Old Friends

Look-alike Russian Letters: А Е К М О Т (and С)


Why “Old friends”?
These letters are friendly because they look and sound almost the same as their English counterparts, so they’re the easiest to learn first.

Letter Handwriting Name (RU) Sound [IPA] Approximate
English
Sound
А а А а а [a] father
Е е Е е е [je], [e] yes / met
К к К к ка [k] kite
М м М м эм [m] man
Letter Handwriting Name (RU) Sound [IPA] Approximate
English
Sound
О о О о о [o] / [a] more (stressed)
С с С с эс [s] center
Т т Т т тэ [t] top

Notes: Е е can be “ye” (yes) or “e” (met).
О о is “o” when stressed; often reduced toward “a” when unstressed.
In Russian, К is always [k] and С is always [s] (unlike English where C can be cat vs. center).

Reading Practice — Cognates

These are cognates (they sound like English words). Can you guess what they mean?

Tip: To remember the 7 “true friend” letters, memorize these two Russian words — they use only А, Е, К, М, О, Т, С:

More easy cognates to practice (stress mark shows the stressed syllable):

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QR code for this lesson (friends.html)

https://ellablac.github.io/RussianCourse/lesson1/friends.html