Welcome to the third part of our five part series on reading in Russian. Who would’ve thought it would take such a short time to tell about it? Does it also mean that reading in Russian is actually easy? You are welcome to make your own judgments.
е [э]: лето [л’эта], весна [в’эсна], кофе [коф’э]
ё [о]: мёд [м’от], пчёлка [п’чолка]
ю [у]: люк [л’ук], сюртук [с’уртук]
я [а]: няня [н’ан’а], ляля [л’ал’а], мямля [м’амл’а]
Compare: мода - мёд, лук - люк, нана - няня
Add [й] in three cases:
е [йэ], ё [йо], ю [йу], я [йа]
1) The beginning of a word
е [йэ]: ель [йэл’]
ё [йо]: ёж [йош]
ю [йу]: юбка [йупка]
я [йа]: яблоко [йаблака]
2) After the vowels
е [йэ]: доел [дайэл’]
ё [йо]: поёт [пайот]
ю [йу]: кушают [кушайут]
я [йа]: маяк [майак]
3) After ь (мягкий знак - soft sign) and ъ (твёрдый знак - hard sign)
е [йэ]: колье [кол’йэ]
ё [йо]: льёт [л’йот]
ю [йу]: льют [л’йут]
я [йа]: семья [сим’йа]