Lecture 1

Russian Alphabet
Learning Incentive:
To learn about:
The Russian Alphabet
Vowels and Consonants
How to pronounce Russian letters
The handwritten Russian alphabet
Russian for Beginners with Julia Ogarkova

1. RUSSIAN ALPHABET

Cyrillic script is used in over 50 different languages in the world

Consists of 33 letters
21 consonants, 10 vowels, 2 silent sounds

5 letters that look and sound similar to English:

Russian Letter Name of the letter English equivalent

,
,
,
,
,

ah
kah
ehm
o
teh

a
k
m
o
t

Example

as in rather
as in kept
as in met
as in more
as in tent

7 letters that look similar to English but sound differently:

Russian Letter

,
,
,
,
,
,
,

Name of the letter English equivalent

veh
yeh
ehn
ehr
ehs
oo
hah

v
ye
n
r
s
oo
h

Example

as in vine
as in yell
as in name
like a rolled r
as in smile
as in pull
as in loch

13 letters that do not look similar but sound familiar:

Russian Letter
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,

Name of the letter

beh
geh
deh
yo
zeh
ee
y
ehl
peh
ef
e
yu
ya

English equivalent
b
g
d
yo
z
ee
y
l
p
f
e
yu
ya

Example
as in button
as in go
as in do
as in yolk
as in zoo
as in feet
as in boy
as in loft
as in pen
as in fan
as in net
as in use
as in yard

8 Letters that do not sound or look similar to English:

Russian Letter

,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,

Name of the letter English equivalent

zhe
tseh
cheh
sha
shcha
hard sign
i
soft sign

zh
ts
ch
sh
shch

Example

as in measure
as in sits
as in chimp
as in mash
as in sure

adds a slight pause

unrounded oo as in will
softens the consonant
as in lilly

Russian Alphabet in chronological order

Russian Letter
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,

Name of the letter

ah
beh
veh
geh
deh
yeh
yo
zhe
zeh
ee
y
kah
ehl
ehm
ehn
o

English equivalent
a
b
v
g
d
ye
yo
zh
z
ee
y
k
l
m
n
o

Example
as in rather
as in button
as in vine
as in go
as in do
as in yell
as in yolk
as in measure
as in zoo
as in feet
as in boy
as in kept
as in loft
as in met
as in name
as in more

Russian Letter
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,

Name of the letter

English equivalent
peh
p
ehr
r
ehs
s
teh
t
oo
oo
ef
f
hah
h
tseh
ts
cheh
ch
sha
sh
shcha
shch
hard sign adds a slight pause before the next letter
i
like saying oo but with lips unrounded
soft sign softens the preceding consonant
e
e
yu
yu
ya
ya

Example
as in pen
like a rolled r
as in smile
as in tent
as in pull
as in fan
as in loch
as in sits
as in chimp
as in mash
as in sure
as in will
as in lilly
as in net
as in use
as in yard

2. HANDWRITTEN ALPHABET

WELL DONE!

In this lecture you have learned:

The Russian Alphabet
Vowels and Consonants and how to pronounce them
The handwritten Russian alphabet

Copyright 2013 Julia Ogarkova. All Rights Reserved.