Lesson On Russian Pronunciation

Russian Pronunciation
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Tuesday, 23 March 2010 01:50 -
Here all aspects of Russian pronunciation will be considered. Right on this page you will find
only basic pronunciation rules which might be enough for you to pronounce Russian words
more or less correct. But if you want do dig deeper into Russian phonetics follow the link at the
bottom of the page which will bring you to the comprehensive guide of Russian phonetics. Now
let's discuss each letter of the Russian alphabet in their alphabetic order and see in what ways it
can be pronounced. As already mentioned in Basic facts about Russian language Russian
language is almost phonetic that is there is one-to-one correspondence between the letters of
the alphabet and the sounds. But this almost means that there are some exceptions. The most
important of them are discussed here, for others go to the comprehensive guide of Russian
phonetics.
In this lesson, you will learn how to pronounce the letters of the Russian alphabet. This page
contains several basic pronunciation rules which might be enough for you to pronounce Russian
words more or less correctly. We will discuss each letter of the Russian alphabet (as they
appear in the alphabetical order) and see all possible ways how they can be pronounced.
Russian alphabet
Here's the whole alphabet from A to :

- letters in black areconsonants
- letters in blue color are vowels
- letters in green color aresigns
Now let's take a look at each of the letters. As you go through each of the letters below, you will
notice that some vowels have different pronunciation depending on whether they are stressed
or not. You will also find that two letters (called "signs" do not make any sounds). You can
always listen to proper Russian pronunciation by clicking on the words given as examples.
pronounced like "a" in "part" but shorter (winter), (to give), (yes)
pronounced like "b" in "bone" (banana) (hard), (birch) (soft)
1/6
pronounced like "v" in "vast" (gate) (hard), (carpet) (soft)
pronounced like "g" in "get" (town), (cucumber) (both hard), (genius) (soft)
pronounced like "d" in "day" (water) (hard), (to do) (soft)
at the beginning of the word, after all vowels and letters "" and "" like [je] in "yes" (fir),
(diet) in other positions it marks the softness of the preceding consonant (except "",""
and "") (woman), (six), (prices), and other consonants in some foreign
words, e.g. (phonetics)) and is pronounced almost like Russian "", i.e. like "e" in
"let", e.g. (to sing), (newspaper)
at the beginning of the word, after all vowels and letters "" and "" like [jo] in "yawn" but
shorter (hedgehog), ((he) gives), ((he) beats) in other positions it marks the
softness of the preceding consonant (except "" and "", e.g. (silk), (yellow))
and is pronounced like stressed Russian "", i.e. like English "o" in "corn" but shorter
(honey), (carpet). Note that "" is always stressed in Russian.
like "g" in "rouge" (yellow), (to live) (both hard); "" is very seldom pronounced
in soft form so in the previous examples letters "" and "" did not soften it.
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like "z" in "zest" (to call) (hard), (green) (soft)
like "ee" in "teen" but shorter (winter), (to drink). Note that the consonant preceding
"" is always soft except for letters "", "" and "" which are always hard in Russian (in these
cases letter "" is pronounced identical to ""), e.g. (life), (wide, masculine),
(circus).
1. when beginning a syllable (very seldom) like "y" in "yes" or like "j" in German "ja"
(iodine), (coyote) 2. when terminating a syllable - like "y" in "may" ("" is pronounced like
a semivowel in this case so it is called " " ( short)) (my), (T-shirt). Note
that "" can have only soft form since it is a palatal sound, i.e. it is pronounced with the tongue
touching the hard palate, so it is already palatalized and can't be pronounced without
palatalization.
like "k" in "kick" but not aspirated (cow), (juice) (both hard), (paintbrush)
(soft)
like "l" in "look" (pigeon) (hard), (forest) (soft)
like "m" in "moon" (to wash) (hard), (place) (soft)
like "n" in "not" (she) (hard), (they) (soft)
3/6
like "o" in "port" but shorter (milk), (house)
like "p" in "pay" but not aspirated (dad) (hard), (beer) (soft)
no exact counterpart in English but it is like rolled "r" in "rock" in Scottish pronunciation
(to work) (hard), (river) (soft)
like "s" in "say" (advice) (hard), (family) (soft)
like "t" in "time" (that, masculine) (hard), (shadow) (soft)
like "oo" in "moon" but shorter (chair), (moon)
like "f" in "fast" (torch) (hard), (coffee) (soft)
no exact counterpart in English since English "h" is pronounced as a pharyngeal sound and
Russian "" is articulated by the back part of the tongue touching the soft palate, it is rather like
German "ch" in "Buch" (bad) (hard), (cunning, crafty) (soft)
4/6
like "ts" in "cats" (but pronounced as one sound) or like "Z" in German "Zeit" (father),
(Gipsy) (both hard). Note that this consonant never appears in soft form in Russian
unlike Ukrainian and Belorussian.
like "ch" in "check" (tea), (black) (both soft). Note that this consonant never
appears in hard form unlike Belorussian
like "sh" in "shock" but not so soft (soul), (noise) (both hard). Note letter "" never
denotes soft consonant since there is another letter "" for this purpose
this letter denotes long and soft "" like "sh" in "she" but a bit softer and longer (pike),
(raincoat). Of course this letter can't appear in hard form like "" can't appear in soft form
This letter is not pronounced in Russian and it never starts a word. It is usually a partitive sign
between the prefix and the root, it can only appear between a consonant and letters "", "",
"", "" which are then pronounced as at the beginning of the word or after a vowel, i.e. with
consonant [j] preceding a vowel: [je], [jo], [ju], [ja] (in stressed position). Example:
(to drive up), (advertisement)
no exact and even similar counterpart in English, this sound is very hard to describe, you should
pronounce [i:] as in "mean" then lower the middle part of your tongue a bit and bring your lips to
neutral position, then you will hear somewhat similar to Russian sound. But it's better to listen to
the examples. (soap), (to breathe), (forget), (rat)
5/6
This letter like is not pronounced in Russian, like "" it is a partitive sign between the parts of
the word, also like "" it can appear between a consonant and letters "", "", "", "" which are
then pronounced with a consonant [j] preceding them, e.g. (drunken), ((he)
beats). But "" can also appear at the end of the word, e.g. (moth), (horse). In both
cases the consonant preceding "" is pronounced soft (except for "", "" which never appear
soft). There are no words starting with this letter.
like "e" in "set" (this, masculine), (mayor) (quite rare in Russian)
1. In the beginning of the word, after all vowels and letters "" and "" like [ju] in "mute" but
shorter (south), ((they) sing), ((they) sew) 2. In other positions it marks the
softness of the preceding consonant and is pronounced like Russian "" (beak),
(to smell)
1. In the beginning of the word, after all vowels and letters "" and "" like [ja] in "yard" but
shorter (box), (beacon), (drunken) 2. In other positions it marks the
softness of the preceding consonant and is pronounced like Russian "" (to
understand), (five).
6/6

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Russian Pronunciation

pronounced like "b" in "bone" (banana) (hard), (birch) (soft)

pronounced like "v" in "vast" (gate) (hard), (carpet) (soft)

pronounced like "d" in "day" (water) (hard), (to do) (soft)

like "z" in "zest" (to call) (hard), (green) (soft)

like "l" in "look" (pigeon) (hard), (forest) (soft)

like "m" in "moon" (to wash) (hard), (place) (soft)

like "n" in "not" (she) (hard), (they) (soft)

like "o" in "port" but shorter (milk), (house)

like "s" in "say" (advice) (hard), (family) (soft)

like "t" in "time" (that, masculine) (hard), (shadow) (soft)

like "oo" in "moon" but shorter (chair), (moon)

like "f" in "fast" (torch) (hard), (coffee) (soft)

like "e" in "set" (this, masculine), (mayor) (quite rare in Russian)

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