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

Can you read АМЕРИКА?
Of course, it's "America"

ТЕАТР    theater    ТЕКСТ    text    ТАКСИ    taxi

 

 

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

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