Russian Alphabet
Listen to the Russian letters and example words by clicking the picture.
Б б
бэ - банк (bank)
b as in but
В в
вэ - врач (doctor)
v as in voice
Д д
дэ - дом (house)
d as in do
Е е
e - еда́ (food)
ye as in yes
Ё ё
ё - ёж (hedgehog)
yo as in yogurt
З з
зэ - зонт (umbrella)
z as in zoo
Л л
эл - лес (forest)
l as in love
О о
о - окно́ (window)
o as in boy
Х х
ха - хлеб (bread)
h as in high
Ц ц
цэ - цвет (color)
t´s as in let´s
Ч ч
че - часы́ (clock)
ch as in chair
Щ щ
ща - щи (cabbage soup)
sh ch as in Welsh church
Ы ы
ы - сыр (cheese)
between i as in lit and u as in sugar
Ь ь
ь - мышь (mouse)
no independent sound
Ю ю
ю - ю́бка (skirt)
u as in usual
The letters above are presented in alphabetical order. There are 31 sounds:
- 21 consonants: б, в, г, д, ж, з, й. к, л, м, н, п, р, с, т, ф, х, ц, ч, ш, щ and
- 10 vowels: а, е, ё, и, о, у, ы, э, ю, я.
- The consonant й (short i) is sometimes called a semivowel.
The soft sign ь and hard sign ъ do not have a sound of their own. Ъ is relatively rare and occurs only in a limited number of words that start with a prefix ending in a consonant. There it is placed between the prefix and the word stem, as in объявление (announcement) and съезд (conference).
Ь is placed after consonants for softening them. Listen to a few examples:
Regardless of the different alphabet, the Russian sounds are very similar to English and are therefore easy to learn.