After Norwegian comedy music duo Ylvis sparked the world’s interest in animal sounds with ‘What Does The Fox Say?’, other artists began exploring these questions more in-depth. English artist James Chapman has created a series of comics comparing how different languages around the world write down the sounds that some animals make. Here is his page.

The comparisons between languages are always interesting, no matter what your native one is. Depending on what language you speak, some of these sounds can seem pretty weird and crazy. As a Ukrainian speaker, the English frog sounds pretty funny to me (ribbit?!).

Ukrainian frogs say ‘kum-kum’ or ‘kva-kva’ (it depends on the frog’s territory origin 🙂). Mice, cats and cows, however, seem to have inspired international consensus on the sounds they make.

So, today let’s learn the animal sounds in Ukrainian using James Chapman’s pictures!

Animal sounds in Ukrainian

Ukrainian dog says ‘hav’ – собака каже ‘гав’.

Ukrainian cat says ‘niav’ – кіт каже ‘няв’.

‘Miav’ – ‘мяв’ is also a widespread variant.

Ukrainian horse says ‘i-ho-ho’ – кінь каже ‘і-го-го’.

Ukrainian cow says ‘mu’ – корова каже ‘му’.

Check out Confusing Ukrainian words that sound alike!

Ukrainian pig says ‘rokh-rokh’ – свиня каже ‘рох-рох’.

Another widespread variant is ‘khro-khro’ – ‘хро-хро’.

Ukrainian sheep says ‘be’ – вівця каже ‘бе’.

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Ukrainian rooster says ‘ku-ku-ri-ku’ – півень каже ‘кукуріку’.

Get to know the names of pets in Ukrainian and learn some special plural forms of the little ones in the Ukrainian Lessons Podcast Episode 44!

Ukrainian goose says ‘ga-ga-ga’ – гуска каже ‘ґа-ґа-ґа’.

Ukrainian duck says ‘kria-kria-kria’ – качка каже ‘кря-кря-кря’.

Ukrainian owl says ‘hu-hu’ – сова каже ‘гу-гу’.

Ukrainian mouse says ‘pi-pi’ – миша каже ‘пі-пі’.

Ukrainian nursery rhyme

Most of English speakers grew up singing ‘Old MacDonald had a Farm’ – and they aren’t the only ones; there are versions of this song in a number of languages around the world. It’s an important step for children to associate the animal with the sound it makes – it is a part of mastering their native language!

Here is a verse ‘An interesting farm’ for children about animal sounds in Ukrainian:

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Dogs, frogs, eating, drinking, sneezing. Everything makes a sound! Learn them all and fit in like a local in Ukraine!

Want to learn over 60 names of animals in Ukrainian? Here is the article that will help you!

Are you learning Ukrainian? Check our Ukrainian Lessons Podcast, it’s a free podcast-lessons course!