Guide to Russian Pronunciation

Russian Alphabet

Letter		Pronounced as	Symbol
a		a in car; u in cut	ah
б		b in bit	b
в		v in vine	v
г		g in go	g
д		d in do	d
e		ye in yet	yeh
ё		yo in yolk	yo
ж		s in measure	zh
з		z in zoo	z
и		ee in see	ee
й		y in boy	y
к		k in kiss	k
л		l in lady	l
м		m in mist	m
н		n in not	n
o		o in folk	o
п		p in pipe	p
р		trilled r in rrroll	r
с		s in soft	s
т		t in tie	t
y		oo in root	oo
ф		f in farm	f
х		ch in Scottish loch	kh
ц		ts in lists	ts
ч		ch in chapter	ch
ш		sh in shut	sh
щ		sh in sheep	shch
ъ		is used to separate two parts of the word	'
ы		i in ill	i
ь		is used to make the preceding consonant soft	'
э		e in net	eh
ю		u in use	yoo
я		ya in yard	yah

Letter combinations

Letters		Pronounced as	Symbol
ай		igh in might	igh
яй		aй, preceded by the y as in yes	yigh
ой		oy in toy	oy
ей		ay in pay, preceded by a short y	yay
уй		oo in food followed by y as in yes	ooy
юй		уй, preceded by a short y	yooy

Got questions?

Ask them in the Russian Questions and Answers — a place for students, teachers and native Russian speakers to discuss Russian grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, and other aspects of the Russian language.

Copyright 2001-2025 MasterRussian.com | Privacy Policy | Contact Us