LESSON 1: RUSSIAN ALPHABET

22 Jan 2025

The Russian alphabet uses the Cyrillic script and consists of 33 letters, including 21 consonants, 10 vowels and two modifier letters (hard and soft signs), which do not have a sound.

In the table below, you will see the following:

list of letters (uppercase and lowercase)
letter names in the Russian alphabet
common transliteration
approximate pronunciation of each Russian letter (compared to English)

Listen to the audio to hear how the Russian alphabet sounds.

Letter	Letter name	Transliteration	Sound of the letter (English approximation)
А а	[a]	a	Like 'a' in ‘car’
Б б	[бэ]	b	Like 'b' in ‘book’
В в	[вэ]	v	Like 'v' in ‘vet’
Г г	[гэ]	g	Like 'g' in ‘go’
Д д	[дэ]	d	Like to 'd' in ‘dog’
Е е	[е]	e	Like 'ye' in ‘yet’
Ё ё	[ё]	yo	Like 'yo' in ‘yoga’
Ж ж	[жэ]	zh	Like 's' in ‘pleasure’ or ‘vision’
З з	[зэ]	z	Like 'z' in ‘zoo’
И и	[и]	i	Like 'ea' in ‘each’
Й й	[и краткое] (i short)	i	Like 'y' in ‘boy’
К к	[ка]	k	Like 'k' in ‘key’
Л л	[эль]	l	Like 'l' in ‘love’
М м	[эм]	m	Like 'm' in ‘man’
Н н	[эн]	n	Like 'n' in note
О о	[o]	o	Like 'o' in ‘more’
П п	[пэ]	p	Like 'p' in ‘pet’
Р р	[эр]	r	Like to 'r' in ‘right’
С с	[эс]	s	Like 's' in ‘sun’
Т т	[тэ]	t	Like 't' in ‘top’
У у	[у]	u	Like 'oo' in ‘cool’
Ф ф	[эф]	f	Like 'f' in ‘fun’
Х х	[ха]	kh	Like 'h' in ‘hut’
Ц ц	[цэ]	ts	Like 'ts' in ‘boots’
Ч ч	[че]	ch	Like 'ch' in ‘cheese’
Ш ш	[ша]	sh	Like 'sh' in ‘shut’
Щ щ	[ща]	shch	Like 'shch' in ‘fresh cheese’
Ъ ъ	[твердый знак] (hard sign)	-	has no sound
Ы ы	[ы]	y	Like to 'y' in ‘symbol’
Ь ь	[мягкий знак] (soft sign)	-	has no sound
Э э	[э]	e	Like 'e' in ‘end’ or ‘met’
Ю ю	[ю]	yu	Like 'u' in ‘use’
Я я	[я]	ya	Like 'ya' in ‘yard’