Russian alphabet

The **Russian alphabet** is the alphabet used to write the Russian language. It is based on the Cyrillic script and has 33 letters.

|colspan=11|Capital letters||||||||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|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|
|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|

## Letters

The Russian alphabet has 10 vowels, 21 consonants, and 2 "signs" that change how letters around them sound. The table below lists the letters of the Russian alphabet and what sound they make.

|Letter|Sound (IPA)|English approximation||
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
|А|а||As _a_ in _f**a**ther_|
|Б|б||As _b_ in **_b**at_|
|В|в||As _v_ in _del**v**e_|
|Г|г||As _g_ in **_g**ood_|
|Д|д||As _d_ in **_d**art_|
|Е|е|[],|As _ye_ in **_ye**t_|
|Ё|ё|[],|As _yo_ in **_yo**lk_|
|Ж|ж||As _s_ in _mea**s**ure_|
|З|з||As _z_ in **_z**ipper_|
|И|и||As _ee_ in _m**ee**t_|
|Й|й||As _y_ in **_y**es_|
|К|к||As _c_ in **_c**risp_|
|Л|л||As _l_ in **_l**ong_|
|М|м||As _m_ in **_m**at_|
|Н|н||As _n_ in **_n**ight_|
|О|о||As _o_ in _m**o**re_|
|П|п||As _p_ in **_p**ack_|
|Р|р||As _r_ in **_r**ing_|
|С|с||As _s_ in **_s**ink_|
|Т|т||As _t_ in _s**t**eep_|
|У|у||As _oo_ in _b**oo**t_|
|Ф|ф||As _f_ in **_f**rog_|
|Х|х||As _h_ in **_h**it_, but the tongue is more forward|
|Ц|ц||As _ts_ in _ca**ts**_|
|Ч|ч||As _ch_ in **_ch**ip_|
|Ш|ш||As _sh_ in _fi**sh**_|
|Щ|щ||As _sh_ in **_sh**eet_|
|Ъ|ъ|—————————————————||
|Ы|ы||As _ury_ in _b**ury**_, but said very quickly|
|Ь|ь|—————————————————||
|Э|э||As _e_ in _n**e**t_|
|Ю|ю|[]|As the word ***you***|
|Я|я|[]|As _ya_ in **_ya**rd_|

## Palatalization

Palatalization changes a sound so that it is made while the tongue is close to the palate.

### Signs

The letter Ь (soft sign) palatalizes the sound of the letter right after it. For example, if Г is right before Ь, the sound Г makes will go from  to , which sounds like, but is not the same as, a palatal plosive .

The letter Ъ (hard sign) is the opposite of the soft sign, and instead _de_palatalizes the sound right before it. For example, if the letter sequence ЗЪЯ appears, the hard sign prevents , being represented by З, from being palatalized to  because of Я, and a  is added right after , making the letter sequence sound like  instead of .

### Vowels

Vowels can either be 'soft' or 'hard'. The hard vowels are А, О, У, Ы, and Э, and the soft vowels are Е, Ё, И, Ю, and Я.

The soft vowels palatalize the consonant sound right before them. For example, if Н occurs before Ю, Ю will be pronounced  and , represented by Н, will be palatalized to , which is a sound similar to, but not the same as, a palatal nasal /ɲ/. A hard sign can appear right before a soft vowel and get rid of the palatalization of the consonant sound right before the vowel. If И is right before the hard sign, a  will not be added.

### Consonants

Most consonants can either be palatalized or depalatalized. The letters Ж, Ц, and Ш can never be palatalized because they make retroflex sounds, which sound deep, and the letters Й, Ч, and Щ can never be depalatalized because they already make palatal sounds.

Consonants can be palatalized by the soft sign and soft vowels, and they can be depalatalized by the hard sign.

The sound , being represented by Л, becomes [ʲ] when palatalized.

## See also

- Cyrillic script
- Romanization of Russian