Alphabet & Pronunciation

The Cyrillic Alphabet

Russian uses the Cyrillic alphabet with 33 letters.

Familiar-looking letters (same sound): А а, К к, М м, О о (stressed!), Т т

Fake friends (look Latin, sound different): В в = v, Н н = n, Р р = rolled r, С с = s, У у = oo, Х х = kh

Purely Russian letters: Б, Г, Д, Ж, З, И, Й, Л, П, Ф, Ц, Ч, Ш, Щ, Э, Ю, Я, Ё, ь, ъ

Ё is ALWAYS stressed!

Reading rule: vowel reduction

Unstressed о → sounds like а. молоко = "малако". Stressed vowel shown in amber bold throughout.