Many people find learning Russian especially challenging because of all those letters that do not look anything like people are used to seeing. The Russian alphabet is based on Cyrillic alphabet which initially had 43 letters. You are lucky ‑ now Russian has only 33 letters in its alphabet. Which can be still pretty much for anyone considering that there are only 26 letters in English. Yet, there is no reason for panic. It is not as scary as you might have pictured.

 

Let’s start with introduction of Russian letters. There are 10 vowels, 21 consonants and 2 signs in Russian. In the table we have presented the letters as they are written and pronounced.

 

The Letter in Cyrillic	Transliteration	Pronunciation	Examples	Translation
А, а	A	If stressed – ah as in father	Мама	Mother
Б, б	B	B as in big	Банан	Banana
В, в	V	V as in victory	Вор	Thief
Г, г	G	G as in god	Гусь	Goose
Д, д	D	D as in dog	Дом	House
Е, е	Ye	Ye as in yes	Ель	Fir
Ё, ё	Yo	Yo as in yoke	Ёж	Hedhehog
Ж, ж	Zh	Zh as in treasure	Жук	Beetle, bug
З, з	Z	Z as in zebra	Зебра	Zebra
И, и	I	Ee as in feet	Игла	Needle
Й, и	J	Y as in may	Май	May
К, к	K	C as in cat	Кот	Cat
Л, л	L	L as in love	Лес	Forest
М, м	M	M as in mother	Мир	World
Н, н	N	N as in no	Нет	No
О, о	O	O as in walk	Он	He
П, п	P	P as in plan	План	Plan
Р, р	R	R – flap r, close to a Spanish ‘r’ in padre	Река	River
С, с	S	S as in sit	Стол	Table
Т, т	T	T as in take	Тигр	Tiger
У, у	U	Oo as in took	Утка	Duck
Ф, ф	F	F as in fat	Факт	Fact
Х, х	Kh	As in the name of German composer Bach	Хобби	Hobby
Ц, ц	Ts	Ts as in cats	Цирк	Circus
Ч, ч	Ch	Ch as in check	Чашка	Cup
Ш, ш	Sh	Sh as in English	Шар	Sphere
Щ, щ	Sh’	Soft sh as in sheep	Щенок	Puppy
ъ	”	Hard sign	Съел	Ate
ы	Y	ih (not present in English)	Дым	Smoke
ь	‘	Soft sign	Пить	To drink
Э, э	E	E as in end	Эмоция	Emotion
Ю, ю	Yu	Yu as in use	Юла	Pegtop
Я, я	Ya	Ya as in yam	Яблоко	Apple

 

Of course, there are special cases of pronunciation but in general the letters are pronounced as they are written (according to their transliteration).

The vowels are highlighted in green.  They are pronounced the way it is shown in the table when they are stressed, when they are positioned in the beginning of the word or after another vowel.

 

Vowels in unstressed positions

 

 

• О will be read as А

• Е will be read as И

 

Consonants in different positions

• Consonants can be pronounced soft and hard depending on the vowel that follows the consonant

 

Consonants become soft if the following letters come after them ‑ Е, Ё, И, Ю, Я and Ь:

Some examples:

 

 

• There are voiced and voiceless consonants. Voiced consonants can be pronounced as an according voiceless one depending on their position in the word

As a rule, voiced consonants in the end of the word or before a voiceless consonant are pronounced as their voiceless opposite.

 

 

This short guide to pronunciation of Russian letters in different positions should be enough for now. It can be overwhelming at first but it gets better the more you practice.

Let’s start with practice right now.

 

Read the following Russian words and try to guess their meaning based on their similarity with English words:

 

Аэропорт

Алгебра

Астрономия

Доктор

Футбол

Гимнастика

Космос

Кредит

Музыка

Нос

Стадион

Водка

Жираф

Журнал

	А	Е	Ё	И	О	У	Ы	Э	Ю	Я
Б	БА	БЕ	БЁ	БИ	БО	БУ	БЫ		БЮ	БЯ
В	ВА	ВЕ	ВЁ	ВИ	ВО	ВУ	ВЫ		ВЮ	ВЯ
Г	ГА	ГЕ		ГИ	ГО	ГУ			ГЮ
Д	ДА	ДЕ	ДЁ	ДИ	ДО	ДУ	ДЫ		ДЮ	ДЯ
Ж	ЖА	ЖЕ	ЖЁ	ЖИ	ЖО	ЖУ	!
З	ЗА	ЗЕ	ЗЁ	ЗИ	ЗО	ЗУ	ЗЫ		ЗЮ	ЗЯ
Й	АЙ	ЕЙ	ЁЙ	ИЙ	ОЙ	УЙ	ЫЙ	ЭЙ		ЯЙ
К	КА	КЕ		КИ	КО	КУ
Л	ЛА	ЛЕ	ЛЁ	ЛИ	ЛО	ЛУ	ЛЫ		ЛЮ	ЛЯ
М	МА	МЕ	МЁ	МИ	МО	МУ	МЫ	МЭ	МЮ	МЯ
Н	НА	НЕ	НЁ	НИ	НО	НУ	НЫ		НЮ	НЯ
П	ПА	ПЕ	ПЁ	ПИ	ПО	ПУ	ПЫ	ПЭ	ПЮ	ПЯ
Р	РА	РЕ	РЁ	РИ	РО	РУ	РЫ		РЮ	РЯ
С	СА	СЕ	СЁ	СИ	СО	СУ	СЫ	СЭ	СЮ	СЯ
Т	ТА	ТЕ	ТЁ	ТИ	ТО	ТУ	ТЫ		ТЮ	ТЯ
Ф	ФА	ФЕ	ФЁ	ФИ	ФО	ФУ	ФЫ		ФЮ	ФЯ
Х	ХА	ХЕ		ХИ	ХО	ХУ
Ц	ЦА	ЦЕ		ЦИ	ЦО	ЦУ	ЦЫ
Ч	ЧА	ЧЕ	ЧЁ	ЧИ	ЧО	ЧУ			!
Ш	ША	ШЕ	ШЁ	ШИ	ШО	ШУ	!
Щ	ЩА	ЩЕ	ЩЁ	ЩИ	ЩО	ЩУ			!