Russian/Introduction/Letters the same as in the Latin alphabet

Russian alphabet has 33 letters, out of which 10 are vowels and 21 are consonants. Two of the letters (Ь and Ъ) are used for changing sound of the preceding consonant. Note, that in the list below first is capital, then small letter of cyrillic alphabet, then comes explanation of how the sound should sound/feel like when pronounced

The written forms of many of the cyrillic letter appear significantly different from their printed counterparts. The written forms, however, will be discussed in a later lesson.

Latin letters

Of the 33 letters in the Cyrillic alphabet, 5 of them look and sound very similar to their latin counterparts. There are subtle differences in pronunciation, but these will be addressed in the intermediate Russian course. These letters are:

А, а like in wand

К, к like in kitchen

М, м like in mammal

Т, т like in tail

О, о

This letter can make either the sound oh like in bold, or ah like in hot. It makes the sound oh when it is the accented vowel, and ah when unaccented. We will talk more about what accented or unaccented means in the lesson on accents.

Vocabulary

With the limited letters you know, you there are few useful words that can be formed. The one vocabulary word, therefore is:

Кот - Tomcat

Course:Introduction to Russian