Learn theRussian
Alphabet
Learn in an hour
or so
The Russian alphabet isn’t nearly as hard to learn as people think. It is one of the most phonetic alphabets ever created – one sound corresponding to one letter and vice-versa.
The basics of the alphabet can be learned in an hour or two if you think of the 33 letters belonging to 3 categories. (We’ll stick to capital letters in printed script for now)
1) Letters that look and sound the same in both the Latin and Russian alphabets.
2) Russian letters that look like Latin « our » letters, but have a different sound
3) Letters that are entirely different.
1) Letters that are the same
А К М О Т
2) Letters that look familiar, but sound different:
For example, a Russian 'B' corresponds to a 'V' sound
Russian Equivalent
B V
E Ye
H N
P R
C S
Y Oo
X H (the spanish «j» or German «ch»)
Can you read this word? РЕСТОРАН
Yes, it's 'Ryestoran', or
restaurant.
How about МЕТРО?
METRO of course and МЕТР is "meter"
and if you know that "и" is an "ee" sound
3) Letters that are
different
This is more of a challenge, but the beauty of Russian is
that it's almost entirely phonetic. One letter corrsponds to one sound
and vice-versa (almost always)
Б Г Д Ё Ж З И Й Л П Ф Ц Ч Ш Щ Ъ Ы Ь Э Ю Я
Б this a a
"B" as in БРАТ "brat" (brother)
Г this is
a"G"
as in ГОРА "gora"(mountain)
Д this is a "D"
asin
ДИСКОТЕКА
"diskotyeka"(discotheque)
Ё this is
a"YO" as in ВСЁ "vsyo"(everything)
this letter is never the first in a
word
Ж this
is the
lastsound in the word "garage" which is pronounced almost identically
inRussian - ГАРАЖ
З this is
a"z"
as in ЗИМА "zeema"(winter)
И this a the
"ee"sound as in ИСТОРИЯ "eestoreeya"(history)
Й this
is like a
short 'y' sound that only occurs after a vowel as in МОЙ "moi" (rhymes with 'boy') (my)
Л this
is an "L"
asin ЛАМПА "lampa"(lamp)
П this is a "P"
asin
ПАРК
"park"(park)
Ф this
is an "F"
asin ФАКС "faks"(fax)
Ц this
sounds
like"ts" as in ЦАР 'tsar'(tsar)
Ч this
islike the "ch" as in ЧЕК "chek"
(check (US), cheque (UK)
Ш this is a "sh"
as
in ШОКОЛАД
"shokolad"(chocolate)
Щ this a
a
double sound - as "sh" followed by a "ch" as in БОРЩ "borshch" the
famous Russian beet soup
Ъ this has no
sound
on its own but represents a pause after the preceding consonant - we'll
ignore it for now - it's rare
Ы this is
like
theshort 'i' sound in 'big' as in СЫН"sin"
(son)
Ь this letter has
nosound on its own, but it softens the preceding consonant (almost like
aslight 'y' sound after it) МАТЬ "mat' " (mother)
Э this is an
"eh"sound as in ЭХО "ekho"(echo)
this letter is very rare compared to the similar letter Е
Ю this
is a
"you"sound as in ЮГОСЛАВИЯ "yougoslaviya"
(Yougoslavia)
Я this is a "ya"
asin ЯАНВАРЬ "yanvar'"
(January)
Now let's practice:
(Bear in mind that these words aren't
pronounced exactly as in English)
БАР
bar
БАНК
bank
ПАПА
papa
ДОКТОР
doctor
АДРЕС
address
ПАСПОРТ
passport
ТЕЛЕФОН
telphone
ПРОФЕССОР
professor
КОНЦЕРТ
concert
ГАЗ
gas
ПОЭТ
poet
КРОКОДИЛ
crocodile
ОПЕРА
opera
МАЙ
May (pronounced like 'my' mah-ee)
НАТУРА
natura
МЕТАЛ
metal
МИНИСТЕР
minister
МИНУТА
minute (mee-noo-tah)
СИГАРЕТА
cigarette (see-gah-rye-tah)
ПРОЦЕНТ
per
cent (protsent)
ПРОДУКТ
product
ЛИДЕР
leader
РАДИО
radio
СЕКУНДА
second (seh-koon-dah)
САЛАТ
salad (sah-LAT)
СПОРТ
sport(s)
СТУДЕНТ
student
СУПЕРМАРКЕТ
supermarket
СОФА
sofa
ТЕАТР
theater (there is no 'th' in Russian)
ТЕКСТ
text
СИТУАЦИЯ
situation (see-too-AH-tsee-ya)
ТЕЛЕФОН
telephone
ТЕННИС
tennis
ЛИФТ
lift (or elevator)
ВОДКА
vodka
СУП
soup