How to read and say Macedonian

Macedonian has 31 sounds. Spelling does not present any difficulties as there is one symbol for each sound. Pronunciation of the Cyrillic and Latin alphabets will be given here. No letter in Macedonian Cyrillic is silent.

Stress

As a rule of thumb, if the Macedonian word has three or more syllables, the emphasis will fall on the third syllable counted from the end of the word. If the word has less than three syllables, the first from the beginning is stressed. Examples: Благодарам [bla-GO-daram], утро [UT-ro].

Vowels

The Macedonian vowels are similar to the Spanish vowels.

Аa

Aa татко - tatko - father...like 'a' in "father"

Еe

Ee метал - metal - metal...like 'e' in "metal"

Ии

Ii има - ima - has...like 'i' in "image" or 'ee' in "see"

Оo

Oo око - oko - eye...like 'o' in "cold"

Уу

Uu утре - utre - tomorrow...like 'oo' in "book" [short oo not long as in pool]

Consonants

Б

B бука - buka - noise...like 'b' in "book" [end of a word 'p' sound]

В

V вера - vera - faith...like 'v' in "very" [end and middle of a word 'f' sound]

Г

G гора - gora - wood...like 'g' in "go" [end or middle of a word 'k' sound]

Д

D да - da - yes...like 'd' in "dust" [end of a word like 't' sound]

Ѓ

Gj луѓе - lugje - people...like the 'dg' in "fudge" [at the end of the word like a 'tch' sound]

Ж

Zh жаба - zhaba - frog...like 'si' in "vision" [end of a word is 'sh' sound]

З

Z за - za - for...like 'z' in "zoo"

Ѕ

Dz ѕид - dzid - wall...there is no sound like this in English; it is similar to the word suds(suhdz) pronounce d and z together > d-z=dz [end of a word is 'ts' sound]

Ј

J јас - jas - I...like 'y' in "yacht"

К

K кама - kama - dagger...like 'c' in "camera" [hard sound]

Л

L лук - luk - garlic...like 'l' in "look"

Љ

Lj виљушка - viliushka - fork...like the 'li' in "million" [lyeh]

M

M ми - mi - me...like 'm' in "me"

Н

N но - no - but...like 'n' in "no"

Њ

Nj диња - dinja - melon...like 'ni'- or 'ny'- in "onion" or "canyon"; the Spanish ñ [nyeh]

П

P пат - pat - path...like 'p' in "path"

Р

R роб - rob - slave...like 'r' in "roca" [usually trilled]

С

S сон - son - dream...like 's' in "son"

Т

T тука - tuka - here...like 't' in "too"

Ќ

Kj ќе - kje - will...like 'tch' in "watch"

Ф

F факт - fakt - fact...like 'f' in "fact"

Х

H химна - himna - anthem...like 'h' in "him" [an aspirated sound]

Ц

C цар - car = tsar - tsar...like 'ts' in "bits"

Ч

Ch чај - chaj - tea...like 'ch' in "much"

Џ

Dzh џин - dzhin - giant...like 'gi' in "giant" or 'j' in "jungle" [end or middle of a word 'ch' sound]

Ш

Sh шума - shuma - forest...like 'sh' in "shop"

Common Diphthongs

oa

the 'oa' as in "boa"

ae

like the 'a' in 'another' + 'e' in 'enemy'

oe

like the 'oe' in 'poet'

Other Sounds

aa

is a long 'a' sound similar to the 'a' in "far"

ee

long 'e' sound like the 'e' in "bled"