ъ

The Vowel Ъ

Level 1Sounds Like glasnata ʺ

ъ is a vowel: път (road), къща (house), ъгъл (corner). Say it like the "u" in English "turn", without rounding your lips.

How It Works

Bulgarian has six basic vowels: а, ъ, о, у, е, и. Ъ is the one English speakers most often misread.

  • Stressed ъ: път (road), сън (dream), къща (house), българин (a Bulgarian man).
  • In the article: the full masculine article -ът: градът (the city). See членуване -ът/-а.
  • At the start of a word: ъгъл (corner).

Sound without the letter: some endings are written with а or я but pronounced with ъ. Examples are the short article стола (the chair) and stressed verb endings such as чета (I read) and четат (they read). The spelling keeps а and я so that the grammatical ending stays visible.

Unstressed а also moves toward the ъ sound in normal speech. See редукция на неударените гласни.

Ъ is not the Russian hard sign. In the official Latin spelling it is written a: България becomes Bulgaria.

Examples (5)

  1. Пътят е дълъг.

    The road is long.

    Word by Word: Road-the is long.

    Ъ appears three times; it is a full vowel each time.

  2. Къщата е на ъгъла.

    The house is on the corner.

    Word by Word: House-the is on corner-the.

  3. Сънувах хубав сън.

    I had a nice dream.

    Word by Word: (I) dreamt nice dream.

  4. Той е българин.

    He is Bulgarian.

    Word by Word: He is Bulgarian-man.

    The stress falls on ъ: бъ́лгарин.

  5. Градът е красив.

    The city is beautiful.

    Word by Word: City-the is beautiful.

    The article -ът contains the vowel ъ.

Common Mistakes

  • Writing ъ in a verb ending because it sounds like ъ.

    Аз четъ книга.
    Аз чета книга.

    The ending sounds like ъ, but the standard spelling is always а (or я) in these verb forms.

  • Writing the short article with ъ.

    Виждам столъ.
    Виждам стола.

    The short masculine article is pronounced like ъ but always written -а or -я.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

ъLevel 1The Vowel Ъ

Learn This First

The vowel ъ presupposes the Bulgarian alphabet.