What does ъ do?

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.

What does ы do?

Russian ⟨ы⟩ is used to transliterate Polish ⟨y⟩ into Cyrillic: Maryla (Марыля).

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 sound does ы make?

Russian's ы lies somewhere between the [i] sound in the English word "hockey" and the [u] sound from "boom". If you watch your lip position and practice going back and forth between these two sounds you should be able to find the ы sound.

What sound does ʧ make?

/ʧ/ is pronounced without your tongue moving and with more air released than with /t/. It is similar to the sound of a sneeze, and the air released should be able to move a piece of paper or be felt on your hand five centimetres in front of your mouth.

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

What sound is ʧ ʤ?

/ʧ/ and /ʤ/ share manner and place of articulation and differ in voicing (/ʧ/ is voiceless and /ʤ/ is voiced). So, they are the same sound but for the vibration of the vocal folds. The phoneme /ʧ/ is an old friend of Spanish speakers.

What sound is EƏ?

/eə/ sound

This diphthong sounds like the word 'air'. Letters used to show this sound are: 'air' as in 'hair' /heə/, 'ear' as in 'bear' /beə/, 'are' as in 'care' /keə/, and 'aire' as in 'Claire' /kleə/.

What does Ь and Ъ do?

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.

What is the use of Ь?

The letter "ь" does not have any sound itself. It softens the letter before it. For example the words "есть" (to eat) and "ест" (he/she eats) sound different thanks to "ь".

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 is Ь 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. In Old Church Slavonic, it represented a short (or "reduced") front vowel.

What sound is й?

The Russian й" sounds like the semivowel/consonant [j] in the IPA and like the letter 'y' in the English words "young", "year" and "you", and the letter 'u' in the English words "use" and "unit".

What is the difference between Ш Щ?

Uppercase “Щ” is very similar to “Ш” except it has a little extra tail that makes it different. It's written in one stroke, just like “Ш”, but with a small loop at the end. It connects easily to the next letter after the loop. The only difference between the upper and lowercase versions is the size.

What is ʤ called?

The ʤ sound is a sound from the 'Consonants Pairs' group and it is called the 'Voiced palato-alveolar affricate'. This means that you create friction by first stopping the airflow with your tongue and the ridge behind your teeth, then release it through a narrow gap.

What is ʃ vs tʃ?

The sounds /tʃ/ and /ʃ/ are both voiceless, alveo-palatal consonants. However, /tʃ/ is an affricate while /ʃ/ is a fricative. When you pronounce /tʃ/, the air in your mouth should stop (like a /t/) before it is released (like a /ʃ/).

How do you pronounce ɔ :/?

It is similar to the /ɒ/ sound, but the two little dots mean that it is a longer sounds. /ɔ:/ not /ɒ/. To produce the sound put your tongue low and at the back of your mouth and lightly push your lips together while making a long voiced sound.

What is the sound tʃ and DƷ?

These two are pronounced with exactly the same mouth position but /dʒ/ uses the voice, whereas /tʃ/ is just a sudden puff of air similar to a sneeze.

What sound is a э?

The Russian letter "э" is pronounced [e] like in the word "edit". But be careful, remember that the Russian letter "e" is pronounced [ye] like in "yellow". You have already learnt that "и" has a sound [i], similar to "three" or "free".

What sounds are Ɒ and ɔ :/?

The biggest difference between these two sounds is that /ɒ/ is a short vowel and /ɔ:/ is a long one. The mouth position is also slightly different, with the mouth in /ɔ:/ being slightly tighter and more rounded.