4 Introduction to the Russian language
Russian letter Closest English equivalent
12 К к k
13 Л л l
14 М м m
15 Н н n
16 О о o as in or
17 П п p
18 Р р r
19 С с s
20 Т т t
21 У у oo as in shoot
22 Ф ф f
23 Х х ch as in loch
24 Ц ц ts as in bits
25 Ч ч ch as in chimp
26 Ш ш sh as in rush
27 Щ щ shsh as in fishshop
28 ъ hard sign
29 ы sit
30 ь soft sign
31 Э э e as in net
32 Ю ю yu/u as in use
33 Я я ya as in yardLearning the alphabet letter
by letter (Audio 1.3)
Use the following practice words, many of which are similar to Eng-
lish words, to familiarise yourself with the Russian alphabet. If you
have the recordings, you can also listen to the words. It will be useful
to study this section in conjunction with the recordings, since the
English equivalents are only approximate. These practice words have
stress marks added to tell you which syllable to put most emphasis
on when the word has more than one syllable. The letter ё is always
stressed.