Bulgarian alphabet for tourists: read Cyrillic in 10 minutes

The Bulgarian alphabet has 30 Cyrillic letters, and about half of them already look or sound like letters you know. Learn the five look-alike traps (В, Н, Р, С, У) and five special letters (Ж, Ц, Ч, Ш, Щ), and in about ten minutes you can sound out Варна, Морска градина or an airport bus board.

Which letters does the Bulgarian alphabet have?

The table uses the official Latin spelling from Bulgaria’s Transliteration Act (2009), the system used for passports and official place names.

Letter	Latin	Sounds like
А а	a	a in “father”
Б б	b	b
В в	v	v (not b!)
Г г	g	g in “go”
Д д	d	d
Е е	e	e in “bed”
Ж ж	zh	s in “pleasure”
З з	z	z (looks like a 3)
И и	i	i in “machine”
Й й	y	y in “boy”
К к	k	k
Л л	l	l
М м	m	m
Н н	n	n (not h!)
О о	o	o
П п	p	p
Р р	r	rolled r (not p!)
С с	s	s (not k!)
Т т	t	t
У у	u	oo in “food”
Ф ф	f	f
Х х	h	ch in Scottish “loch”
Ц ц	ts	ts in “cats”
Ч ч	ch	ch in “church”
Ш ш	sh	sh
Щ щ	sht	sht in “ashtray”
Ъ ъ	a	a in “sofa”
Ь ь	y	only before о: ьо = “yo”
Ю ю	yu	“you”
Я я	ya	“yard”

What are the tricky letters and false friends?

The false friends cause most mistakes: В is v, Н is n, Р is r, С is s and У is u, so РЕСТОРАНТ reads restorant. Then come the special letters: Щ is a full “sht” (Летище, Letishte, airport), Ъ is a short neutral vowel, and Ь appears only before о. One more rule from the Act: a final -ия is written -ia, which is why София is Sofia. In handwriting and some fonts, a lowercase д can look like a Latin g.

Can you practise with real Varna words?

Cyrillic	Latin	Meaning
Варна	Varna	the city
Морска градина	Morska gradina	Sea Garden
спирка	spirka	bus stop
вход / изход	vhod / izhod	entrance / exit
Център	Tsentar	centre
Автогара	Avtogara	bus station
Аптека	Apteka	pharmacy
хляб, вода, бира	hlyab, voda, bira	bread, water, beer

Watch изход: the з and х are two sounds, iz-hod, not the letter ж.

Where does Cyrillic come from?

According to Wikipedia’s history of the script, Cyrillic was developed in the First Bulgarian Empire in the 9th–10th century, around the Preslav Literary School. The 1945 reform removed yat and yus and fixed today’s 30 letters. When Bulgaria joined the EU in 2007, Cyrillic became the union’s third official script. Every 24 May Bulgaria celebrates Saints Cyril and Methodius, the Bulgarian alphabet, education and culture — a public holiday. In Varna the tourist information centre stands on the square named after the two brothers.

Ready for your first words? Try our Bulgarian phrases for visitors. For money, time zone and emergency numbers, see practical basics for Varna; for nodding and table manners, read Bulgarian customs and etiquette.