Cyrillic Variants — Cheat Sheet

Nine alphabets, their fingerprint letters, and how to call the country from a sign. Companion to Lesson 8.

1 · Fingerprint letters — presence test

None of these exist in Russian. One sighting usually ends the guess.

Letter	Name	Sound	Points to
Ї ї	yi	"yee"	Ukrainian
Є є	ye	"ye" (mirrored Э)	Ukrainian
Ґ ґ	ge	hard "g" — gut	Ukrainian
Ў ў	short u	"w" — English how	Belarusian
Ђ ђ	dje	soft "dj"	Serbian
Ћ ћ	tshe	soft "tch"	Serbian
Ѓ ѓ	gje	soft "g"	Macedonian
Ќ ќ	kje	soft "k"	Macedonian
Ѕ ѕ	dze	"dz" — looks like Latin S	Macedonian
Ј ј	je	"j" — German ja	Serbian, Macedonian
Љ љ	lje	"lj"	Serbian, Macedonian
Њ њ	nje	"nj"	Serbian, Macedonian
Џ џ	dzhe	"dj" — English judge	Serbian, Macedonian
Ә ә	ae	"ä" — Bär	Kazakh
Ұ ұ	straight u	short "u"	Kazakh
Һ һ	ha	"h"	Kazakh
Ң ң	eng	"ng" — Ring	Kazakh, Kyrgyz
Қ қ	qa	throaty "k"	Kazakh, Tajik
Ғ ғ	ghayn	throaty "g"	Kazakh, Tajik
Ҳ ҳ	ha	"h"	Tajik
Ҷ ҷ	che	"dj"	Tajik
Ӯ ӯ	u with macron	long "u"	Tajik
Ӣ ӣ	i with macron	long "i"	Tajik
Ө ө	oe	"ö" — schön	Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Mongolian
Ү ү	ue	"ü" — über	Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Mongolian
І і	dotted i	"ee"	Ukrainian, Belarusian, Kazakh

Hooks and tails mean Central Asia. Қ Ғ Ң Ҳ Ҷ Һ are ordinary letters with a descender bolted on. No Slavic Cyrillic alphabet does this. Macrons (Ӣ Ӯ) mean Tajik specifically.

2 · Absence test — when every letter looks Russian

Letter	RU	UK	BY	BG	SR	MK	KK	KY	TJ	MN
И	✓	✓	—	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Ы	✓	—	✓	—	—	—	✓	✓	—	✓
Э	✓	—	✓	—	—	—	✓	✓	✓	✓
Ё	✓	—	✓	—	—	—	✓	✓	✓	✓
Щ	✓	✓	—	✓	—	—	✓	✓	—	✓
Ъ	✓	—	—	✓	—	—	✓	✓	—	✓
Ь	✓	✓	✓	✓	—	—	✓	✓	—	✓
Й	✓	✓	✓	✓	—	—	✓	✓	✓	✓
Я Ю	✓	✓	✓	✓	—	—	✓	✓	✓	✓
І	—	✓	✓	—	—	—	✓	—	—	—

RU Russian · UK Ukrainian · BY Belarusian · BG Bulgarian · SR Serbian · MK Macedonian · KK Kazakh · KY Kyrgyz · TJ Tajik · MN Mongolian. Kazakh, Kyrgyz and Mongolian inherit the whole Russian set, so use their extra letters, not this table.

The three rows that matter most. Ы rules out Bulgarian, Ukrainian, Serbian, Macedonian and Tajik in one glance. Ъ in a position where Russian could never put it — mid-word or word-final — means Bulgarian, where it is a vowel. І alongside Ы means Belarusian; І alongside И means Ukrainian.

3 · Decision tree

Any letter outside the Russian 33?

├─ NO ──► Ы, Э or Ё present?
│         ├─ yes ····························· Russian
│         └─ no, and Ъ sits mid/end of a word · Bulgarian
│
└─ YES ─► which?
          ├─ Ї  Є  Ґ ························ Ukrainian
          ├─ Ў ······························ Belarusian
          ├─ Ђ  Ћ ··························· Serbian
          ├─ Ѓ  Ќ  Ѕ ························ Macedonian
          ├─ Ј Љ Њ Џ only ················· Serbian or Macedonian
          ├─ Ә or Ұ ························ Kazakh
          ├─ Ҷ  Ҳ  Ӣ  Ӯ ····················· Tajik
          ├─ Ө Ү + Ң, no Ә/Ұ ············· Kyrgyz
          ├─ Ө Ү, no Ң ···················· Mongolian
          └─ І only ························ Ukrainian (with И) / Belarusian (with Ы)

4 · Alphabet profiles

Language	Letters	Adds vs Russian	Drops vs Russian
🇷🇺 Russian	33	—	—
🇺🇦 Ukrainian	33	І Ї Є Ґ	Ы Э Ё Ъ
🇧🇾 Belarusian	32	Ў І	И Щ Ъ
🇧🇬 Bulgarian	30	—	Ы Э Ё
🇷🇸 Serbian	30	Ђ Ј Љ Њ Ћ Џ	Й Щ Ъ Ь Э Ю Я Ё
🇲🇰 Macedonian	31	Ѓ Ѕ Ј Љ Њ Ќ Џ	Й Щ Ъ Ь Э Ю Я Ё
🇰🇿 Kazakh	42	Ә Ғ Қ Ң Ө Ұ Ү Һ І	—
🇰🇬 Kyrgyz	36	Ң Ө Ү	—
🇹🇯 Tajik	35	Ғ Ӣ Қ Ӯ Ҳ Ҷ	Ц Щ Ы Ь
🇲🇳 Mongolian	35	Ө Ү	— (Щ unused in native words)

5 · Ukrainian sound shift

The same shapes, one key over. Worth memorising as a block.

Ukrainian	Sounds like the Russian	Example
І	И — "ee"	МІСТО — city
И	Ы — dark "i"	ВУЛИЦЯ — street
Є	Е — "ye"	ЄВРОПА — Europe
Е	Э — open "e"	ЦЕНТР — centre
Ї	ЙИ — "yee"	УКРАЇНА — Ukraine
Г	— a breathy "h", German Haus	ГОЛОВНИЙ — main
Ґ	Г — hard "g"	ҐУДЗИК — button
'	Ъ — silent separator	П'ЯТЬ — five

6 · "Street" in every variant

Country	Word	On plaques	Sounds like
🇷🇺 Russia	УЛИЦА	УЛ.	OO-li-tsa
🇺🇦 Ukraine	ВУЛИЦЯ	ВУЛ.	VOO-li-tsya
🇧🇾 Belarus	ВУЛІЦА	ВУЛ.	VOO-li-tsa
🇧🇬 Bulgaria	УЛИЦА	УЛ. / БУЛ.	OO-li-tsa
🇷🇸 Serbia	УЛИЦА	УЛ.	OO-li-tsa
🇲🇰 N. Macedonia	УЛИЦА	УЛ.	OO-li-tsa
🇰🇿 Kazakhstan	КӨШЕСІ	К-СІ	kø-she-SEE
🇰🇬 Kyrgyzstan	КӨЧӨ	КӨЧ.	kø-CHØ
🇲🇳 Mongolia	ГУДАМЖ	ГУД.	goo-DAMZH
🇹🇯 Tajikistan	ХИЁБОН	—	khi-yo-BON (avenue)

7 · Country names, each with its own tell

Native name	Country	The tell
РОССИЯ	Russia	nothing exotic
УКРАЇНА	Ukraine	Ї
БЕЛАРУСЬ	Belarus	none here — look for Ў nearby
БЪЛГАРИЯ	Bulgaria	Ъ as a vowel
СРБИЈА	Serbia	Ј
МАКЕДОНИЈА	N. Macedonia	Ј (confirm with Ѓ/Ќ/Ѕ)
ҚАЗАҚСТАН	Kazakhstan	Қ twice
КЫРГЫЗСТАН	Kyrgyzstan	none here — look for Ң/Ө/Ү
ТОҶИКИСТОН	Tajikistan	Ҷ, and -СТОН not -СТАН
МОНГОЛ УЛС	Mongolia	none here — look for Ө/Ү and doubled vowels

8 · Traps

Serbia writes in two alphabets. Cyrillic is the constitutionally official script, but Latin is at least as common on shops, logos and packaging, and road signs usually show both. A Latin sign does not rule out Serbia, Bosnia or Montenegro.

Serbian italics look Latin. In italic and handwritten fonts, Serbian and Macedonian render б г д п т with shapes quite unlike Russian — п becomes a u with an overbar, т an m with an overbar. Slanted Cyrillic that reads oddly Latin means the Balkans.

Kazakhstan is mid-migration. An official Latin alphabet was approved in 2021 with a transition target of 2031. Street-level signage is still overwhelmingly Cyrillic, and usually bilingual Kazakh/Russian — so expect both scripts in one frame.

Bulgarian Щ is "sht", not "shch". ПЛОЩАД is "PLOSH-tad". And Bulgarian drops the final Ь that Russian keeps: ПЛОЩАД vs ПЛОЩАДЬ.