Introduction

We are here to help you to learn the Russian language. So first for this is to learn about the alphabets of the Russian language. So we are going to start with the “Best method to learn Russian language alphabet”. In this post, we shall not tell only about the alphabets of Russian language but also will tell “5 steps to read Russian language basics”.

Alphabets are the pillars of any language. These are the single and only tool that can help you to start any language learning. To start learning any language, the first step is to learn its alphabet. When you know the alphabet of any language very well then you shall be able to get into that language and will come in that culture.

As learning a new language is hard. But Russian language is easy to learn in comparison to other languages. Let you don’t want to learn the Russian language, still learning the alphabets can help you. It can help you if you travel anywhere where Russian language is used, there you can read the signboards and streets and many more. A great part of the Russian language is that it sounds as it is written. It is not like English where two letters make the sound like one letter (for example- “s” and “sh” pronunciations same).

As there are 33 letters in Russian language. In this 11 alphabets are vowels, and 20 alphabets are consonants. There are 2 more alphabets that have no sound. As per data, 2.4% of the world speaks Russian. If you calculate this amount this is equal to 156.6 million people. Russian is in the 8th position in the list of most spoken languages in the world. This makes it more important.

The Russian language is the official language only in four countries while spoken in many countries. These four countries are Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Other than some more countries which use the Russian language as a spoken language but the official language is not Russian. It is also spoken in some parts of Ukraine and Israel too.

Use Dictionary To Learn Russian Language Alphabet

If you go through the dictionary, you shall get this order in the list of alphabets. This is just like the order of the alphabet in English (a, b, c, d, e, f……).
А, Б, В, Г, Д, Е, Ё, Ж, З, И, Й, К, Л, М, Н, О, П, Р, С, Т, У, Ф, Х, Ц, Ч, Ш, Щ, Ъ, Ы, Ь, Э, Ю, Я
Now let’s discuss the similarity and differences between Russian alphabets and English alphabets.
We shall also discuss their pronunciation too.

In Russian alphabet, vowels are (а, э, ы, у, о, я, е, ё, ю, и, й) and consonants are (б, в, г, д, ж, з, к, л, м, н, п, р, с, т, ф, х, ц, ч, ш, щ). If we make these two aside, there are two no-sound alphabets (ь and ъ ).

Cyrillic Alphabets

Cyrillic alphabet is a writing system. It was developed in the 10th Century. It was developed in Bulgaria. The writing system is set which used to create alphabets of many languages. Just like Cyrillic Alphabets are used in to create alphabets of Russian Or Bulgarian, Ukrainian, and Belarusian.

Due to this reason, Russian alphabets are also called Cyrillic alphabets. This writing script was named Cyrillic in honor of Cyril, who was a Byzantine scholar and monk.
After this in 1918 four alphabets were removed from this writing script. After that, there are a total of 33 alphabets now.

Those Russian Alphabets, The Same As English Alphabets

• А а – It’s real pronunciation is ‘ah’ . It is the same as the pronunciation of the English letter ‘a’. For example- ‘a’ in the English word ‘father’ or ‘car’.
• К к – it’s pronunciation is ‘kah’. It is the same as the pronunciation of the English letter ‘k’. For example- ‘k’ in kangaroo. In some places, it is used where the English alphabet ‘c’ is used. For example- ‘cat’.
• М м -its pronunciation is ‘ehm’. It is the same as the pronunciation of the English alphabet ‘m’. For example- ‘m’ in man.
• О о- its pronunciation is ‘oh’. It has two modes – stressed and un-stressed. When it is stressed- its pronunciation is like ‘o’ in the English alphabet. For example- ‘o’ in bore. When it is un-stressed – its pronunciation is like ‘a’ in the English alphabet. For example- ‘a’ in car.
• Т т-  its pronunciation is ‘teh’ . It is the same as the pronunciation of the English alphabet ‘t’. For example- ‘t’ in tap.

Those Russian Alphabets, Look The Same As English Alphabets But Sounds Different

• В в- Its pronunciation is ‘veh’. It is the same as the pronunciation of the English alphabet ‘v’. For example- ‘v’ in van.
• Е е- its pronunciation is ‘yeh’. It is the same as the pronunciation of the English word ‘ye’. For example- ‘ye’ in yet.
• Н н- its pronunciation is ‘ehn’. It is the same as the pronunciation of the English alphabet ‘n’. For example- ‘n’ in no.
• Р р- its pronunciation is ‘ehr’. It is the same as the pronunciation of the English alphabet ‘r’. For example- ‘r’ in run.

• С с- its pronunciation is ‘ehs’. It is the same as the pronunciation of the English alphabet ‘s’. For example- ‘s’ in see.
• У у – its pronunciation is ‘oo’. It is the same as the pronunciation of the English alphabet ‘u’. For example- ‘oo’ in root.
• Х х- Its pronunciation is ‘khah’. It is the same as the pronunciation of the English alphabets ‘h kh kh’. For example- ‘h’ in hello.

Learn Pronunciation Of Russian Alphabet
(Learn Sounds of Russian Alphabet)

It is not enough to learn Russian Language alphabet if you don’t know their pronunciation.

• А а- pronounced as ‘ah’.
• Б б- pronounced as ‘beh’.
• В в- pronounced as ‘veh’.
• Г г- pronounced as ‘geh’.
• Д д- pronounced as ‘deh’.
• Е е- pronounced as ‘yeh’.
• Ё ё- pronounced as ‘yo’.
• Ж ж- pronounced as ‘zheh’.
• З з- pronounced as ‘zeh’.
• И и- pronounced as ‘ee’.
• Й й- pronounced as ‘ee kratkoyeh’.
• К к- pronounced as ‘kah’.

• Л л- pronounced as ‘ehl’.
• М м- pronounced as ‘ehm’.
• Н н- pronounced as ‘ehn’.
• О о- pronounced as ‘oh’.
• П п- pronounced as ‘peh’.
• Р р- pronounced as ‘ehr’.
• С с- pronounced as ‘ehs’.
• Т т- pronounced as ‘teh’.
• У у- pronounced as ‘oo’.
• Ф ф- pronounced as ‘ehf’.
• Х х- pronounced as ‘khah’.
• Ц ц- pronounced as ‘tseh’.
• Ч ч- pronounced as ‘cheh’.
• Ш ш- pronounced as ‘shah’.

• Щ щ- pronounced as ‘schyah’.
• Ъ ъ- pronounced as ‘tvyordiy znahk’.
• Ы ы- pronounced as ‘i’.
• Ь ь- pronounced as ‘myagkeey znahk’.
• Э э- pronounced as ‘eh’.
• Ю ю- pronounced as ‘yoo’.
• Я я- pronounced as ‘yah’.

Russian Alphabets Which Looks Different But Easy To Pronunciate

• Б б – pronunciation is same as ‘b’ in English. For example- ‘b’ in bat.
• Г г – pronunciation is same as ‘g’ in English . For example- ‘g’ in go.
• Д д – pronunciation is same as ‘d’ in English . For example- ‘d’ in dog.
• З з – pronunciation is same as ‘z’ in English . For example- ‘z’ in zoo.
• И и – pronunciation is same as ‘i’ in English. For example- ‘i’ in taxi.
• Л л – pronunciation is same as ‘l’ in English. For example- ‘l’ in love.
• П п – pronunciation is same as ‘p’ in English. For example- ‘p’ in pot.
• Ф ф – pronunciation is same as ‘f’ in English. For example- ‘f’ in fat.
• Э э – pronunciation is same as ‘e’ in English. For example- ‘e’ in fed.

Learn Russian Language Alphabet Which Not In English

• Ю ю – pronunciation is the same as the English alphabet ‘u’( its pronunciation is like English word- ‘you’.).
• Я я – pronunciation is the same as the English word ‘ya’. For example – ‘ya’ in yard.
• Ё ё – pronunciation is the same as the English word ‘yo’. For example- ‘yo’ in ‘yonder’. (For note you should know that in modern Russian language this letter is simply represented as Е е.)
• Ж ж – pronunciation is the same as the English word ‘zh’. It is like ‘s’ in measure or in place of ‘g’ in beige.
• Ц ц – pronunciation is the same as the English word ‘ts’. For example ‘ts’ in its.

• Ч ч – pronunciation is the same as the English word ‘ch’. For example- ‘ch’ in chips.

• Ш ш – pronunciation is the same as the English word ‘sh’. For example- ‘sh’ in shut.
• Щ щ – pronunciation is the same as the English word ‘sh’. But in this tongue should be on the roof of the mouth. In this way try to speak ‘ch’ and the sound will be like ‘sh’. It is tough for English speakers.
• Ы ы – pronunciation is the same as the English alphabet ‘i’. For example- ‘i’ in bit. Sometimes pronounced as ‘ill’, for this tongue should be a little bit back in your mouth.
• Й й – it is diphthongs. So it made different sounds while adding different alphabets. Like- ‘oй’ makes the sound ‘oy’ and ‘aй’ makes the sound ‘igh’.

Which Have No Sound

There are 2 pronunciation symbols, which do have not their sounds but are considered alphabets.
Ъ ъ – This is a ‘hard sign’. It is rarely used. It is used to show the slight break between two alphabets.
Ь ь – This is a ‘soft sign’. It makes the previous letter soft. For example – ‘p’ in pew. (it makes slightly ‘y’ pronunciation before the letter.)

Vowels Part In Russian Alphabet

In Russian, there are total 11 vowels. In this, there are two sides, One is which sounds harder and the second is which sounds softer.

• А (“a”) second side is Я (“ya”).
• Э (“e”) second side is Е (“ye”).
• У (“oo”) second side is Ю (“yoo”).
• О (“o”) the second side is Ё (“yo”).

Ы and И are also the same way but they sound completely different.
 Й is the 11th vowel. It is also considered a vowel while in English its pronunciation sounds as consonant.

Tips To Learn Russian Language Alphabet

First Understand simple alphabet matching with the English alphabet- First of all read and understand all those alphabets of the Russian alphabet, which look the same as the English alphabet. First, read all those whose pronunciation is also the same as the English alphabet.
Second Understand those alphabets which sound different but looks like the English alphabet- As we have discussed all type of category of alphabets are in the Russian language. So in the second step read all those alphabets which look like English alphabets but sound different.
Third those alphabets which are new After learning the all old alphabets, Let’s move to new alphabets. To understand and learn it first remember these alphabets as images.

Why Learn Russian Language Alphabet?

Alphabets of any language are the easiest part of that language. But all the advanced-level work in that language can be done only if you know the alphabet. During this time some students just learn to speak Russian but didn’t focus on written methods such as alphabets. But remember in Russian, they don’t use English anywhere. You shall get all boards in the Russian language. So to read them you must be perfect in alphabet recognition.

Conclusion

Overall in last, I want to inform you that to learn Russian language alphabets are the first stair of the Russian language. If you want to be connected in Russia then must learn the alphabet and be able to understand Russian. If you want to travel to Russia then must have a good understanding of the Russian language. To be perfect in the Russian language , you need a course to do in Russian language course. You can book your demo class , check it down , how amazing it is.

If you want to get more knowledge about Russian Language choose a course from reputed institute like Linguapol.

We have provided you with all tips and the best knowledge to learn Russian Language alphabet. Comment on how was the content for you.