The Russian alphabet: all 33 letters with pronunciation
Russian uses 33 Cyrillic letters: 10 vowels, 21 consonants and 2 signs that make no sound of their own. Most people can read simple words after about an hour, because a third of the letters either look and sound like Latin ones or are brand new — the tricky group is the false friends that look familiar and sound different. Tap any letter to hear it.
All 33 letters
like a in father
like b in book
looks like B, sounds like v
hard g, as in go
like d in door
ye, as in yes
yo, as in yolk
zh, like s in measure
like z in zoo
ee, as in see
y, as in boy
like k in kit
like l, but heavier
like m in map
looks like H, sounds like n
o, as in more (unstressed: closer to a)
like p in pen
looks like P, is a rolled r
looks like C, sounds like s
like t in top
oo, as in boot
like f in food
looks like X, sounds like Scottish loch
ts, as in cats
ch, as in church
sh, as in shop
a longer, softer sh
no sound: keeps the letters apart
the hard one: i said with the tongue pulled back
no sound: softens the letter before it
e, as in bed
yu, as in you
ya, as in yard
Why it is easier than it looks
- •Spelling is close to phonetic: unlike English, a Russian letter keeps its sound in almost every word.
- •Stress moves and matters — the same vowel can sound full or blurred depending on where the stress lands.
- •Handwritten Cyrillic looks nothing like the printed shapes; learn print first, cursive only if you need to read notes.
Common questions
How many letters are in the Russian alphabet?
33: 10 vowels (а, е, ё, и, о, у, ы, э, ю, я), 21 consonants, and two signs — ь and ъ — that have no sound of their own.
How long does it take to learn to read Russian?
Reading, as opposed to understanding, usually takes a few hours spread over a couple of days. Russian spelling is far more regular than English: once you know a letter, it almost always sounds the same.
Which Russian letters are the most confusing?
The false friends: В is v, Н is n, Р is a rolled r, С is s, У is oo and Х is a throaty kh. They look like Latin B, H, P, C, Y and X.
What are ь and ъ for?
Neither is a sound. The soft sign ь softens the consonant before it; the hard sign ъ keeps two parts of a word apart. Beginners can safely read past both.
Is Russian written in the same alphabet as Ukrainian or Serbian?
All three use Cyrillic, but the letter sets differ. Ukrainian has і, ї, є and ґ; Serbian has ђ, ћ, џ. Learning Russian Cyrillic still gets you most of the way through a street sign anywhere in the region.
How did this land?
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Written by Vlad Lario
Russian in Lisbon. I read both sides and write down what differs.
About the author