Language/Russian/Pronunciation/Alphabet-and-Pronunciation
Hello Polyglots 😎
In today's lesson, you will learn how to write the different letters of the Russian alphabet, 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.
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 | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minisculs | 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 |
| Name | а | бэ | вэ | гэ | дэ | е | ё | жэ | зэ | и | и краткое | ка | эл, эль | эм | эн | о | пэ | эр | эс | тэ | у | эф | ха | цэ | че | ша | ща | твёрдый знак | ы | мягкий знак | э | ю | я |
| Prononciation | /a/ | /b/, /bʲ/ | /v/, /vʲ/ | /ɡ/, /gʲ/ | /d/, /dʲ/ | /je/, / ʲe/, /e/ | /jo/, / ʲɵ/ | /ʐ/ | /z/, /zʲ/ | /i/, / ʲi/,, /ɨ/ | /j/ | /k/, /kʲ/ | /l/, /lʲ/ | /m/, /mʲ/ | /n/, /ɲ/ | /o/, /ɐ/ | /p/, /pʲ/ | /r/, /rʲ/ | /s/, /sʲ/ | /t/, /tʲ/ | /u/ | /f/, /fʲ/ | /x/, /xʲ/ | /t͡s/ | /t͡ɕ/ | /ʂ/ | /ɕɕ/ | /ɨ/ | / ʲ/ | /e/ | /ju/, / ʲu/ | /ja/, / ʲa/ | |
| Transcription | a | b | v | g | d | e | ë | ž | z | i | j | k | l | m | n | o | p | r | s | t | u | f | x | c | č | š | šč | '' | y | ' | è | ju | ja |
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 the word contains 'ё', the accent is always on this vowel. Therefore, the accent mark is not placed above 'ё'.
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").
Russian Alphabet and Pronunciation Equivalent in Different Languages
| PRONUNCIATION
ENGLISH |
LETTERS IN
RUSSIAN |
PRONUNCIATION
PORTUGUESE |
|---|---|---|
| ah | A | a |
| beh | Б | b |
| veh | В | ve |
| geh | Г | gue |
| deh | Д | de |
| yeh | Е (strong) / (tônica) | iê |
| ih | E | i |
| yeh | E (at the end) / (no final) | iê |
| iô | Ë | iô |
| zheh | Ж | je |
| zeh | З | ze |
| i | И | i |
| i | Й | i |
| kah | К | ca |
| ehl | Л | el |
| ehm | М | em |
| ehn | Н | en |
| oh | О (strong) / (tônica) | o |
| ah | O | a |
| peh | П | pe |
| her | Р | ér |
| ehs | С | és |
| teh | Т | te |
| ou | У | u |
| ehf | Ф | éf |
| Hah | Х | rah |
| tseh | Ц | tsé |
| cheh | Ч | tche |
| shah | Ш | cha |
| shcheh | Щ | chtché |
| no sound | Ъ | sem som |
| uh | Ы | â |
| no sound | Ь | sem som |
| eh | Э | é |
| you | Ю | iú |
| yah | Я | iá |
| syah | CЯ | siá |
| sah | CЯ (at the end) / (no final) | sá |
Video - Russian Alphabet Pronunciation by a Native Speaker