Some letters in the Russian alphabet don't have a sound
They affect the hardness and softness of the letter that comes before it.
The Russian alphabet consists of 33 letters, two of which are not pronounced in any way. They are the ‘Ь’ (soft sign) and ‘Ъ’ (hard sign). These signs are needed to separate vowels and consonants (‘семья’ – ‘family’, ‘объявление’ – ‘advertisement”). The soft sign is also used to soften consonants at the end of a word (‘мать’ – ‘mother’, ‘мышь’ – ‘mouse’).
