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Cyrillic (Russian) · ру́сская а́збука

33 letters for a language with far more than 33 sounds — because Russian does not spell its palatalisation with extra consonants, it spells it with the VOWEL that follows, or with a soft sign. That is the whole design: а/я, о/ё, у/ю, э/е, ы/и are five pairs of the same vowel, and the second of each pair says 'the consonant before me is soft'. Learn that and two thirds of the alphabet stops being arbitrary. Stress is not written outside dictionaries and teaching material, and it moves — which matters, because unstressed о and а are not said the way they are spelled.

Greek → Glagolitic → Cyrillic (9th c.), via the Old Church Slavonic mission · written left to right · used here by Russian

33 signs

#	Sign	Capital	Name	Roman	IPA	Group	Note
1	а	А	а	`a`	a	Same as Latin	a as in father. Unstressed it weakens — see the reduction rules.
2	б	Б	бэ	`b`	b · bʲ	New shapes	b as in bed. Do not confuse with в.
3	в	В	вэ	`v`	v · vʲ	False friends	Looks like B, says V. The single most expensive letter on this page.
4	г	Г	гэ	`g`	ɡ · ɡʲ	New shapes	g as in go. In the endings -ого/-его it is said /v/.
5	д	Д	дэ	`d`	d · dʲ	New shapes	d as in do.
6	е	Е	е	`ye`	je · ɪ	False friends	Looks like E, says YE. Unstressed it reduces to /ɪ/.
7	ё	Ё	ё	`yo`	jo	New shapes	Always stressed, and usually printed without its dots — you are expected to know.
8	ж	Ж	жэ	`zh`	ʐ	New shapes	Like the s in measure, but with the tongue pulled back. Always hard.
9	з	З	зэ	`z`	z · zʲ	New shapes	z as in zoo.
10	и	И	и	`i`	i · ɪ	False friends	Looks like a reversed N, says EE.
11	й	Й	и краткое	`y`	j	New shapes	'Short и' — the y of boy. A consonant, despite the shape.
12	к	К	ка	`k`	k · kʲ	Same as Latin	k as in kit, but without the puff of air English adds.
13	л	Л	эль	`l`	l · lʲ	New shapes	Dark before hard vowels — closer to the l of milk than of leaf.
14	м	М	эм	`m`	m · mʲ	Same as Latin	m as in map.
15	н	Н	эн	`n`	n · nʲ	False friends	Looks like H, says N.
16	о	О	о	`o`	o · ɐ · ə	Same as Latin	Only /o/ when stressed. Unstressed it becomes /ɐ/ then /ə/ — the akanye rule.
17	п	П	пэ	`p`	p · pʲ	New shapes	p as in spin. Greek pi, and the same shape.
18	р	Р	эр	`r`	r · rʲ	False friends	Looks like P, says a trilled R.
19	с	С	эс	`s`	s · sʲ	False friends	Looks like C, says S. Greek lunate sigma.
20	т	Т	тэ	`t`	t · tʲ	Same as Latin	t as in stop, tongue against the teeth.
21	у	У	у	`u`	u · ʊ	False friends	Looks like y, says OO.
22	ф	Ф	эф	`f`	f · fʲ	New shapes	f as in fill. Greek phi. Nearly every word with it is a loanword.
23	х	Х	ха	`kh`	x · xʲ	False friends	Looks like x, says the ch of Bach.
24	ц	Ц	цэ	`ts`	t͡s	New shapes	The ts of cats, as a single sound. Always hard.
25	ч	Ч	че	`ch`	t͡ɕ	New shapes	The ch of cheese, but always SOFT — the tongue is further forward than English.
26	ш	Ш	ша	`sh`	ʂ	New shapes	sh with the tongue pulled back and the lips flat. Always hard.
27	щ	Щ	ща	`shch`	ɕː	New shapes	Not ш plus ч. One long soft sound, tongue forward — the sheesh of fresh sheets.
28	ъ	Ъ	твёрдый знак			Signs	HARD SIGN. No sound. It separates a prefix from a following я/е/ё/ю: подъезд.
29	ы	Ы	ы	`y`	ɨ	New shapes	No English equivalent. Say EE with the tongue pulled back toward the throat.
30	ь	Ь	мягкий знак	`'`		Signs	SOFT SIGN. No sound of its own — it palatalises the consonant before it. мат /mat/ vs мать /matʲ/.
31	э	Э	э	`e`	ɛ	New shapes	The e of egg, with no y in front — the plain counterpart of е.
32	ю	Ю	ю	`yu`	ju	New shapes	you. Softens the consonant before it.
33	я	Я	я	`ya`	ja · ɪ	New shapes	yah. Softens the consonant before it; unstressed it reduces to /ɪ/.

Groups: Same as Latin (look familiar and behave — а к м о т) · False friends (look familiar and lie. The expensive six, plus е and и) · New shapes (no Latin counterpart, so nothing to unlearn — the easy ones) · Signs (ъ and ь make no sound of their own)

Most used combinations

The sequences you'll meet constantly — learn them as units.

Sequence	Sound	What's going on	Example
сч	ɕː	Collapses into щ: сча́стье is /ˈɕːæsʲtʲjə/.

Rules of the system

How the signs behave together.

Sequence	Sound	What's going on
ться / тся	t͡sːə	Both are said /t͡sə/ with a long t — the ь is silent here. учи́ться sounds like учи́тса.
-ого / -его	əvə	The genitive ending: г is said /v/. его́ is /jɪˈvo/, сего́дня /sʲɪˈvodnʲə/.
жи / ши	ʐɨ, ʂɨ	Written with и, said with ы: ж and ш are permanently hard and cannot be softened.
ци	t͡sɨ	Same story — ц is always hard, so ци is /t͡sɨ/.

Incompatible combinations

What this writing system does not allow — knowing the impossible prunes the search space.

Sequence	Sound	What's going on	Example
жь / шь	ʐ, ʂ	Written, but says nothing: these letters cannot soften. The ь is pure grammar, marking a feminine noun or a verb form.