Alphabet and Pronounciation

RUSSIAN ALPHABET

The Russian Alphabet, known as Cyrillic or Кири́ллица (Ki-reel-lee-tsa). It has 33 letters; 21 consonants, 10 vowels and two signs. 

The letters are: А Б В Г Д Е Ё Ж З И Й К Л М Н О П Р С Т У Ф Х Ц Ч Ш Щ ъ ы ь Э Ю and Я. In order to make this explanation easier, the letters are broken down into specific groups. 

 

Consonants

Б б В в Г г Д д Ж ж З з Й й К к Л л М м Н н П п Р р С с Т т Ф ф Х х Ц ц Ч ч Ш ш Щ щ

Бэ -- Beh Вэ -- Veh Гэ -- Geh Дэ -- Deh Жэ -- Zheh Зэ-- Zeh И краткое-- i kratkoye Ка-- Kah Эл-- El Эм-- Em Эн -- En Пэ-- Peh Эрр -- Err Эс -- Es Тэ -- Teh Эф -- Ef Ха -- Khah Цэ -- Tseh Че -- Cheh Шэ -- Shah Ща -- Shchah

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*there are two ways of pronouncing the letter щ, based on regional variances. The first is to begin with a ш sound with a ч made just after without pause. (The example "fresh cheese" is most common.) The second is to make a "sh" sound, but push your jaw slightly forward and tighten the corners of your lips into a kind of semi-smile.

• There are certain variations in the sound made for most consonants, referred to most often as "soft" consonants. Rather than add new letters to represent these sounds, the Russian Alphabet shows them in one of two ways: either through a softening vowel, or should there be no vowel, a soft sign, used below. An explanation of how to pronounce these individually are below as well. The signs have additional uses, explained later.

Soft Consonants

Бь -Like Пь, but voiced Вь -Push your lower lip upwards so the inside touches the lower front portion of your front teeth Дь - Use the frontal portion of your tongue rather than just the tip to make a sound similar to "dz" or the d in the French "jeudi." Жж -This is, in theory, a voiced version of Щ, but is rarely spoken as anything other than ж, and is marked by жж, not жь, for reasons explained later. Зь -Push your lower jaw forward a little, and/or press the first centimeter or so of  your tongue just behind your front teeth. Ль -Use the whole front portion of your tongue to make an l sound like that in French or German. Нь -Press the front of your tongue against the top of your mouth, just behind the front teeth; sounds like Spanish ñ. Пь -Like the p in "computer" Рь -Similar to a regular Р, but with more aspiration. Сь -This is a devoiced version of the soft З. Ть -Sounds a bit like ц but with the front of the tongue on the roof of the mouth. The t in the French "tu" makes the same sound. Фь -Like Вь, but devoiced.

"Soft" Vowels

Е е Ё ё И и Ю ю Я я

Yeh  Yoh Ee Yu Yah

Yes Yodel Feet Youth Yacht

Ё is always stressed

"Hard" Vowels

Э э О о ы У у А а

Eh   Oh Еры*   Ooh   Ah

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*This is difficult to pronounce until you hear it, a sort of mix between the u in "under," the i in "if," and the ee in "feet;" until you have heard it a few times, pronounce it like the i in "if."
(If you know Romanian, ы is the same sound as î, and if you know Polish, it is the same sound as y. A similar vowel is found in the Turkish l, but ы is made further forward in the mouth.)

Pronunciation With Й

ай ей/эй ой уй

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Capital Letters:
А Б В Г Д Е Ё Ж З И Й К Л М Н О П Р
С Т У Ф Х Ц Ч Ш Щ Ъ Ы Ь Э Ю Я

  Small Letters:
а  б  в  г  д  е  ё  ж  з  и  й  к  л  м  н  о  п  р
с  т  y ф  х  ц  ч  ш  щ  ъ  ы  ь  э  ю  я

Notes: The blue letters belong to vowel, the red one belong to consonant, while the grey letters belong to pronunciation.