Russian alphabet and rules of reading

Аа – A [car]	Бб – B [book]	Вв – V [voice]	Гг – G [go]	Дд – D [dog]
Ее – Ye [yes]	Ёё – Yo [New-York]	Жж – Zh [pleasure]	Зз – Z [zoo]	Ии – I [meet]
Йй – Y [boy]	Кк – K [cook]	Лл – L [love]	Мм – M [moon]	Нн – N [number]
Оо – O [spot]	Пп – P [park]	Рр – R [road]*	Сс – S [side]	Тт – T [tool]
Уу – U [zoom]	Фф – F [foot]	Хх – H [hat]	Цц – Ts [tsar]	Чч – Ch [change]
Шш – Sh [short]	Щщ – Shch (sheep)**	Ьь – Soft sign***	Ыы – Y [gym]	Ъъ – Hard sign
Ээ – E/A [apple]	Юю – Yu [you]	Яя – Ya [yacht]

Rules of reading in Russian language

Pronounce endings [-..го] like [-vo]. For example, the words КРАСИВОГО is pronounced like [krasivovo].

Pronounce stressed O as it is, and pronounce not stressed O like A. For example, the word МОЛОКО is pronounced like [malako] because the stressed syllable is [ко].

Pronounce endings [-..шь], [-..шься], [-чь] like there is not Ь there, for example ДЕЛАЕШЬ — [delaesh]

The word Ч (ch) in the word ЧТО is pronounced as Ш (sh). ЧТО – [shto].

There are not exact rules of stressed syllables. But usually (not always!) stressed syllable is in the middle of a word. So it is better to listen to radio or live speech in order to hear correct pronunciation. Also, there are many words that can be pronounced in both two or more ways. In this book stress letters are highlighted by bold font weight.

The letter Е, Ё, И, Ю, Я soften consonants before them. For example, the word УНИВЕРСИТЕТ one pronounces as [UNIV’ERS’IT’ET].

Soft sign Ь just softens a consonant and makes a diphthong. For example КОМПЬЮТЕР — [KOMP’YUT’ER]. The difference between the syllables ПЬЮ and ПЮ is that the first is with diphthong [P’YU] and the second is without — [P’U].

The hard sign Ъ leaves a previous consonant hard (doesn’t let to make it soft). For example, ПОДЪЕЗД — [POD-YEZD].

Speed up learning with these printable worksheets! Click the link below to download: