Russian Alphabet | Ruslanguage School

Russian Alphabet

The Russian Alphabet (A-Z)

А а	Ананас	Pineapple	a	As in «father»
Б б	Бабушка	Grandmother	b	As in «bird»
В в	Великий	Great	v	As in «van»
Г г	Город	Town	g	As in «good»
Д д	Дом	House	d	As in «dig»
Е е	Между	Between	ye	As in «yes» in stressed syllables
	Перевод	Translation	i	As in «bin» in unstressed syllables
Ё ё	Ёж	Hedgehog	yo	As in «yolk»
Ж ж	Жизнь	Life	zh	As in «pleasure»
З з	Золото	Gold	z	As in «zebra»
И и	Икра	Caviar	i	As in «eat»
Й й	Герой	Hero	y	As in «boy» after an o
	Алтай	Altai		As in «bye» after an a, not transliterated after ы or и
К к	Кот	Cat	k	As in «cat»
Л л	Любовь	Love	l	As in «love»
М м	Мир	World / peace	m	As in «mum»
Н н	Новгород	Novgorod	n	As in «night»
О о	Школа	School	o	As in «no»
	Пока	Bye	a	As in «man»
П п	Порт	Harbour	p	As in «pool»
Р р	Россия	Russia	r	As in «rib»
С с	Сад	Garden	s	As in «service»
Т т	Тётя	Aunt	t	As in «ten»
У у	Урок	Lesson	u	As in «rule»
Ф ф	Фабрика	Factory	f	As in «fast»
Х х	Хлеб	Bread	kh
Ц ц	Цирк	Circus	ts	As in «fits»
Ч ч	Часто	Often	ch	As in «chest»
Ш ш	Шутка	Joke	sh	As in «share»
Щ щ	Щавель	Sorrel	shch	As in «fresh chips»
Ъ ъ				Hard sign, see below.
Ы ы	Быть	To be	ih	As in «many»
Ь ь	Ночь	Night		Soft sign, see below.
Э э	Эра	Era	e	As in «end»
Ю ю	Юбка	Skirt	yu	As in «you»
Я я	Яблоко	Apple	ya	As in «yard»

Ъ: твёрдый знак [tvyordih znak], is a hard sign that has no sound of its own and is placed between a consonant and a vowel in some words to show that the preceding consonant should not be palatalised and that the following vowel should be preceded by the ‘y’ sound as in yet.

Ь: мягкий знак [myarkee znak], is a soft sign that has no sound of its own and is used to modify the pronunciation of the preceding consonant by palatalised it (making it soft).