Learn about Russian vowels
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| Hi everyone. |
| Welcome to The Ultimate Russian Pronunciation Guide. |
| In this lesson, you'll learn all 13 Russian vowel sounds. |
| By learning all of these sounds, you'll be able to pronounce any vowel that could possibly appear in Russian! |
| Are you ready? |
| Then let's get started! |
| There are a total of 13 vowel sounds in Russian, all of which can be broken down into three categories: Hard indicating, Soft indicating, and unstressed vowel sounds. |
| First, let's take a look at all 5 Hard indicating vowel sounds. |
| The first vowel is... |
| "a |
| да (yes) |
| aтом (atom) |
| травa (grass)" |
| This vowel sound is identical to the A in 'far'. Be sure to lower your jaw and allow the mouth to open completely. |
| a, a (slowly) |
| a, a (slowly) |
| The next vowel is... |
| "э |
| это (this) |
| экрaн (screen) |
| жест (gesture)" |
| This vowel sound is identical to the E in 'education'. |
| э, э (slowly) |
| э, э (slowly) |
| The next vowel is... |
| "ы |
| ты (you) |
| мы (we) |
| язык (language, tongue)" |
| Raise the middle part of your tongue all the way to the roof of your mouth until there's only a tiny opening for air to travel through. The back of the tongue should be flat against the back roof of the mouth, so that the tongue is tense. Try to create a narrow channel from the base of the throat, all the way to the roof of the mouth. Your lips should remain neutral. Listen to (host name). |
| ы, ы (slowly) |
| ы, ы (slowly) |
| The next vowel is... |
| "o |
| он (he) |
| oблако (cloud) |
| oвощи (vegetables)" |
| This vowel sound is very similar to the O in 'ore'. Exaggerating the lip-rounding may also help with the pronunciation of this sound. |
| o, o (slowly) |
| o, o (slowly) |
| The final hard indicating vowel is... |
| "у |
| yдочка (fishing rod) |
| муж (husband) |
| пyля (bullet)" |
| This vowel sound is identical to the U in 'true'. Be sure to raise the back part of your tongue, all the way up against the back roof of your mouth. Exaggerating your lip-rounding may also help with the pronunciation of this sound. |
| y, y (slowly) |
| y, y (slowly) |
| You just learned 5 hard indicating vowel sounds. Now let's move on to soft indicating vowel sounds. |
| "я |
| яблоко (apple) |
| ягода (berry) |
| яхта (yacht)" |
| This is identical to the 'ya' sound in 'yard'. Be sure to lower your jaw and allow your mouth to open completely. |
| я, я (slowly) |
| я, я (slowly) |
| The next vowel is... |
| "е |
| есть (to be, to eat) |
| евро (euro) |
| ездить (to ride / to drive)" |
| It sounds very similar to the YE in 'year'. |
| e, e (slowly) |
| e, e (slowly) |
| The next vowel is... |
| "и |
| имя (name) |
| пить (to drink) |
| щи (shchi)" |
| It's identical to the double E sound in 'see'. |
| и, и (slowly) |
| и, и (slowly) |
| The next vowel is... |
| "ё |
| тётя (aunt) |
| актёр (actor) |
| своё (my, his etc)" |
| It sounds very similar to the YO in 'your'. |
| ё, ё (slowly) |
| ё, ё (slowly) |
| The final soft indicating vowel is... |
| "ю |
| южный (southern) |
| юбка (skirt) |
| юноша (young man)" |
| It sounds very similar to 'you'. Be sure raise the back part of your tongue all the way up against the back roof of your mouth. Exaggerating your lip-rounding may also help with the pronunciation of this sound. |
| ю, ю (slowly) |
| ю, ю (slowly) |
| Well done. You've learned all the hard and soft indicating vowels in Russian. The final three vowel sounds are sounds that are only produced when certain vowels are in unstressed syllables. |
| The first vowel sound that occurs in unstressed syllables is... |
| "[ʌ] (o in Россия) |
| Россия [rʌˈsʲijə] (Russia) |
| молокo [məlʌˈko] (milk) |
| вода [vʌ'da] (water)" |
| This similar to the U in 'rustle'. The key part here, is to pronounce it quickly. |
| [ʌ], [ʌ] (slowly) |
| [ʌ], [ʌ] (slowly) |
| The next vowel sound is... |
| "[ə] (final o in oблако) |
| о́блако ['obləkə] (cloud) |
| новая [ˈnovəjə] (new) |
| кoжа ['koʐə] (skin)" |
| It's identical to the A in 'about'. When practicing, make sure you pronounce it 'uh-bout' instead of 'aye-bout'. |
| [ə], [ə] (slowly) |
| [ə], [ə] (slowly) |
| The final sound that occurs in unstressed syllables, and the final vowel sound for this lesson, is... |
| "[jɪ] (е in едa) |
| едa [jɪˈda] (food) |
| стебель (stalk) |
| дерево [ˈdʲerʲɪvə] (tree)" |
| It's identical to the YI in 'yippee'. The key part here, is to pronounce it quickly. |
| [jɪ], [jɪ] (slowly) |
| [jɪ], [jɪ] (slowly) |
| Well done! You've just learned all 13 vowel sounds in Russian! |
| With these sounds, you can pronounce any vowel that could possibly appear in the Russian language! Isn't that great? |
| Which vowel sound was the most difficult for you to pronounce? Let us know in the comments. |
| In the next lesson, you'll start learning consonant sounds. |
| See you in the next Ultimate Russian Pronunciation Guide lesson! |
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