The Russian Alphabet: All 33 Cyrillic Letters
Russian looks unreadable at first glance: sharp angles, backward letters, symbols that seem to belong to no alphabet you know. It only feels that way. Cyrillic is a phonetic alphabet, so once a letter's sound is fixed in your head, you can sound out almost any Russian word, even ones you have never seen. This guide covers all 33 letters the way Russio teaches them, grouped by how much they help you, or trick you.
Cyrillic is more familiar than it looks
Cyrillic looks intimidating mostly because it is unfamiliar, not because it is complicated. It shares a common ancestor with the Greek alphabet, which is why letters like П, Ф, and Х feel vaguely familiar even before you know them. Russian spelling is also far more consistent than English spelling: once you know what a letter says, it says that in almost every word, with a few stress-driven exceptions covered below.
This page groups the alphabet the same way Russio teaches it. True friends look and sound like English, so they need almost no work. False friends look Latin but sound completely different, and they cause most beginner mistakes. New letters have unfamiliar shapes, but each one is just a single sound to learn.
True friends: letters that already work the way you expect
These five letters look like English letters and sound like them too. If you already read Latin script, you can read these on sight. They are the easiest way into the alphabet, and a good place to build confidence before the letters that lie to you.
А, а (а, "ah")
Sounds like: "ah" as in father. IPA /a/.
A true friend. Unstressed, it softens toward "uh", the same way English vowels blur in fast speech.
К, к (ка, "kah")
Sounds like: "k" as in kite. IPA /k/.
Also a true friend. К is a hard "k" wherever it appears, with no exceptions to learn.
М, м (эм, "em")
Sounds like: "m" as in man. IPA /m/.
A true friend, and one of the simplest letters in the whole alphabet.
О, о (о, "oh")
Sounds like: "oh" as in more, when stressed. IPA /o/.
Unstressed, О drifts toward an "ah" sound, one of the first patterns worth learning by ear.
Т, т (тэ, "teh")
Sounds like: "t" as in top. IPA /t/.
The capital Т is a true friend. Its lowercase form can grow a small hook and look like a tiny "m" in handwriting, so context matters more than shape.
False friends: the letters that will trip you up
These seven letters are the reason Cyrillic looks harder than it is. Each one borrows a familiar Latin shape and gives it a different sound, so reading them as English is the single biggest source of beginner mistakes. Learn them once, on purpose, and the trap disappears for good.
Е, е (е)
Sounds like: "ye" as in yes, never a plain "eh". IPA /je/.
Unstressed, it relaxes toward "i". Reading Е as an English E is the single most common beginner mistake in Cyrillic.
Н, н (эн)
Sounds like: "n" as in net, nothing like an H. IPA /n/.
Shaped like an English H. Reading Н as "h" is the classic false-friend stumble in any Russian word.
Р, р (эр)
Sounds like: a rolled, trilled "r". IPA /r/.
Looks exactly like an English P but says "r". Trilling on purpose takes practice, so do not worry if it does not come right away.
С, с (эс)
Sounds like: "s" as in sun or snake. IPA /s/.
Never a "k" sound. Simple once you know it, easy to misread before you do.
В, в (вэ)
Sounds like: "v" as in van. IPA /v/.
Shaped like a capital B. At the end of a word it devoices toward an "f" sound, a pattern that shows up across several Russian consonants.
У, у (у, "oo")
Sounds like: "oo" as in moon. IPA /u/.
Lowercase у resembles a Latin "y", but the sound has nothing to do with "y". Capital У is easier to spot.
Х, х (ха)
Sounds like: "kh", a breathy, throat-clearing sound. IPA /x/.
Like the Scottish "loch" or German "Bach", not an English X. There is no "ks" sound hiding here.
The rest of the alphabet: new shapes, one sound each
The remaining 21 letters do not resemble Latin letters much, which is good news: there is no false expectation to unlearn, just one new shape tied to one sound. Two of them, Ъ and Ь, make no sound at all; they only change how the letter beside them is read.
| Letter | Name | Sounds like | How to remember |
|---|---|---|---|
| Б б | бэ ("be") | "b" in bed /b/ | Looks like a flag on a pole, or a "6" turning into a "B". Devoices to "p" at the end of a word. |
| Г г | гэ ("ge") | "g" in go /ɡ/ | An upside-down L, or a gallows shape, for a hard "G". |
| Д д | дэ ("de") | "d" in dog /d/ | A little house with legs: "D" for dom, house. |
| Ё ё | ё ("yo") | "yo" in yonder /jo/ | An E with two dots. Always stressed. Often printed as plain Е in real texts. |
| Ж ж | жэ ("zhe") | "zh", like the s in measure /ʐ/ | A beetle or snowflake shape. Always hard. |
| З з | зэ ("ze") | "z" in zoo /z/ | Looks like the number "3". |
| И и | и ("ee") | "ee" in meet /i/ | A backwards N. |
| Й й | и краткое ("short i") | short "y" glide, as in boy /j/ | И with a little hat on top. Rarely starts a word; mostly in loanwords like йод (iodine). |
| Л л | эль ("el") | "l" in lamp /l/ | An A-frame tent shape. |
| П п | пэ ("pe") | "p" in pot /p/ | A doorway, or the Greek letter Pi. |
| Ф ф | эф ("ef") | "f" in fun /f/ | A lightbulb or an owl face. Mostly seen in loanwords. |
| Ц ц | цэ ("tse") | "ts" in cats /ts/ | Has a little tail. Always hard. |
| Ч ч | че ("che") | "ch" in chip /tɕ/ | Looks like the number "4". Always soft. |
| Ш ш | ша ("sha") | hard "sh" in shop /ʂ/ | Three posts pointing down. Always hard. |
| Щ щ | ща ("shcha") | a long, soft "sh" /ɕː/ | Ш with a tail underneath. Hold the "sh" a little longer than feels natural. |
| Ъ ъ | твёрдый знак ("hard sign") | silent, no sound of its own | Keeps the letter before it hard. Rare in modern Russian. |
| Ы ы | ы ("y") | a deep, central vowel, no English equivalent /ɨ/ | Closest guess: the "i" in "ill", pulled back in the throat. Worth extra listening practice. |
| Ь ь | мягкий знак ("soft sign") | silent, no sound of its own | Softens the letter before it. Common, and it changes pronunciation even though it makes no sound. |
| Э э | э ("e") | "e" in echo /e/ | A plain, open E. Contrast with Е, which adds a "y" glide. |
| Ю ю | ю ("yu") | "yu" in you /ju/ | Rotate it and picture a head and shoulders. |
| Я я | я ("ya") | "ya" in yard /ja/ | A backwards R. On its own, я means "I". Unstressed, it reduces toward "yi". |
How to start reading Russian today
- Start with sound, not speed. Say each letter out loud as you meet it, using the sounds above rather than guessing from the shape.
- Tackle the false friends first. Е, Н, Р, С, В, У, and Х. Once those seven stop tricking you, everything else is either already familiar or brand new, and brand new is easier than wrong.
- Watch the stress. One syllable per word is stressed, and unstressed vowels shift: О leans toward "ah", Е leans toward "i". You do not need every rule today, just notice that vowels move.
- Sound out real words, not isolated letters. Blending К + О + Т into "kot" (cat) is different from naming letters in a list, and it is what actually lets you read Russian.
Once these 33 letters feel familiar, a fast way to prove real progress to yourself is to read words you already half-know. See 100+ Russian words you already know for a list of Cyrillic words that look and sound close to English.
Russian alphabet questions, answered
How many letters are in the Russian alphabet?
Russian has 33 letters: 10 vowels, 21 consonants, and 2 signs, Ъ and Ь, that make no sound of their own but change how the letter next to them is read.
Is Cyrillic hard to learn?
Not especially. Most letters map to one predictable sound. The real difficulty is a handful of false friends, letters that look Latin but sound different, and those are a short, learnable list, not the whole alphabet.
What is the difference between Е and Э?
Е adds a "y" glide, so it sounds like "ye". Э is the plain, open "e" in echo, with no glide. Russian uses Е far more often; Э mostly shows up in a small set of words like это (this).
Do the hard sign and soft sign make a sound?
No. Ъ, the hard sign, keeps the consonant before it hard, and Ь, the soft sign, softens (palatalises) the consonant before it. Neither one is pronounced on its own.
Read your first Russian words today
Russio teaches the full alphabet free, with tracing, audio, and the same mnemonics used on this page, then carries you from your first word through advanced Russian. No streaks, no pressure, free to start.