The Russian language doesn’t use the Latin alphabet. It uses Cyrillic [кириллица], which was named after the great Greek scholar Cyril [Кирилл].
The Russian alphabet is comprised of 33 letters: 23 consonants (including 2 special letters) and 10 vowels.
Although it may look complex, learning Cyrillic is rather easy.
Learning to write the alphabet in cursive, on the other hand, will prove to be a little more challenging.
Fret not. We will not be learning the cursive equivalents in this post. Just the letters, their sounds and some other useful bits of information.
А а
| Sounds like a in father. |
| атом [atom] |
| алло [hello] used only when answering the phone |
Б б
| Sounds like b in bee. |
| блин [pancake] |
| блог [blog] |
В в
| Sounds like v in vain. |
| вон [there] |
| вот [here] |
Г г
| Sounds like g in get. |
| гель [gel] |
| глагол [verb] |
Д д
| Sounds like d in day. |
| дедушка [grandfather] |
| дуб [oak] |
Е е
| Sounds like ye in yes. |
| мел [chalk] |
| если [if] |
Ё ё
| Sounds like yo in yolk. |
| ёж [hedgehog] |
| ёлка [fir tree] |
| This can be a tricky letter for non-native speakers, because this it is often written without its dots in newspapers, books and other Russian publications, causing them to confuse it with е. Another thing to note is that this letter is always stressed. |
Ж ж
| Sounds like s in leisure. |
| жена [wife] |
| жёлтый [yellow] |
| This letter is always hard! This detail may seem confusing now, but when you learn more about the sounds of the Russian language, it’ll be obvious. |
З з
| Sounds like z in zebra. |
| зал [hall] |
| зонт [umbrella] |
И и
| Sounds like ee in creed. |
| пища [food] |
| рис [rice] |
Й й
| Sounds like ee in creed but really short and abrupt. Sounds very similar to y in yet. [pronounced: и краткое] |
| рай [heaven] |
| трамвай [tram] |
К к
| Sounds like k in kite. |
| Кока-Кола [Coca-Cola] |
| Кипр [Cyprus] |
Л л
| Sounds like l in look. |
| лить [to pour] |
| лоб [forehead] |
М м
| Sounds like m in mouse. |
| мама [mom] |
| мыть [to wash] |
Н н
| Sounds like h in horse. |
| нет [no] |
| ноль [zero] |
О о
| Sounds like o in orange. |
| рот [mouth] |
| он [he] |
П п
| Sounds like p in please. |
| папа [dad] |
| пол [floor] |
Р р
| Sounds like r in roll, but trilled like in Spanish, Italian, etc. |
| роза [rose] |
| рад [glad] |
С с
| Sounds like s in so. |
| сок [juice] |
| сто [one hundred] |
Т т
| Sounds like t in to. |
| так [so] |
| кто [who] |
У у
| Sounds like oo in too. |
| утка [duck] |
| ум [mind] |
Ф ф
| Sounds like f in fish. |
| фон [background] |
| флаг [flag] |
Х х
| Sounds like ch in loch. |
| холм [hill] |
| хотя [although] |
Ц ц
| Sounds like ts in chats. |
| This letter is always hard! This detail may seem confusing now, but when you learn more about the sounds of the Russian language, it’ll be obvious. |
| цыган [gypsy] |
| царь [tsar] |
Ч ч
| Sounds like ch in cheek. |
| This letter is always soft! This detail may seem confusing now, but when you learn more about the sounds of the Russian language, it’ll be obvious. |
| час [hour] |
| чёлка [bangs] |
Ш ш
| Sounds like sh in shoe. |
| This letter is always hard! This detail may seem confusing now, but when you learn more about the sounds of the Russian language, it’ll be obvious. |
| шашлык [kebab] |
| шнур [string] |
Щ щ
| This letter is always soft! This detail may seem confusing now, but when you learn more about the sounds of the Russian language, it’ll be obvious. |
| This sound doesn’t exist in English, therefore there is no equivalent we can use as an example. Instead, think of sh in shoe. Start pronouncing the sh sound, then pronounce the ch sound as in chick [but capture the position of the tongue, not the ch sound itself] and widen your mouth. Another trick is to try to say fresh cheese really fast and capture the sound that is created when the sounds sh and ch come together. This is a soft letter, so your tongue should be towards the roof of your mouth when you pronounce it. This letter was and still is the trickiest one for me, a non-native speaker, to pronounce. |
| щётка [comb] |
| щука [pike] type of fish |
ъ
| No sound on its own. This is called твёрдый знак, meaning hard sign. |
| This letter cannot start a word, nor can it end it. For that reason, it doesn’t have an uppercase equivalent. Its job is to create a pause between words, maintaining the hardness of the preceding consonant. This consonant is rare – you won’t see it that much. |
| подъезд [entrance] |
| объяснять [to explain] |
ы
| Sounds like ee in creed, but further in the back of the throat – somewhat of a guttural noise. |
| This letter can never start a word, nor can it end it. For that reason, it doesn’t have an uppercase equivalent. |
| сыт [full] when someone has had their fill of food |
| быть [to be] |
ь
| No sound on its own. This is called мягкий знак, meaning soft sign. |
| This letter can never start a word. For that reason, it doesn’t have an uppercase equivalent. Its job is to soften the preceding consonant. |
| роль [role] |
| стать [to become] |
Э э
| Sounds like e in fret. |
| это [this] |
| этаж [story] |
Ю ю
| Sounds like yoo in yoo-hoo. |
| июнь [June] |
| июль [July] |
Я я
| Sounds like ya in y’all. |
| яркий [bright] |
| яма [pit] |
That was quite a bit to learn.
Let’s summarize and observe some letters and sounds before ending this lesson.
| In Russian there are 10 vowels: 5 hard and 5 soft. |
| hard | а | о | у | ы | э |
| soft | я | ё | ю | и | е |
| Careful with й. While it looks like a vowel, it’s actually a consonant. |
…
We learned that some consonants are always hard, while others are always soft. What does that mean?
While it may seem confusing if you’re a beginner, this is key to correct Russian pronunciation.
The letter ш is always hard. That ты form for verbs always ends in –шь. We learned that ь softens the preceding consonant. But ш is always hard. So, that means that ь in this instance has no effect on the pronunciation.
An easier example would be the жёлтый [yellow]. We learned that ё is a soft vowel. But ж is always hard. That means that this word is actually pronounced [жолтый].
Make sense? If not, there will be a post for that.
Well, I hope this lesson proved to be useful for my dear readers.
My Slavic Studies 