Russian Lesson 1
The Russian Alphabet
Alphabet Table

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In the table below is the full Russian alphabet in presented in dictionary order.

The Russian Alphabet

Russian Character	English Equivalent	Sound	Letter Name in Russian
А а	А а	Like "a" in car	"ah"
Б б	B b	Like "b" in bat	"beh"
В в	V v	Like "v" in van	"veh"
Г г	G g	Like "g" in go	"geh"
Д д	D d	Like "d" in dog	"deh"
Е е	YE ye	Like "ye" in yet,	"yeh"
Ё ё	YO yo	Like "yo" in yonder	"yo"
Ж ж	Zh zh	Like "s" in measure or pleasure or like "g" in beige (the colour)	"zheh"
З з	Z z	Like "z" in zoo	"zeh"
И и	EE ee	Like "ee" in see	"ee"
Й й	I i or Y y	like "y" in boy or toy	"ee kratkoyeh"
К к	K k	Like "k" in kitten, "c" in cat.	"kah"
Л л	L l	Like "l" in light	"ehl"
М м	M m	Like "m" in mat	"ehm"
Н н	N n	Like "n" in no	"ehn"
О о	Stressed: O o Unstressed: A a	Like "o" in bore Like "a" in car	"oh"
П п	P p	Like "p" in pot	"peh"
Р р	R r	Like "r" in run (rolled)	"ehr"
С с	S s	Like "s" in sam	"ehs"
Т т	T t	Like "t" in tap	"teh"
У у	U u	Like "oo" in boot	"oo"
Ф ф	F f	Like "f" in fat	"ehf"
Х х	H h, KH kh	Like "h" in hello or like the "ch" in Scottish 'loch' or German 'Bach'	"khah"
Ц ц	TS ts	Like "ts" in bits	"tseh"
Ч ч	CH ch	Like "ch" in chip	"cheh"
Ш ш	SH sh (hard)	Like "sh" in shut	"shah"
Щ щ	SH sh (soft)	Like "sh" in sheep	"schyah"
Ъ ъ	Hard Sign	Letter before is hard	"tvyordiy znahk"
Ы ы	I i	Like "i" in ill	"i"
Ь ь	Soft Sign	Letter before is soft	"myagkeey znahk"
Э э	E e	Like "e" in pet	"eh"
Ю ю	YU yu	Like "u" in use or university	"yoo"
Я я	YA ya	Like "ya" in yard.	"yah"

The table below gives you the normal printed version of the russian characters, and the cursive (italic) version of the character. This may be useful in a later lesson, as the lowercase cursive version is much closer to the hand-written version of the russian character. Differences to note are highlighted in red.

А а

Б б

В в

Г г

Д д

Е е

Ё ё

Ж ж

З з

И и

Й й

К к

Л л

М м

Н н

О о

П п

Р р

С с

Т т

У у

Ф ф

Х х

Ц ц

Ч ч

Ш ш

Щ щ

Ъ ъ

Ы ы

Ь ь

Э э

Ю ю

Я я

А а

Б б

В в

Г г

Д д

Е е

Ё ё

Ж ж

З з

И и

Й й

К к

Л л

М м

Н н

О о

П п

Р р

С с

Т т

У у

Ф ф

Х х

Ц ц

Ч ч

Ш ш

Щ щ

Ъ ъ

Ы ы

Ь ь

Э э

Ю ю

Я я