Pronunciation
Compared to English pronunciation, which often hal more exceptions than rules, Russian
rules of pronuncuation are fairly clear and consistent.In this section, you discover some
of the basic rules and patterns of Russian pronunciation and find out about important
irregularities with vowels and consonants. In addition, we show you how to say some of the
more difficult letters & sounds.
- The one-letter-one-sound principle
Russian is a phonetic language, which means that for the most part one Russian letter
corresponds to one sound. For example, the letter K is always pronounced like "k", and the
letter M is always pronounced like "m". This pattern is different from
English, where a letter can be pronounced in different ways depending on where it shows up
in a word. For instance, consider the two different pronunciations for the letter C in the
words "cat" and "race". This difference almost never happens in Russian.
Vowels are the musical building blocks of every Russian word. If you flub a consonant
or two, you'll probably still be understood. If you don't pronounce yoour vowels corectly,
there's a good chance you won't be understood at all.
E: ye as in yes, 'ee' as in seek, if in any unstressed sylablle
reversed R: "ya" if stressed (like in yard), "ee" if unstressed and not in a word's
final sylable, "ye " if unstressed AND in final sylable.
O: oh as in talk,
'ah' as in park - one sylable before stressed syllable
'uh' as in mormon- any other unstressed syllable
The letters zh, ts, ch, sh, sh' are called sibilants, because of the hissing sound.When
certain vowels appear after these, the vowel's sounds are changed. After a sibilant, ye is
pronounced like eh(as in end) and yo is pronounced like oh(as in talk). the sound ee always
becomes ih after a sibilant, (whether from ? backwards N, or E w/out stress dots).
b (without flag) = soft sign
b (with flag) = hard sign
bl = 'ih'
r: 'g' as in great, 'k' if at the end of a word
English speakers strain(with tongues and lips) at their letters ' p, t, k', causes
"aspiration" - a burst of air. Feel yourself say "top".
In Russian, consonants are pronounced without aspiration. Totally relax your lips and
tongue - like a stroke victim, almost? Practice by saying russian cognates? "pahrk",
"lahm-puh" and " tahnk" , until youo can say them with no puff of air.
??? Some consonants are called 'voiced consonants' because they're pronounced with the
voice. (b, v, g , d, zh) - but when used at the end of a word, they transform into their
devoiced counterparts??
B (V): 'v', 'f', if at the end of a word
B 'b' sounds like 'p' at the end of a word
D: 'd', 't' if at the end of a word
r 'g' sounds like 'k' at the end of a word
3 'z' sounds like 's' at the end of a word
doubleK ('zh') sounds like 'sh' at the end of a word
-Smirnov is pronounced smeer-nohf
-garazh is pronounced guh-rahsh
consonant practice *= stressed
здравствуйте
взгляд
обстоятельство
поздравлять
преступление
рождество
вздор
взглянуть
consonant practice *= stressed
здравствуйте - zdrah-stvoohy-tee / hello - zdrahs-tee (short)
взгляд - vzglyat / opinion
обстоятельство - ahp-stah-*ya-teel'-stvah /circumstance
поздравлять - pah-zdruhv-*lyat' / to congratulate
преступление - pree-stoohp-*lyeh-nee-ee / crime
рождество - razh-dees-*tvoh / christmas
вздор - vzdohr / nonsense
взглянуть - vzglya-*nooht / to look, glance
if a noun ends in:
- consonant - add "bI" ih sound
й - replace with - и "short i " to " ee " sound
а - replace with - ы "a " to "ih " sound
if the stem (syllable before a?) ends with (г- к- х- ч- ш-щ) use "и-ee " instead of "ы- ih"
я - replace with - и "yah " to "ee " sound
е - replace with - я "ye " to "yah " sound
о - replace with - а
ь - replace with - и "soft sound" to "ee " sound
So plurals generally:
if consonant, add "ih",
if vowel ending or "soft b", use " ee "
EXCEPT: "е" = "yah, " , "о" = " а ", or "a" = "ы-ih "
EXCEPT IF: "a" preceded by (г- к- х- ч- ш-щ) use "и- ee" instead of "ы- ih"
MORE GENERALLY ?
make plural by adding "и-ee" after vowels(or) BUT if "e" use "я" ,"o" use "a", "a" use "ih"
UNLESS (г- к- х- ч- ш-щ) is last consonant, THEN USE "и- ee".
JUST "ы- ih" after consonant,
replacing nouns with pronouns
http://books.google.com/books?id=AWJys7H68BkC&pg=PT45&dq=nutty+clusters&hl=en&sa=X&ei=PY3BUKSZN4r
niALYgIHICQ&ved=0CDYQ6AEwAg
macros, word stuff
tools/customize/commands/keyboard/ NOT normal.dot, this file!!
Or set hot keys – or rt. Click in toolbar to get "customize"
-set a button to macro:
addbees : add
at end of line, use alt+ B
delbees : remove those
‘s , use alt+ D
smart quotes
--both the double quotation-mark style, and single apostrophes
click Tools*AutoCorrect Options*AutoFormat As You Type;
uncheck "Straight quotes" with "smart quotes," and click OK (twice in Word 2007).
! also change under the *auto format* tab, is another "Straight quotes" with "smart quotes,"
Nouns that end in
-а, -я or -ь are feminine nouns.
-й or -ь are masculine nouns.
-o or -e are neuter nouns.
1. Look at the last letter of the word:
2. If it is a consonant, or "й", the word is masculine.
3. If it is "а" or "я" it is feminine.
4. If it is "о" or "е" it is neuter.
5. If it is a soft sign "ь" then it could be either masculine or feminine.
There are very few exceptions to these rules. But there are five notable exceptions, this
occurs mainly because of physical gender.
Папа - (Daddy, Papa) - Is Masculine
Дядя - (Uncle) - Is Masculine
Дедушка - (Grandfather) - Is Masculine
Мужчина - (Man) - Is Masculine
Кофе - (Coffee) - Is Masculine
Some examples:
Masculine : паспорт (passport), документ (document), брат (brother), Хлеб (bread).
Feminine : газета (newspaper), Россия (Russia), Дочь (daughter)
Neuter : здание (building), радио (radio), письмо (letter)
chart:
http://www.russianlessons.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=898
Cases indicate the role of a noun in a sentance.
The nominative case indicates the subject of a verb:
My mother lives in London.
The genitive case indicates the possessor of another noun
My father's car is stolen.
'father's' indicates the owner of a car
The dative case indicates indirect object of a verb:
The man gave his daughter a book.
daughter' is indirect object
The accusative case indicates direct object of a verb:
The man gave his daughter a book.
'book' is direct object
The instrumental case indicates an object used in performing an action:
He shot it with the gun.
'with the gun' determines the object used in performin the action.
The prepositional case indicates a location:
I live in Moscow.
'in Moscow' determines the location
How to learn cases in Russian language
Learning all the rules for all cases might be too overwhelming for the beginner. I recommend
learning subset of rules which you think is best for you. You can for example decide to learn the rules for one gender and then move on to the next gender. Or you can decide to learn rules for
all genders but in singular. Later, you can move on to plural. Whichever approach you take you can use this test to see how well you are doing. You can customize this test so it can ask you only
the rules that you have learned so far.
Remember that the rules apply most of the time, but not all the time. There are many exceptions to
these rules.
spelling_rules
http://www.russianlessons.net/grammar/spelling_rules.php
