The letter ь is called a soft sign. The soft sign is normally written after a consonant and indicates its “softening” (technically called palatalization). What this means is that a soft “y” sound is added to the normal consonant sound causing it to sound “soft”. I will show this letter in the pronunciation with a ь since it is difficult to show in English, but should not be ignored. Speaking correct Ukrainian involves “softening” the consonants when required.
The apostrophe ' is not really a letter in Ukrainian, but it is used a lot in the spelling of words. Technically, ' is the opposite of ь, meaning that it takes a “soft” consonant and makes it “hard” again. It is used before the vowels я, ї, ю, and є, i.e. the vowels with a “y” sound, to indicate that the preceding consonant should be given its full sound. Beginning students can basically ignore the apostrophe when it comes to pronunciation, and consider it just part of spelling correctly - the difference is very subtle and difficult to differentiate for beginners.
PRACTICE
Try to read these Ukrainian words. Pay attention to the ь and the '. The English translation is given next to each word. The correct pronunciations are given in the answers below.
1. кінь (horse)
2. автомобіль (car)
3. м'ясо (meat)
4. п'ять (five)
5. січень (March)
6. квітень (April)
7. дев'ять (nine)
8. п'ятниця (Friday)
ANSWERS
1. kinь
2. avtomobílь
3. m'yáso
4. p'yatь
5. síčenь
6. kvítenь
7. dév'yatь
8. p'yátnytsya