Macedonian Alphabet: All 31 Cyrillic Letters With Sounds and Examples

The Macedonian alphabet has 31 letters, all written in Cyrillic, and each letter stands for one sound. If you can say a word, you can spell it, and if you can read the letters, you can say any word on the page. Below is every letter with its Latin spelling, an English sound to compare it with, and a simple example word.

The Macedonian alphabet at a glance

Macedonian uses Cyrillic, the script family of Russian, Serbian and Bulgarian. The alphabet is called the азбука (azbuka). It has 31 letters and no silent ones.

That makes it a friendly alphabet to learn. Once you know the 31 sounds, you can read a church picnic menu or a card from Baba.

All 31 letters: the full table

The Latin column uses the official romanisation used in Macedonia for passports and ID cards. You will also see older or informal spellings, which we note where they are common. The sound guide is approximate, based on Australian English.

Letter	Latin	Sounds like	Example word	Meaning
А а	a	“a” in “car”	ајвар (ajvar)	roasted pepper relish
Б б	b	“b” in “bed”	баба (baba)	grandmother
В в	v	“v” in “van”	вода (voda)	water
Г г	g	“g” in “go”	грав (grav)	beans
Д д	d	“d” in “dog”	дедо (dedo)	grandfather
Ѓ ѓ	gj	soft “gy”, close to “d” in “duty” said quickly	ѓердан (gjerdan)	necklace
Е е	e	“e” in “bed”	еден (eden)	one
Ж ж	zh	“s” in “measure”	жаба (zhaba)	frog
З з	z	“z” in “zoo”	зима (zima)	winter
Ѕ ѕ	dz	“ds” in “kids”	ѕвезда (dzvezda)	star
И и	i	“ee” in “see”	име (ime)	name
Ј ј	j	“y” in “yes”	јаболко (jabolko)	apple
К к	k	“k” in “kite”	куќа (kukja)	house
Л л	l	“l” in “look”	леб (leb)	bread
Љ љ	lj	“lli” in “million”	љубов (ljubov)	love
М м	m	“m” in “mum”	мајка (majka)	mother
Н н	n	“n” in “net”	ноќ (nokj)	night
Њ њ	nj	“ny” in “canyon”	њива (njiva)	field
О о	o	“o” in “pot”	око (oko)	eye
П п	p	“p” in “pen”	пиле (pile)	chicken, chick
Р р	r	rolled “r”, as in Italian	риба (riba)	fish
С с	s	“s” in “sun”	сонце (sonce)	sun
Т т	t	“t” in “top”	татко (tatko)	father
Ќ ќ	kj	soft “ky”, close to “c” in “cute”	ќерка (kjerka)	daughter
У у	u	“oo” in “moon”	уво (uvo)	ear
Ф ф	f	“f” in “fun”	фустан (fustan)	dress
Х х	h	“ch” in Scottish “loch”, softer	хартија (hartija)	paper
Ц ц	c (often ts)	“ts” in “cats”	цвет (cvet)	flower
Ч ч	ch	“ch” in “church”	чај (chaj)	tea
Џ џ	dj (often dzh)	“j” in “jam”	џеб (djeb)	pocket
Ш ш	sh	“sh” in “ship”	шапка (shapka)	hat

Family names are another story. A surname with Ќ might appear as “Kj”, “K”, “C” or “Ch” on old Australian documents. None of these is wrong. They show how an officer heard the name on arrival.

The letters that make Macedonian different

Seven letters often catch the eye of people who already know Russian or another Cyrillic language: Ѓ, Ѕ, Ј, Љ, Њ, Ќ and Џ. They are not all unique, though.

Only in Macedonian: Ѓ, Ќ and Ѕ

• Ѓ ѓ and Ќ ќ were created for Macedonian. They are soft sounds, made with the tongue high against the roof of the mouth. You hear them in everyday words like куќа (house), ноќ (night) and ѓубре (rubbish).
• Ѕ ѕ is an old Cyrillic letter that Macedonian brought back. It is one sound, “dz”, not two letters joined. You find it in ѕвезда (star) and ѕид (wall).

Shared with Serbian: Ј, Љ, Њ and Џ

These four come from Serbian Cyrillic. Ј is the “y” sound. Љ and Њ are soft “l” and “n”. Џ is the “j” in “jam”. If your family also speaks Serbian, these will feel familiar.

What Macedonian leaves out

Russian has letters like Ё, Ы, Щ, Э, Ю, Я, Й, Ъ and Ь. Macedonian uses none of them. Instead of Я it writes ја, and instead of Ю it writes ју. So the Russian-looking “Югославия” would be “Југославија” in Macedonian. There is also no letter for the short “uh” sound heard in some dialects. When writers need to show it, for example in dialect songs, they use an apostrophe.

“Write as you speak”: one letter, one sound

The rule behind the alphabet is simple: write words the way you say them. Each letter has one sound, and each sound has one letter. This idea is linked with the Serbian reformer Vuk Karadžić, and Macedonian follows it closely.

So there are no silent letters, and no letter changes its sound the way English “c” does in “cat” and “city”. If you can hear it, you can write it.

One thing the letters do not show is stress. In standard Macedonian, the stress usually falls on the third syllable from the end: бла-ГО-да-рам, ЈА-бол-ко. Shorter words stress the first syllable: БА-ба, ДЕ-до. Village speech can differ, so listen to how your grandparents say it.

How the alphabet came about

In 1903, the writer Krste Misirkov published За македонцките работи (On Macedonian Matters) in Sofia. He argued for a written language based on the central dialects around Veles, Prilep and Bitola. He also tried out new letters for the soft “gj” and “kj” sounds.

The modern alphabet was agreed by a language commission in Skopje in May 1945 and made official later that year. The linguist Blaže Koneski was one of its members. The commission chose the central dialects as the base, as Misirkov had suggested, and created the 31-letter alphabet still used today.

Teaching the alphabet to kids

Kids can learn the 31 letters in a few weeks in small steps. This order works well.

1. Start with the easy friends. А, К, М, О and Т look and sound much like English. Е is close too. Kids can read мама, тато (dad) and око on day one.
2. Then the false friends. Some letters look English but sound different. Р is “r”, С is “s”, В is “v”, Н is “n”, Х is “h” and У is “oo”. Make a game of it: “It looks like P, but it says R.”
3. Then the new shapes. Б, Г, Д, Ж, З, И, Л, П, Ф, Ц, Ч and Ш are new but have familiar sounds.
4. Finish with the special letters. Ѓ, Ќ, Ѕ, Ј, Љ, Њ and Џ. Use words they already know, like куќа or љубов.

Other ideas that help:

• Label things at home: врата (door), маса (table).
• Ask Baba or Dedo to write a short weekly note for the kids to read back.
• Read the Cyrillic on jars at the continental deli, such as ајвар.

Learning the alphabet in Australia

Most Macedonian Saturday schools in Australia start with the azbuka in the first term. Classes run in Melbourne, Sydney, Wollongong, Perth, Canberra and other cities, often in church halls or public schools. You can find them through our list of Macedonian schools and the community directory. Our guide on where to learn Macedonian in Australia covers VCE, HSC and community classes state by state.

Many Macedonian churches print notices in Cyrillic, which makes for good reading practice.

For more on the alphabet and other learning resources, visit our Learn Macedonian page. If you have a question for your class or your family, get in touch through the contact page.

Once the letters are in place, try our 25 phrases every grandchild should know.

Frequently asked questions

How many letters are in the Macedonian alphabet?

There are 31 letters. All are Cyrillic, and each one stands for a single sound.

Which letters are unique to Macedonian?

Ѓ and Ќ were created for Macedonian, and Ѕ is an old Cyrillic letter that only Macedonian uses today among national alphabets. Ј, Љ, Њ and Џ are shared with Serbian.

Is the Macedonian alphabet the same as the Russian one?

No. Both are Cyrillic, but Macedonian has letters Russian lacks, such as Ѓ, Ќ, Ѕ and Ј. It also leaves out Russian letters like Ё, Ы, Щ, Ю and Я.

How do you write Macedonian in English letters?

The official system, used in passports, writes Ж as zh, Ч as ch, Ш as sh, Ѓ as gj, Ќ as kj and Џ as dj. Older and informal spellings vary, especially in family names.

When was the Macedonian alphabet created?

The modern alphabet was agreed by a language commission in May 1945 and made official that year. Earlier writers, including Krste Misirkov in 1903, had already argued for a Macedonian written standard.

Further reading: Macedonian alphabet (Wikipedia) and Romanisation of Macedonian (Wikipedia).

Прочитајте на македонски: Македонската азбука: сите 31 букви со изговор и примери