In fact, the hardest part of travel to Russia is that almost nobody speaks more than a word or two of English; street and shop signs, metro, train and bus stop names are often written in Russian only.
Thus, the easiest way to make your visit to Russia more comfortable is to learn the alphabet. Even if you do not plan to learn the language, knowing the alphabet will save you from the feeling of absolute helplessness.
Fortunately, Russian is a phonetic language, which means that things are pronounced as they are spelled. While in English, the pronunciation of words may not be clear from their written form.
Furthermore, in the Russian language one letter corresponds to one sound, while in English one sound can be made up by two letters (i.e. “sh”) or vice versa (i.e. “x”).
The Russian alphabet (a.k.a. Cyrillic) consists of 33 letters: 11 vowels, 20 consonants and 2 pronunciation signs, which do not have a sound (they make the other letters sound harder or softer).
Try not to apply knowledge of the English alphabet when they’re learning Russian! You will be surprised how many Russian letters look like English ones, but be not deceived, some of them may have completely different sound!
Here is what the Russian alphabet looks like (in dictionary order).
А, Б, В, Г, Д, Е, Ё, Ж, З, И, Й, К, Л, М, Н, О, П, Р, С, Т, У, Ф, Х, Ц, Ч, Ш, Щ, Ъ, Ы, Ь, Э, Ю, Я
We now consider in more detail each letter.
| Letter | Sound | Example | Note |
| А а | a | Sounds like the “a” in “father” or “u” in “hut”. | It is not the “a” sound that you hear in words like “cat” or “bat”. |
| Б б | b | Pronounced like the “b” in “bear”. | Pronounced as “p” when it appears in the end of the word or when it is followed by other voiceless* consonants: Лоб (forehead) is pronounced [lop] instead of [lob]. Коробка (box) is pronounced [ka-rop-ka] instead of [ka-rob-ka] |
| В в | v | Pronounced like the “v” in “vodka”. | Pronounced as “f” when it appears in the end of the word or when it is followed by other voiceless* consonants: Ров (moat) is pronounced as [rof] instead of [rov]. Веревка (rope) is pronounced as [vee-ryof-ka] instead of [vee-ryov-ka]. |
| Г г | g | Pronounced like the “g” in “goat”. | It never sounds like g in “gesture”. Pronounced as “k” (rarely “h”) when it appears in the end of the word or when it is followed by other voiceless* consonants: Рог (horn) is pronounced as [rok] instead of [rog]. Бог (God) is pronounced as [bokh] instead of [bog]. Легко (Easy) is pronounced as [leekh-ko] instead of [leeg-ko]Pronounced as “v” when it appears in genitive (possessive) endings ого/его: Достоевского (Dostoevsky’s) is pronounced as [da-sta-yev-ska-va] instead of [da-sta-yev-ska-ga]. |
| Д д | d | Pronounced like the “d” in “dog”. | Pronounced as “t” when it appears in the end of the word or when it is followed by other voiceless* consonants: Код (code) is pronounced as [kot] instead of [kod]. Водка (vodka) is pronounced as [vot-ka] instead of [vod-ka]. The hand-written form for “д” looks a little like the English hand-written “g” |
| Е е | ye | Sounds like “yes” | In unstressed syllable pronounced as “ee” in “feel”: Перевод (translation) is pronounced as [pee-ree-vot] instead of [pye-rye-vot] (the two first syllables with “e” are unstressed). After Ж, Ш and Ц it is pronounced as “e” in “end”: Шея (neck) is pronounced as [shehya] instead of [shyehya]. |
| Ё ё | yo | Pronounced like “yo” in “York”. | Always stressed! In modern Russian it is usually written without dots as “Е” and “е” except in cases of possible ambiguity. After Ж and Ш it is pronounced as “o” in “more”: Жёлтый (yellow) is pronounced as [zhol-tiy] instead of [zhyol-tiy]. |
| Ж ж | zh | Sounds like “pleasure” or “Belgium” | Pronounced as “sh” when it appears in the end of the word or when it is followed by other voiceless* consonants: Нож (knife) is pronounced as [nosh] instead of [nozh]. Ложка (spoon) is pronounced as [losh-ka] instead of [lozh-ka] |
| З з | z | Pronounced like the “z” in “zone” | Pronounced as “s” when it appears in the end of the word or when it is followed by other voiceless* consonants: Мороз (frost) is pronounced as [ma-ros] instead of [ma-roz]. Сказка (fairy tale) is pronounced as [skas-ka] instead of [skaz-ka] |
| Й й | yi | It sounds like “y” in “toy” or “oyster” | This letter is called “short i”. |
| И и | ee | Sounds like short “ee” in “feel” | After Ж and Ш it is pronounced as “i” in “ill”: Жизнь (life) is pronounced as [zhizn’] instead of [zhyeezn]. The hand-written form for “и” looks a little like the English “u” |
| К к | k | Pronounced like “k” in “kitten” | This letter replaces the English “c” and “ck” in words like “cool” and “back” |
| Л л | l | Pronounced like the “l” in “love”. | |
| М м | m | Pronounced like the “m” in “may” | |
| Н н | n | Pronounced like the “n” in “nine” | |
| О о | o | pronounced as “o” in “more” | In unstressed syllable pronounced as “a” in “father”: Корова (cow) is pronounced as [ka-ro-va] instead of [ko-ro-va] (the first syllable with “o” is unstressed) |
| П п | p | Pronounced like the “p” in “pond” | The hand-written form for “п” looks a little like the English “n” |
| Р р | r | Pronounced like the “r” in “thriller”, but it is rolled | The hand-written form for “р” looks a little like the English “p” |
| C c | s | Always pronounced like s in “sun” or “cell” | It is never pronounced as “k” “cat”. Pronounced as “z” when it is followed by other voiced* consonants (except в, л, м, н, р): Сбережения (savings) is pronounced as [zbye-rye- zhye-nee-ya] instead of [sbye-rye- zhye-nee-ya] |
| Т т | t | Pronounced like the “t” in “tip” | Pronounced as “d” when it is followed by other voiced* consonants (except в, л, м, н, р): Отбор (selection) is pronounced as [ad-bor] instead of [at-bor]. The hand-written form for “т” looks a little like the English “m” |
| У у | oo | Pronounced like the “oo” in “book” | |
| Ф ф | f | Pronounced like the “f” in “face” | |
| Х х | kh | Sounds like a strong version of “h” in “hi”, like the Scottish “Loch“ | |
| Ц ц | ts | Similar to the “ts” sound in “sits” or “zz” in pizza | |
| Ч ч | ch | Pronounced like the “ch” in “church” | |
| Ш ш | sh | Pronounced like the “sh” in shot | |
| Щ щ | shch | Put your tongue in the same position as you would to say “ch” but say “sh” instead | |
| ъ | – | The ‘Hard Sign’. It modifies the sound of the previous consonant making a slight pause between syllables. | |
| Ы ы | i | It is pronounced as “i” in “ill” | |
| ь | – | The “soft sign”. It modifies the sound of the previous consonant softening it. | |
| Э э | e | Pronounced like the “e” in “met” or a in “land” | |
| Ю ю | yoo | Pronounced like the English word “you” | |
| Я я | ya | Pronounced like the “ya” in “yacht” | In unstressed syllable pronounced as “ee” in “feel”. Ячмень (barley) is pronounced as [eech-myen’] instead of [yach-myen’] |
* Russian consonants can be pronounced Voiced or Voiceless. Just like in the English language, Russian consonants make up pairs. For example, the English letters V and F make the Voiced/voiceless pair, as well as B and P, D and T, etc. Voiced/voiceless pairs in Russian: Б/П, В/Ф, Г/К, Д/Т, Ж/Ш, З/С.
There are combinations of letters in which consonants can change their sound:
The combination [ГК] usually sounds as [ХК]. Мягко (softly) is pronounced as [myakh-ka] instead of [myag-ko]
The combination [ЧТ] usually sounds as [ШТ]. Что (what) is pronounced as [shto] instead of [chto]
The combination [ЧН] usually sounds as [ШН]. Конечно (of course) is pronounced as [ka-nyesh-na] instead of [ka-nyech-na]
Letters of the Russian alphabet can be divided into several categories for easier memorization:
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