The Russian Alphabet

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1. When learning the Russian alphabet and pronunciation, it is important that you remember not to confuse sounds with letters.
   In many languages there is not always a correspondence between a sound and a letter.
   The pronunciation of a letter may change depending on the letter's position in a word.

2. Russian has a much closer correspondence between letters and sounds than English.
   Most Russian letters are pronounced the same in every word.

3. Sounds are divided into vowels and consonants.
   Vowels can be accented or unaccented. Only vowels in Russian can have an accent.

4. How a vowel letter is pronounced in Russian often depends on whether or not it is accented.

5. Click on each letter to hear its Russian name pronounced.

This vowel letter looks like the corresponding English A, a. When accented it is pronounced similarly to the "a"in the English word "father".

Б, б

This consonant is pronounced like the "b" in the word "boy".

В, в

This consonant is pronounced like the "v" in the word "voice".

Г, г

This consonant is pronounced like the "g" in the word "good".

Д, д

This consonant is pronounced like the "d" in the word "day".

E, e

1. This letter is pronounced like the "ye" in "yes", "yellow". It represents a combination of a й sound and an э sound: й + э = е.

2. The letter e in all unaccented positions has the same pronunciation as the letter и:

Ё, ё

This letter is pronounced like the "yо" in "yo-yo".

Ж, ж

1. This letter represents a consonant sound that is similar to the "zh" sound in "Zhukov", or the "su" sound in "pleasure".

2. One major difference in the Russian pronunciation is that your tongue should be further back in your mouth, and the back and middle part of your tongue should not be touching the top of your mouth.

3. The consonant ж can never be pronounced as soft in Russian regardless of what letters it is followed by.

4. The reason for this is because "soft" pronunciation of a consonant requires that you touch the top of your mouth with the middle and back of your tongue, and the proper pronunciation of the Russian ж requires that you don't do that.

З, з

This consonant is pronounce like the "z" in the word "zebra".

И, и

This vowel is pronounced like the -ee- in "feet".

Й, й

This letter is pronounced similary to the "y" sound in the word "yo-yo". The Russian sound is much closer to the German pronunciation. Russian words never begin with this letter, and it can't be followed by a vowel.

К к

This consonant is pronounce like the "k" in the word "take".

Л, л

This consonant is pronounce like the "l" in the word "look".

М, м

This consonant is pronounce like the "m" in the word "mother".

Н, н

This consonant is pronounced like the "n" in the word "note". Don't confuse this letter with the English "H"!

O, o

1. This letter looks like the corresponding English O and o. When accented it is pronounced like the "o" in "storm", "more".

2. When the vowels a and o are the first letter in a word, or in a syllable immediately before the accented syllable they are pronounced like the -u- in the word "but".

П, п

This consonant is pronounced like the "p" in the word "play".

Р, р

1. This Russian letter represents a sound that is equivalent to the "rolled" "r" in many languages. If you can roll your "r's" you shouldn't have any problem pronouncing this letter.

2. Don't confuse this letter with the English "p"!

С, с

This consonant is pronounced like the "s" in the word "see".

Т, т

This letter is pronounced like the "t" in the word "top".

У, у

This letter is always pronounced like the -oo- in the English words "tool", "moon".

Ф, ф

This letter is pronounced like the "f" in the word "feet".

Х, х

This letter is pronounced like the "ch" in the word "Bach".

Ц, ц

This consonant is pronounced similarly to the English "ts" sound in words like "lets", "bets", or the "zz" sound in "pizza". This consonant is always pronounced as hard in Russian.

Ч, ч

This letter is pronounced like the English "ch" in words like "chair", "China". It is always soft, regardless of what letter follows it.

Ш, ш

1. This consonant is the voiceless equivalent of the consonant ж, that is, you pronounce it in exactly the same way, but without the vibration of your vocal cords. It is pronounced is somewhat similar way to the "sh" in words like "shape", "shoes".

2. Like its voiced counterpart ж, this consonant in Russian is always pronounced as hard.

Щ, щ

1. The pronunciation of this consonant is very close to that of the letter "ш". However, there are two very important differences.

2. First, unlike the letter ш, the letter щ is always a soft consonant.

3. Second, this is a long consonant, which means that you need to hold the sound approximately twice as long as other consonants.

ъ

This is the hard sign. This letter never begins a word, and it does not have its own pronunciation.

Ы, ы

The sound in English that comes closest to the pronunciation of this Russian vowel is the "i" in words like "bill", "till", "fill". When you pronounce this sound your tongue should be in the same position as when you pronounce the "oo" sound, but your lips are spread, like when you pronounce the "i" sound in the above words.

ь

This letter is called "soft sign," and it has no sound of its own. It is used only to indicate the softness of the consonant in front of it.

Э, э

This letter is always pronounced like the "e" in the English words "echo" "export". It is pronounced the same way both when it is accented and unaccented.

Ю, ю

This letter is pronounced like the "yu" in "yule", and it represents a combination of a й sound followed by the vowel sound у: й + у = ю.

Я, я

1. This letter is pronounced similarly to the "ya" in the word "yacht". The two sounds represented by this letter are the consonant sound й, followed by the vowel sound a : й+a=я

2. When this letter is in a position after a consonant, it's pronounced like the letter a, and the preceding consonant is soft.

3. In an unaccented position this letter is pronounced like the letter i.

4. If it is the first letter of the word or after another vowel, it is preceded by the the sound й(й+и), and is pronounced similarly to the Old English "ye".

5. When this vowel is at the end of the word, or when it is part of an ending it is pronounced like the "e" in the English word "Summer".