Learn the Russian Alphabet

Русский алфавит

Learn to read the Russian Alphabet (Русский алфавит): all 33 letters with names, sounds and audio, plus flashcards, listening, typing and matching practice.

Letter	Name	Latin letters	Sound
А а	A	a	a as in father
Б б	Be	b	b as in boy
В в	Ve	v	v as in van
Г г	Ge	g	g as in go
Д д	De	d	d as in dog
Е е	Ye	e	ye as in yes; after a consonant it softens it (нет = nyet)
Ё ё	Yo	yo	yo as in yonder; always stressed
Ж ж	Zhe	zh	s as in pleasure, but harder
З з	Ze	z	z as in zoo
И и	I	i	ee as in see
Й й	Short I	y	y as in boy; a short glide after a vowel
К к	Ka	k	k as in kite
Л л	El	l	l as in full (dark); softer before е, ё, и, ь, ю, я
М м	Em	m	m as in mom
Н н	En	n	n as in no
О о	O	o	o as in more when stressed; unstressed it sounds like a
П п	Pe	p	p as in pot
Р р	Er	r	a rolled r, as in Spanish perro
С с	Es	s	s as in sun
Т т	Te	t	t as in top
У у	U	u	oo as in moon
Ф ф	Ef	f	f as in fun
Х х	Kha	kh	ch as in Scottish loch
Ц ц	Tse	ts	ts as in cats
Ч ч	Che	ch	ch as in cheese
Ш ш	Sha	sh	sh as in shop, with the tongue pulled back
Щ щ	Shcha	shch	a long, soft sh, like fresh sheep
Ъ ъ	Hard sign	ʺ	no sound of its own; it separates a consonant from a following е, ё, ю, я so they keep their y sound
Ы ы	Yery	y	no English match; say i as in bit with the tongue pulled back
Ь ь	Soft sign	ʹ	no sound of its own; it softens the consonant before it, adding a hint of y
Э э	E	e	e as in bet
Ю ю	Yu	yu	yu as in you
Я я	Ya	ya	ya as in yard

Learn the Russian Alphabet

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