Let’s learn some simple russian.
Alphabet
The Russian alphabet consists of 33 letters.
Latin
These Russian letters look and sound the same as their English counterparts:
- А – A, as in car
- О – O, as in more
- М – M, as in man
- Т – T, as in top
- К – K, as in kite
Greek
Some letters trace back to Greek and retain similar sounds:
- Д – D (Delta)
- Л – L (Lambda)
- Ф – F (Phi)
- Г – G (Gamma)
- П – P (Pi)
Combined Sounds
These letters represent blended sounds, often expressed with two letters in English:
- Ш – sh, as in shoe
- Щ – shch, like in fresh cheese; softer than “sh”
- Ч – ch, as in cheese
- Ц – ts, as in cats
Uniquely Russian
These letters are either visually distinct or have no direct English sound equivalent:
- Ы – A deep vowel, similar to “ih” but pronounced further back in the throat
- Ж – Like the s in measure or the French je
- Э – A hard “e,” as in bet
- Й – A short y sound, like in boy
- Ё – Pronounced yo, as in yoga
Latin?
These letters look like english, but sound quite different:
- В – Sounds like V
- Н – Sounds like N
- Р – Sounds like R
- С – Sounds like S
- У – Sounds like oo in boot
- Х – Sounds like a hard ch
Vowels
There are 10 vowel letters in Russian, split into “hard” and “soft” (palatalizing) pairs. Think of them as matching the English vowels A, E, I, O, U, with А, Э, Ы, О, У representing Hard Vowels and Я, Е, И, Ё, Ю for soft vowels.
Paired sounds:
| Hard | Soft | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| А | Я | a / ya |
| Э | Е | e / ye |
| Ы | И | ih / ee |
| О | Ё | o / yo |
| У | Ю | oo / you |
Silent Letters
While Russian doesn’t use silent letters like English does, it includes:
- Ь (soft sign) – Has no sound, but softens the preceding consonant
- Ъ (hard sign) – Also silent, but indicates a syllable break
Examples
Here are a few Russian words you can try saying:
- кот – cat
- атом – atom
- программа – program
- технология – technology
- информация – information
- искусство – art
- электричество – electricity