Russian Alphabet (Cyrillic) — Letter Sounds & Example Vocabulary

[A] Sounds like "Father" — avtobus (bus)

А а

[B] Sounds like "Bat" — brat (brother)

Б б

[V] Sounds like "Van" — voda (water)

В в

[G] Sounds like "Go" — gorod (city)

Г г

[D] Sounds like "Door" — dom (house)

Д д

[Ye / E] Sounds like "Yes" — yeda (food)

Е е

[Yo] Sounds like "York" — yolka (fir tree)

Ё ё

[Zh] Sounds like "Measure" — zhizn (life)

Ж ж

[Z] Sounds like "Zoo" — zima (winter)

З з

[I / Ee] Sounds like "Meet" — imya (name)

И и

[Y] Sounds like "Boy" — chay (tea)

Й й

[K] Sounds like "Kite" — kot (cat)

К к

[L] Sounds like "Lamp" — luna (moon)

Л л

[M] Sounds like "Map" — mama (mom)

М м

[N] Sounds like "Nest" — nos (nose)

Н н

[O] Sounds like "More" — okno (window)

О о

[P] Sounds like "Pen" — park (park)

П п

[R] Rolled R like "Run" — ruka (hand)

Р р

[S] Sounds like "Sun" — sneg (snow)

С с

[T] Sounds like "Tree" — telefon (telephone)

Т т

[U / Oo] Sounds like "Moon" — utro (morning)

У у

[F] Sounds like "Fox" — foto (photo)

Ф ф

[Kh / H] Sounds like "Loch" — khleb (bread)

Х х

[Ts] Sounds like "Cats" — tsentr (center)

Ц ц

[Ch] Sounds like "Chair" — chas (hour)

Ч ч

[Sh] Sounds like "Ship" — shkola (school)

Ш ш

[Shch] Sounds like "Sheet" — shchi (cabbage soup)

Щ щ

[Hard sign] Silent separator — obyekt (object)

Ъ ъ

[Y] Deep guttural sound — ryba (fish)

Ы ы

[Soft sign] Silent softening sign — mat' (mother)

Ь ь

[E] Sounds like "Egg" — era (era)

Э э

[Yu] Sounds like "Universe" — yug (south)

Ю ю

[Ya] Sounds like "

Я я