Unit 5. Reading

5.1

For almost every consonant Russian has two sounds: a hard consonant and a soft consonant. 

The hard/soft distinction can make a difference in the meaning of some Russian words.

Click the pair of words to listen. Compare:

We will agree to indicate the softness of a consonants by means of  [ '] in the phonetic transcription.

The letter ь indicates the softness of the preceding consonant when there is no vowel after the consonant.

When a vowel appears after the consonant, it indicates whether that consonant is hard or soft.

Click the pair of words to listen. Compare:

The five Russian vowel sounds are spelled with one set of letters (а, о, у, э, ы) after hard consonants and with an alternative set of letters (я, ё, ю, е, и) after soft consonants.

Memorize both sets of letters in order to read Russian correctly:

!

а о у э ы  - spelled after hard consonants: б  в  г  д  з  к  л  м  н  п  р  с  т  ф  х

я ё ю е и -  spelled after soft consonants:  б' в' г' д' з' к' л' м' н' п' р' с' т' ф' х'

Practice   Practice   Practice   Practice   Practice   Practice   Practice   Practice   Practice

Read out loud. Compare.

[ма]  -  [м'а]    масло - мясо (butter - meat)

[то]  -  [т'о]     Тома - Тёма (familiar variants of women's first name Тамара and men's first name Артём)

[лу]  -  [л'у]     лук - люк (onion - manhole)

[ру]  -  [р'у]     руки - брюки (hands - trousers)

[мэ]  -  [м'е]     мэр - мера (mayor - measure)

[мы]  -  [м'и]    мыло - Мила (soap - familiar variant of women's first name Людмила)

Listening practice  

5.2

We learned earlier that the Russian vowels а and о reduce to short [ а ] when not stressed (see Unit 3)

After soft consonants the vowels я and е reduce to [ и ] when not stressed.

These changes are only reflected in the pronunciation of the word.

Practice   Practice   Practice   Practice   Practice   Practice   Practice   Practice   Practice

Practice pronunciation unstressed я [и] in the following words:

мясник [м'исн'ик], лягушка [л'игушка]

Practice pronunciation unstressed е [и] in  the following words: 

театр [т'иатр], метро [м'итро], сестра [с'истра],

[  ' ] - indicates the softness of a consonant.

For listening practice click the button [Ex 2]   

Numbers (1 - 10)