The combination of soft-sign following т (-ть) is very common in Russian, especially for infinitive forms of verbs. (If you don't know what 'infinitive' means then don't worry about looking it up, it's not important yet.)
Thus the correct pronunciation of -ть is very important, and is worth describing step-by-step how to say it correctly.
Let's use the classic example of мать to illustrate the technique.
1. First practice saying "mat" normally (remember to use a Russian 'a'!). As you say this word, try to notice what your tongue is doing when it gets to the letter 't'. What you should feel is that the tip of your tongue flicks the back of your upper teeth, or the gum just above your teeth, while the middle of your tongue isn't doing too much.
2. To make the 't' soft we reverse the situation - the middle of the tongue is going to do the work pronouncing the 't' while the tip of the tongue is held steady.
3. To do this you hold the tip of your tongue at the join between your front bottom teeth and your bottom gum.
Then use the middle of your tongue to say 'mat' (remember in Russian the 'a' is pronounced the same as the 'u' in umbrella).
As you pronounce this word you should notice the middle of your tongue rising towards the hard palate (the top of your mouth).
Can you hear how the quality of the t sound has changed? It sounds much "softer" now.
At first it may seem strange pronouncing letters like this, and you might feel like you have a 'mouthful of tongue' and look a bit of a doofus, but practice often and it will become natural to you.
Five - [nonsense word]
пять - пят
Pronounced:
pyat' - pyat
Listen:
(Lena)
Listen:
(Lena)
Mother - Obscene language
мать - мат
Pronounced:
mat' - mat
Listen:
(Lena)
Listen:
(Lena)
To drink - [nonsense word]
пить - пит
Pronounced:
pit' - pit
Listen:
(Lena)
Listen:
(Lena)
To take - Brother
брать - брат
Pronounced:
brat' - brat
Listen:
(Lena)
Listen:
(Lena)
Bed - [nonsense word]
кровать - кроват
Pronounced:
kra-vAt' - kra-vat
Listen:
(Lena)
Listen:
(Lena)
Stressed?
We probably don't need to remind you again ... when the Russian letter 'o' appears in a word, but is not stressed, then it is pronounced as a Russian 'a'.
If the 'o' is stressed (the syllable which is emphasised), then it is pronounced normally as a Russian 'o'.
