It’s funny, the subject that I’m having the most fun with, is also the one I’ve written about the least. Well hopefully that’s about to change. I’ve finally received my Cyrillic stickers for my keyboard and have set up all my computers to allow me to switch from English to Russian on the fly. I thought I’d start with the basics, the Russian Alphabet. It will also give me a chance to learn the keyboard layout as well.
| Upper | Lower | Pronounced | Notes |
| А | а | ah | “a” as in car |
| Б | б | beh | “b” as in Bob |
| В | в | veh | “v” as in vase (don’t get confused with “b”) |
| Г | г | geh | “g” as in game |
| Д | д | deh | “d” as in dog |
| Е | е | yeh | “ye” as in yet (don’t get confused with “e”) |
| Ё | ё | yo | “yo” as in yonder |
| Ж | ж | zheh | “zh” as in pleasure (”zh” with a touch of “j” mixed in) |
| З | з | zeh | “z” as in zebra |
| И | и | ee | “ee” as in tree |
| Й | й | ee krahtkoyeh | “y” as in toy |
| К | к | kah | “k” as in kite |
| Л | л | ehl | “l” as in life |
| М | м | ehm | “m” as in man |
| Н | н | ehn | “n” as in name (don’t get confused with “h”) |
| О | о | o | “o” as in not (I also noticed that it sometimes sounds like “ah” in a lot words) |
| П | п | peh | “p” as in people |
| Р | р | ehr | trilled “r” sound (don’t get it confused with “p”) |
| С | с | ehs | “s” as in saw (don’t get it confused with “c”) |
| Т | т | teh | “t” as in table |
| У | у | oo | “oo” as in boot |
| Ф | ф | ehf | “f” as in fast |
| Х | х | khah | an “h” sound with a slight “k” sound before it as in Mikhail |
| Ц | ц | tseh | “ts” as in sits |
| Ч | ч | chyah | “ch” as in chop |
| Ш | ш | shah | “sh” as in ship |
| Щ | щ | shchyah | “sh” followed by “ch”, as in fresh cheese |
| Ъ | ъ | tvyordiy znahk | no sound - modifies preceding consonant (hardens) |
| Ы | ы | i | “i” as in ill |
| Ь | ь | myakhkeey znahk | no sound - modifies preceding consonant (softens) |
| Э | э | eh | “e” as in jet |
| Ю | ю | u | “u” as in luke |
| Я | я | yah | “ya” as in yard |
Though it may look confusing, once you memorize the alphabet it is surprisingly easy to sound out Russian words. There are obviously exceptions to the rules, but so far they seem few and far between.
Two examples are:
что - which is pronounced “shtoh” instead of “chtoh”.
and
сегодня - which is pronounced “sehvoydnia” instead of “sehgoydnia”.
I haven’t come across too many of these, but just be aware that they do exist.
