Stories, audio, and videos can all help you learn Ukrainian when you can follow what they mean. That is the idea behind comprehensible input: learning from Ukrainian you can mostly understand. There is more Ukrainian to watch than there used to be. Since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, many Ukrainian YouTubers who once posted in Russian have switched to Ukrainian.
These apps help you find Ukrainian at your level, or add meanings to the Ukrainian you choose. For courses, speaking practice, and tutors, see our Ukrainian app comparison.
Custom Lessons Made for You
Bubblegum
Learn Ukrainian with a path made just for you. Start with your level, what you like, and why you want to learn. Your path grows as you learn, with new lessons that fit you. Bubblegum also has news and stories, so you can read and listen to a mix of Ukrainian about music, food, family, or daily life.
Poppy, your AI tutor, writes each lesson for your level, interests, and goals. If a sentence is hard to follow, just ask her to explain the words or the grammar.
The trade-off is that Bubblegum can't help you read Ukrainian you found yourself. For a book, an article, or a show you already picked, the apps in Read and Watch Ukrainian You Choose are the better fit.
- Read and listen to lessons, news, and stories about things you like.
- Regenerative Review™ brings saved words back in new lessons, so you review them by reading instead of using flashcards.
- Ask Poppy for help as you read.
- Lessons and audio are made with AI, so pair them with recordings of Ukrainian speakers, like the podcasts and videos below.
- You cannot bring in your own books or articles.
- A new custom lesson costs us real money to make, so you can ask Poppy for a free one, and Bubblegum Pro gives you unlimited custom lessons. The lesson library is free for everyone, because we believe everyone should be able to learn.
- Regenerative Review™
- Teaches Cyrillic
Mobile
Read and Listen to Stories for Learners
Duostories
Duostories is a volunteer project that brings Duolingo's short stories to more languages, with Duolingo's permission. Its Ukrainian stories are about everyday moments, from ordering a coffee to buying a train ticket. It suits beginners who like short stories with questions that check what they understood.
- 57 free Ukrainian stories with audio.
- Answer short questions as you read each story.
- A listening mode plays a story and skips the questions.
- Doesn't teach Cyrillic
MobileWeb
Read Two Languages Side by Side
Beelinguapp
Beelinguapp puts Ukrainian beside a language you know. Read the Ukrainian first, then look across when you need help. It suits learners who like to listen and read at the same time.
- Read Ukrainian beside a language you know, and check the other side when you get stuck.
- Listen to Ukrainian speakers read the texts while you follow along.
- Read stories, news, and even songs.
- Flashcards
Mobile
Read and Watch Ukrainian You Choose
These tools help you learn from shows, videos, books, and web pages you pick yourself. They suit learners who already know what they want to read or watch.
LingQ
LingQ lets you read and listen to Ukrainian from its library or bring in your own. It highlights the words you have not met yet and the words you are still learning, so you can see what is new. It is the reading app Ukrainian learners on Reddit name most often, and its library also has folk tales, song lyrics, and news from Radio Svoboda.
- Start with Mini Stories, 62 short lessons for beginners, then move on to learner podcasts such as Slow Ukrainian with Yevhen.
- Import YouTube videos, books, and articles you choose.
- Review the words you save with flashcards.
- Flashcards
- Teaches Cyrillic (partly)
MobileWeb
Language Reactor
Language Reactor shows Ukrainian subtitles beside a translation while you watch. It also works on YouTube, so you can use it with the learner channels below. It is free to install, with paid extras.
- See Ukrainian subtitles beside a translation on Netflix and YouTube.
- Look up words in a pop-up dictionary.
- Pause and replay one line when it goes too fast.
- Doesn't teach Cyrillic
Browser extension
Free Podcasts, Videos, and Stories
The Ukrainian Lessons Podcast by Anna Ohoiko is the podcast Ukrainian learners on Reddit recommend most. Its 240 free episodes start with complete beginners, and Seasons 4 to 6 are entirely in slow Ukrainian. Transcripts come with a paid membership. Slow Ukrainian with Yevhen has more than 200 short episodes of easy stories, with subtitles on YouTube.
For video, Acquire Ukrainian starts from zero with simple stories and pictures, and Immersive Ukrainian with Hanna tells short stories in simple Ukrainian. Suspilne LingvisPlay lets you watch videos from Suspilne, Ukraine's public broadcaster, with instant translations of words and a word list you build as you watch. Learners also suggest watching cartoons you already know with Ukrainian dubbing, and Ukrainian Lessons keeps a list of Ukrainian cartoons for learners.
For reading, Storybooks Ukraine has 40 free short stories at five levels, and you can listen to each one in Ukrainian. Global Voices in Ukrainian publishes news stories that also appear in English, so you can check what you read. We found no site that rewrites the news in easy Ukrainian. When you can follow native speech, BBC News Ukrainian posts free news every day.
Learn Ukrainian in Your Language
These counts cover menu-language choices, including script variants. Other apps’ counts and full lists come from their iPhone listings, except Language Reactor (Chrome Web Store). The free websites, podcasts, and YouTube channels are in Ukrainian, some with English. Word meanings, lesson explanations, and other platforms may differ.
| App | Supported Display Languages | Full List |
|---|---|---|
| Bubblegum | 74 | Full list
|
| Duostories | 1 | Full list |
| Beelinguapp | 22 | Full list |
| LingQ | 17 | Full list |
| Language Reactor | 27 | Full list |
Other Apps We Looked At (11)
- ReadlangA web reader for Ukrainian pages and texts you upload. Tap a word or short phrase to see what it means, then review it with flashcards.
- 3earsUkrainian videos and audio with interactive transcripts that you can follow as you listen.
- LingoStoriesFree interactive stories where you can tap a word to see its translation. Ukrainian stories were added in 2025, and the site is new and growing.
- Study UkrainianDialogues recorded by Ukrainian speakers, with word-for-word translations, grammar notes, and flashcards.
- Ukrainian UpA graded podcast with simple dialogues for beginners, short stories for intermediate learners, and news and culture for advanced learners. It is new and growing.
- Easy Ukrainian BookA story in simple Ukrainian from Ukrainian Lessons, for intermediate and advanced learners, with vocabulary lists, exercises, and audio.
- SluhayA library of Ukrainian audiobooks, from fairy tales and poems to classic and modern stories.
- SkryniaUkrainian folk tales for children aged 3 and up, read aloud in Ukrainian and English, with coloring and word games.
- MovaA course app that goes from the Cyrillic alphabet to everyday conversations, and suggests Ukrainian podcasts to listen to. It is new and growing.
- NatulangA speaking app where you learn real-life dialogues by saying them out loud, which you can also use hands-free.
- AnkiA free flashcard app that many Ukrainian learners use to review words from what they read and hear.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to learn Cyrillic first?
It helps a lot. The Ukrainian alphabet has 33 letters, including Ї, Є, and Ґ. Bubblegum's free Ukrainian Cyrillic course teaches all of them in nine short chapters, right in your browser. You can listen to podcasts for complete beginners while you learn the letters.
How do I know which syllable to stress?
Check a dictionary until you get a feel for it. Stress can fall on any syllable, and it can change the meaning: плачу́ means "I pay," and пла́чу means "I cry." The Dictionaries of Ukraine Online, from Ukraine's National Academy of Sciences, show the stress on every word.
Is Bubblegum free?
Yes. The lesson library is free for everyone, because we believe everyone should be able to learn. It holds lessons that other learners asked Poppy for. A new custom lesson costs us real money to make, so you can ask Poppy for a free one, and Bubblegum Pro gives you unlimited custom lessons.
The Ukrainian Cyrillic course on this site is also free and needs no account.
Sources
- Ukrainian Lessons: Ukrainian YouTube Channels to Practice Your Ukrainian
- Wikipedia: Ukrainian alphabet
- Wikipedia: Ukrainian phonology
- r/Ukrainian: Best app for Ukrainian learning?
- r/Ukrainian: Things to help learn Ukrainian?
- Ukrainian Lessons Podcast
- Slow Ukrainian with Yevhen (podcast)
- Suspilne: LingvisPlay and Suspilne will help you learn Ukrainian with video and AI
- Ukrainian Lessons: 10 Ukrainian Cartoons for Language Learners
- Storybooks Ukraine: About us
- Global Voices: My journey to learning Ukrainian and the online language tools that took me there
- Ukrainian Lessons: Where to Read or Watch the News in Ukrainian
- Dictionaries of Ukraine Online (Ukrainian Lingua-Information Fund)
- Bubblegum
- Duostories
- Beelinguapp
- LingQ
- Language Reactor
Checked on October 8, 2026 against each app's own pages.
