Basic Russian Class
Lesson 3. Russian Alphabet. Part 2
Russian letters that look unusual, but have familiar sounds
Б б – Pronounced like the “b” in “bat”. (Equivalent to the English letter “b”).
Г г – Pronounced like the “g” in “go”. (Equivalent to the English letter “g”).
Д д – Pronounced like the “d” in “dog”. (Equivalent to the English letter “d”).
З з – Pronounced like the “z” in “zoo”. (Equivalent to the English letter “z”).
И и – Pronounced like the “i” in “taxi”. (Sometimes equivalent to the English letter “i”, the short ‘ee’ sound.). (Note: The hand-written form for “и” looks a little like the English “u”).
Л л – Pronounced like the “l” in “love”. (Equivalent to the English letter “l”).
П п – Pronounced like the “p” in “pot”. (Equivalent to the English letter “p”).
Ф ф – Pronounced like the “f” in “fat”. (Equivalent to the English letter “f”).
Э э – Pronounced like the “e” in “fed”.
New Russian letters and sounds
(The sounds will be familiar, but they don’t have their own letter in English).
Ю ю – Pronounced like the “u” in “universe”. (Pronounced much like the English word “you”).
Я я – Pronounced like the “ya” in “yard”.
Ё ё – Pronounced like “yo” in “yonder”. (Note: In modern Russian you may find this letter simply written as Е е.)
Ж ж – Like “s” in “measure”, “pleasure” or “fusion” or like “g” in color “beige”. (As there is no english symbol for this sound, it is usually represented as “zh”)
Ц ц – Similar to the “ts” sound in “sits” or “its”.
Ч ч – Pronounced like the “ch” in “chips” or “church” .
Ш ш – Pronounced like the “sh” in shut.
Щ щ – Pronounced like “sh” but with your tongue on the roof of your mouth. Try putting your tongue in the same position as you would to say “ch” but say “sh” instead. English speakers may find it hard to define the difference between “ш” and “щ”.
Ы ы – Pronounced like the “i” in “bit” or “ill”. (Said with your tongue slightly back in your mouth.)
Й й – This letter is used to form diphthongs. So “oй” is like the “oy” sound in “boy” or “aй” is like the “igh” in “sigh”.
Pronunciation Symbols
(These letters have no sound on their own, but are still considered letters.).
Ъ ъ – The ‘Hard Sign’ is rarely used. It indicates a slight pause between syllables.
Ь ь – The ‘Soft Sign’ makes the previous letter ‘soft’. Think of the “p” sound in the word “pew”. (Try inflecting a very slight “y” sound onto letter before it.)
In the next lesson, we will practice how to read words in Russian.