LESSON 9: ‘Р’

The Russian consonant ‘р’ resembles the English letter ‘r’ in the word ‘right’. But, unlike the English letter ‘r’, it is a vibrating sound. When articulating it, the tip of the tongue is raised to the teeth ridge, but is not bent back. The tip of the tongue vibrates slightly touching the teeth ridge. 

Listen to the audio and repeat: 

Here are the tips for practicing pronouncing the Russian letter ‘р’:

1. Place the tip of your tongue onto the teeth ridge. Then, relax the tongue. Try to make the tip of your tongue vibrate quickly against this ridge. It should flutter rapidly, similar to how you might imitate a purring cat, a car engine starting or rolling your 'r' in Spanish. Note, that the tip of the tongue remains straight and not bent backwards.

2. Pronounce the English letter ‘d-d-d-d’ and gradually transition into a rolling ‘r’ sound. 

3. Pronounce syllables with the ‘п’ or ‘б’ standing before ‘р’: пра - бра, пру - бру, про - бро.

Task 1: Listen to the audio & repeat the syllables

ра - ру - ро - рэ - ры

пра - бра    пру - бру    про - бро    прэ - брэ     пры - бры 

ар - ур - ор - эр

ла - ра   ло - ро   лу - ру   лы - ры

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

рак       рок        ром      ромб       рэп

брак     бром      брас     брус       прок     брат    прут

бар       пар        вор       бор        дар

сыр       сэр        мэр       парк      Марс    

фарс     март      спорт