I learned the Russian alphabet in the beginning of 2015. Even though the letters looked a bit weird, it was okay to learn them. One of my first questions before learning was: “how many letters are there in the Russian alphabet?”
How many letters are there in the Russian alphabet?
The Russian alphabet (or as the Russians prefer to call it: the Cyrillic alphabet) has 33 letters.
Now, that’s the number of characters there are.
If you look closely, there are actually 2 characters that DO NOT have a sound.
So the Russian alphabet has 33 letters, among which 2 are without sound.
How to pronounce the Russian alphabet?
Here’s an overview of how to pronounce the Russian alphabet:
| Cyrillic | English pronunciation | Transliteration | Example |
| А а | father | a | мама, карта |
| Б б | bet | b | банк |
| В в | van | v | вокзал, вот |
| Г г | go | g | гараж, готов |
| Д д | dad | d | дом, код |
| Е е | yes | ye, je, e | есть, где |
| Ё ё | beyond | yo, jo, ë | ёлка, всё |
| Ж ж | pleasure | zh, ž | можно, муж |
| З з | zero | z | здесь, занят |
| И и | police | i | и, или |
| Й й | yet | y, i, j | большой |
| К к | king | k | как, король |
| Л л | lamp | l | лампа, далеко |
| М м | milk | m | Москва, там |
| Н н | nice | n | нет, но |
| О о | port (stressed) again (unstressed) | o | он, она |
| П п | please | p | президент |
| Р р | rolled ‘r’ | r | Россия, работа |
| С с | sit | s | спасибо |
| Т т | team | t | это, так |
| У у | boot | u | по-русски, у |
| Ф ф | fun | f | кофе |
| Х х | Scottish ‘loch’ | kh, h | хлеб, хорошо |
| Ц ц | bits | ts | цирк |
| Ч ч | chair | ch, č | чек |
| Ш ш | ship | sh | ваш, наш |
| Щ щ | pushchair | shch, sch, šč | борщ, ещё |
| Ъ ъ | hard sign | ʺ | съел |
| Ы ы | resembles i in bit | y | вы, ты |
| Ь ь | soft sign | ‘ | думать, большой |
| Э э | get | e, è | это |
| Ю ю | you | yu, ju | знаю, говорю |
| Я я | yard | ya, ja | моя, время |
What should you do next?
Learning Russian does NOT need to be difficult. All you need is a solid plan that helps you improve the following things daily:
- vocabulary
- grammar
- listening skills
- speaking skills
That's ALL you need. If you can do this for a couple of weeks, you’ll already be making great progress in your Russian skills.
And the best part? If you improve a little bit every day, soon these practices will become daily habits.
And then you will start making progress on autopilot.
This means that learning Russian is now a part of your daily routine. So you won’t even need discipline anymore to get yourself to practice.
If you like the idea of this, but don’t know where to start, go here for more information.