1 Grammar

Russian vowels

There are 10 vowels in Russian They are divided into two types, "hard-indicating" and "soft-indicating", because they indicate whether the following consonant is "hard" or "soft".

"Hard" vowels:

A as in bUt

Э as in mAp

У as in mOOd

О as in nOt

And famous Ы! It hasn't an equivalent in any language. To pronounce it put three fingers in your mouth and pronounce the English EE. You'll get the closest sound!

"Soft" vowels

They are formed by adding Y to "hard" vowels:

Я spelled as YA

Е spelled as YE

Ë spelled as YO

Ю spelled as YU

И spelled as EE or Y

A tricky thing about Russian vowels:Some of them sounds differently when they are not under stress For example, молоко(milk) is pronounced as malakO, because O not under stress turns to A

Russian consonants

Б-b as in book, p if stays at the end of the word В-v as in valve, f is stays at the end of the word

Г-g as in group, k if stays at the end of the word

Д-d as in dad, t if stays at the end of the word

Ж-zh as in pleasure, sh if stays at the end of the word

З-z as in zoo, s if stays at the end of the word

Й-short y as in toy

К-k as in key

Л-l as in lion

М-m as in mom

Н-n as in no

П-p as in parrot

Р-r as in red

С-s as in so

Т-t as in tiger

Ф-f as in flag

Х-kh as like you are clearing your throat or as ch in Scottish loch

Ц-ts as in tsetse fly

Ч-ch as in chair

Ш-sh as in shoe

Щ-soft sh as in sheep

Plus "Strange" letters: Ь-a "soft" sign that makes the preceding consonant soft (transcribed as ') and Ъ-a "hard" sign (transcribed as ").

These letters are neither consonants nor vowels