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|
Letter |
Pronunciation |
Letter Name |
Audio |
Audio |
(in Russian) |
Lena |
Irina |
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| А а | a as in another; u as in umbrella | 'ah' |
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| Б б | b as in bit, bake, boys | 'beh' |
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| В в | v as in vine, veranda | 'veh' |
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| Г г | g as in get, go, girls | 'geh' |
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| Д д | d as in door, ditch | 'deh' |
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| Е е | ye as in yesterday | 'yeh' |
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| Ё ё | yo as in yonder | 'yo' |
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| Ж ж | zh as in pleasure | 'zheh' |
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| З з | z as in zoo | 'zeh' |
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| И и | i as in pip or kiss; ee as in eel | 'ee' |
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| Й й | y as in boy; y as in bay (this letter usually modifies a vowel) | 'ee krAtkayeh' (И краткое: ee short) |
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| К к | k as in kitten | 'kah' |
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| Л л | l as in lamp, like | 'el' |
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| М м | m as in milk | 'em' |
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| Н н | n as in night, neat | 'en' |
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| О о | o as in born; aw as in lawn (the Russian o is very strong and usually pronounced as though there is bit of an 'r' following it) | 'oh' |
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| П п | p as in poke | 'peh' |
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| Р р | r as in run. However, this is a 'rolled r' that is common to many European languages | 'ehr' |
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| С с | s as in single, send, see | 'es' |
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| Т т | t as in take, tip | 'teh' |
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| У у | oo as in fool, pool | 'oo' |
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| Ф ф | f as in face, fish | 'ef' |
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| Х х | kh; ch as in Scottish loch | 'khah' |
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| Ц ц | ts as in sits | 'tseh' |
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| Ч ч | ch as in chair | 'cheh' |
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| Ш ш | sh as in shop, shut | 'sheh' |
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| Щ щ | officially 'shch', but sh as in sheep (when Russians speak it sounds like they just use ш). Don't worry too much about the difference between ш and щ | 'scheh' |
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| ъ | the 'hard sign' has no sound of its own, but adds a slight pause. Very rare to see this in a word. | 'tvYOrdi znak' (твёрдый знак: hard sign) |
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| ы | most difficult Russian vowel sound, with no equivalent in English. Closest sound is ei as in being, but vocalised from the back of the throat with the lips pulled back like a smile to show the front teeth | 'eigh' |
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| ь | the 'soft sign' has no sound of its own, but softens (modifies) the preceding letter, adding a soft y sound | 'mYAkee znak' (мягкий знак: soft sign) |
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| Э э | e as in peg, met | 'eh' |
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| Ю ю | yoo as universe, duke | 'yu' |
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| Я я | ya as in yarn | 'ya' |
Notes:
The Russian alphabet is also known as the Cyrillic alphabet. It was created during the 9th-century by two Byzantine monk brothers from Thessaloniki, Saint Cyril and Saint Methodius. However, the Cyrillic alphabet you see today has been modified numerous times over the past 1000 years.
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