Russian alphabet: all 33 letters with stroke order
The Russian alphabet has 33 letters, each with a capital and a lowercase form. Open any letter to watch it written stroke by stroke, hear how it sounds, and see an example word in the same hand.
Eleven letters look like Latin ones but sound different, and these are the ones that trip people up most: В is v, Н is n, Р is r, С is s, У is oo, Х is kh.
This is print style, the form used in textbooks and on road signs. Russian handwriting at school is a separate cursive style; it is on the expansion list.
All letters
How to practise russian letters
Russian reads left to right and is spelled much more regularly than English. Once you know the 33 letters you can sound out almost any word.
Sort the letters into three groups: the ones that look and sound like English (А, Е, К, М, О, Т), the ones that look like English but sound different (В, Н, Р, С, У, Х), and the new shapes (Б, Г, Д, Ж, З, И, Л, П, Ф, Ц, Ч, Ш, Щ, Ы, Э, Ю, Я).
The hard sign ъ and soft sign ь have no sound of their own. Learn them last.
The transliterator tool turns Russian text into Latin letters, and Latin text into Russian, so you can check a name or a word you meet.
Pronunciation guide
| Letter | Name | Sound |
|---|---|---|
| А а | a | a as in "father" |
| Б б | be | b as in "book" |
| В в | ve | v as in "van" |
| Г г | ge | g as in "go" |
| Д д | de | d as in "dog" |
| Е е | ye | ye as in "yes" |
| Ё ё | yo | yo as in "yore" |
| Ж ж | zhe | zh like the s in "measure" |
| З з | ze | z as in "zoo" |
| И и | i | ee as in "see" |
| Й й | short-i | y as in "boy" |
| К к | ka | k as in "kite" |
| Л л | el | l as in "lamp" |
| М м | em | m as in "map" |
| Н н | en | n as in "net" |
| О о | o | o as in "more" |
| П п | pe | p as in "pen" |
| Р р | er | a rolled r |
| С с | es | s as in "sun" |
| Т т | te | t as in "ten" |
| У у | u | oo as in "moon" |
| Ф ф | ef | f as in "fun" |
| Х х | kha | kh like "loch" |
| Ц ц | tse | ts as in "cats" |
| Ч ч | che | ch as in "chair" |
| Ш ш | sha | sh as in "ship" |
| Щ щ | shcha | a long, soft sh: "fresh sheep" |
| Ъ ъ | hard-sign | no sound; it keeps the sounds around it apart |
| Ы ы | yeri | a flat ih, said with the tongue pulled back |
| Ь ь | soft-sign | no sound; it softens the consonant before it |
| Э э | e | e as in "bet" |
| Ю ю | yu | yu as in "you" |
| Я я | ya | ya as in "yard" |
A short history
The Cyrillic alphabet was created in the 9th and 10th centuries at the First Bulgarian Empire, based on Greek capitals with extra letters for Slavic sounds. Russian uses 33 letters in its modern form, after reforms under Peter the Great and in 1918.