A New Ukrainian Orthography Has Come into Force

On March 28, 2026, the state language standard “Ukrainian Orthography” came into force in Ukraine.

The scope of the state language standard “Ukrainian Orthography” extends to all spheres of public life defined by legislation, in particular the Law of Ukraine “On Ensuring the Functioning of the Ukrainian Language as the State Language.”

The standard entered into force following the adoption of Resolution No. 398 of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated March 27, 2026, which repealed Resolution No. 437 of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated May 22, 2019, “Issues of Ukrainian Orthography.”

The standard itself, approved by Decision No. 47 of the National Commission on State Language Standards dated March 1, 2026, consists of 426 pages and has been published on its official website.

There are no substantive changes to the familiar orthographic norms for users.

Some key updates in the new orthography:

• Words with “проєкт”: Words containing the Latin root -ject- are written with “є”: проєкт, проєкція, траєкторія, об’єкт.
• “Пів” written separately: It is written separately with nouns: пів яблука, пів години, пів Києва. If “пів” forms a single lexical unit with a noun, it is written together: півострів, півзахист, піваркуш, півкуля, півоберт, півмісяць.
• Feminine forms (фемінітиви): Feminine forms are officially derived using suffixes -к-, -иц-(я), -ин-(я), -ес- etc., from masculine nouns: авторка, директорка, верстальниця, набірниця, продавчиня, майстриня, поетеса.
• Compound words written together: Compound abbreviations (mixed and syllabic) and their derivatives are written as one word: адмінресýрс, адмінрефóрма, бухóблік, виконрóб, держми́то, держустанóва, інофі́рма, Кабмі́н, лісгóсп, нардéп, Нацбáнк, ощадкни́жка, профспі́лка, штрихкóд. The same applies to words with foreign prefixes such as анти-, віце-, екс-, контр-, лейб-, обер-, штабс-, унтер-: антиві́рус; віцепрем’є́р; ексміні́стр, експрезидéнт, експрем’є́р-міні́стр, контрадмірáл, контрудáр, лейбгварді́єць, лейбмéдик, оберлейтенáнт, обермáйстер, штабскапітáн, унтерофіцéр.

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