Just when you think you've mastered the Russian alphabet, along comes this new monster in the form of the Russian handwritten alphabet.

Please understand this is an advanced lesson and should really only be undertaken after you are very comfortable reading the standard Russian alphabet.

For example, there are 4 ways of writing the letter 'д' (see below)!

And the handwritten version of 'т' is !!

If you're planning to spend a significant amount of time in Russia then it's worth knowing the handwritten alphabet, or at least be able to recognise the letter variants, as many documents you encounter may contain handwritten elements.

If you need to fill in a form with Russian script and can't remember how to write the Russian alphabet, you might consider asking for help with this phrase:

Can you help please? I don't write in Russian very well. (literally: You help, please? I badly write in Russian)

Помогите, пожалуйста? я плохо пишу по-русски

Pronounced:

pa-ma-gEE-tye pa-zhAL-oo-sta. ya plO-kha pI-shoo pa rOO-ski

Audio:

(Lena)

Audio:

(Irina)

Here is the Russian itallic and handwritten alphabet:

Letter	Itallic	Handwriting
А а	а
Б б	б
В в	в
Г г	г
Д д	д
Е е	е
Ё ё	ё
Ж ж	ж
З з	з
И и	и
Й й	й
К к	к
Л л	л
М м	м
Н н	н
О о	о
П п	п
Р р	р
С с	с
Т т	т
У у	у
Ф ф	ф
Х х	х
Ц ц	ц
Ч ч	ч
Ш ш	ш
Щ щ	щ
ъ	ъ
ы	ы
ь	ь
Э э	э
Ю ю	ю
Я я	я