Russian Alphabet · Lesson 1 of 4 · Level A1 · 60 min
The Russian alphabet has 33 letters. Some will look familiar, some will trick you, and some are completely new. By the end of this lesson you will recognise them all.
🔊 Audio reference — listen to each letter
Use this video as a pronunciation guide while studying the table below. Come back to it letter by letter as you learn.
- Understand the structure of the Russian alphabet
- Tell the difference between vowels and consonants
- Know the 3 categories: True / False / New friends
- Recognise Cyrillic as a system — not random symbols
★ True friend — same shape & sound ·
✗ False friend — same shape, different sound ·
✦ New friend — unique to Russian
yellow = vowel
💡 Tap 🔊 next to any letter to hear it.
| Letter | Sound | ≈ Latin | Category |
|---|---|---|---|
А а |
a (father) | ≈ A a | ★ True |
Б б |
b (bat) | — | ✦ New |
В в |
v (van) | ≈ B/V | ✗ False |
Г г |
g (go) | — | ✦ New |
Д д |
d (dog) | — | ✦ New |
Е е |
ye (yet) | ≈ E e | ✗ False |
Ё ё |
yo (yolk) | — | ✦ New |
Ж ж |
zh (measure) | — | ✦ New |
З з |
z (zoo) | — | ✦ New |
И и |
ee (meet) | — | ✦ New |
Й й |
y (yes) | — | ✦ New |
К к |
k (kit) | ≈ K k | ★ True |
Л л |
l (lamp) | — | ✦ New |
М м |
m (man) | ≈ M m | ★ True |
Н н |
n (no) | ≈ H | ✗ False |
О о |
o (more) | ≈ O o | ★ True |
П п |
p (park) | — | ✦ New |
Р р |
r (rolled) | ≈ P | ✗ False |
С с |
s (sun) | ≈ C | ✗ False |
Т т |
t (top) | ≈ T t | ★ True |
У у |
oo (food) | ≈ Y | ✗ False |
Ф ф |
f (film) | — | ✦ New |
Х х |
kh (Bach) | ≈ X | ✗ False |
Ц ц |
ts (cats) | — | ✦ New |
Ч ч |
ch (cheese) | — | ✦ New |
Ш ш |
sh (shoe) | — | ✦ New |
Щ щ |
shch / soft sh | — | ✦ New |
Ъ ъ |
hard sign | — | ✦ New |
Ы ы |
dark i /ɨ/ | — | ✦ New |
Ь ь |
soft sign | — | ✦ New |
Э э |
e (egg) | — | ✦ New |
Ю ю |
yu (you) | — | ✦ New |
Я я |
ya | — | ✦ New |
↔ On a phone, swipe the table sideways to see all four columns.
А → Я /a/ → /ja/ ·
мама
·
яблоко
(apple)
О → Ё /o/ → /jo/ ·
дом
·
ёж
(hedgehog)
У → Ю /u/ → /ju/ ·
суп
·
юг
(south)
Э → Е /e/ → /je/ ·
это
·
ехать
(to go)
Ы → И /ɨ/ → /i/ ·
рыба
·
имя
(name)
Say “i” while pulling your tongue back — a dark “ih” sound. No equivalent in English.
Practice:
ты
·
мы
·
вы
Ex. 1 — Go through the table. Say the sound of each letter before looking at the column.
Ex. 2 — Match hard to soft vowels: А О У Э Ы ↔ Е Ё И Ю Я
Watch the audio video again and repeat every letter aloud. Write all 33 letters from memory. Memorise which letters are True / False / New friends.