The Russian alphabet consists of 33 letters: 21 consonants, 10 vowels, and two letters without sound - soft sign and hard sign
| Click on letter to pronounce | Letter's name in Russian | Pronounced as | Transliteration | A a | "ah" | a in car | a | Б б | "beh" | b in bit | b | B b | "veh" | v in vine | v | Г г | "geh" | g in go | g | Д д | "deh" | d in do | d | E e | "yeh" | ye in yet | ye or e | Ё ё | "yo" | yo in yolk | yo | Ж ж | "zheh" | s in pleasure | zh | З з | "zeh" | z in zoo | z | И и | "ee" | ee in see | i | Й й | "ee kratkoyeh" "short ee" | y in boy | i or y or j | K k | "kah" | k in kitten | k | Л л | "ehl" | l in lamp | l | M m | "ehm" | m in map | m | Н н | "ehn" | n in not | n | O o | "oh" | o in folk | o | П п | "peh" | p in pet | p | P p | "ehr" | r in roll2 | r | C c | "ehs" | s in see | s | T t | "teh" | t in tip | t | Y y | "oo" | oo in boot | oo | Ф ф | "ehf" | f in face | f | Х ж | "khah" | h in house3 | kh or h | Ц ц | "tseh" | ts in sits | ts | Ч ч | "cheh" | ch in chip | ch | Ш ш | "shah" | sh in shut | sh | Щ щ | "schyah" | sh in sheep | sch | Ъ ъ | "tvyordiy znahk" | 4 | hard sign | Ь ь | "myagkeey znahk" | 5 | soft sign | Ы ы | "i" | i in ill | y | Э э | "eh" | e in met | e | Ю ю | "yoo" | u in use | yu | Я я | "yah" | ya in yard | ya |
1 the Latin letter or combination of letters you type in Russian using the Latin keyboard
2 you have to really "rrroll" your tongue to get it to sound Russian :-)
3 the hard sounded "h" ("house"), also compared to "x" sound when pronounced in Spanish
(ex.:"México"); is usually transliterated as "kh"
4 is called the hard sign and used in modern Russian spelling only as a separation sign
5 is called the soft sign and is generally used to indicate the softness of consonants