The Russian Language

The Russian alphabet is also known as the Cyrillic alphabet.

There are 33 letters in the Russian alphabet. 11 vowels, 20 consonants, and 2
pronunciation signs.
Here is what the Russian alphabet looks like (in dictionary order).

А, Б, В, Г, Д, Е, Ё, Ж, З, И, Й, К, Л, М, Н, О,

П, Р, С, Т, У, Ф, Х, Ц, Ч, Ш, Щ, Ъ, Ы, Ь, Э, Ю, Я

This paper will reproduce the Cyrillic spelling of Russian words in terms of Latin letters.
Transliteration assigns a letter (or combination of letters) to each character of the Cyrillic
alphabet.
А а A a П п P p
Б б B b Р р R r
В в V v С с S s
Г г G g Т т T t
Д д D d У у U u
Е е E e* Ф ф F f
Ё ё Yo yo Х х Kh kh
Ж ж Zh zh Ц ц Ts ts
З з Z z Ч ч Ch ch
И и I i Ш ш Sh sh
Й й I i** Щ щ SHCH shch
К к K k ъ " [hard sign]
***
Л л L l ы y
М м M m ь ` [soft sign]***
Н н N n Э э E e*
О о O o Ю ю Yu yu
Я я Ya ya
* The letter Э is infrequently used. The letter Е is very common. In English there is no such
sound distinction.
** The И and Й are basically the same sound, but the Й is shorter.
*** The hard sign and the soft sign have no sound of their own. They influence the quality of
the preceding sound.
Pronunciation Symbols
(These letters have no sound on their own, but are still considered letters.).

Ъ ъ - The 'Hard Sign' is rarely used. It indicates a slight pause between sylables.

Ь ь - The 'Soft Sign' makes the previous letter 'soft'. Think of the "p" sound in the word
"pew". (Try inflecting a very slight "y" sound onto letter before it.)

A note about vowels

You may have noticed that there are often two forms of a vowel, hard and soft. It may
help to note the corresponding vowels.

А ("a") Я ("ya")
Э ("e") Е ("ye")
У ("oo") Ю ("yoo")
О ("o") Ё ("yo")
Ы and И are corresponding vowels but don't really follow this pattern.
Й is also considered a vowel
The Russian Alphabet
Overall, the Russian alphabet contains:

 20 consonants (б, в, г, д, ж, з, к, л, м, н, п, р, с, т, ф, х, ц, ч,
ш and щ)
 10 vowels (а, э, ы, у, о, я, е, ё, ю and и)
 1 semi-vowel (й)
 2 letters that don’t make a sound, but modify the letter
in front of them (ъ and ь).

Here are all 33 of the Russian letters with their names (how you
would say them if you’re just talking about the letters themselves)
and an example of how each would sound using similar English
sounds.
Please and Thank-You.
The two most important words you will learn in Russian are please and thank-you. You
can just add these to any sentence to make it more polite.

Спасибо ("spa-see-ba") - Thank-You

Пожалуйста ("pa-zhal-sta") - Please (and You're Welcome)

The word Пожалуйста is also used to mean "You're Welcome", after somebody says
thank-you. You should always say this after someone thanks you. Пожалуйста is
pronounced a little different than it is written, you can basically forget the "уй".

Yes and No.

Two other very important Russian words are "Yes" and "No".

Да ("da") - Yes
Нет ("nyet") - No
Saying Hello.
When you are in Russia and you meet somebody, the first thing you will want to do is to
say "hello". There are two forms of this word.

Здравствуйте ("zdra-stvooy-tye") - Hello (Formal)

Привет ("pree-vyet") - Hi (Informal)

Здравствуйте may be a little difficult for you to pronounce at first, but it is the most
common Russian greeting so you should try to practice it. Привет is also commonly
used with friends. However, keep in mind that Привет is informal (much like "hi" in
English), and should only be used with friends. If somebody says Привет to you, then it
is normally safe to proceed in the friendly tone.

Introducing Yourself.
In order to introduce yourself, you may need the following phrases.

Меня зовут ... ("men-ya za-voot") - My name is ...

Как вас зовут? ("kak vas za-voot") - What is your name?
Очень приятно ("och-en pree-yat-na") - Pleased to meet you.

Note: The above 3 phrases are gramatically unusual. You should just learn the whole phrase, not the individual
words.
How are you?
The most natural way to ask someone how they are in Russian is to ask: "how are
things?"

Как дела? - How are things?

Хорошо спасибо - Good/Well thank-you
Плохо - Bad
Saying Good-Bye.
There are also two words for saying good-bye.

До свидания ("da-svee-da-nee-ye") - Good-bye. (The до is pronounced as if it is part of the

next word)
Пока ("pa-ka") - Bye (Informal, slang)

You should generally use до свидания, which is appropriate in formal or informal

situations. You may also hear people say Пока, but we suggest you only use it with
friends.

Asking about languages

When you are asking a yes/no question in Russian, there is no difference between the
question and the statement, except for the question mark. When you are speaking
Russian you should ask questions in a different tone. The tone of your voice should rise
if you are asking a question. If you are making a statement your tone will naturally fall.
You may find that you actually do this in English without meaning to. If all else fails, put
a real questioning expression on your face.

Вы говорите по-английски? - Do you (formal) speak English?

Вы говорите по-русски? - Do you (formal) speak Russian?
Я говорю по-английски - I speak English
Я говорю по-русски - I speak Russian

Я понимаю - I understand
Я не понимаю - I don't understand

You may have noticed that the ending of the verb говорю (speak) changes depending
on who the subject is. Don't worry too much about this yet. It will be covered in another
lesson very soon. (lesson 5).
Russian Alphabet - Russian Language Lesson 1 (russianlessons.net)

Russian Alphabet with Sound and Handwriting (russianforeveryone.com)

Basic Russian course: Lesson 1 - Learn Russian for Free

Introduction (evaeaston.com)

The Russian Alphabet: A Guide to Cyrillic Letters and Their Pronunciation | FluentU Russian