Russian Alphabet Grammar Overview & Pronunciation Rules

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This book can be your first step in climbing the unusual, somewhat weird, but rewarding ladder called “The Russian Language”. Every Russian word has a marked in bold or in red stressed vowel

About the author (me) I was born in the Soviet Union (Russia) and currently live in the USA. I’ve been teaching Russian to English speakers since 2012, as well as doing translations, podcast, voice-over, subtitles, and writing books & movie scripts. You can find my professional profile on Linkedin.com and read many recommendations from my clients: https://www.linkedin.com/in/larisagolubeva/ My email address is [email protected] I also offer Russian classes (online, in-person, or over the phone) and you can find more information here: https://russianlessons.livejournal.com/1597.html and/or you can email me. You can also buy ALL LESSONS (or a few ones) that I use for tutoring my

students. All lessons (993 documents & podcasts in 31 folders - see the photo) are in MS Word + PDF (so you can customize them for yourself), have explanations, common words & phrases, charts / tables, some have podcasts. All Russian words have their stressed vowels marked in red or in bold (black). Some lessons for very beginners have English phonetical transliteration. The price for ALL LESSONS is $300 (negotiable). You can find more info here: https://russianlessons.livejournal.com/19603.html And finally, I can also record (for a small fee) an English-Russian podcast (audio) of any words & phrases of your choice. Please, email me at [email protected] if you're interested. About my books You can see the list of my books here: https://russianlessons.livejournal.com/20164.html They are in PDF format (E-Books) and can be read on any electronic device, have pictures, marked stressed vowels, and electronic tables of contents. THE PRICES ARE NEGOTIABLE (I understand that everyone makes a different amount of money that differs a lot, especially from country to country). How to buy: 1. You can email me at [email protected] and let me know what book or books you'd like to buy. 2. To pay, please, go here: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme2/LarisaGolubeva here: https://venmo.com/larisa-golubeva or Zelle to [email protected] 3. Email me at [email protected] what books you've purchased, and I'll email them to you along with podcasts :)



About this book

This book consists of the first lessons that I give to those students who’re new to the Russian language.

Abbreviations: m – masculine f – feminine n – neuter pl – plural dim – diminutive form of a word alw pl – always plural (plural is the only form of a word) / - or Copyright © 2022, Larisa Golubeva. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or a database, and/or published in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the author.



Table of Contents Where did the Russian language come from? or Who is to blame? The Russian Alphabet And now, let’s read! The Introduction to the Russian Grammar Pronunciation rules



Where did the Russian language come from? or Who is to blame? The Russian alphabet (its old Slavic version) was created in 863 by two brothers-priests from the Byzantine Empire (Eastern part of the Roman Empire). Their names were Cyril and Methodius. This important event happened on the territory of ancient Macedonia (modern Bulgaria) where two brothers-priests arrived to spread Christianity. There, they translated their Bible from their native Greek to the old Slavic language. Cyril and Methodius were born in Thessaloniki (modern Greece), that at the time was a part of the Byzantine Empire. At that time, in the Byzantine Empire there were two official languages: Latin and Greek. Also, a few old Slavic tribes lived not far from where the brothers were born. This is why Cyril and Methodius spoke three languages: Latin, Greek and Old Slavic, and that’s the reason the Russian grammar has a lot in common with the Latin, Old Slavic and Greek grammar. In the old Slavic language, there were 49 letters and 7 cases (vs 33 letters and 6 cases (ONLY) in the modern Russian). In Russia, we have the monuments to Cyril and Methodius in Moscow and in many other Russian cities. This one is in Moscow



The first Russian grammar textbook was written in 1755 by a famous Russian scientist Mihail Lomonosov. The Russian language is the eighth most spoken language in the world by the total number of speakers. In first place is Chinese, then comes Spanish, followed by English, Hindi, Arabic, Portuguese, Bengali and Russian. People speak Russian in Russia and in 14 former Soviet Republics (now, independent countries): Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan. This is a map with The Soviet Union on it (in all countries covered in red

people speak Russian)

Also, Russian is the official language of seven countries: The Russian Federation (Russia), The Republic of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kirgizia, Uzbekistan, North Ossetia, The Republic of Abkhazia, and of some parts of Ukraine and Moldova. The Russian language has a lot in common with Ukrainian, Belorussian, Polish, Bulgarian, Slovenian, Czech and Serbian languages. On 6th of June, the birthday of one of the greatest Russian writers Alexander Pushkin, we celebrate the Day of the Russian language. BTW, the most complex languages to learn are

1. Chinese 2. Greek 3. Arabic 4. Icelandic 5. Japanese 6. Finnish 7. German 8. Norwegian 9. Danish 10. French Great news is that Russian is not there! Yay!



So, you can relax & learn the alphabet now.

The Russian Alphabet



Before you get scared… Being fluent in Russian and English, I want to tell you that… learning to read in Russian is SO MUCH easier than learning to read in English. Once you memorized what sound(s) each letter makes, reading in Russian will become a breeze, and you’ll be pronouncing correctly even the longest words ever. It’s because when reading in Russian, all you have to do is to pronounce each letter in a word. That’s it. And no worries. We (Russians) LOVE when foreigners speak our language, and always ready to help.

Here is the first glimpse at the alphabet of my language. Isn’t it beautiful?

NOTE: Some Russian words and phrases in the next chapters have their English transliteration (phonetics). Sadly, it’s not always possible to give the English transliteration of all Russian words because Russian has some sounds that English doesn’t have…





The Russian language - Русский язык Alphabet - Алфавит (Alfavit)

There are 33 letters in the Russian alphabet: 10 vowels, 21 consonants, and 2 special signs that don’t produce any sounds. The notes for the alphabet table are on the next page The vowels are printed in bold. In the first line, there are the Russian letters in print. In the second line (that you might find useless just now), there are the ways those letters are pronounced when we recite our alphabet. In the third line, you can see the English transliteration of the sound(s) each letter makes in a word. And in the fourth line, there’re some English words where the underlined letters represent the exact or almost exact sounds that the corresponding Russian letters make. And here’s the link to the audio where I first recite the alphabet, and then I pronounce the sound(s) each letter makes in a word: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WqxeNCYVexjazazdmkyJdVD-ToK6Bgq/view?usp=sharing Oh, one more important thing. Before we even start learning, you’ll have to try to remember that, unlike in English, Russian stressed vowels are never lengthened. Instead, they’re vocally “hit”. This is how we emphasize them. So, the Russian stressed vowels sound short and bold.

Here we go…

Get the audio ready: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WqxeNCYVexjazazdmkyJdVD-ToK6Bgq/view?usp=sharing Аа Бб Вв Гг а бэ вэ гэ a b v g father, but big boy victory good dog Дд Ее Ёё Жж дэ е ё жэ d ye / e yo / like in zh prefer day yes, net yogurt leisure in net the sound is much softer dew to soft n

Зз зэ

Ии и

z zoo

i pit

Лл эл l love

Мм эм m mother

write it with a sharp top this is how we write it





Йй Кк shortened и – ка “и” краткое y k joy cool cat it’s a consonant Нн Оо эн o n o no all, top

Пп пэ p top

Рр эр r Spanish R

Сс эс s seven sins

у u put

Фф эф f five

Хх ха h hello









the sound is much quieter than the English one, with less exhaling

Уу

Тт тэ t top hard T Цц цэ ts pizza ~ts



Чч чэ

Шш ша

Щщ ща

ch chicken

sh show



harder & quitter than in show

shsh she softer & louder than in she



ь soft sign – мягкий знак makes no sound

Ы ы ы ы these like in these when you’re

used for softening

Ээ э

ъ hard sign – твёрдый знак makes no sound used for breaking a word into two parts Юю ю

e

yu / soft u

and, hello

you, few





lengthening it Яя я ya / soft a yah means I

consonants









NOTES: The sounds English has, but Russian doesn’t: R, W, TH, NG. The sounds Russian has, but English doesn’t: Р (the same as Spanish / Italian R), a vowel Ы, and some soft consonants that precede the soft sign ь. The vowel Ы is the hardest sound for foreigners to pronounce, but ALL people I used to teach sooner or later get it. Try to lengthen a word these and you’ll understand what this vowel sounds like. And don’t worry if you can’t make it now. A good & common word for practicing it will be cheese – сыр. Also, there’s another Russian sound – Р that many English speakers struggle with in the beginning. It’s the same sound that the Spanish or Italian letter R corresponds to.

SOOOOO, Let’s write your first & last name. Here is mine: L a r i s a G o l u b e v a Л а р и с а Г о л у б е в а

And now, let’s read! In the table on the next page, you’ll find the words that will help you memorize the Russian letters & their sounds. It’s because the English words in the table sound almost the same as their Russian equivalents. And before you start reading, I’d like to disclose… The #1 SECRET of the Russian pronunciation: For a very few exceptions, unstressed “o” always reads like “a”. Also, we don’t have any articles like “a”, “an”, or “the”. Nope. Yay! As for the Russian stressed vowels, we don't lengthen them. Instead, we vocally emphasize them. And 99.9% of the Russian words have only one stressed vowel. About the different Russian accents: Russian people, who were born and raised in Russia, don’t have different accents. But most people from Ukraine or other former countries of the Soviet Union do have accents when they speak Russian. We can start reading now �� Please, pay attention to the stressed vowels in Russian words as the stress placements might be different in English and Russian similar sounded words from the table.

А м е р и к а К а л и ф о р н и я A m e r i c a C a l i f o r n i a С а н Ф р а н ц и с к Л о с А н д ж е л е с о S a n F r a n c i s c o L o s A n g e l e s

Н ь ю Й о р к N e w Y o r k Л а с В е г а с

В а ш и н г т о н W a sh i n g t o n Р и о Д е Ж а н е й р о L a s V e g a s R i o D e J a n e i r o Ф и л а д е л ь ф и я Ф л о р и д а Ph i l a d e l ph i a F l o r i d a К а н а д а М е к с и к а C a n a d a M e x i c o Ч и к а г о А ф р и к а Ch i c a g o A f r i c a О р е г о н Н е в а д а O r e g o n N e v a d a Ю т а ж и р а ф U t ah g i r a ff e к о м п ь ю т е р т е л е ф о н c o m p u t e r t e l e ph o ne (phone) и н т е р н е т п р е з и д е н т i n t e r n e t p r e s i d e n t

F a c e b oo k Ф э й с б у к м е т р о m e t r o с п о р т s p o r t б а с к е т б о л b a s k e t b a ll ф е с т и в а ль f e s t i v a l т е а т р th e a t re Ю т у б You t u be ф и ль м f i l m (movie) с у п е р м а р к е т s u p e r m a r k e t р е с т о р а н

T w i t t e r Т в и т т е р т а кс и t a x i ф у т б о л f oo t b a ll п а р к p a r k к о н ц е р т c o n c e r t б а л е т b a ll e t в и д е о v i d e o и м э й л e m a i l б а н к b a n k с у п

r e s t au r a n t с а л а т s a l a d к а ф е c a f e г а м б у р г е р h a m b u r g e r п и ц ц е р и я p i z z e r i a к о к а к о л а c o c a c o l a ф р э н ч ф р а й с F r e n ch f r i e s б а р b a r с у в е н и р s ou v e n i r с т о п s t o p

s ou p с э н д в и ч s a n d w i ch к о ф е c o ff ee ч и з б у р г е р ch ee se b u r g e r п и ц ц а p i z z a п е п с и p e p s i ш о к о л а д ch o c o l a te д о л л а р d o l l a r г а р а ж g a r a g e R u ss i a Р о сс и я





Congratulation! You’ve just completed your first reading exercise! My recommendation is

WIPE OFF THE SWEAT & HAVE A BREAK Maybe some пицца & кока кола? Or just кофе & Фейсбук. What you can also do is to try writing in Russian some of the words from the table, and checking whether or not you memorized them correctly. And here comes the next chapter

The Introduction to the Russian Grammar

The Sad Truth: Many things can’t be translated literally from English into Russian and vise versa. In many cases, a phrase or a sentence will have to be rephrased. Note: In this lesson and all other lessons: / - means ”or”; ~ - means that the translation is approximate There are no articles (a / the) in the Russian language. The personal pronoun "I - я" and days of the week, months, titles, languages, nationalities, are written in lower case (not capitalized) unless they’re the first words in a sentence. Russians - русские Russian language - русский язык English language - английский язык "You" has two forms: 1. singular & informal - Ты - is used only when talking informally to one person (a friend, a colleague with whom you’re informal, a close relative, a child). In all other cases the 2nd form is used.

2. plural or formal - Вы - is used when talking formally or informally to more than one person, or when talking formally to any number of people (one or more). The verb to Be in the Present Tense has a limited use and is not present in most cases: I am Larisa - Я Лариса You are ___________ - Ты / Вы ________________ "It, It is, This, This is, These, These are" are translated as Это. And “That, That is” is То. Это and то are used when referring to any object(s) (animate, inanimate, abstract) or situation(s). It's good - Это хорошо This is me (on the photo) - Это я In the Russian grammar, there are two types of questions: simple and complex. Simple questions are those that don’t have question words or interrogatives, such as What? When? How?, Why? etc. Is this interesting? (is a simple question) The complex questions are those that have the question words (interrogatives). What can be interesting here? (is a complex question)

An affirmative sentence (a statement) can be changed into a simple question (a question without a question word or interrogative) only by changing the intonation. You don’t have to follow the special word order for that. The intonation in simple questions has to go up by the end of the question. Otherwise, Russians won't realize that it's a question (and you will never get a reply). Simply put, when asking a simple question, try to sound as mean as you can, and you’ll get it right. Let’s compare: It’s true. - Это правда. (pravda) vs Is this true? - Это правда? This is tasty / delicious. - Это вкусно. (fkusna) vs Does it taste good? = Is this tasty? - Это вкусно? Word order in a sentence can be changed depending on what matters most to a speaker. We’ll be learning usual, everyday language that has more or less fixed word order. But when someone wants to emphasize a certain word, he/she places this word in the very end of a sentence or somewhere else where it wouldn’t normally be, and this word automatically becomes emphasized because of its unusual location. Я русская – I’m Russian (female) vs Русская я!! – I’m Russian!! Years, months, days of the week, time of the day and indication of time (time expressions) are placed in the beginning or almost in the beginning

of a sentence in most cases. I’m at home now = I’m now at home - Я сейчас дома Now, I’m at home - Сейчас я дома Note: If you want to stress at home - дома, you can also say: I’m at home now Я дома сейчас Negations are formed by placing "Не - Not, Don't" before a negating word: bad - плохо & not bad - неплохо I understand - Я понимаю - ya panimayu & I don't understand - Я не понимаю - ya nepanimayu Every noun has a gender: masculine - m, feminine - n or neuter - n, and each gender has a certain type of endings. table - стол (masculine – ends on a consonant) pen, handle, a cute hand - ручка (feminine – ends on a vowel) word - слово (neuter – ends on o) Because nouns have genders, so do many types of the pronouns and adjectives. To describe a masculine object, masculine forms of pronouns and adjectives are used. To describe a feminine object, feminine forms of pronouns and adjectives are

used, and for a neuter object you’ll have to use the neuter ones. my new house - мой новый дом (masculine / m) - singular form endings: consonant, й, ь my new car - моя новая машина (feminine / f) - singular form endings: a, я, ь my new dish - моё новое блюдо (neuter / n) - singular form endings: o, e, я If a word is in its plural form, it takes the plural forms of pronouns and adjectives: my new friends - мои новые друзья (plural / pl) - most common endings are а, я, и, ы Because all objects (all nouns) have genders, every singular animate and inanimate object is referred to as He - Он, She - Она, or Neuter - Оно (depending on a gender of this object), or They - Они (if there are more than one object): This is a table - Это стол (стол is a masculine noun and referred to as he - он) It's new = He is new - Он новый So, Russian pronouns, nouns, adjectives and numbers decline. This means, they change their endings depending on their gender (masculine, feminine or neuter), number (singular or plural form) and case. Russian nouns, pronouns, adjectives, numbers, and particles (это & то) go through

THE CASES. There are six of them in Russian.

Cases are grammatical categories of nouns, pronouns, adjectives, numbers, and particles (это & то) that marked by inflection (changing in words’ endings) and that indicate the relation of a noun, pronoun, adjective, number, and particles to other words in a phrase or a sentence. Simply put: Depending on the situation, described in a phrase or a sentence, nouns, pronouns, adjectives, numbers, and particles (это & то) will be in certain cases and will have certain types of endings that are typical for each case. Comforting Note: You don’t have to learn the endings of all cases and all their usage. In Russian school, we find out that we have cases only in 4th grade. We speak without even thinking or realizing that we have them. These are some examples of what cases are. (I underlined the nouns’ endings. Look how they change in each case) Nominative Case (NC / Nom) This is a car - Это машина I have a car - У меня есть машина Genitive Case (GC / Gen) I’m by the car - Я у машины I don’t have a car - У меня нет машины Dative Case (DC / Dat) I’m walking to the car - Я иду к машине (indirect object in English) Accusative Case (AC / Accus) I bought a car - Я купил(а) машину (direct object in English) Instrumental Case (IC / Instr) I often use a car - Я часто пользуюсь машиной

Prepositional Case (PC / Prep) I’m in the car - Я в машинe What you see in dictionaries, when you look up a noun, pronoun, adjective or a number, is the singular form of a word in the Nominative Case. The Nominative (Dictionary) Case only names objects and has quite a limited use. It’s also used in to Have Construction, when you say I have + a noun in the Nominative case. If it’s an adjective or a certain type of pronouns, a word in a dictionary will be in its singular masculine form. Also, in a phrase or a sentence, a noun or a pronoun determines the gender (masculine, feminine or neuter), number (singular or plural form) and case of connected to this noun adjectives, pronouns, particles (это & то) and numbers. In other words, they all agree in gender, number and case. And now, brace yourself… Let’s have a look at the declension of my favorite ( or beloved) brother, sister, dish and things (or stuff). masculine feminine neuter plural my beloved my beloved my favorite dish my favorite brother sister things NC мой любимый моя любимая моё любимое мои любимые

брат GC моего любимого брата DC моему любимому брату AC моего любимого брата IC моим любимым братом PC моём любимом брате

сестра

блюдо

вещи моей любимой моего любимого моих любимых сестры блюда вещей моей любимой моему моим сестре любимому любимым блюду вещам мою любимую моё любимое мои любимые сестру блюдо вещи моей любимой моим любимым моими сестрой блюдом любимыми вещами моей любимой моём любимом моих любимых сестре блюде вещах

In each case, words can be used with or without prepositions. Each preposition governs a certain case, or a few cases. In one sentence, there can be many different cases. Adverbs, verbs, prepositions and interjections are not influenced by cases. �� Verbs change their forms (endings) depending on a pronoun or noun they are connected to (their gender & number: singular or plural form), and the verbs' present, past or future tense. We also have the imperfective and perfective types of verbs that are used for expressing unfinished or finished actions.

I understand – Я понимаю We understand – Мы понимаем I understood – for a male: Я понял / for a female: Я поняла We understood – Мы поняли Do you understand? – Ты понимаешь? (informal & to one person) / Вы понимаете? (formal / plural) I don’t understand – … Adverbs never change their forms, and majority of them end on "o". They can be used on their own or combined with verbs and/or the nouns and pronouns in the Genitive or the Dative Case. NOTE: The adverbs CAN NOT be combined with the pronouns and nouns in the Nominative (Dictionary) Case. This means, if you want to say I’m good (I’m OK), you’ll have to use the adjective good, but not the adverb good. (This is a very common mistake). Some examples of adverbs: Good, OK, Well, Alright – Хорошо (harasho) Right, Correct – Правильно (pravil’na) Is this correct? – Это хорошо? (don’t forget to sound mean) It’s incorrect. – Это неправильно. It’s not good. – …

Excellent! (equivalent of Great! / Perfect!) - Отлично! (atlichna!) ��

HOPE YOU’RE NOT TERRIFIED, BUT CHALLENGED AND CURIOUS… YOU CAN DO IT. AND IT’S FUN & EMPOWERING. Tolstoy, Dostoyevskiy, Chehov and other famous Russian writers + your Russian friends are waiting for you…



Pronunciation rules

Although I mentioned that reading in Russian is a breeze (provided you remember what sounds each letter makes), we have quite a few pronunciation rules. We (Russians) never cover these rules at school, and I put them together specifically for recklessly brave foreigners who learn Russian. At a glance, it might seem like a lot, but believe me, you don’t even need most of them. All you have to do is to learn the alphabet and always keep in mind the rule #1 (about the unstressed O). Also, in this lesson you’ll see some English transliteration after some Russian words. There’s no transliteration for the letter ы, so whenever it comes around in transliterations, I just type ы. The apostrophe after a consonant indicates that this consonant is soft. Russian stressed vowels In Russian, to make a vowel stressed, we don't lengthen it. Instead, we vocally emphasize it. The Russian word "grammatical stress" comes from a word "a hit".

VOWELS Rule #1. When not stressed, O is pronounced like A : it / this / these - это - eta good, OK, well, alright - хорошо - harasho (adverb) excellent - отлично - atlichna (adverb) thank you - спасибо - spasiba it's time (to go, to do something) - пора - para bye - пока - paka Cан Франциско - San Frantsiska Moscow - Москва - Maskva Russia - Россия - Rassiya E always keeps its alphabetical sound - Ye: - in the beginning of a word: Europe - Европа - Yevropa - after a vowel: Russians (males, females, or both) - русские - russkiye E sounds almost like in "bet" in all other cases: America - Америка

hi - привет - privet no - нет - net where at - где - gde here - здесь - zdes' all (objects) - все - fse matter, ~thing, affair, case, ~business - делo - dela phone - телефон - telifon TV - телевизор - telivizar Ё is always stressed and it keeps its alphabetical sound - Yo in the beginning of a word or after a vowel: Christmas tree, fur-tree - ёлка - yolka Ё reads like a soft O in the middle and in the end of a word: all, everything (in general & used with это); that’s it, that's all - всё - fsё Ю keeps its alphabetical sound - Yu in the beginning of a word: humor - юмор - yumar Ю sounds like а soft У in the middle or in the end: I love you - Я тебя люблю - Ya tibя lюblю

Я - Ya means I and it's not capitalized. Stressed Я keeps its alphabetical sound Ya in the beginning of a word: understood (got it), clear - ясно - yasna apple - яблоко - yablaka Stressed Я is pronounced like soft A in the middle of a word and after a consonant: five - пять - p'яt' again - опять - ap'яt' Unstressed Я keeps its alphabetical sound Ya in the end of a word and after a vowel: surname, last name, family name - фамилия - famil'ya Asia - Азия - Aziya Unstressed Я sounds like soft A in the end, after a consonant: time - время - vremя name - имя - imя for me - для меня - dlя minя Unstressed Я is pronounced like long Й - Yi when in the beginning of a word: language, tongue - язык - yizыk

The Russian language - русский язык - ruskiy yizыk Unstressed Я sounds like И when it’s between the consonants: ten - десять - desit' Unstressed A sounds like И, in the syllable ЧА: watch, watches, clock(s), hours (always plural) - часы - chisы After Ж, Ш and Ц: - stressed E sounds like Э: percent - процент - pratsent - unstressed E sounds like Ы: price - цена - tsыna - Ё sounds like O and is always stressed: (he) walked, was walking - шёл - shol - И sounds like Ы: car, machine - машина - mashыna police - полиция - palitsыya In combinations of two vowels, you have to read each vowel separately the way they’re pronounced in the alphabet. It’s especially common, when it comes to endings.

information - информация - infarmatsiya - iya new – новый (m) - ыy, новая (f) - aya, новое (n) - oye, новые (pl) - ыye CONSONANTS There are voiced and devoiced consonants: Voiced: Б, В, Г, Д, Ж, З, Л, М, Н, Р Devoiced: К, П, С, Т, Ф, Х, Ц, Ч, Ш, Щ Some of them are counterparts. They are: Б - П В - Ф Г - К Д - Т Ж - Ш З - С These two groups influence each other when letters from different groups stay close to one another. In this case voiced ones are pronounced like devoiced and vice versa. Voiced consonants Б, В, Г, Д, Ж, З are pronounced like their devoiced counterparts П, Ф, К, Т, Ш, С: - in the end of a word

Б like П : club - клуб - klup В like Ф : males’ family names Иванов - Ivanof, Смирнов - Smirnof Г like K: friend - друг - druk pie - пирог - pirok snow - снег - snek Д like T: entrance - вход - fhot exit - выход - vыhat lunch - обед - abet Ж like Ш: garage - гараж - garash floor, story - этаж - etash husband - муж - mush З like С: (one) time, once - раз - ras Combo: Ж & Ш, Д & Т: rain - дождь - dosht’ - when followed by devoiced consonants К, П, С, Т, Ф, Х, Ц, Ч, Ш, Щ breakfast - завтрак - zaftrak

tomorrow - завтра - zaftra yesterday - вчера - fchira all (objects) - все - fse all, everything (in general & used with это) - всё - fsё vodka - водка - votka (I don’t drink, btw.) Devoiced consonants К, П, С, Т, Ф, Ш are pronounced like their voiced counterparts Г, Б, З, Д, В, Ж when followed by the voiced consonants Б, Г, Д, Ж, З (B is left out) to do, to make - cделать - zdеlat' railway station - вокзал - vagzal One exception is the letter B, that doesn't influence the preceding consonant: light - свет - svet Some Russian words contain double voiced consonants мм, нн, pp and вв. Double voiced consonants are pronounced as double voiced consonants (they’re lengthened): program, tv / radio show, a channel - программа - pragramma Ana - Анна - Anna Г is pronounced like B in the syllables ЕГО and ОГО

today - сегодня - sivodn'a his, him - его - yevo nothing; no worries or so-so (in replies) - ничего - nichivo Some exceptions: many, a lot - много - mnoga not many, not a lot, a little - немного - nimnoga expensive (adverb) - дорого - doraga weather - погода - pagoda wow! - ого! - ogo! Г is pronounced like Х when followed by K and in god: easy (adverb) - легко - lihko god - бог - boh Ч sounds like Ш in: of course - конечно - kaneshna what, that - что - shto so that, for the purpose of, to - чтобы - shtobы ЗЧ reads like the double Щ: narrator - расcказчик - raskashshik

ЖЧ the double Щ: man - мужчина - mushshina СЧ the double Щ: happiness - cчастье - shshast'ye bill, count, score - счёт - shshёt ЗЖ the double Ж: a bit later - попозже - papozhzhe The Hard Sign - ъ and The Soft Sign - ь --- Твёрдый знак - ъ и Мягкий знак - ь Russian doesn't have words that begin with the soft sign - ь, hard sign - ъ, or the vowel ы. The hard and soft signs (ъ and ь) don't produce any sounds. They are used to influence the pronunciation of other letters. The HARD SIGN - ъ - Твёрдый знак - ъ separates a consonant from a vowel, so a consonant and a vowel are pronounced separately, and a vowel keeps its original alphabetic sound. It basically breaks a word into two words. The hard sign is quite rare.

подъезд - pad-yest - an entrance area of a building including a staircase The SOFT SIGN - ь - Мягкий знак - ь makes a preceding consonant sound soft. In phonetics, to indicate a soft consonant an apostrophe sign ‘ is used after a consonant. The soft sign is very common. б - бь в - вь д - дь з - зь л - ль м - мь н - нь п - пь р - рь с - сь т - ть ф - фь very - очень - ochen' here - здесь - zdes' correct (adverb) - правильно - pravil’na further, ~moving on - дальше - dal’she a boy - мальчик - mal’chik salt - cоль - sol' only - только - tol'ka how much / how many - сколько - skol'ka love - любовь - l'юbof' shampoo - шампунь - shampun' normal, OK - нормально - narmal’na (adverb)

Note: the ending ть is extremely common in the end of Russian infinitives. to eat - есть - yest' / кушать - kushat' (more delicate & nicer) to drink - пить - pit' Note: Also, есть translates as “there is” or “there are” in the present tense. The soft sign - ь doesn't change the pronunciation of "the hissing" consonants Ч, Ш: night - ночь - noch Understand? (singular, informal) - Понимаешь? - panimayesh? When following a consonant and before a vowel, the soft sign - ь also separates a consonant from a vowel, along with making this consonant softer. In this case, the following vowel keeps its alphabetical sound. family - cемья - sim'ya computer - компьютер - kamp'yuter happiness - счастье - shshast'ye I (don't) drink - я (не) пью - ya (ni) p'yu In the end of many verbs, the syllables тся and ться are pronounced like ца - tsa: to like - нравиться - nravitsa to meet with someone; to date - встречаться - fstrichatsa

Pronunciation of Prepositions and the Negating Particle Нe - Not, Don't There is no pausing between a preposition & a following word, and between a negating particle не - not, don't and a following word. Also, the vowels in the Russian prepositions are never stressed. in the car - в машине - vmashыne at / in a class - на уроке - nauroke (lesson, class - урок) at work - на работе - narabote in the office - в офисе - vofise I don't understand - я не понимаю - ya nipanimayu I don't know - я не знаю - ya niznayu for you (singular, informal) - для тебя - dlяtib'я for you (plural or formal) - для вас - dlяvas I’m in the car. – Я в машине. I’m at work. – Я на работе. Are you at work? – Ты на работе? / Вы на работе? (don’t forget to sound mean. It’s a simple question. As well as the next one.) Are you in the office? – Ты в офисе? / Вы в офисе? This is for you. – Это для тебя. / Это для вас. It’s in the car. – Это в машине.

It’s in the office. – Это в офисе. The preposition B (in, at, inside, into, to) sounds like Ф when a following word begins with one of the devoiced consonants: К, П, С, Т, Ф, Х, Ц, Ч, Ш, Щ in a cafe - в кафе - fkafe in a movie theater / at / to the movies - в кино - fkino in a park - в парке - fparke in the center - в центре - ftsentre in the USA - в США - fseshea в Сан Франциско - fsanfrantsiska I’m in the USA. – Я - в США. – ya fseshea The preposition K (to, toward, to someone's place) sounds like Г, and the preposition C (with, off) sounds like З when a following word begins with one of the voiced consonants: Б, Г, Д, Ж, З to a friend, to a friend’s place - к другу - gdrugu I’m (going) to a friend’s place. – Я - к другу. - ya kdrugu to friends, to friends’ place - к друзьям - gdruz’yam with a friend - с другом - zdrugam I’m with a friend. – Я с другом. – ya sdrugam with friends - с друзьями - zdruz'yami

I’m with friends. – Я с друзьями. – ya sdruz’yami Because the Russian prepositions are never stressed, the letter "o" in all prepositions sounds like "a". It happens only when a preposition is used with a word or in a phrase or a sentence. about Russia - о России - arassii goodbye - до свидания - dasvidan’ya Till the meeting! (one of the goodbyes) - До встречи! – dafstrechi Here comes a checking point… Let’s see if you answer the following question correctly… There are just a very few words that begin with the consonant Й, and now you’ll have to guess the meaning of one of them. What is йогурт? Hope you guessed that it was yogurt… And here’s a reading exercise you can do right now. All Russian words in the table below sound similar to their English ones.

A m e r i c a C a l i f o r n i a S a n F r a n c i s c o L o s A n g e l e s Н ь ю Й о р к В а ш и н г т о н L a s V e g a s R i o D e J a n e i r

Ф и л а д е л ь ф и я C a n a d a Ч и к а г о M e x i c o О р е г о н U t ah к о м п ь ю т е р i n t e r n e t м е т р о s p o r t б а с к е т б о л f e s t i v a l Ю т ю б f i l m (movie) с у п е р м а р к е т r e s t au r a n t с а л а т c a f e г а м б у р г е р p i z z e r i a к о к а к о л а F r e n ch f r i e s б а р v o d k a с у в е н и р г а р а ж

o Ф л о р и д а M i a m i А ф р и к а A r i z o n a Н е в а д а C o l o r a d o т е л е ф о н T w i t t e r т а кс и f oo t b a ll п а р к c o n c e r t в и д е о e m a i l б а н к s ou p с э н д в и ч c o ff ee ч и з б у р г е р p i z z a п е п с и ш о к о л а д а л к о г о ль d o l l a r Ф э й с б у к с т о п



This is it for now. Bet, you wanna read in Russian, right?



Well, go ahead – buy my books and read then.

And if you make it till the end of this book, you are МОЛОДЕЦ! *Молодец - Maladets is someone who does a good job or does something good.