Russian alphabet

From UniLang Wiki

Here is the Cyrillic alphabet for Russian:

Capital	Lowercase	IPA	Approx. English sound
А	а	a	father
Б	б	b, bʲ	bat
В	в	v, vʲ	vodka
Г	г	g	go
Д	д	d, dʲ	dog
Е	е	jɛ*	yes
Ё	ё	jɔ*	yo-yo
Ж	ж	ʒ	measure
З	з	ʒ, zʲ	zoo
И	и	i, ɨ*	bee
Й	й	j	boy
К	к	k	kite
Л	л	ɫ, lʲ	lot
М	м	m, mʲ	mall
Н	н	n, nʲ	note
О	о	ɔ	hello (like А in unstressed syllables)
П	п	p, pʲ	rope
Р	р	ɾ, ɾʲ	Scottish R
С	с	s, sʲ	sun
Т	т	t, tʲ	toe
У	у	u	rule
Ф	ф	f, fʲ	foot
Х	х	x	Scottish loch
Ц	ц	ts	tsar
Ч	ч	tʃʲ	chill
Ш	ш	ʃ	shut
Щ	щ	ʃʲ:	sheep
Ъ	ъ	none	hard sign
Ы	ы	ɨ	hairy
Ь	ь	none	soft sign (')
Э	э	ɛ	echo
Ю	ю	ju*	union
Я	я	ja*	yahoo

Consonants given in pairs denote non-palatal (hard) + palatal (soft) consonant pair.

* е, ё, я, ю stand either for [jɛ], [jɔ], [ja], [ju] after a vowel or word initially, or for palatal consonant (those marked with superscript j above) + [ɛ], [ɔ], [a], [u].

* и is [ɨ] only after consonants which are always non-palatal (к, г, х, ц, ж, ш).

Do not confuse the Soft Sign ь with Б б (b) and ы (iy) in reading.

Likewise with З з (z) and Э э (eh)

In transliteration, the soft sign ь if usually represented by an apostrophe '

говорить

govorit'

Contents 1 Hard and Soft Signs 2 Hard of Soft Vowels 3 Umbrella rule 4 Voiced and Unvoiced Consonants 5 Voicing and Devoicing of Consonants

Hard and Soft Signs

In the word ну (well) the consonant н is hard because the vowel у is a hard vowel.

In the word нет (no) the consonant н is soft because it follows the soft vowel е. The н sounds like the N in onion

It will take practice and hearing native speakers to pick up on the difference between the hard and soft sounding consonants.

To make a consonant soft (palatalized) in pronunciation, you add a -y glide to the letter. Look at the English word net with it's hard N and the typical English spelling of the Russian word nyet. This softening can happen to all consonants. Try saying a y and the consonant simultaneously to achieve softening

The Soft Sign Ь and the Hard Sign Ъ make no actual sounds in words, they are silent. They affect the letter before them. The Soft Sign occurs much more frequently than the Hard Sign.

Consonants are hard unless they are followed by a soft vowel or the soft sign ь.

The hard sign (though used rarely in Russian) is used to keep a consonant hard when it is followed by a soft vowel.

Hard of Soft Vowels

unpalatalized Hard	approx.* sound	palatalized Soft	approx. sound
А а	аh	Я я	yah
Э э	eh	Е е	yeh
О о	oh	Ё ё	yoh
У у	ooh	Ю ю	yooh
Ы ы	short iy	И и	ee

Umbrella rule

(also known as the 8-7-5 Rule)

After г , к , х , ш , ж , щ , ч , and ц you write а instead of я , and у instead of ю .

After г , к , х , ш , ж , щ , and ч , you write и instead of ы .

After ш , ж , щ , ч , and ц , where an o would be expected, you write the letter е UNLESS the o is stressed.

Voiced and Unvoiced Consonants

Voiced- Unvoiced pairs

Б б	П п
В в	Ф ф
Д д	Т т
Г г	К к
Ж ж	Ш ш
З з	С с

Voicing and Devoicing of Consonants

At the end of a word, a voiced consonant is pronounced as its unvoiced counterpart:

Суп (pronounced "soop")

Soup

Зуб ( zoop )

tooth

but

Зубная паста ( zoobnaya pasta )

Toothpaste

обед ( obyet )

dinner

but

обедать ( obedat' )

to eat dinner

This is true also if two consonants end a word, both are devoiced:

поезд ( poest )

train

дождь ( dosht' )

rain

When a voiced letter immediately precedes an unvoiced consonant, it is pronounced as its voiceless partner:

водка ( votka )

vodka

ложка ( loshka )

spoon

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You can practice your alphabet skills here: Russian alphabet: practice

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To listen to a short Russian text, see our Sounds of the World project.

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look at some other alphabets
go to the Russian section