The Russian Alphabet
Letter's name Pronounced
1
Russian letter Transliteration Vowel
in Russian as
"ah" a in car a x
"beh" b in bit b -
"veh" v in vine v -
"geh" g in go g -
"deh" d in do d -
"yeh" ye in yet ye or e x
"yo" yo in yolk yo x
"zheh" s in pleasure zh -
"zeh" z in zoo z -
"ee" ee in see i x
"ee kratkoyeh"
y in boy i or y or j -
"short ee"
"kah" k in kitten k -
"ehl" l in lamp l -
"ehm" m in map m -
"ehn" n in not n -
"oh" o in folk o x
"peh" p in pet p -
"ehr" r in roll2 r -
"ehs" s in see s -
"teh" t in tip t -
"oo" oo in boot u x
"ehf" f in face f -
"khah" h in house3 kh or h -
"tseh" ts in sits ts -
"cheh" ch in chip ch -
"shah" sh in shut sh -
"schyah" sh in sheep sch -
"tvyordiy znahk"
4
' -
"hard sign"
"i" i in ill y x
"myagkeey znahk"
5
' -
"soft sign"
"eh" e in met e x
"yoo" u in use yu x
"yah" ya in yard ya x
The Russian alphabet consists of 33 letters: 21 consonants, 10 vowels, and two letters without
sound - soft sign and hard sign
1
the Latin letter or combination of letters you type in Russian using the Latin keyboard
2
you have to really "rrroll" your tongue to get it to sound Russian :-)
3
the hard sounded "h" ("house"), also compared to "x" sound when pronounced in Spanish (ex.:
"México"); is usually transliterated as "kh"
4
is called the hard sign and used in modern Russian spelling only as a separation sign
5
is called the soft sign and is generally used to indicate the softness of consonants