Bulgarian Letters: All 30 Letters, Names and Sounds
Bulgarian letters are the 30 Cyrillic characters of the modern Bulgarian alphabet, from А to Я. Six look and sound roughly like English, six are false friends (В Н Р С У Х), and eighteen are new shapes. Most consonants are named with an added ъ sound, so Б is called бъ (“buh”).
Bulgarian letters number 30, and every one of them stands for a fairly stable sound. That is the good news for English speakers: once you know the 30 Bulgarian letters, you can sound out almost any word you see on a sign, a menu or a bus timetable. The hard part is that some letters look like English ones but mean something else.
This hub sorts the alphabet into three groups, explains what each letter is called, and points you to a full page for every letter. Use the chart above to hear each one.
Three groups of Bulgarian letters
Most learners find it easiest to split the alphabet by how familiar each shape is. The groups below add up to all 30 letters.
| Group | Letters | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| Look and sound (roughly) like English | А К М О Т Е | Six letters. Е is the “e” in “bet,” never the “ee” in “see.” |
| False friends | В Н Р С У Х | Six letters that look Latin but sound different: v, n, r, s, u, h. |
| New shapes | Б Г Д Ж З И Й Л П Ф Ц Ч Ш Щ Ъ Ь Ю Я | Eighteen letters to learn from scratch. Several come from Greek. |
Learn them in that order. The first group takes minutes. The second group is where most reading errors happen. The third group is just memory work, and it goes faster than you expect because each new letter usually has one sound.
False friends: the six tricky Bulgarian letters
These six Bulgarian letters cause more misreadings than all the others combined. Your eye sees a Latin letter, and your brain reads the wrong sound.
| Letter | Sounds like | Example | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| В в | v | вода (voda) | water |
| Н н | n | не (ne) | no, not |
| Р р | r (tapped or rolled) | риба (riba) | fish |
| С с | s | сол (sol) | salt |
| У у | u, as in “rule” | улица (ulitsa) | street |
| Х х | h, a throaty “kh” | хляб (hlyab) | bread |
A classic test is the word ресторант (restorant). It looks like “pectopaht” until you read it letter by letter: р-е-с-т-о-р-а-н-т. Try the same with хотел (hotel) and център (tsentar, center). For the sound of Х, which English does not really have, see the page for the Bulgarian letter Х.
New Bulgarian letters with no English look-alike
The remaining eighteen letters are unfamiliar shapes, but each has a clear job. A few are worth singling out because they carry sounds that English spells with two or three letters.
- Ж is the “s” in “measure” [ʒ], as in жена (zhena, woman). See the letter Ж.
- Ч is “ch” [tʃ] and Ш is “sh” [ʃ].
- Щ is “sht” [ʃt], as in “fresh tea” said fast. The letter Щ page explains why Russian reads it differently.
- Ц is “ts,” like the end of “cats.”
- Ю and Я add a “y” glide: “yu” and “ya.”
- Ъ is a vowel, roughly the “u” in “but.” English has no exact match. The letter Ъ page covers it in detail.
Two letters rarely stand alone. Й works like an English “y” after a vowel, as in чай (chay, tea). Ь appears only before о, to soften the consonant in front of it, as in шофьор (shofyor, driver).
Vowels and consonants
Bulgarian has six basic vowel sounds, written а е и о у ъ. Two more vowel letters, ю and я, combine a “y” sound with a vowel. That makes eight vowel letters in all. The other 22 letters are consonants, plus the sign ь and the semivowel й.
Stress is not marked in normal writing. Unstressed vowels also weaken, so а in an unstressed syllable can sound close to ъ. The Bulgarian alphabet pronunciation guide explains these rules with examples.
What Bulgarian letters are called
Bulgarian letters have short names, and they differ from the Russian names many people meet first. Vowels are simply said aloud: а, е, и, о, у, ю, я. Most consonants are named with the consonant plus the vowel ъ: бъ, въ, гъ, дъ. So Б is “buh,” not “beh.”
Three letters have special names:
- Й is и кратко (i kratko), “short i.”
- Ъ is ер голям (er golyam), “big er.”
- Ь is ер малък (er malak), “small er.”
Bulgarian children recite the alphabet with these names, which is why a Bulgarian will spell a word as “бъ, ъ, лъ…” rather than “be, el.” If you want to compare with Russian, the Bulgarian vs Russian alphabet page lists every difference.
Why there are 30 Bulgarian letters
The modern set dates from a spelling reform adopted by the Council of Ministers on 12 February 1945, according to the Bulgarian News Agency. It removed the old letters ѣ (yat) and ѫ (big yus) and dropped the silent ъ that used to end many words. Before that, the standard alphabet had 32 letters.
One extra mark is worth knowing. The form ѝ (with a grave accent) is used to tell the pronoun ѝ (“her”) apart from the conjunction и (“and”). It is not counted as a separate letter.
Bulgarian letters in Latin script
Each letter has an official Latin equivalent under Bulgaria’s Transliteration Act of 2009. It is used in passports and on road signs. The full table is published in a UN paper on the Bulgarian romanization system. A few values surprise people: щ is “sht,” ъ is “a,” and х is “h.”
Common mistakes with Bulgarian letters
- Reading Р as “p,” Н as “h” or В as “b.” The sign ВХОД (vhod, entrance) is not “bxod.”
- Reading С as “k” or a hard “c.” It is always “s.”
- Mixing up Ш (sh) and Щ (sht). Look for the small tail on Щ.
- Treating Ъ as silent. In Bulgarian it is a full vowel, unlike the Russian hard sign.
- Expecting printed lowercase to match textbook forms. Bulgarian fonts often draw д like “g” and т like “m.” See Bulgarian Cyrillic letterforms.
Frequently asked questions
How many Bulgarian letters are there?
There are 30 letters in the modern Bulgarian alphabet. The count has been 30 since the 1945 spelling reform removed yat (ѣ) and big yus (ѫ).
Which Bulgarian letters look like English but sound different?
В (v), Н (n), Р (r), С (s), У (u) and Х (h) are the main false friends. In lowercase, some Bulgarian fonts also make д look like g and т look like m.
What are the Bulgarian letters called?
Vowels are named by their sound, and most consonants add the vowel ъ: бъ, въ, гъ. Й is called и кратко, Ъ is ер голям and Ь is ер малък.
Is Ъ a vowel in Bulgarian?
Yes. Ъ is a full vowel, close to the ‘u’ in ‘but’. It is not a silent hard sign as in Russian.
Is ѝ a separate Bulgarian letter?
No. Ѝ is the letter И with a grave accent, used to write the pronoun ‘her’ so it is not confused with и (‘and’).
Sources
- Bulgarian alphabet (Wikipedia)
- BTA: 12 February in history (1945 spelling reform)
- Romanization System in Bulgaria (UNGEGN, E/CONF.101/12)
- Bulgarian phonology (Wikipedia)