Zdrastvuite, Ya Svetlana! Welcome to Russianpod101.com’s Алфавит Made Easy! |
The fastest, easiest, and most fun way to learn the Russian Cyrillic alphabet: the Алфавит! |
You're almost there! Today we will learn two of the remaining six letters! Last time we learned two more Strangers, “Ы” and “Ю”. Do you remember how to read and write them? I hope you're ready to move on! |
In this lesson we’ll learn two more “Strangers” and some more sentences for your notebook! |
Our first Stranger is “Ё” and it probably looks familiar, just like our false friend “E”! “Ё” and “E” are closely related, and they are usually even written in the same way. For the printed version, the lower and uppercase versions are different just like “E” in English. |
Here’s the uppercase. |
Ё (print, upper) |
And the lowercase. |
Ё (print, lower) |
The cursive version of uppercase Ё looks like this. It should look familiar. The only difference is the two dots on top. You might notice that in everyday writing, some Russians don't dot their “Ё”s, but we are going to learn it the correct way. Lowercase Ё looks the same as “E” but with dots. This letter shouldn’t be much of a challenge. |
Now let’s write them. |
Ё (cursive, upper) |
And the lowercase. |
Ё (cursive, lower) |
The second letter we'll learn in this lesson may be the most difficult to write in the entire Russian alphabet: Ж. Luckily, the sound is quite easy. Ж makes a “zhe” sound much like in “treasure”. While it isn't very common in English, this sound is very frequently used in Russian. It looks quite distinctive, like a star, so it shouldn't be hard to remember. The lowercase version is just smaller! |
Here’s how to write the printed versions. |
Ж (print, upper) |
And the lowercase. |
Ж (print, lower) |
"Ж” is probably easier to say than to write, and it looks slightly different than the printed version. It's written in three strokes, with a sharp up and down motion on the second stroke. The last stroke connects easily to the next letter. |
The lowercase looks exactly the same except for size. It can be difficult to master this letter, but don't give up! |
Ж (cursive, upper) |
And the lowercase. |
Ж (cursive, lower) |
That's it for new letters! Now we'll focus on some new sentences! |
First up is the title of a famous Soviet animated film. |
[short pause] We read this as “Ёжик в Тумане.” “Ёжик” means “Hedgehog” and “в Тумане” means “in the fog”. This is the title of a classic Russian animated short that was based on an old folktale. |
Ёжик в Тумане (cursive) |
Let's learn one more sentence - this one introduces a verb that you'll use very often. Try saying the sentence out loud. [short pause] |
We read this phrase as “Она живёт в Москве.”. As we already know, “Она” means “she.” “живёт” is a new word that means “lives,” and ”в Москве” means “in Moscow.” You may have noticed that “в” by itself is a very important preposition in Russian. It means both “to” and “in” in many situations. |
Она живёт в Москве. (cursive) |
That’s it for this lesson. In the next lesson, we'll introduce a few more Strangers. See you in the next Алфавит Made Easy lesson! |
Пока Пока |
Comments
HideWhat Russian words can you write using Ё or Ж?
Hello Arturo,
thank you for your questions and comments!👍
I think the reply was that [в] sound changes to [ф] in the phrase "в тумане" (в is changed after unvoiced "т").
The rule of changing the sound works even when в is not a part of the word (like в Петербурге, в тумане, etc.)
You can find the rule and examples here:
https://www.russianpod101.com/lesson/pronunciation-4-basic-russian-pronunciation-rules/?lp=37
В Москве is pronounced as [v maskve], there is no change in v sound.
Let us know if you have any questions!
Kind Regards,
Evgeniia
Team RussianPod101.com
I feel that the "в" in "Она живёт в Москве" is pronounced by the teacher in the video in a way that is not easily heard by my ears...it rather seems like a little "stop movement" in the lips between "живёт" and "Москве".
And "жи in живёт" is quite interesting because, the "и" sounds like if there were no vowel and just the consonant "ж". Like in 只 in Chinese.
I'll be looking forward for your reply. Thank you very much indeed.
Hi again, it's me ARTURO ^^
I have one question... and it is about the second example.
It says: Она живёт в Москве.
According to: https://www.russianpod101.com/lesson/pronunciation-4-basic-russian-pronunciation-rules/?lp=37 ,
If "в" (which is a voiced consonant) is followed by an "unvoiced consonant", then "в" can be pronounced like "ф". This part I fully understand it, that is why I could make sense of the "ф" sound of "в" you made when pronouncing "В Петербурге" in a previous lesson.
BUT, in this case, the "М" of "Москве" is a voiced consonant, just like "в", and there is apparently no rule explained about a change of pronunciation when two voiced consonants are together, so why have you replied in one comment that this "в" can be changed into "ф" sound in this case? Or could it be that there is an extra rule for "в" when standing alone in the sentence (meaning "to/in")?
I'm quite intrigued about your reply ^^ Thank you in advance.
Hello Irene,
I am so sorry to hear about it!
It must be something on your side, I've just checked it and it works fine.
Kind Regards,
Evgeniia
Team RussianPod101.com
I can' t open the video, there's this sort of grey screen instead of the video.
Idk why this happens but it's happening with every video I try to watch
lower case E (e) is not correct in your video It should appear as I typed it E cap e lower case.
Hello ками,
Russian nouns have 6 cases and the ending of each noun changes depending on a case.
Москвy is Accusative case.
Elena
Team RussianPod101.com
How come Moscow can sometimes be written as Москве or Москвy?
Hello Dahee,
The pronunciation will be not [в] but [ф].
Elena
Team RussianPod101.com
Ё
In Ёжик в тумане, do you make sound of в?
Hello Bob Feldherr,
Could you please specify your question? Do you mean letter 'в'?
Thank you,
Elena
Team RussianPod101.com
so is the B always silent when used by itself?
Hello Peter,
Thank you for posting!
Elena
Team RussianPod101.com
Ж looks like the Chinese word '米',which means rice in Chinese.
Hello Harvey,
It will be: Харви [Kharvi] :smile:
Elena
Team RussianPod101.com
Hi, my name is Harvey , how will it translate to Russian?Thanks!:smile:
Hello Ryan,
Thank you for your comment.
Elena
Team RussianPod101.com
Ж looks a bit like m, when Ж is written in cursive. So it isnt too difficult!
Hi everyone,
We'll be publishing next lesson at the end of this month so stay tuned!
And let us know if you have any questions or difficulties with any Russian letter so far!
We'll be happy to help you!
Paloma
Team RussianPod101.com