Cyrillic Trainer

Three exercises in the Russian alphabet · letter recognition · transliteration · everyday phrases

The Alphabet

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A letter appears. Tap the sound it makes. The Cyrillic alphabet has thirty-three letters; many look familiar but make a different sound, which is the trap.

А

Transliteration

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A short Russian word appears. Type its sound in Latin letters. Approximate is fine — the spell-check is forgiving but pays attention to the hard cases.

привет

 

Everyday Phrases

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Flashcards for the phrases you'll actually use. Tap the card to flip. Mark the ones you know to push them down the deck.

RU

Здравствуйте

zdravstvuyte

EN

Hello (formal)

Greeting a stranger or someone older.

Reference

The full Cyrillic alphabet with sounds and notes on the awkward bits.

The False Friends

These letters look like Latin letters but make different sounds. They cause more trouble than any other group, so it's worth burning them in early.

A Note on Italic Forms

When Cyrillic is set in italics, several letters take on quite different shapes. The lower-case т (te) becomes т — which can look like a Latin m. The lower-case д (de) takes a descender. The lower-case п (pe) becomes п. This is normal; it is not a sign that the type has been set badly.