The Russian Alphabet

Letter's name Pronounced

Russian letter Transliteration1 Vowel
in Russian as

"ah" a in car a x

"beh" b in bit b -

"veh" v in vine v -

"geh" g in go g -

"deh" d in do d -

"yeh" ye in yet ye or e x

"yo" yo in yolk yo x

"zheh" s in pleasure zh -

"zeh" z in zoo z -

"ee" ee in see i x

"ee kratkoyeh"
y in boy i or y or j -
"short ee"

"kah" k in kitten k -

"ehl" l in lamp l -

"ehm" m in map m -

"ehn" n in not n -

"oh" o in folk o x

"peh" p in pet p -

"ehr" r in roll2 r -
 "ehs" s in see s -

"teh" t in tip t -

"oo" oo in boot u x

"ehf" f in face f -

"khah" h in house3 kh or h -

"tseh" ts in sits ts -

"cheh" ch in chip ch -

"shah" sh in shut sh -

"schyah" sh in sheep sch -

"tvyordiy znahk" 4
' -
"hard sign"

"i" i in ill y x

"myagkeey znahk" 5
' -
"soft sign"
"eh" e in met e x

"yoo" u in use yu x

"yah" ya in yard ya x

The Russian alphabet consists of 33 letters: 21 consonants, 10 vowels, and two letters without
sound - soft sign and hard sign

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