Bulgarian vs Russian Alphabet: Every Difference Explained

The Bulgarian vs Russian alphabet comparison starts with a simple fact: Bulgarian uses 30 letters and Russian uses 33. Every Bulgarian letter also exists in Russian, so the difference in the count comes from three Russian letters, Ё, Ы and Э, that Bulgarian does not have. The harder differences hide inside the shared letters, where the same shape can stand for a different sound.

If you already read Russian, Bulgarian Cyrillic will look familiar within minutes. If you are learning Bulgarian first, knowing these points stops Russian charts and apps from teaching you the wrong thing.

The three letters Russian has and Bulgarian does not

• Ё is “yo” in Russian, as in ёлка (fir tree). Bulgarian writes the same sound as йо or ьо: йод (yod, iodine), шофьор (shofyor, driver). In Russian, the two dots are often left out in everyday print, which Wikipedia’s Russian alphabet article notes is formally allowed.
• Ы is a Russian vowel [ɨ], said with the tongue pulled back. Bulgarian has no such vowel, so it has no letter for it. Bulgarian и covers the “ee” sound alone.
• Э is the Russian “e” that does not soften the consonant before it. Bulgarian does not need it, because Bulgarian е is already a plain “e” as in “bet.”

Bulgarian vs Russian alphabet: shared letters, different sounds

Щ: sht or shch

In Bulgarian, щ is “sht,” [ʃt], as in още (oshte, more) and щастие (shtastie, happiness). In Russian, it is usually a long, soft “sh,” [ɕː], often romanized as “shch.” Russian spells “happiness” счастье, a reminder that the two languages do not just swap letters. More on the Bulgarian letter Щ page.

Ъ: a vowel or a sign

This is the biggest difference. In Bulgarian, ъ is one of the six vowels, roughly the “u” in “but.” It appears in very common words: път (pat, road), ъгъл (agal, corner), and България itself. In Russian, ъ is the “hard sign.” It has no sound and appears in only a few words, such as объект, where it separates a prefix from the following vowel. Bulgarian calls it ер голям (er golyam, “big er”); Russian calls it the hard sign. See the letter Ъ page.

Ь: rare in Bulgarian

Russian uses the soft sign ь constantly, especially at the ends of words, as in день (day). In Bulgarian, ь can only stand before о, to soften the consonant: синьо (sinyo, blue). The silent word-final ь was removed from Bulgarian spelling in 1945.

Е: no “ye” in Bulgarian

At the start of a word, Russian е is “ye.” Bulgarian е never adds a “y.” So the Bulgarian name Елена is “e-LE-na,” while Russian speakers say “ye-LE-na.” The official Bulgarian Latin spelling is Elena.

Letter names in the Bulgarian vs Russian alphabet

Bulgarians name consonants by adding the vowel ъ: бъ, въ, гъ, дъ. Russians use бэ, вэ, гэ, дэ, and some names begin with a vowel, such as эль for Л and эм for М. If a Bulgarian spells a word aloud, every consonant ends in that “uh” sound.

Letter	Bulgarian name	Russian name
Б	бъ	бэ
Л	лъ	эль
Х	хъ	ха
Й	и кратко	и краткое
Ъ	ер голям	твёрдый знак

What stays the same

The good news is that most of the Bulgarian vs Russian alphabet is shared. Letters such as а, б, в, г, д, ж, з, к, м, н, п, р, с, т, ф, х, ц, ч, ш, ю and я carry roughly the same sounds in both languages. Both languages also weaken unstressed vowels, but in different ways. Russian unstressed о sounds like “a,” while Bulgarian unstressed а moves toward ъ and о toward у.

Bulgarian letterforms

Many Bulgarian fonts draw lowercase letters differently from Russian fonts. In the Bulgarian style, д can look like a Latin “g,” т like “m,” and и like “u.” Fonts switch between styles when a web page or document is tagged with the Bulgarian language, using an OpenType feature called locl. Russian readers can still read Bulgarian forms easily, but the first look surprises them. The Bulgarian Cyrillic page shows the differences in detail.

Same word, different spelling

Because the languages differ, related words are spelled differently, not just pronounced differently. A few examples:

English	Bulgarian	Russian
bread	хляб (hlyab)	хлеб
milk	мляко (mlyako)	молоко
apple	ябълка (yabalka)	яблоко
Bulgaria	България (Bulgaria)	Болгария

Never copy a Russian spelling into Bulgarian text. Spell checkers and translation tools sometimes do this when the language is set wrongly.

Transliteration differences

Bulgarian has its own official Latin spelling, the Streamlined System of the 2009 Transliteration Act. Russian is romanized by other rules. The result is that the same letter may look different in Latin: Bulgarian х is “h” while Russian is usually “kh,” and Bulgarian щ is “sht” while Russian is “shch.” The details are on the Bulgarian alphabet to English page.

Common mix-ups in the Bulgarian vs Russian alphabet

• Learning Bulgarian from a Russian alphabet chart. You will memorize three letters you never use and the wrong sound for Щ and Ъ.
• Reading Bulgarian ъ as silent. In път it is the only vowel.
• Saying “ye” for Bulgarian е at the start of words.
• Writing Russian spellings such as хлеб in Bulgarian text.
• Assuming Bulgarian has the Russian soft sign at word ends. It was dropped in 1945.

For the full letter list, see how many letters in the Bulgarian alphabet. To compare with other neighbors, read Ukrainian vs Bulgarian alphabet.

Frequently asked questions

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

Russian has 33 letters and Bulgarian 30, because Bulgarian does not use Ё, Ы or Э. The biggest sound differences are Щ (‘sht’ in Bulgarian) and Ъ (a vowel in Bulgarian, a silent sign in Russian).

Can a Russian speaker read Bulgarian?

A Russian speaker can sound out Bulgarian text easily, because every Bulgarian letter exists in Russian. Understanding it is harder, since the languages differ in vocabulary and grammar.

Does Bulgarian have the letter Ы?

No. Bulgarian has no Ы sound, so the letter is not used. Bulgarian и covers the ‘ee’ sound.

Why do Bulgarian fonts look different from Russian ones?

Bulgarian typography uses its own lowercase shapes for some letters, such as д and т. Fonts show them when text is tagged as Bulgarian.

Sources

• Russian alphabet (Wikipedia)
• Russian alphabet (Britannica)
• Bulgarian alphabet (Wikipedia)
• Cyrillic script (Wikipedia)

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