The Alphabet
Letters without sounds
Ь |
-soft sign | Ъ |
-hard sign |
These signs do not have sounds of their own but are used for modifying neighboring sounds only.
“Ь” - There are two functions to the soft sign.
1. One is reflected by its name: it makes a preceding consonant soft (palatalizes it.) The “Ь” sign may be at the end of a word:
день |
гость | соль | о́сень | тетра́дь |
day (m.) | guest (m.) | salt (f.) | autumn (f.) | notebook (f.) |
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о́чередь | здесь |
о́чень |
боль | пло́щадь |
line/of people; someone's turn (f.) | here | very | pain, ache (f.) | square, plaza (f.) |
Or within a word:
Listen
больни́ца |
то́лько |
большо́й |
письмо́ |
пальто́ |
ма́льчик |
де́ньги |
hospital | only | big (m.) | letter | coat | (little) boy | money |
2. The other function of the soft sign “Ь” is to add a 'J-quality' to the vowel that follows it while keeping the softness of the preceding consonant:
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Listen | ||||||
бульо́н | cтатья́ | cемья́ |
пла́тье |
конья́к | |||
broth, bullion | article | family | dress | cognac | |||
Это семья́. |
3. Words ending in “Ь” can be either feminine or masculine and you have to look them up in a dictionary to know the gender. However, when “Ь” follows “Ж,” “Ч,” “Щ” at the end of a word, it is a sure indicator of feminine gender:
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ложь (f.) | вещь (f.) | дочь (f.) | ночь (f.) | |
lie | thing | daughter | night | |
ночь |
The absence of the soft sign after Ж, Ч, Щ signals that they are all masculine:
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нож (m.) | врач (m.) | това́рищ (m.) | ||
knife | doctor | friend, comrade | ||
ма́льчик и де́вочка | врач |
“Ъ” - the hard sign is used in a small number of words. Its only function is to add 'J-quality' to the vowel that follows, while keeping the hardness of the preceding consonant:
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объявле́ние |
подъе́зд |
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advertisement, announcement | entrance in apartment buiding | |
подъе́зд |
Caution: Don’t confuse the soft sign “Ь” or a hard sign “Ъ" with the vowel “Ы”- they are all different letters.
Now you have been introduced to the entire Russian alphabet. You may master reading within 2-3 weeks. Don't get discouraged if it takes longer. it's the quality of reading that matters, after all. Besides, the more time you devote to mastering reading Russian, the more words you will learn by repetition alone.
Note: It's important to know the letters in the alphabetical order, so you can look up words in a dictionary.