How to Use

Learning Ukrainian on UkrainianPod is simple: follow each lesson's instructions carefully. The most crucial part of your learning will always be input: reading, listening, watching, and absorbing as much Ukrainian as you can, consistently.

The first lessons are being written now. This page explains how they work, so you're ready for your first lesson.

First, Learn the Ukrainian Alphabet

Ukrainian is written in the Cyrillic alphabet: 33 letters, and you already know a few of them. Learn them before your first lesson: every lesson is written in Cyrillic, and most people can sound out words after an hour or two of practice. A few things are worth knowing:

• Some letters look and sound much like English ones: А, К, М, О, Т.
• Some look like English letters but sound different: В is "v" (like the "w" of "now" at the end of a syllable), Н is "n", Р is a rolled "r", С is "s", У is "oo", Х is like the "ch" in Scottish "loch", and Г is a soft "h", as in гора ("mountain"), while Ґ is the "g" of "go".
• Some vowels are easy to mix up: И is like the "i" in "sit", І is the "ee" in "see", and Ї is "yee"; Е is the "e" in "bet", and Є is "ye", as in "yes".
• The rest are new, like Б ("b"), Д ("d"), Ж (the "s" in "pleasure"), Ш ("sh"), Щ ("shch", as in "fresh cheese"), Й (the "y" in "boy") and Я ("ya"). Ь has no sound of its own: it softens the consonant before it. An apostrophe inside a word, as in м’ясо ("meat"), keeps the consonant apart from the vowel after it: "m-yaso".
• Ukrainian is mostly said the way it's written: its vowels keep their sound even when they're not stressed, so молоко ("milk") is simply "moloko". What the spelling doesn't show is the stress. Every word has one stressed syllable, everyday writing doesn't mark it, and it can change the meaning: за́мок is a castle, замо́к a lock. That's one more reason to learn by listening.

Lessons will also be able to show each line in Latin letters (Romanization, for example pryvit for привіт). Use it to check how a line sounds, not to read instead of Cyrillic: the sooner you read Cyrillic, the faster you'll go.

Why Input Matters Most

Traditional language learning tries to make you speak before you're ready, forcing you to memorize grammar rules or drill vocabulary out of context.

But when you're pushed to speak too early, you're often just guessing, making mistakes, and creating bad habits. Instead, our method emphasizes constant exposure to natural, understandable Ukrainian, similar to how children learn their first language.

Required Reading: Input - what it is and why you need it

Daily Lessons: How to Use Them

Each lesson comes with clear instructions: simply follow along step by step. If you've comfortably finished one, it's perfectly fine to go straight on to another. But don't rush, and take breaks if you're tired. Enjoying the process is crucial; if you don't, burnout is inevitable.

How Many Lessons to Take

The course will run through six levels on the CEFR scale, from A1 (beginner) to C2 (near native). You won't need every lesson of a level: after about the number below, most learners are ready for the next level; take more wherever you want more practice.

About 670 lessons in all, from Newbie to Advanced. Your own lessons done at each level will be on the Progress page, once the lessons are here.

Using a Lesson Page

Every lesson is one short conversation, in a few numbered steps. Press Play all to hear it from start to finish, or the round button next to a line to hear just that line. The line being played is highlighted, so your eyes can follow along. Each speaker has a voice of their own. The Options button next to Play all holds these settings, and the page remembers them for every lesson:

• Play each line once, twice or three times in a row.
• Speed slows the audio down to 0.8× or 0.6× without changing the voice.
• Hide the English leaves the translations blank so you can test yourself. Tap where a line's English was to peek at it.
• Word cards: point at any word of a Ukrainian line (or tap it) to see what it means.
• Listen only hides all the text, for pure listening.

On a computer, the keyboard works too: R plays or pauses the whole dialogue, 1 to 9 play a line, E hides or shows the English, and the ← → arrows go to the previous or next lesson.

When you've finished a lesson, press Done: it takes you to the next one and, with a free account, marks the lesson done, so the course page and the menu show where you left off. If you spot a mistake in a line, press Spotted a mistake? under the dialogue, choose the line and tell us what's wrong.

Saving Your Progress

You don't need an account to learn: every lesson is open to everyone. To keep track of your progress, create a free account with your email address. Every lesson you finish is then saved to your account, and the course page and the menu show where you left off. Log in on your phone, another computer or a new browser, and you pick up where you left off there too.

Without an account, nothing about your progress is kept. If you marked lessons done in this browser before progress moved to accounts, they're still here, waiting: create an account or log in on this browser and they go into it. Your account holds only your email address and the lessons you've marked done, and you can delete it any time from its page.

Ти and Ви Are Part of Every Lesson

Ukrainian has two words for "you". Ти is for family, friends, children and people your own age you know well; Ви is for strangers, older people, customers, teachers and bosses, and for more than one person. With Ви often come пане ("sir") and пані ("ma'am") before a first name, or a first name with the father's name after it, as in Ганна Сергіївна. Use the wrong one and you sound rude, or oddly distant.

Ukrainian also changes the end of a name when you speak to someone: Олена becomes Олено, Андрій becomes Андрію, and пан becomes пане. You'll hear it in almost every lesson, so it soon sounds natural.

You don't need to study the rules. Each lesson's situation says who the speakers are and how they know each other, and across the course you meet every combination: women and men, students and teachers, parents and grandparents, bosses, customers and old friends. Notice how they speak to each other, and the right words will start to feel natural.

Maximizing Your Input

Your goal is simple: get as much input as possible. This doesn't mean just focused study; it means immersing yourself in Ukrainian as often as you can, even passively. Listen to Ukrainian podcasts, YouTube videos, films, series or songs while you walk, exercise, cook, or commute. Real Ukrainian is often fast, with words running into each other: that's normal, and the more you hear it, the more of it you'll follow.

AJATT famously emphasizes this: passive listening helps your brain get accustomed to Ukrainian sounds, making the language feel natural over time.

Your Flashcards

With a free account, the site keeps flashcards for you on every device, and reviews them the way Anki does: each card comes back just before you'd forget it.

1. On a lesson, press + at the end of a line, or beside a word in its card or its word list. At the end of the lesson, "Add today's lines" saves them all at once. They go into the level's deck, for example "Newbie (A1)", or any deck you choose.
2. Open Flashcards in the menu, pick a deck and press Study Now. Listen, try to remember, then press Show Answer and say how it went: Again, Hard, Good or Easy. The keys work too: Space shows the answer, 1 to 4 answer it.
3. A line or a word you save from several lessons stays one card. With a free account your cards follow you to every device; without one they stay in the browser you saved them in.
4. You can take them to Anki at any time: Export to Anki, on the Flashcards page, makes a file with every card, its audio and its schedule.

Taking Your Cards to Anki

1. Install Anki. It's free on computers (apps.ankiweb.net) and on Android (AnkiDroid). On iPhone and iPad, the official app is AnkiMobile, which is paid.
2. On the Flashcards page, open a deck's menu and choose Export: the file holds every card of the deck and its schedule.
3. Open the downloaded file: double-click it on a computer, or open it with AnkiDroid or AnkiMobile on a phone. Tick "Import any learning progress" and "Import any deck presets" when Anki asks, and turn on FSRS in its options, so your schedule comes with the cards.
4. Exporting and importing again later updates the cards instead of adding copies.

Enjoy the Process and Avoid Burnout

Learning a language should be enjoyable. If you're feeling exhausted, slow down. Remember, this isn't just about learning Ukrainian; it's about getting used to Ukrainian. Meeting Ukrainian every day, even passively, makes it part of your daily life. Eventually, it becomes natural, comfortable, and even part of your identity.

If you consistently engage with the language through input, you'll soon find yourself thinking in Ukrainian. When you've had enough exposure, the desire to speak will naturally emerge, and you won't need to force it. It'll come as naturally as breathing.

Don't Give Up: We're Always Here

Learning Ukrainian is a journey, not a race. If life gets in the way and you take a break, that's fine. We'll always be here. Simply come back whenever you're ready, pick up exactly where you left off, and keep going.

Trust the process, keep reading and listening, keep reviewing, and above all, enjoy yourself. Ukrainian will become a natural part of your life before you know it.