds to Macedonian ќ, and Bulgarian я to Macedonian ја or е.

Stress and other differences beyond the letters

Spelling is only part of the picture, and readers who know one alphabet still need time for the other language’s sounds and grammar. Standard Macedonian has fixed stress, usually on the third syllable from the end of a word. Bulgarian stress is free and can fall on any syllable, which is why learners of Bulgarian must memorize it word by word (see Bulgarian alphabet pronunciation). Both languages place the definite article at the end of the noun, and Macedonian has three forms of it, marking distance.

A note on the language question

Before 1945, Slavic speakers in the region wrote in a variety of Cyrillic spellings influenced by Church Slavonic, Bulgarian, Serbian and Russian norms, and many described their speech as Bulgarian. Today, Macedonian is the official language of North Macedonia and is treated as a separate standard language in international linguistic reference works. Bulgarian institutions have long regarded it as historically part of the Bulgarian dialect area, and the question has featured in relations between the two countries. Both views refer to the same close linguistic kinship; they differ on how to classify it. This site describes the alphabets as they are written today.

For other comparisons, see Serbian vs Bulgarian alphabet and the general Cyrillic alphabet page.

Common mistakes

• Using ј in Bulgarian. Bulgarian has no ј. Write й, я or ю.
• Dropping ъ from Bulgarian words. Добър needs its ъ; “добар” is not Bulgarian spelling.
• Typing Latin S for Ѕ. Macedonian ѕ is its own Cyrillic character (U+0455 in the Unicode Cyrillic chart), not Latin s.
• Treating ѓ and ќ as г and к with accents. They are separate letters with their own sounds.
• Using Bulgarian щ for Macedonian ќ. Ноќ and нощ are related but spelled and pronounced differently.

Frequently asked questions

How many letters are in the Macedonian alphabet?

Thirty-one. The Bulgarian alphabet has thirty, and 24 letters are common to both.

What is the main difference in the Macedonian vs Bulgarian alphabet?

Macedonian has seven letters Bulgarian lacks, including Ѓ, Ќ and Ѕ, while Bulgarian has six Macedonian lacks, including the vowel letter Ъ and the letters Щ, Ю and Я.

When was the Macedonian alphabet created?

It was agreed by a commission in May 1945 and officially adopted on 7 June 1945.

Can Bulgarians read Macedonian?

They can read it aloud after learning about seven new letters, and the languages are closely related, so much of the text is understandable.

Does Macedonian have the letter Ъ?

No. The 1945 standard did not include it; where the sound occurs in some words, an apostrophe is used.

Sources

• Macedonian alphabet (Wikipedia)
• Bulgarian alphabet (Wikipedia)
• Unicode Cyrillic code chart (lists ѝ for Macedonian and Bulgarian)

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