How to use Ь?

Ь has a much wider usage than Ъ in Russian; Ь can be used at the end of words or in between two consonants, and it indicates that the preceding consonant is soft. Neither Ъ nor Ь can be a stand alone letter or the first letter in a word.

How to use ъ?

The letter "ъ" does not have any sound (like as "ь"). But its function is to harden the letter that comes before it (remember that "ь" softens). This letter can only be followed by е, ё, я, ю, and thanks to "ъ", they are pronounced very clearly.

How is ы used?

Russian ⟨ы⟩ is used to transliterate Polish ⟨y⟩ into Cyrillic: Maryla (Марыля). However, Latin ⟨y⟩ may be used for other purposes as well (such as for ⟨й⟩, or as part of digraphs, e.g. ⟨я⟩). In most Turkic languages that use Cyrillic, ⟨ы⟩ represents the close back unrounded vowel /ɯ/, like in Kazakh, Kyrgyz, etc.

What is the purpose of the ь?

The main function of the soft sign <Ь> in Russian is to change the sound of the consonant letter which stands before it. In Russian, most consonant sounds can be paired into couples of non-palatalized ("hard") vs. palatalized ("soft").

What does Ь and Ъ mean?

Today, both the Hard sign (Ъ) and the Soft sign (Ь) are used to separate a consonant and a vowel (mostly Я, Ё, Е, Ю), only the Hard sign (Ъ) separates a Hard consonant and a vowel, and the Soft sign (Ь) separates a Soft consonant and a vowel. In some other languages, a similar function is given to an apostrophe.

Russian Pronunciation & Alphabet | Hard sign ъ & soft sign ь

What is Ь called in Russian?

The soft sign (Ь, ь, italics Ь, ь) also known as the front yer, front jer, or er malak (lit. "small er") is a letter of the Cyrillic script.

What is Ь in Ukraine?

Letters: Ь

This letter is called “soft sign” (м'який знак in Ukrainian). As the name of the letter suggests, its purpose is to soften the sound of the previous letter. Usually, the difference between the softened and not-softened sound is very difficult to notice for a foreign ear.

What is the purpose of Ъ?

How is Ъ pronounced? Ъ is the hard sign (твёрдый знак). It is used to show that the consonant preceding it should not be palatalised and that the consequent vowel is preceded by the “y” sound as in yes.

How to read ы?

The sound of the letter "ы" is one of the few difficult sounds in the Russian language. In this course we represent its sound like this: [y]. The sound of "ы" has no English equivalent but it resembles the sound [i:] as in "be", "mean" or "three".

What is Ъ called?

In Modern Russian, the letter "ъ" is called the hard sign (твёрдый знак / tvjordyj znak). It has no phonetic value of its own and is purely an orthographic device. Its function is to separate a number of prefixes ending in consonants from subsequent morphemes that begin with iotated vowels.

How do you read Ь and Ъ?

In Russian, do you pronounce the letter "ь" in words? You don't pronounce it. It is silent. Both “ъ”(hard sign) and “ь”(soft sign) are silent.

What does ф mean in Russian?

Ef or Fe (Ф ф; italics: Ф ф) is a Cyrillic letter, commonly representing the voiceless labiodental fricative /f/, like the pronunciation of ⟨f⟩ in "fill, flee, or fall".

What is Ь and ы?

Ь is the soft sign, it modifies the consonant it's after to be palatalized. Ы is a vowel.

What letter is ж?

Zhe or Že (Ж ж; italics: Ж ж) is a letter of the Cyrillic script. It commonly represents the voiced retroflex sibilant /ʐ/ (listen). It is also often used with D (Д) to approximate the sound in English of the Latin letter J with a ДЖ combination. Zhe is romanized as ⟨zh⟩ or ⟨ž⟩.

What letter is й?

Short I or Yot/Jot (Й й; italics: Й й) (sometimes called i-kratkoye, Russian: и-краткое) is a letter of the Cyrillic script. It is made of the Cyrillic letter И with a breve. The short I represents the palatal approximant /j/ like the pronunciation of ⟨y⟩ in yesterday.

What letter is ю?

Yu or Ju (Ю ю; italics: Ю ю) is a letter of the Cyrillic script used in East Slavic and Bulgarian alphabets. In English, Yu is commonly romanized as ⟨yu⟩ (or ⟨ju⟩). In turn, ⟨ю⟩ is used, where is available, in transcriptions of English letter ⟨u⟩ (in open syllables), and also of the ⟨ew⟩ digraph.

Is ы hard or soft?

а о у э ы - indicate that the preceding consonant is hard. я ё ю е и and ь - indicate that the preceding consonant is soft.

What does ы do in Russian?

The Letter Ы

People say it sounds like the sound someone makes when being winded. This vowel sound should be pronounced like something between “i” and “u.” For the right pronunciation, try to say “u” with your lips open as if you're saying “i.”

What letter is ы in English?

Letter. A letter of the Cyrillic script, called y or yeru.