Alphabet
А а - /a/ as in "father"
Б б - /b/ as in "boy"
В в - /v/ as in "very"
Г г - /ɡ/ as in "get"
Д д - /d/ as in "day"
Е е - /je/ as in "yes"
Ё ё - /jo/ as in "yonder"
Ж ж - /ʒ/ as in "pleasure"
З з - /z/ as in "zebra"
И и - /i/ as in "see"
Й й - /j/ as in "boy"
К к - /k/ as in "cat"
Л л - /l/ as in "love"
М м - /m/ as in "man"
Н н - /n/ as in "no"
О о - /o/ as in "go"
П п - /p/ as in "pen"
Р р - /r/ as in "rose"
С с - /s/ as in "sun"
Т т - /t/ as in "top"
У у - /u/ as in "blue"
Ф ф - /f/ as in "fun"
Х х - /x/ as in the Scottish "loch"
Ц ц - /ts/ as in "tsar"
Ч ч - /tʃ/ as in "chair"
Ш ш - /ʃ/ as in "shoe"
Щ щ - /ʃtʃ/ as in "fresh cheese"
Ъ ъ - Hard sign, no sound of its own
Ы ы - /ɨ/ as in "ill"
Ь ь - Soft sign, modifies the preceding consonant
Э э - /ɛ/ as in "met"
Ю ю - /ju/ as in "you"
Я я - /ja/ as in "yard"
Stress
In many languages, including Russian, stress plays a crucial role because it can change the pronunciation, meaning and even grammatical forms of words. When a syllable is stressed, it's pronounced with more force, higher pitch or longer duration compared to unstressed syllables.
In Russian, the pronunciation of the letter "о" depends on stress patterns within words. When unstressed, the letter "о" tends to be pronounced closer to "а" or a reduced sound. It sounds softer and less pronounced compared to its full sound.
For example: Молоко has the last о stressed so it reads “Malako”. The "о" in unstressed syllables often tends to sound closer to "а" but not exactly the same.
Personal pronouns
I - Я
You - Ты
He - Он
She - Она
It - Оно
We - Мы
You (plural and respect) - Вы
They - Они
Sentence structure
There are no articles or linking verbs in Russian. It is enough to string the words one after the other.
Default sentence structure is SVO (Subject - Verb - Object) but it is way too flexible, a verb can change its position to emphasize another verb.
Борис Иванович - Boris Ivanovich
в прошлом году - last year
возле озера - at lake shore
построил - built
дом - house
In the following sentence, the part to be emphasized is:
Boris built a house by the lake last year.
В прошлом году Борис Иванович построил дом возле озера.
In the following sentence, the part to be emphasized is:
Boris built a house by the lake last year. (Not another time)
Дом возле озера Борис Иванович построил в прошлом году.
In the following sentence, the part to be emphasized is:
Boris built a house by the lake last year.
В прошлом году Борис Иванович построил дом возле озера.
Questions
Another “easy” thing about Russian is that there is usually no change in sentence structure when asking questions. Instead, you just need to elevate your voice (higher pitch) towards the end of the sentence, or put a question mark if you are writing.
Это самовар? - Is this samovar?
Это самовар. - This is samovar.
To say “yes”, use “да”. Да, это самовар.
To sound more native, say it more. Да да да, это самовар.
To say “no”, use “нет” and “не”. Нет, это не самовар.
To sound more native, use this structure: Не не, нет, это не самовар.
Кто - Who
Что - What
Когда - When
Где - Where
Почему - Why
Как - How
Сколько - How much/many
Кто это? - Who is this?
Что это? - What is this?
Когда ты придешь? - When will you come?
Где моя книга? - Where is my book?
Почему ты плачешь? - Why are you crying?
Как ты себя чувствуешь? - How are you feeling?
Сколько это стоит? - How much does this cost?
Genders of Nouns
One of the most important features of Russian is that nouns are divided into three groups as “masculine (М) - feminine (Ж) - Neutral (С)”.
Masculine nouns: They end in consonants (or anything that doesn’t fit the others).
Кристалл - crystal
Студент - male student
Feminine nouns: They end in -А and -Я.
Школа - school
Песня - song, folk song
Neutral nouns: They end with the letters -О, -Е and -Ё.
Известие - news
Кино - cinema
Nouns ending in -Ь can be masculine or feminine. There is no specific rule.
Учитель - teacher (masculine)
Ночь - night (feminine)
Plurals
In Russian, plural forms are often created by adding the letters “-ы" to the end of singular nouns.
Nouns that become plural by adding “-ы" to the end are generally words whose last or penultimate letters are hard consonants.
Билет - ticket
Билеты - tickets
Стена - wall
Стены - walls
Студент - student
Студенты - students
Комната - room
Комнаты - rooms
Nouns whose last letter or penultimate letter is “Г, К, Х, Ж, Ч, Ш, Щ” and whose last letter is a soft consonant (such as Ь, Й, Я): - instead of -ы; they end in -и.
Рука - hand
Руки - hands
Кухня - kitchen
Кухни - kitchens
Книга - book
Книги - books
Музей - museum
Музеи - museums
Нож - knife
Ножи - knives
Словарь - dictionary
Словари - dictionaries
Песня - song
Песни - songs
Neutral nouns ending in -О: -А instead of -О.
Neutral nouns ending in -Е: -Я instead of -Е.
Кресло - armchair
Кресла - armchairs
Море - sea
Моря - seas
Окно - window
Окна - windows
Поле - field
Поля - fields