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Cyphernaut - Russian Alphabet

If you were an American growing up during the Cold War era, everything about Russia and the Soviet Union appeared mysterious including the Russian language. When you saw words like Гла́сность (glasnost), Перестройка (perestroika), or Советский Союз (Sovetsky Soyuz or Soviet Union), you probably scratched your head and wondered how anybody could understand it. But Russian is understandable. It has many phonetically similar sounds to English. The first step to comprehending Russian is learning the Russian alphabet.

This is a guide for learning the Russian alphabet. The Russian alphabet is a variant of Cyrillic script which was developed during the 9th century by Greek missionary St. Cyril. It consists of 20 consonants, 11 vowels and 2 non-vocalized pronunciation signs. In this guide, vowels are indicated with a reddish tint and signs have a greenish tint. The non-vocalized signs have two different functions. The hard sign, Ъ, is rarely used and indicates that the preceding consonant is not palatalized. The soft sign, Ь, indicates a softened sound on the preceding consonant or a slight 'y' sound after the consonant.

Try to decipher the following Russian names of well known locations within Russia, Belarus and Ukraine using the Russian alphabet guide. Sound out the words phonetically and you should be able to figure them out. Please note Belarusian and Ukrainian are different languages from Russian and are currently not covered on this site.

• Волгоград (formerly known as Сталингра́д)
• Санкт-Петербург (formerly known as Ленингра́д)
• Чернобыль
• Москва
• Минск
• Ки́ев

русский алфавит
А:а ah a in car vowel	Б:б beh b in bet	В:в veh v in vine	Г:г geh g in get	Д:д deh d in dog
Е:е yeh ye in yet vowel	Ё:ё yo yo in yolk vowel	Ж:ж zheh s in treasure	З:з zeh z in zoo	И:и ee ee in see vowel
Й:й ee krat- koyeh - short i y in toy aй is like the igh in sigh vowel	К:к kah k in kit	Л:л ehl l in let	М:м ehm m in met	Н:н ehn n in net
О:о oh o in folk vowel	П:п peh p in pet	Р:р ehr r in rest r is rolled or trilled	С:с ehs s in set	Т:т teh t in tip
У:у oo oo in boot vowel	Ф:ф ehf f in fat	Х:х khah ch in loch	Ц:ц tseh ts in sets	Ч:ч cheh ch in chip
Ш:ш shah sh in shut	Щ:щ shchah sh in sheer pronounced like sh but with the tongue at the roof of the mouth	Ъ:ъ tvyord- ih znahk no sound hard sign - indicates slight pause between syllables - rarely used	Ы:ы ih i in ill vowel	Ь:ь myakh- keey znahk no sound soft sign - indicates softened sound on preceding consonant - slight y sound
Э:э eh e in met vowel	Ю:ю yoo u in use vowel	Я:я yah ya in yard vowel