Russian For Everyone  Learn Russian Online   Self study guide   About us   New Russian Textbook    Russian Alphabet There are 33 letters in the Russian Alphabet: 10 vowels, 21 consonants, and 2 signs (ь, ъ).   Russian is an Eastern Slavonic language closely related to Ukrainian and Belorussian with about 277 million speakers in Russia and 30 other countries.  The Cyrillic alphabet was introduced into Russia (Kievan Rus' ) at the time of its conversion to Christianity (988 AD). The alphabet, the Cyrillic script is named in honor of the Byzantine scholar and monk, Cyril (827-869 AD), who, together with his brother Methodius (826-885 AD), created the first Slavic writing system in the second half of the ninth century in order to translate the Bible and other Christian texts into the Slavic languages.  Click each letter to listen, then click again and repeat after speaker imitating the pronunciation as closely as you can.  Click "Play" to watch how to handwrite letters and words.

Letter	Handwriting	Name of Letter	Similar English Sound	Sample		Handwriting
А а	Play	a	like ar in far		а́том	Play
Б б	Play	be	like b in box		бато́н	Play
В в	Play	ve	like v in voice		ва́режки	Play
Г г	Play	ge	like g in go		гру́ша	Play
Д д	Play	de	like d in day		ды́ня	Play
Е е	Play	ye	like ye in yet or e in exit		ежеви́ка	Play
Ё ё	Play	yo	like yo in your		ёж	Play
Ж ж	Play	zhe	like s in pleasure		жук	Play
З з	Play	ze	like z in zoo		замо́к	Play
И и	Play	ee	like ee in meet		икра́	Play
Й й	Play	ee kratkoye (short i)	like y in boy		йо́гурт	Play
К к	Play	ka	like k in key or c in cat		клубни́ка	Play
Л л	Play	el	like l in lamp		лимо́н	Play
М м	Play	em	like m in man		мали́на	Play
Н н	Play	en	like n in note		носки́	Play
О о	Play	o	like o in not		о́вощи	Play
П п	Play	pe	like p in pet		пе́рец	Play
Р р	Play	er	like r in rock (but rolled)		ры́ба	Play
С с	Play	es	like s in sun		стул	Play
Т т	Play	te	like t in table		торт	Play
У у	Play	oo	like oo in moon		у́дочка	Play
Ф ф	Play	ef	like f in food		фру́кты	Play
Х х	Play	kha	like ch in Scottish loch		хво́я	Play
Ц ц	Play	tse	like ts in boots		ци́фры	Play
Ч ч	Play	che	like ch in chat		ча́шка	Play
Ш ш	Play	sha	like sh in short		ша́пка	Play
Щ щ	Play	shcha	like sh_ch in fresh_cheese		щётка	Play
ъ	Play	tviordiy znak (hard sign)	has no sound
ы	Play	ih*	like i in ill
ь	Play	myagkiy znak (soft sign)	has no sound
Э э	Play	e	like e in end		экра́н	Play
Ю ю	Play	yoo	like u in use		ю́бка	Play
Я я	Play	ya	like ya in yard		я́блоко	Play

* ih - "h" had been added to produce a more open sound, but is not pronounced as an English "h".