Lesson 01--Learning to Read Russian

Question 1

Name and pronunciation of Russian “A, a”

Answer 1

name: /ɑ/
sound:
1. when stressed: /ɑ/ as father. Ангия (England)
2. when not stressed, it can approach an English schwa as the a in about. английский (English)

Question 2

Name and pronunciation of “Б, б”

Answer 2

name: /be/
pronunciation: /b/ as in boy. большой (big, great)

at the end of a word, this sound is devoiced to /p/

Question 3

Name and pronunciation of Russian “В, в”

Answer 3

1. Name: /ve/
2. Pronunciation: /v/ as in “vase.” Baня (Vanya)

at the end of a word, this sound is devoiced to /f

Question 4

Name and pronunciation of Г, г

Answer 4

Name: /ge/
Pronunciation:
1. Usually: /g/ as in goose. госпиталь (hospital)
2. In -его endings: /v/ as in vase: него (him)

at the end of a word, this sound is devoiced to /k/

Question 5

Name and pronunciation of Д, д

Answer 5

Name: /de/
Pronunciation: /d/ as in “dog”: дом (house, home)

at the end of a word, this sound is devoiced to /t/

Question 6

Name and pronunciation of Russian “E, e”

Answer 6

/je/
1. When stressed, /je/, sort of like English yay. нет (no)
Eлтцин (Yeltsin)
2. When not stressed, this approaches /i/ as in machine.
на улице (in the street)

Question 7

Name and pronunciation of Ё, ё

Answer 7

/jo/

/jo/ like the first two letters of yodel. ликёр (liqueur)

notes: 1. This letter appears only in stressed syllables.
2. Russians normally omit the two dots, so that the letter looks like E or e

Question 8

Name and pronunciation of Ж, ж

Answer 8

/ʒe/

/ʒ/ like the s in measure. журнал (magazine)

Question 9

Name and pronunciation of З, з

Answer 9

/ze/

/z/ as in zebra. зима (winter)

Question 10

Name and pronunciation of И, и

Answer 10

/i/

/i/ as in machine. Игорь (Igor)

Question 11

Name and pronunciation of Й, й

Answer 11

/i’kratkoje/

/i/ as in machine. This letter appears only as the second letter of a diphthong. Английский (English)

Question 12

Name and pronunciation of Russian К, к

Answer 12

/ka/

/k/ as in kiosk: киоск

Question 13

Name and pronunciation of Л, л

Answer 13

/el/

/l/ as in lemon. Ленин (Lenin)

Question 14

Name and pronunciation of Russian М, м

Answer 14

/em/

/m/ as in mouse. Минск (Minsk)

Question 15

Name and pronunciation of Russian Н, н

Answer 15

/en/

/n/ as in no: нет.

Question 16

Name and pronunciation of О, о

Answer 16

/o/

/o/ as in poetic. он (he)

in unaccented syllables, this sound approaches an English schwa.

Question 17

Name and pronunciation of П, п

Answer 17

/pe/

/p/ as in Paul. Петербург (St. Petersburg)

Question 18

Name and Pronunciation of Russian P, р

Answer 18

/e ɾ/

/ɾ/, a flipped r. This sound exists in fast English as the “tt” in “butter” or “batter”. Романов (Romanov)

Question 19

Name and pronunciation of Russian С, с

Answer 19

/es/

/s/ as in Sam. Сибирь (Siberia)

Question 20

Name and pronunciation of Russian Т, т

Answer 20

/te/

/t/ as in Tom. тот (that)

Question 21

Name and pronunciation of Russian У, у

Answer 21

/u/

/u/ as the u in flute. Украина (The Ukraine)

Question 22

Name and pronunciation of Ф, ф

Answer 22

/ef/

/f/ as in fun. фагот (bassoon)

Question 23

Name and pronunciation of Russian Х, х

Answer 23

/xa/

/x/. This sound does not exist in English, but may be heard in the ch of German ach and Scotts Gaelic loch. хорошо (well, adv.)

Question 24

Name and pronunciation of Ц, ц

Answer 24

/tse/

/ts/, like the zz in pizza. царь (tsar)

Question 25

Name and pronunciation of Ч, ч

Answer 25

/t ʃe/

/t ʃ/, like the ch’s in church. Чайковский (Tchaikovsky)

Question 26

Name and pronunciation of Ш, ш

Answer 26

/ʃе/

/ʃ/, like the sh in shout. Шостакович (Shostakovich)

Question 27

Name and pronunciation of Щ, щ

Answer 27

/ɕ: ɕe/

/ɕ/. This sound does not exist in English, but it is similar to the bright “sh” in “sheet.”

женщина (woman)

Question 28

Name and meaning of ъ

Answer 28

/‘tvordi znak/

This symbol makes no sound, but, rather indicates that the preceding consonant is “hard,” ie, not palatized.

объект (object)

Question 29

Name and pronunciation of ы

Answer 29

/je’ri/

This letter represents the /ɨ/ sound, a vowel sound which does not exist in English, but may be heard in Turkish. It is basically an unrounded /u/.

музыкa (music). This letter never appears at the beginning of a word.

Question 30

Name and meaning of ь

Answer 30

/‘mjaki znak/

This symbol does not represent a sound. Rather, it indicates that the previous consonant is “soft,” ie palatized.

мать (mother)

Question 31

Name and pronunciation of Э, э

Answer 31

/ε/

/ε/, the sound of “e” in English “met.”

Аэрофлот: Aeroflot, Russia’s national airline.

Question 32

Name and pronunciation of Ю, ю

Answer 32

/ju/

/ju/, like the “u” in English “use.”

Югославия (Yugoslavia, land of the southern Slavs)

Question 33

Name and pronunciation of Я, я

Answer 33

/ja/

Pronounced /ja/, like the first two letters in English “yacht”

яблоко (apple)