Language/Russian/Pronunciation/Alphabet-and-Pronunciation
Привет! Russian lovers 😎 !
In today's lesson, you will learn how to write the different letters of the Russian alphabet (normal and cursive), how to pronounce these letters whether it is through the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), or through a video with the pronunciation of the letters by a native speaker. You will also find at the end of this lesson a virtual keyboard to be able to type each special character of this language.
Happy learning!
Russian Alphabet and IPA Pronunciation
Russian is a Slavic language, such as Polish or Czech, written with the Cyrillic alphabet, inspired by the Greek alphabet.
| Caps | Minisculs | Name | Prononciation IPA | Transcription | English Equivalent | Sound | Letter Name in Russian |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| А | а | а | /a/ | a | А а | Like "a" in car | "ah" |
| Б | б | бэ | /b/, /bʲ/ | b | B b | Like "b" in bat | "beh" |
| В | в | вэ | /v/, /vʲ/ | v | V v | Like "v" in van | "veh" |
| Г | г | гэ | /ɡ/, /gʲ/ | g | G g | Like "g" in go | "geh" |
| Д | д | дэ | /d/, /dʲ/ | d | D d | Like "d" in dog | "deh" |
| Е | е | е | /je/, / ʲe/, /e/ | e | YE ye | Like "ye" in yet | "yeh" |
| Ё | ё | ё | /jo/, / ʲɵ/ | ë | YO yo | Like "yo" in yonder | "yo" |
| Ж | ж | жэ | /ʐ/ | ž | Zh zh | Like "s" in measure or pleasure or like "g" in beige (the colour) | "zheh" |
| З | з | зэ | /z/, /zʲ/ | z | Z z | Like "z" in zoo | "zeh" |
| И | и | и | /i/, / ʲi/,, /ɨ/ | i | EE ee | Like "ee" in see | "ee" |
| Й | й | и краткое | /j/ | j | I i or Y y | like "y" in boy or toy | "ee kratkoyeh" |
| К | к | ка | /k/, /kʲ/ | k | K k | Like "k" in kitten, "c" in cat. | "kah" |
| Л | л | эл, эль | /l/, /lʲ/ | l | L l | Like "l" in light | "ehl" |
| М | м | эм | /m/, /mʲ/ | m | M m | Like "m" in mat | "ehm" |
| Н | н | эн | /n/, /ɲ/ | n | N n | Like "n" in no | "ehn" |
| О | о | о | /o/, /ɐ/ | o |
|
|
"oh" |
| П | п | пэ | /p/, /pʲ/ | p | P p | Like "p" in pot | "peh" |
| Р | р | эр | /r/, /rʲ/ | r | R r | Like "r" in run (rolled) | "ehr" |
| С | с | эс | /s/, /sʲ/ | s | S s | Like "s" in sam | "ehs" |
| Т | т | тэ | /t/, /tʲ/ | t | T t | Like "t" in tap | "teh" |
| У | у | у | /u/ | u | U u | Like "oo" in boot | "oo" |
| Ф | ф | эф | /f/, /fʲ/ | f | F f | Like "f" in fat | "ehf" |
| Х | х | ха | /x/, /xʲ/ | x | H h, KH kh | Like "h" in hello or like the "ch" in Scottish 'loch' or German 'Bach' | "khah" |
| Ц | ц | цэ | /t͡s/ | c | TS ts | Like "ts" in bits | "tseh" |
| Ч | ч | че | /t͡ɕ/ | č | CH ch | Like "ch" in chip | "cheh" |
| Ш | ш | ша | /ʂ/ | š | SH sh (hard) | Like "sh" in shut | "shah" |
| Щ | щ | ща | /ɕɕ/ | šč | SH sh (soft) | Like "sh" in sheep | "schyah" |
| Ъ | ъ | твёрдый знак | '' | Hard Sign | Letter before is hard | "tvyordiy znahk" | |
| Ы | ы | ы | /ɨ/ | y | I i | Like "i" in ill | "i" |
| Ь | ь | мягкий знак | / ʲ/ | ' | Soft Sign | Letter before is soft | "myagkeey znahk" |
| Э | э | э | /e/ | è | E e | Like "e" in pet | "eh" |
| Ю | ю | ю | /ju/, / ʲu/ | ju | YU yu | Like "u" in use or university | "yoo" |
| Я | я | я | /ja/, / ʲa/ | ja | YA ya | Like "ya" in yard. | "yah" |
Notes
The Russian l is velar, it is pronounced as English well or as the old French chevals: one pronounced then s of the plural (that is why the pronunciation was then modified in "cheva-or "Then" chevo "writes Chevaux)
At the end of the word, the sound consonants become deaf, as in German, they pronounce then:
- b > p
- v > f
- g > k
- d > t
- z > s
The Russian has 5 vocalic phonemes noted by 10 graphemes:
| a | e | i | o | u | |
| а | э | ы | о | у | After a hard consonant |
| я | е | и | ё | ю | After a soft consonant or yod |
NOTE: If Russian word contains 'ё', the accent is always on this vowel. Therefore, the accent mark is not placed above 'ё'.
The use of the letter 'ё' is mandatory in texts with consistently placed accent marks, in books for young children (including textbooks for elementary school students), in textbooks for foreigners. In ordinary printed texts, it`s written in cases where a misreading of the word is possible, when it`s necessary to indicate the correct pronunciation of a rare word or to prevent a speech error. The letter 'ё' should also be written in proper names. In other cases, the use of 'ё' is optional.
Examples
(In brackets the transcription & bracketed phonetics)
| ад (ad) [at] Hell | яд (jad) [jat] poison |
| мыло (mylo) [mɨlo] soap | мило (milo) [mjilo] nice |
| лук (luk) [luk] onion | люк (ljuk) [ljuk] hatch |
These wet sounds are not necessarily transcribed in French. Thus the name of the first president of Russia was Борис Ельцин in Russian, Boris Yeltsin in English and French: Boris Yeltsin (but pronouncing "Yeltsin").
Italic characters
The cursive letters which are significantly different from the normal printed version are noted in bold.
Those are worth learning because they are often used and look like the hand-written form of Russian.
| А а | Б б | В в | Г г | Д д | Е е | Ё ё | Ж ж | З з | И и | Й й | К к | Л л | М м | Н н | О о | П п | Р р | С с | Т т | У у | Ф ф | Х х | Ц ц | Ч ч | Ш ш | Щ щ | Ъ ъ | Ы ы | Ь ь | Э э | Ю ю | Я я |
| А а | Б б | В в | Г г | Д д | Е е | Ё ё | Ж ж | З з | И и | Й й | К к | Л л | М м | Н н | О о | П п | Р р | С с | Т т | У у | Ф ф | Х х | Ц ц | Ч ч | Ш ш | Щ щ | Ъ ъ | Ы ы | Ь ь | Э э | Ю ю | Я я |
|---|
Cursive Letters (hand writing
Watch the video below to learn how to write the cursive language letters of the Russian alphabet:
Russian Keyboard
This is what a Russian keyboard looks like:
This video explains how you can write Russian/Cyrillic letter stickers on your native keyboard with the use of Russian letter sticker:
Video - Russian Alphabet Pronunciation by a Native Speaker