Always soft and hard. Consonants
What is the difference between vowels and consonants and letters and sounds? What rules do they obey? How are the hardness and softness of sounds and letters indicated? You will receive answers to all these questions in this article.
General information about vowels and consonants
Vowels and consonants represent the basis of the entire Russian language. After all, with the help of their combinations, syllables are formed that form words, expressions, sentences, texts, etc. That is why quite a lot of hours are devoted to this topic in high school.
and sounds in Russian
A person learns what vowels and consonants are in the Russian alphabet already from the first grade. And despite all the apparent simplicity of this topic, it is considered one of the most difficult for students.
So, in the Russian language there are ten vowel letters, namely: o, i, a, y, yu, ya, e, e, u, e. During their immediate pronunciation, you can feel how air passes freely through the oral cavity. At the same time, we hear our own voice quite clearly. It should also be noted that vowel sounds can be drawn out (a-a-a-a, uh-uh-uh, i-i-i-i-i, u-u-u-u-u and so on ).
Features and letters
Vowels are the basis of a syllable, that is, they are the ones who organize it. As a rule, Russian words have as many syllables as vowels themselves. Let's give a clear example: u-che-ni-ki - 5 syllables, re-bya-ta - 3 syllables, he - 1 syllable, o-no - 2 syllables, and so on. There are even words that consist of only one vowel sound. Usually these are interjections (A!, Oh!, Oooh!) and conjunctions (and, a, etc.).
Endings, suffixes and prefixes are very important topics in the Russian Language discipline. After all, without knowing how such letters are written in a particular word, it is quite problematic to compose a literate letter.
Consonants and sounds in Russian
Vowels and consonants letters and sounds vary significantly. And if the first ones can be easily pulled out, then the latter ones are pronounced as briefly as possible (except for hissing ones, since they can be pulled out).
It should be noted that in the Russian alphabet the number of consonant letters is 21, namely: b, v, g, d, zh, z, j, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, f, x, ts, h, w, shch. The sounds they denote are usually divided into dull and voiced. What is the difference? The fact is that during the pronunciation of voiced consonants, a person can hear not only the characteristic noise, but also his own voice (b!, z!, r!, etc.). As for the deaf, there is no way to pronounce them loudly or, for example, shout. They only create a kind of noise (sh-sh-sh-sh-sh, s-s-s-s-s, etc.).
Thus, almost everything is divided into two different categories:
- voiced - b, c, d, d, g, z, j, l, m, n, r;
- deaf - k, p, s, t, f, x, c, ch, sh.
Softness and hardness of consonants
Not everyone knows, but vowels and consonants can be hard and soft. This is the second most important feature in the Russian language (after voicedness and voicelessness).
A distinctive feature of soft consonants is that during their pronunciation the human tongue takes a special position. As a rule, it moves slightly forward, and its entire middle part rises slightly. As for when pronouncing them, the tongue is pulled back. You can compare the position of your speech organ yourself: [n] - [n’], [t] - [t’]. It should also be noted that voiced and soft sounds sound slightly higher than hard ones.
In the Russian language, almost all consonants have pairs based on softness and hardness. However, there are also those who simply do not have them. These include hard ones - [zh], [sh] and [ts] and soft ones - [th"], [h"] and [sh"].
Softness and hardness of vowel sounds
Surely few people have heard that the Russian language has soft vowels. Soft consonants are sounds quite familiar to us, which cannot be said about the above-mentioned ones. This is partly due to the fact that in secondary school practically no time is devoted to this topic. After all, it’s already clear with the help of which vowels the consonants become soft. However, we still decided to dedicate you to this topic.
So, those letters that are capable of softening the consonants preceding them are called soft. These include the following: i, e, i, e, yu. As for letters such as a, y, y, e, o, they are considered hard because they do not soften the consonants in front. To see this, here are a few examples:
Indication of the softness of consonant letters during phonetic analysis of a word
Phonetics studies the sounds and letters of the Russian language. Surely, in high school you were asked more than once to make a word. During such an analysis, it is imperative to indicate whether it is separately considered or not. If yes, then it must be designated as follows: [n’], [t’], [d’], [v’], [m’], [p’]. That is, at the top right next to the consonant letter before the soft vowel, you need to put a kind of dash. The following soft sounds are marked with a similar icon - [th"], [h"] and [w"].
Sound is the smallest unit of language pronounced with the help of the organs of the speech apparatus. Scientists have discovered that at birth, the human ear perceives all the sounds it hears. All this time, his brain sorts out unnecessary information, and by 8-10 months a person is able to distinguish sounds unique to his native language and all the nuances of pronunciation.
33 letters make up the Russian alphabet, 21 of them are consonants, but letters must be distinguished from sounds. A letter is a sign, a symbol that can be seen or written. The sound can only be heard and pronounced, and in writing it can be designated using transcription - [b], [c], [d]. They carry a certain semantic load, connecting with each other to form words.
36 consonant sounds: [b], [z], [v], [d], [g], [zh], [m], [n], [k], [l], [t], [p ], [t], [s], [sch], [f], [ts], [w], [x], [h], [b"], [z"], [v"], [ d"], [th"], [n"], [k"], [m"], [l"], [t"], [s"], [p"], [r"], [ f"], [g"], [x"].
Consonant sounds are divided into:
- soft and hard;
voiced and voiceless;
paired and unpaired.
Soft and hard consonants
The phonetics of the Russian language is significantly different from many other languages. It contains hard and soft consonants.
When pronouncing a soft sound, the tongue is pressed harder against the palate than when pronouncing a hard consonant sound, preventing the release of air. This is what distinguishes a hard and soft consonant sound from each other. In order to determine in writing whether a consonant sound is soft or hard, you should look at the letter immediately after the specific consonant.
Consonant sounds are classified as hard in the following cases:
- if letters a, o, u, e, s follow after them - [poppy], [rum], [hum], [juice], [bull];
- after them there is another consonant sound - [vors], [hail], [marriage];
- if the sound is at the end of the word - [darkness], [friend], [table].
The softness of sound is written as an apostrophe: mole - [mol’], chalk - [m’el], wicket - [kal’itka], pir - [p’ir].
It should be noted that the sounds [ш'], [й'], [ч'] are always soft, and hard consonants are only [ш], [тс], [ж].
A consonant sound will become soft if it is followed by “b” and vowels: i, e, yu, i, e. For example: gen - [g"en], flax - [l"on], disk - [d"ysk] , hatch - [l "uk", elm - [v "yaz", trill - [tr "el"].
Voiced and voiceless, paired and unpaired sounds
Based on their sonority, consonants are divided into voiced and voiceless. Voiced consonants can be sounds created with the participation of the voice: [v], [z], [zh], [b], [d], [y], [m], [d], [l], [r] , [n].
Examples: [bor], [ox], [shower], [call], [heat], [goal], [fishing], [pestilence], [nose], [genus], [swarm].
Examples: [kol], [floor], [volume], [sleep], [noise], [shch"uka], [choir], [king"], [ch"an].
Paired voiced and voiceless consonants include: [b] - [p], [zh] - [w], [g] - [x], [z] - [s]. [d] - [t], [v] - [f]. Examples: reality - dust, house - volume, year - code, vase - phase, itch - court, live - sew.
Sounds that do not form pairs: [h], [n], [ts], [x], [r], [m], [l].
Soft and hard consonants can also have a pair: [p] - [p"], [p] - [p"], [m] - [m"], [v] - [v"], [d] - [ d"], [f] - [f"], [k] - [k"], [z] - [z"], [b] - [b"], [g] - [g"], [ n] - [n"], [s] - [s"], [l] - [l"], [t] - [t"], [x] - [x"]. Examples: byl - bel, height - branch, city - cheetah, dacha - business, umbrella - zebra, skin - cedar, moon - summer, monster - place, finger - feather, ore - river, soda - sulfur, pillar - steppe, lantern - farm, mansions - hut.
Table for memorizing consonants
To clearly see and compare soft and hard consonants, the table below shows them in pairs.
Solid - before the letters A, O, U, Y, E Soft - before the letters I, E, E, Yu, I | Hard and soft consonants | |||
| b | ball | b" | battle | |
| V | howl | V" | eyelid | |
| G | garage | G" | hero | |
| d | hole | d" | tar | |
| h | ash | z" | yawn | |
| To | godfather | To" | sneakers | |
| l | vine | l" | foliage | |
| m | March | m" | month | |
| n | leg | n" | tenderness | |
| P | spider | P" | song | |
| R | height | R" | rhubarb | |
| With | salt | With" | hay | |
| T | cloud | T" | patience | |
| f | phosphorus | f" | firm | |
| X | thinness | X" | chemistry | |
| Unpaired | and | giraffe | h | miracle |
| w | screen | sch | hazel | |
| ts | target | th | felt | |
Another table will help you remember consonant sounds.
| Doubles | Voiced | Deaf |
| B | P | |
| IN | F | |
| G | TO | |
| D | T | |
| AND | Sh | |
| Z | WITH | |
| Unpaired | L, M, N, R, J | X, C, Ch, Shch |
Children's poems for better mastery of the material
There are exactly 33 letters in the Russian alphabet,
To find out how many consonants -
Subtract ten vowels
Signs - hard, soft -
It will immediately become clear:
The resulting number is exactly twenty-one.
Soft and hard consonants are very different,
But not dangerous at all.
If we pronounce it with noise, then they are deaf.
The consonant sounds proudly say:
They sound different.
Hard and soft
In fact, very light.
Remember one simple rule forever:
W, C, F - always hard,
But Ch, Shch, J are only soft,
Like a cat's paws.
And let’s soften others like this:
If we add a soft sign,
Then we get spruce, moth, salt,
What a cunning sign!
And if we add the vowels I, I, Yo, E, Yu,
We get a soft consonant.
Brother signs, soft, hard,
We don't pronounce
But to change the word,
Let's ask for their help.
The rider rides on a horse,
Con - we use it in the game.
Hard and Soft Consonant Sounds is a set of twenty cards that are an excellent teaching material for teaching reading and developing a child's understanding of terms such as “soft” and “hard” sounds. These cards can be used with equal success for home grammar lessons and for teaching classes in kindergartens and early childhood development schools. We offer you a color version of the cards. Soft consonants are colored green, hard consonants are blue. By printing them on a color printer and pre-cutting them, you can use them to demonstrate hard and soft sounds.
According to the hardness and softness of the sound, the consonants form fifteen pairs: [b] - [b'], [c] - [v'], [g] - [g'], [d] - [d'], [z] - [z'], [p] - [p'], [f] - [f'], [k] - [k'], [t] - [t'], [s] - [s'], [m] - [m'], [n] - [n'], [p] - [p'], [l] - [l'] and [x] - [x']. For example, the letter “R” in different words can be pronounced hard – “fish” and softly – “river”. To indicate softness, a special icon is used: [‘].
But there are sounds that have no pair for softness. For example: [y'], [h'], [sh'] are always soft, and [zh], [w], [ts] are always hard. All other nouns are soft if they are followed by the vowels i, yu, ё, e, i or ь, and hard if they are paired with other vowels and consonants.
On our website, parents and kindergarten teachers can download Hard and Soft Consonant Sounds cards for free. There are other sets of cards that will help you prepare your child for school yourself.
The Russian language has 33 letters forming 42 sounds, six of which are vowels, the rest are consonants. Where did so many of them come from, since the letters - b, b, ya, e, yu, e - do not represent sounds? It is very difficult to master and understand such information not only for a first-grader, but also for an adult. Let's take it one by one, in a simple way, supporting the rules with simple examples.
How many vowel sounds are there in the Russian language - a basic concept
Help: letters are symbols that we see and write; sound can only be heard and pronounced, but it does not have a sign.
Learning to distinguish:
- say it syllable by syllable, stretching out the first syllable in the word - mom. You hear the pure single sound of the sound A - M-a-a. Now say the word - Christmas tree, paying attention to the first syllable. Listen - Yo sounds like “yo”, that is, a double sound;
- let’s consolidate the material: bush, here – [u], spinning top – “yu” is heard as [yu]. Olya – [o][ya], spruce – [ye], hedgehog – [yo][i];
- as you can see, the letters E, E, Yu, I do not have their own sounds, each of them consists of 2 alien ones, borrowed from other letters: [ye], [yo], [yu], [ya]. This is why they are considered letters;
- Now about hard and soft signs: one performs a dividing function, the other softens letters in phrases, and since we don’t hear them, they are not sounds.
How many consonant sounds are there in the Russian language - divisions
The consonant series has 21 letters and 36 sounds.
- Fifteen letters - B, V, G, D, Z, K, L, M, N, P, R, S, T, F, X have a double sound: soft - linen [b′] and hard - ram [b] , in other words, there are two sounds in one letter. Total – 15 x 2 = 30 sounds.
- The softest letters have Y, CH, Shch with one sound each.
- Only hard sounds come out when pronouncing - Ж, Ш, Ц (also one sound per letter).
We count: 30 + 3 +3 = 36 consonants.
How many vowels and consonants are there in Russian - additional information
- Consonant sounds are divided into voiced sounds - clearly audible during conversation (heat) and voiceless sounds, the pronunciation of which is similar to a whisper (sleep, noise).
- Voiced/voiceless sounds are combined into pairs that are easy to remember - b/p, v/f, g/k, d/t, zh/sh, z/s, the rest of the sounds are unpaired - [h], [n], [ts] , [x], [p], [m], [l].
- When pronounced, a voiced sound can be deafened, and a dull sound can become audible: brow - we hear - brow, berry - we say - yagatka. In this case, find a test word so that after this consonant there is a vowel - eyebrows, berries. An exception (you need to remember) is an astronaut, a station, a zigzag and others.
- Hissing - Zh and Sh in the presence of a hard sound - Y, are written with a soft vowel - I (reeds, belly, living creatures). The sounds Ch and Shch with soft voicing (Ya-Yu) are written with hard vowels - A-U. For example: sorrel, rooks, pike, miracle.
- Among the consonants there are also unpronounceable ones, which are checked by a related word with a clear sound: reed - cane.
- We can only hear some sounds. For example: skillful, wonderful, heavenly sound with the sound “T”, but it is not there. There is a funny rhyme about this, memorize it and write it correctly.
Correlating letters and sounds is very important for correct pronunciation and writing, so carefully study the presented material and try to convey it clearly to your child.
The modern Russian alphabet consists of 33 letters. The phonetics of the modern Russian number determines 42 sounds. The sounds are vowels and consonants. The letters ь (soft sign) and ъ (hard sign) do not form sounds.
Vowel sounds
The Russian language has 10 vowel letters and 6 vowel sounds.
- Vowel letters: a, i, e, e, o, u, s, e, yu, i.
- Vowel sounds: [a], [o], [u], [e], [i], [s].
To remember, vowel letters are often written in pairs with similar sounds: a-ya, o-yo, e-e, i-y, u-yu.
Shocked and unstressed
The number of syllables in a word is equal to the number of vowels in the word: forest - 1 syllable, water - 2 syllables, road - 3 syllables, etc. The syllable that is pronounced with greater intonation is stressed. The vowel that forms such a syllable is stressed, the remaining vowels in the word are unstressed. The position under stress is called a strong position, without stress - a weak position.
Yotated vowels
A significant place is occupied by iotated vowels - the letters e, e, yu, i, which mean two sounds: e → [й'][е], е → [й'][о], yu → [й'][у], i → [th'][a]. Vowels are iotated if:
- stand at the beginning of a word (spruce, fir-tree, spinning top, anchor),
- stand after a vowel (what, sings, hare, cabin),
- stand after ь or ъ (stream, stream, stream, stream).
In other cases, the letters e, e, yu, i mean one sound, but there is no one-to-one correspondence, since different positions in the word and different combinations with the consonants of these letters give rise to different sounds.
Consonants
There are 21 consonant letters and 36 consonant sounds. The discrepancy in numbers means that some letters can represent different sounds in different words - soft and hard sounds.
Consonants: b, v, g, d, g, z, j, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, f, x, c, ch, sh, sch.
Consonant sounds: [b], [b'], [v], [v'], [g], [g'], [d], [d'], [zh], [z], [z' ], [th'], [k], [k'], [l], [l'], [m], [m'], [n], [n'], [p], [p' ], [p], [p'], [s], [s'], [t], [t'], [f], [f'], [x], [x'], [ts] , [h'], [w], [w'].
The sign ‘ means a soft sound, that is, the letter is pronounced softly. The absence of a sign indicates that the sound is hard. So, [b] - hard, [b’] - soft.
Voiced and voiceless consonants
There is a difference in the way we pronounce consonant sounds. Voiced consonants are formed in a combination of voice and noise, voiceless consonants are formed due to noise (the vocal cords do not vibrate). There are a total of 20 voiced consonants and 16 voiceless consonants.
| Voiced consonants | Voiceless consonants | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| unpaired | doubles | doubles | unpaired |
| th → [th"] | b → [b], [b"] | p → [p], [p"] | h → [h"] |
| l → [l], [l"] | in → [in], [in"] | f → [f], [f"] | š → [š"] |
| m → [m], [m"] | g → [g], [g"] | k → [k], [k"] | ts → [ts] |
| n → [n], [n"] | d → [d], [d"] | t → [t], [t"] | x → [x], [x"] |
| p → [p], [p"] | zh → [zh] | w → [w] | |
| z → [z], [z"] | s → [s], [s"] | ||
| 9 unpaired | 11 doubles | 11 doubles | 5 unpaired |
| 20 ringing sounds | 16 dull sounds | ||
According to pairing and unpairing, voiced and voiceless consonants are divided into:
b-p, v-f, g-k, d-t, w-sh, z-s- paired in terms of voicedness and deafness.
y, l, m, n, r - always voiced (unpaired).
x, ts, ch, shch - always voiceless (unpaired).
Unpaired voiced consonants are called sonorant.
Among the consonants, the following groups are also distinguished according to the level of “noisiness”:
zh, sh, h, sh - hissing.
b, c, d, e, g, h, j, p, s, t, f, x, c, h, w, sch- noisy.
Hard and soft consonants
| Hard consonants | Soft consonants | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| unpaired | doubles | doubles | unpaired |
| [and] | [b] | [b"] | [h"] |
| [w] | [V] | [V"] | [sch"] |
| [ts] | [G] | [G"] | [th"] |
| [d] | [d"] | ||
| [h] | [z"] | ||
| [To] | [To"] | ||
| [l] | [l"] | ||
| [m] | [m"] | ||
| [n] | [n"] | ||
| [P] | [P"] | ||
| [R] | [R"] | ||
| [With] | [With"] | ||
| [T] | [T"] | ||
| [f] | [f"] | ||
| [X] | [X"] | ||
| 3 unpaired | 15 doubles | 15 unpaired | 3 doubles |
| 18 hard sounds | 18 soft sounds | ||
