Russian/Cheat Sheet

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This is the Cheat Sheet for the Russian for English Speakers Wikibook. It is intended to be a one page quick guide to the Russian Language, and should serve as a reference to the general text, at http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Russian, which is released under the GNU Free Documentation License.

[edit] The Alphabet

Аа Бб Вв Гг Дд Ee Ёё Жж Зз Ии Йй Кк Лл Мм Нн Оо Пп Рр Сс Тт Уу Фф Хх Цц Чч Шш Щщ ь Ыы ъ Ээ Юю Яя
ah b v g d ye yo zh z ee y k l m n o p r s t oo f kh ts ch sh shch [1] ɨ [2] e yu ya
  1. The soft sign palatalizes the preceding consonant.
  2. The hard sign indicates hard pronunciation.
  • O sounds like hello only when it is stressed. Otherwise it is pronounced as in money. One word with the three variants of "O" is "хорошо". The first "o" is pronounced as "ah", the second as "uh", and the third as "oh".
  • Consonants can be either hard or soft. They are hard unless followed by я, е, и, ё, ю, or ь.
  • At the end of a word, or before unvoiced consonants (like T), the following pronunciations change: б→п, в→ф, г→к, д→т, ж→ш, and з→с. Ex. ход → KHOT
  • Palatalization (or soft consonants) means the letter is pronounced with the middle of the tongue. Ex: Pronounce ball while holding your tongue.

[edit] General Expressions

Hello Здравствуйте ZDRASTvuytye
Yes да DA
No нет NYET
Please Пожалуйста paZHAlusta
Thank you Спасибо spaSEEba
Excuse me Извините eezveeNEEtye
Careful Осторожно astaROZHna
Just a minute Минуточку miNUtachku
Sure, Certainly Конечно kanYESHna
I'm sorry - informal (formal) Прости(те) prahSTEE(tye)
How are you? Как дела? KAK dyeLAH
Bye (very informal) Пока pahKAH
Goodbye До свидания da sveedaneya
Great Отлично Otlichno
Good Хорошо HoroSHO
Bad Плохо PLOkho
Normal/Ok Нормально NorMAHL'no