Alphabet 1

We’ll start with some simple sentences right away. Russian does not have articles, nor does it normally use the verb “to be” in the Present tense.

An em-dash is used instead of the verb “to be” between the two nouns: «Мокка — кофе» (“A mocha is coffee”).
Russian uses a version of the Cyrillic Alphabet. Many letters look similar to their Latin counterparts. As Cyrillic typography was remodeled around 300 years ago, both alphabets have a similar style.

For information on how to install a Russian keyboard layout, please click here.

Letters and Sounds

К, О, М, Т, А sound similar to their Latin counterparts (to be more precise, “о” is the sound in “more”). However, in handwriting and typed italics, the letter Т can look rather like a lower case ‘m’ in the Latin alphabet. E.g. in the verb просить (to ask for, to request), т = t.

Е actually sounds more like “ye”, as in “yell”, not as in “Hear ye, hear ye!” (this will work for now; it’s more complicated after a consonant).

В sounds like ‘v’, Б sounds like ‘b’. Н is “n” and И is “i” (‘eeh’). The remaining letters are included in the table below:

• ⁰ Ёё The umlaut-like double dots are optional in writing. Syllables containing this letter are always stressed.
• ¹ т, д, н, л are pronounced near your teeth.
• ² х(‘kh’) is somewhat similar to the H in “hue”. It is like making the “sh” sound, only it is pronounced where you make the “K” sound.
• ³ ы has no equivalent in English. It is an “eeh”-like sound, but less distinct, sounds closer to “e” in “lover”, and has your tongue deeper that in “heat” or “hit”.
• ⁴ for ш and ж your tongue is lower than in English and slightly bent back. Щ has all your tongue raised—it is a longer and more hissy sound. Ч corresponds to щ (i.e. a bit different than “ch”).
• ⁵ ъ and ь are separators and have no sound.

Л can have a flat top, like П, or a pointy top like А (it comes from the Greek Λ). Д and Л have a similar top in many fonts, though it’s up to the designer. Handwritten Д looks like D, and д like a g or a д (the last two affect the italic shapes).

An Italic Г in lower case usually looks this: г.

That’s it with the introduction! We will discuss reading words in more detail in later skills.

P.S. In our notes, we use an accute accent to show you the stress (e.g., ра́дио). It is a standard practice in Russian textbooks for little children or foreign learners—and, generally, the most common way of marking the position of the stress.