Although Russian vowels are much simpler than those in English, it is the influence of these vowels on the surrounding consonants and the influence on the vowels by the stress of the word that create trouble for students learning Russian.

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Pairs of vowels  (“Hard” and “soft” vowels)

Russian language has ten letters for its five vowel sounds:

These vowels can be divided into two groups:

• Hard vowels: а, э, ы, о, у (they are simple and “reliable” as the sound of the whole word is produced by joining together the sound of individual letters which don’t undergo any variations, except о →а in an unstressed syllable):

ма́ма, па́па, дом, шок, рука́, лук, э́то, Э́мма, ты, вы, мы, Крым

• Soft vowels: я, е, и, ё, ю (they can behave in two ways):

1) have jot (j/й-sound) in them (except и!):

Я, я́блоко, моя́ семья́ ёлка, поёт, шьёт, Ю́лия, ию́нь, пью́т, Еле́на, е́сли, съе́л

2) palatalize a preceding consonant:

щи, кни́га, Ита́лия

As these examples make clear, the vowels я, ё, ю, е represent combinations of sounds [йА], [йО], [йУ],[йЭ] respectively:

• at the beginning of a word: юг [йу], я [йа]
• after a vowel: моё [йо],  моя [йа]
• after Ь and Ъ:  друзья [йа], съесть [йэ]

Otherwise, when preceded by consonants, the vowels я, ё, ю, е  are pronounced like  [а], [о],  [у], [ э] respectively, BUT the consonants which precede them (also И and Ь ) become palatalized  (soft).

Я – [А] Ё – [О] Ю – [У] Е – [Э]

дядя [д’ад’а], пять [п’ат’], спят [сп’ат] тётя [т’от’а], мёд [м’от], вёл [в’ол] люк [л’ук], люди [л’уд’и], брюки [бр’ук’и] нет [н’эт] лес [л’эс], текст [т’экст]

 

A few tips here: Follow the “step-by-step” rule, don’t hurry;  You may need more time to let it all sink in. Take as much time as needed to  get a good grasp on how to pronounce words correctly, it will all fall into place with practice;  Listen to recordings as much as possible. Listening is crucial at this point. It’s very important to learn the correct pronunciation from the start; after all, it’s all about building good habits early on.

For more practice click here.

A note on our “favourite” sound.

With regard to the Russian consonants, the two most important distinctions are:

• palatalized / nonpalatalized, or soft / hard
• voiced / voiceless: п/б, т/д, с/з, ф/в, ш/щ, к/г (6 pairs)

Palatalization (hard and soft consonants)

Russian consonants can be hard or soft.  Words like лук – “onion,” pronounced as [luk], and люк – “hatch,” pronounced as [lj uk], for example, can be easily confused if palatalization is not taken into account.

Palatalization is not something restricted to Russian. In Italian, for example, such opposition is evident in case of the difference between the hard “n” (in “cane”) and the palatal “gn” (in “bagno”), and the difference between “l” and “gl”  (“allo” vs “aglio”). Likewise, consider the following English words and notice how a soft element is present in the second example of each pair of words: moon – music, pool – pew, stool – stew, etc.

The softness of the consonants in Russian is given by “ь” – a soft sign, as well as the following vowels:

“Я“,   “Ё“,   “Ю“,   “Е“,    “И“.

For their part, if consonants are followed by the vowels “a“, “o“, “y“, “э“, “ы” or another consonant, then they remain hard (i.e.  just normal).

Compare, for example:

Ма́ма – мяч,  бу́лка – бюро́, пы́шка – письмо́, то́лстый – тётя,  сы́н – си́ла.

Мел– мель,  бе́лый- ме́бель, дал – дя́дя, пу́шка – пюре́, вку́сный – ве́чер, сно́ва – се́рдце, па́чка – пять.

Most of the consonants, depending on the position in the word and subsequent vowels, can be either hard or soft. That means, one letter can express two sounds:

Б-б’:  быстрый – белый П-п’: попытка – пить В-в’: вор – вёл Ф-ф’: фанат – фишка Д-д’: дом – дело Т-т’: тут – Путин З-з’: зал – земля С-с’: сыр – синий

Г-г’: горько – Гёте К-к’: кошка – Кира Х-х’: хорошо – хитрый Н-н’: ночь – нёс М-м’: мысль – милый Л-л’: пил – пыль Р-р’: русский – орёл

The consonants «ж, ш, ц» always sound hard  regardless of their position:

жизнь, ложь, лы́жи, Же́ня, жена́, жёлтый, жюри́, шёл, ши́на, маши́на, шесть, центр, цепь, цикл.

The consonants «ч, щ» are always soft:

чай, сейча́с, чу́вство, щу́ка­

 

Nouns can indicate an inanimate object that answer the question:

Что  это? (What’s this?) – Это аэропо́рт.

or a person (names, professions, relatives, friends, etc.) that answer the question:

Кто это? (Who is it?) – Это стюарде́сса.

 

Using Personal Pronouns

Major Russian pronouns include the following:

‘Вы‘ means ‘you’: formal singular and plural.

‘Вы’ is the polite form of address to strangers, officials, older people, and anyone you are interacting with in a formal setting.

‘Bы’ is used to address a singular person with whom it is appropriate to use formal form, and groups of people. ‘Вы’ requires the second person plural verb form .

‘Ты’ is reserved for friends, family, peers, and young children. ‘Ты’ can be a symbol of intimacy and acceptance. However, it may give the impression of being too familiar or disrespectful when used inappropriately.

Many native speakers run into situations when they are also unsure which one to use — for example, running into a friendly stranger of your age in the street…

To avoid embarrassment, always use ‘вы‘ when talking to adult people, unless you are sure that ‘ты‘ is appropriate. When you are regularly talking to an adult person and use ‘вы‘, but this person is becoming your good friend, co-worker, and you are starting to feel that ‘вы‘ is too formal, then it’s perfectly fine to politely ask: “Mо́жно на ‘ты’?”, that is “Can we switch to ‘ты’?”

What about ‘it‘? In Russian, an inanimate object is always referred to with the pronoun corresponding to its grammatical gender:

• он if the noun it refers to is masculine
• она́ if the noun it refers to is feminine
• оно́ if the noun it refers to is neuter
• они́ if the noun it refers to is plural

For example, Э́то моя́ маши́на. Она́ но́вая. (That’s my car. It’s new), the pronoun it is translated as она́, because it refers to the Russian feminine noun маши́на.

Negative sentences

Asking questions is much easier in Russian than in English. In Russian, you don’t have to invert the subject and the verb when you’re forming questions and there are no auxiliary verbs.

In negative sentences, there are no auxiliary verbs either, and no present tense of the verb to be:

— Это ва́ша сестра́?

— Нет, это не моя́ сестра, а моя жена́.

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— Это ваш бага́ж?

— Нет, это не мой багаж. Вот мой багаж.

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— Смирно́в – это ва́ше и́мя?

— Нет, это не имя, а фами́лия. Моё имя Влади́мир.

‘Нет‘ means ‘No‘ and it can be used on its own as a short reply. ‘Не‘ is used before a verb, adjective, noun etc, and it generally means ‘not‘.

Surveying possessive pronouns

Possessive pronouns indicate ownership or possession. In Russian, a possessive pronoun must always agree in number, gender, and case with the noun it’s referring to. Table 1 shows you how to form the possessive pronouns in the nominative case.

 

Deciphering Russian Names (ФИО)

The Russian word “name” is и́мя, but generally you do not hear this word when people ask about your name. What they actually ask is literally, “How do they call you?”

— Как вас / тебя зовут? —Меня зовут Катя.

 

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*Чуде́сно! Очарова́тельно! – Wonderful! Marvellous!

Бу́дьте здоро́вы! – literally, “Be healthy”. It means “To your health” drinking a toast, also means “Bless you” after someone sneezes.