Chapter 1: Кириллица — The Cyrillic Alphabet

Chapter 1 · Lesson 1

Гласные и мягкость

Vowels & Soft Pairs

📖 Vocabulary

💡

Key idea

Russian vowels come in hard/soft pairs. A soft vowel signals that the consonant right before it is "softened" (palatalized) — pronounced with a faint y-glide blended in. You'll hear this constantly, so learning the pairs now — before you meet any consonants — pays off in every lesson that follows.

Hard Vowels Твёрдые гласные

LetterSounds like

1 а"ah" — father

2 о"oh" — more

3 у"oo" — moon

4 ыno English match — say "ee" while pulling your tongue back

5 э"eh" — bet

Soft Vowels Мягкие гласные

LetterSounds like

1 я"yah" — yard

2 ё"yo" — yolk (always stressed)

3 ю"yoo" — you

4 и"ee" — see

5 е"yeh" — yes

🧠 Pairing trick

Memorize the hard and soft vowels in matching order — it's the exact order Russians recite them in, and it will make noun-ending and verb-ending patterns predictable for the rest of the course.

а → я о → ё у → ю ы → и э → е

Chapter 1 · Lesson 1

Гласные и мягкость

Vowels & Soft Pairs

✏️ Fill in the Blank

Type the missing letter. Capitalization doesn't matter, and ё/е are treated as the same answer.

0/5

Fill-in-the-blank complete!

Chapter 1 · Lesson 1

Гласные и мягкость

Vowels & Soft Pairs

🎤 Pronunciation

🎤

Pronunciation tips

Hold each vowel clearly and a touch longer than in English — Russian vowels are crisp. For ы, keep your tongue pulled back and lips relaxed (not rounded); it's the sound most English speakers find hardest at first.

Chapter 1 · Lesson 1

Гласные и мягкость

Vowels & Soft Pairs

📚 Grammar

The Hard/Soft System Твёрдость и мягкость

Hard vowel	Soft vowel	What the soft vowel signals
а	я	Consonant before it is palatalized ("softened")
о	ё	Same — plus ё is always the stressed syllable
у	ю	Same softening effect
ы	и	Same softening effect
э	е	Same softening effect

💡 Why this matters

You haven't met any consonants yet, but this rule is the single biggest reason Russian spelling looks the way it does. Once you reach Lesson 2, every consonant you learn will change its sound slightly depending on whether it's followed by a hard or a soft vowel. Knowing the five pairs by heart now means that rule will feel automatic later — you won't be learning two things at once.

One exception to remember Исключение

Rule	Note
ё is always stressed	Unlike every other vowel, ё never appears in an unstressed syllable. If you see ё, that's where the stress falls.
ы never starts a word	ы only appears after a consonant, never at the beginning of a native Russian word.

Chapter 1 · Lesson 1

Гласные и мягкость

Vowels & Soft Pairs

🎵 Listening

Press ▶ to hear a letter, then choose what you heard. You can replay each one up to 3 times.

1. Which letter did you hear?

2. Which letter did you hear?

3. Which letter did you hear?

4. Which letter did you hear?

5. Which letter did you hear?

Chapter 1 · Lesson 1

Гласные и мягкость

Vowels & Soft Pairs

📖 Reading

Russian has capital and lowercase forms, just like English — but a few capitals look different from their lowercase partner. Practice reading them here before you meet consonants.

Capital & Lowercase Заглавные и строчные

А аSame shape, just bigger — easy

О оSame shape, just bigger — easy

У уCapital keeps the descender — watch the tail

Ы ыNever capitalized at the start of a word (see Grammar tab)

Э эSame shape, just bigger

Я яSame shape, just bigger

Ё ёSame shape — the two dots are often dropped in adult writing, but keep them while you're learning

Ю юSame shape, just bigger

И иSame shape, just bigger

Е еSame shape, just bigger — don't confuse with Latin "E"

👀 Reading check

А О У Ы Э · Я Ё Ю И Е

1. Which of these is the capital form of "ю"?

2. Which vowel is never written as a capital at the start of a word?

Chapter 1 · Lesson 1

Гласные и мягкость

Vowels & Soft Pairs

✏️ Free Writing

✏️

Writing task

From memory, write out the five hard vowels in order, then the five soft vowels in order, then all five pairs (hard → soft). Separate each letter or pair with a space. Aim for at least 15 items total.

Start with: "а о у ы э ..."

0 items (minimum shown per prompt)

Chapter 1 · Lesson 1

Гласные и мягкость

Vowels & Soft Pairs

🗣️ Free Speaking

Прочитайте вслух все десять гласных!

Read all ten vowels out loud, in order: hard row first (а о у ы э), then soft row (я ё ю и е). Speak clearly — the recognizer is listening for real Russian sounds.

💡

Reminder

а · о · у · ы · э · я · ё · ю · и · е

Chapter 1 · Lesson 1

Гласные и мягкость

Vowels & Soft Pairs

📝 Quiz

Chapter 1 · Lesson 2

Обманчивые буквы

Consonants — False Friends

📖 Vocabulary

Vocabulary Слова и картинки