LESSON 16: ‘Й’

The Russian letter ‘й’ is pronounced very short like the second vowel in the diphthongs in English words like ‘boy’, ‘pie’, ‘fly’ etc. 

The letter ‘й’ is usually placed in the middle or end of a word and follows a vowel. The initial ‘й’ is used in words of foreign origin, like ‘йога’ (‘yoga’). The ‘йо’ syllable is pronounced like ‘ё’ here.

NOTE! The letter ‘й’ closely resembles the letter ‘и’ in appearance, but it is considered a consonant.

Task 1: Listen to the audio & repeat out loud

ай - ой - уй - эй - ый

яй - ёй - юй - ей - ий

Task 2: Listen to the audio. Then read the words out loud 

май           мой            твой          бой 

сайт          файл          байт          сейф      

Байкал      музей         русский      

йога          йогурт        Нью-Йорк