When you pronounce a normal -д sound you will notice that the tip of your tongue hits the area of your hard palate just behind the upper front teeth. This will produce a hard D sound.
To pronounce a soft -дь then you will either need to position the middle of the tongue to hit the same area, or, alternatively, try to gently touch the hard -д position with the tip of your tongue. The specific technique you use will depend on the preceding letter.
For example, if a word ends with -едь, then it is easiest to produce the soft-sound by using the middle of the tongue against the hard -д position, as you do for -ть.
On the other hand, with a word like дождь, it is difficult to use this position to soften the -дь, so instead gently touch the tip of your tongue against the hard -дь position as you say the D sound. It also helps to slightly extend the 'o' sound.
This is one of the easier soft-signs to pronounce!
Bear - [nonsense word]
медведь - медвед
Pronounced:
mid-vYEd' - mid-vyed
Listen:
(Lena)
Listen:
(Lena)
Rain - [nonsense word]
дождь - дожд
Pronounced:
dOzhd' - dozhd
Listen:
(Lena)
Listen:
(Lena)
Queue - [nonsense word]
очередь - очеред
Pronounced:
Och-er-ed' - och-er-ed
Listen:
(Lena)
Listen:
(Lena)
Town / City Square - [nonsense word]
площадь - площад
Pronounced:
plO-schad' - plo-schad
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'.
