Learn how to accents
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| 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! |
| In this lesson, we'll be learning the system of accents in the Russian language and learn how it affects word stress and the pronunciation of some letters. As we have gone through the series, I have told you from time to time that certain letters aren't always pronounced the same way. Well, in this lesson we'll clarify why and when that is. |
| In fact, writing with accents in Russian makes reading it much easier. So why did we wait until the end of the series to introduce it? Because unfortunately, it isn't used outside of textbooks and is really just a teaching and learning aid. |
| Every word in Russian has a stressed syllable. In English, even knowing which syllable has stress doesn't always help you pronounce the word correctly because so many spellings are irregular. |
| Russian, on the other hand, is much more phonetic, so knowing the letter combination and which syllable is stressed will help you read the word correctly 99% of the time. |
| Let's think back to those letters which have multiple pronunciations. There are only two: “O”, and “E” . So for example, “O” can be read as “O” or “ah”, but how do we know when? Well, it depends on whether or not they are the stressed vowel in the word. When “O”, and “E” are stressed, they sound normal. So let’s see a simple case. |
| We denote stressed syllables by writing a “знак ударения” - an accent mark - above the stressed vowel, but if a word is only one syllable there's only one place for the stress to go. For example: |
| “он” |
| “есть” |
| So you know it's one syllable, and you know that when “O”, and “E” are stressed they sound normal, so you can predict exactly how to pronounce these words. |
| Let's look at a few more examples where there is more than one syllable but the “O”, or “E” is still stressed. |
| “Ольга" |
| “форель” |
| As you can hear, and see from the accent marks, the “О” in “Ольга,” and the “е” in “форель,” are the stressed vowels. But what about when they are UNstressed? Well, let's find out! |
| “O” is pretty easy. When it is unstressed it sounds like the letter “A”. So, here's a word that has both stressed and unstressed “O”s: |
| хорошо |
| Here we see that there are 3 “O”s, but only one is stressed, so it's easy to hear how the other 2 “O”s sound like “ah”. You probably remember this word means “good” or “well.” |
| хорошо |
| “E” is a little more complicated, but it usually sounds like a very short “ih”. |
| Here's a word with an unstressed “E”: |
| Бу́дет |
| “Бу́дет” means “will be”. Because it isn't stressed, the “E” is pronounced as “ih”. Can you hear it? |
| Бу́дет |
| Ok, you've practiced on words but now let's see a whole sentence. |
| [pause] I'm not going to read it right away. Try and figure out how it's pronounced by yourself. [slightly longer pause] It's read as “Два медве́дя в одно́й берло́ге не живу́т.” and means “Two bears won't live in the same den,” meaning something like “This town is too small for the both of us.” |
| Два медве́дя в одно́й берло́ге не живу́т. |
| Now it's time for Svetlana’s insights. |
| Accent marks are a great way to learn how to pronounce a word. But try not to depend on them too much, and remember that they are just an educational tool - not something you will experience in real life. Good luck! |
| In the next lesson, we'll compare how Russian punctuation differs from English punctuation and learn some fun idioms along the way! See you in the next Алфавит Made Easy lesson! |
| Пока Пока |
Comments
HidePlease write your favorite Russian saying here!
Hello Arun,
thank you for your question!👍
Yes, it can be pronounced as "ye" (Евро - Yevro, его - yego), as "i" (земля - "zimlya") and as "eh" (кофе - kofe, место - mesto).
Let us know if you have any questions!
Kind Regards,
Evgeniia
Team RussianPod101.com
Hello Evgeniia,
Many thanks for your reply! So would it be correct to say that there are three ways of pronouncing the 'e': it makes the 'yeh' sound when stressed (i.e. at the beginning of a word, or after a vowel, soft or hard sign), and when unstressed it makes either an 'eh' sound (as in 'red') or an 'i' sound (as in 'ink')?
Thanks
Arun
Hello Arun,
I think Svetlana means that the unstressed letter 'e' can be pronounced as "i". For example:
земля (land, pronounced "zimlya"), неделя (week, pronounced "nidelya"), etc.
I think you are interested in why the stressed "e" is pronounced slightly different.
When it is at the beginning of a word, or after a vowel, soft or hard sign, it's pronounced as "ye" (as in year):
ест (eats, pronounced as "yest"), евро (Euro, pronounced as "yevro").
In the word "форель", it's pronounced as in "red" (forel').
Let us know if you have any questions!
Kind Regards,
Evgeniia
Team RussianPod101.com
Hello, I have a question! Svetlana says in this video that the letter 'e' always pronounced 'ye' when it's stressed, yet in the word 'форель' (at 2:15), where the stress is supposed to be on the 'e', it sounds like it's making an 'eh' sound when she says it. Can anyone explain this to me please?
Thank you :)
Arun
Hello Ardan,
thank you for your question!
If the word is unfamiliar to you, you can check where the stress is in the dictionary.
For example, бу́дет, the stress is on "у" sound.
Let us know if you have any questions!
Kind Regards,
Evgeniia
Team RussianPod101.com
How can we know if the word is stressed or unstressed?
Hello Сolin,
You are welcome.
Please let us know if you have more questions.😄
Elena
Team RussianPod101.com
Спасибо, Светлана. Now I know why I see Иркутск(Irkutsk) written with an accent mark over the у when I click on an information icon on Google Earth.
Hello Tilia,
Unfortunately, stress has no rules. Where to put stress is what you have to remember. :sweat_smile:
You can find stress in all dictionaries.
Elena
Team RussianPod101.com
I still don't understand E and O will say differently when it's unstress but How I do really know when the stress plus what the mark really do :sob::sob::sob:
Hello Alessandro,
Yes, you are right about pronunciation of "e" vowel.
However, the [o] rule is very strict, and if you will say [o] instead of [a] - this is a big mistake.
[e] - [i] rule is not so strict. You can say [e] every time and it will not be a mistake. You will not sound 100% natural, but still will be OK.
Elena
Team RussianPod101.com
Hi,
Thanks for these wonderful lessons!
Regarding accents and therefore vowels reduction, I have a question about the pronunciation of the vowel "e".
Even though in the video it's said that, compared to the vowel "o", the "e" case is more complicated, there are not so many examples. So, the general rule is that when stressed is pronunced like "ye" and when unstressed like a "fast i"?
Where's the difference respect to the "o" case?
Thanks!
Alessandro
Hello Rabeh AlEnazy,
Thank you for learning Russian with us!
Elena
Team RussianPod101.com
I think I'm able of reading words written in Russian now
yet I still need more practice
I spend only 3 days studying
now I can read
:sunglasses:
Hi Kirsten,
Thank you for posting!
We have a Listening Comprehension series that might be very helpful for you :wink:
https://www.russianpod101.com/index.php?cat=Bonus+Video+Courses
Let us know if you have questions.
Cheers,
Laura
Team RussianPod101.com
I like Умный в гору не пойдёт, умный гору обойдёт. because it shows that hard work alone will not always get you to where you want to go faster (although it is certainly not a bad thing). Thank you so much for the lessons, they've been really helpful! Hopefully I can read handwritten Russian with a lot more ease now.
Do you know where I can practice listening to Russian pronunciations in a natural setting? I have a lot of difficulty picking sounds out when people are speaking fast, and I still can't speak quickly (I'm worried I sound a bit like a child :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:).
Hello christian gil, :smile:
Thank you for learning Russian with RussianPod101.com.
If you have any questions, please let us know.
Elena
Team RussianPod101.com
ya ma gu aeta zdelat :)
Hello Nina Cahen D'anvers,
Unfortunately, there are no rules of where to put stress in Russian. Some linguists, of course, write scientific papers trying to generalize some rules, however, in 90% everything you can do - is just to remember.
Elena
Team RussianPod101.com
Hi, I have difficulty knowing when the letters O and E are stressed in a word, and therefore I can never pronounce them correctly. I never know when they should sound the right way. I was wondering if you could help me to recognize where the stress is generally in Russian words. Because otherwise I'll never pronounce them in the correct way.
Hope you understand my request and awaiting for your answer!
Thank you.