Unified English Braille (UEB) Cheat Sheet

A practical UEB reference for readers familiar with older English Grade 2 braille.

Braille cells are written as dot numbers. Multiple cells are separated by commas.

Example:

$ = dot 4, dots 2 3 4

Basic punctuation

Quotation marks

Note: dots 2 3 6 can mean either a question mark or an opening double quotation mark. Context determines which is intended.

Dashes

The ordinary UEB dash is dot 6 followed by dots 3 6. The long-dash form is used when it is necessary to preserve a distinction between different lengths of dash in the print.

Parentheses, brackets and braces

Easy way to remember enclosures

The final cell identifies opening versus closing:

The preceding cell identifies the type:

Thus { is dots 4 5 6 + dots 1 2 6, while } is dots 4 5 6 + dots 3 4 5.

Common computer and general symbols

Currency symbols

Other common symbols

Basic mathematical symbols

Note that mathematical minus is not necessarily the same thing as a print hyphen. UEB can preserve the distinction when the print does.

Numbers

Numeric indicator

The numeric indicator is:

dots 3 4 5 6

The digits use the familiar a-j cells:

Therefore:

123 = dots 3 4 5 6, dot 1, dots 1 2, dots 1 4

Decimal point

Within a number:

. = dots 2 5 6

Example:

3.14

is:

dots 3 4 5 6, dots 1 4, dots 2 5 6, dot 1, dots 1 4 5

Commas in numbers

The comma is still:

dot 2

Example:

1,000

is:

dots 3 4 5 6, dot 1, dot 2, dots 2 4 5, dots 2 4 5, dots 2 4 5

Numeric mode continues through the comma.

Simple fractions

When both numerator and denominator are digits, the fraction line is:

dots 3 4

For example, 1/2 is essentially:

numeric indicator, 1, fraction line, 2

or:

dots 3 4 5 6, dot 1, dots 3 4, dots 1 2

Capitalization

Single capital letter

Capital indicator:

dot 6

Example:

B = dot 6, dots 1 2

Capitalized word

Two capital indicators before a word mean that the entire word is capitalized:

dot 6, dot 6

Example:

NASA

begins with:

dot 6, dot 6

followed by the letters nasa.

Capitalized passage

Three capital indicators begin capitals passage mode:

dot 6, dot 6, dot 6

This is useful when three or more consecutive words are fully capitalized.

Capitals terminator

Capitals mode can be explicitly terminated with:

dot 6, dot 3

Grade 1 mode

UEB's "grade 1" concept replaces and expands on what an older American braille reader may remember as the letter sign.

Grade 1 symbol indicator

dots 5 6

It affects the next symbol.

It tells the reader that the following cell has its basic, non- contracted meaning.

For example, when a letter standing by itself could otherwise be interpreted as a wordsign, the grade 1 indicator can tell you that an actual letter is intended.

Grade 1 word indicator

dots 5 6, dots 5 6

This establishes grade 1 mode for the remainder of the symbols-word.

Grade 1 passage indicator

dots 5 6, dots 5 6, dots 5 6

This establishes grade 1 mode for a passage.

Grade 1 terminator

dots 5 6, dot 3

This explicitly ends grade 1 mode.

Typeforms: italics, bold and underline

UEB handles emphasis systematically. Each typeform has symbol, word and passage forms.

Italics

The symbol indicator affects one following symbol.

The word indicator applies to the following word.

The passage indicator is used for three or more consecutive symbols-sequences and remains active until its terminator.

Bold

Underline

Typeform pattern

This is easier to memorize as a system.

Typeform prefix:

Then:

So, for example:

italic word = dots 4 6, dot 2 bold word = dots 4 5, dot 2 underline word = dots 4 5 6, dot 2

Superscripts and subscripts

The indicator changes the level of the item that follows it.

For example, in mathematical material an exponent is introduced by dots 3 5.

Contractions removed in UEB

These old Grade 2 contractions are NO LONGER contractions in UEB:

The contractions for to, into, and by were removed largely because UEB no longer uses the old special spacing rules associated with them.

Contractions that remain

Most familiar Grade 2 contractions survived.

Examples include:

Important: this table is not intended to reteach the ordinary Grade 2 alphabetic wordsigns. If you already know Grade 2, most of them will be familiar.

Particularly important changes for an old Grade 2 reader

If you learned braille before UEB, these are worth memorizing first:

And remember that these old contractions disappeared:

ble com dd ation ally to into by

Useful UEB patterns

UEB contains several patterns that make the apparently large symbol set easier to memorize.

Enclosures

Opening:

dots 1 2 6

Closing:

dots 3 4 5

Prefix determines the enclosure:

dot 5 = parentheses dots 4 6 = square brackets dots 4 5 6 = braces dot 4 = angle brackets

Typeforms

Prefix determines formatting:

dots 4 6 = italics dots 4 5 = bold dots 4 5 6 = underline

Next cell determines scope:

dots 2 3 = one symbol dot 2 = word dots 2 3 5 6 = passage dot 3 = terminator

Modes

Several UEB indicators follow the same general idea:

one indicator = symbol or local effect doubled = word mode tripled = passage mode indicator + dot 3 = terminator

This pattern is especially apparent with capitalization and grade 1 mode.

Sources

International Council on English Braille (ICEB) Rules of Unified English Braille, Third Edition, 2024: https://iceb.org/publications/ueb/

Braille Authority of North America (BANA) ABCs of UEB: https://www.brailleauthority.org/ueb/abcs/abcs-ueb.html

The ICEB rulebook should be treated as the authoritative source if this cheat sheet and another reference disagree.