Skip to content
Native Russian Tutor for You
  • Alphabet
  • Survival Phrases
  • Grammar Rules
  • Vocabulary
  • Exercises
  • Idioms, Proverbs and Sayings
  • Spelling Words
  • Learn Russian Numbers

Russian Spelling Rules

splell-check

Learn to Spell Russian Words

Learning the rules of Russian grammar and some especially important peculiarities will help you to circumvent a number of common mistakes mostly in the written language.

In the Russian language the term “spelling rule” usually indicates a group of rules which deal with spelling in case the spelling of a certain word is different from its phonetic transcription.

All spelling rules in Russian indicate that specific consonants cannot precede certain vowels in non-stressed syllables or never at all. Quite often spelling rules don’t influence pronunciation. This can be explained by the fact that 5 of 8 consonants in the Russian language that are subject to certain spelling rules can be either “soft” or “hard” but never both. There are three so-called velar consonants in Russian, which can be “soft” and “hard”, and this is where spelling rules actually represent the phonetic pronunciation.

Spelling and GrammarSpelling and Grammar

Spelling rules are extremely important when studying the morphology of the Russian language. They have significant bearing on nouns’ and adjectives’ declensions and verbs’ conjugation because a number of endings make up combinations of consonants and vowels which are not acceptable in the Russian language according to numerous spelling rules. In certain specific cases the stress determines the applicability of a certain spelling rule, the result of which is what we call “mixed declensions”. In the Russian language spelling rules pretty much always prevail over any other rules that may be applicable.

These rules regulate pretty much all of the morphological changes in Russian. Quite a few of the rules commonly used in nouns’ and adjectives’ declensions can be found in this lesson. If you take some time to familiarize yourself with these rules you will take another step to mastering the Russian language.

 

Russian Vowel Letters

Hard and soft soundsFirst of all, I recommend that you memorize the two basic vowel-types, which are hard and soft vowels. Each and every hard one has a soft one as a pair. Soft vowels make the pronunciation of the preceding consonant “softer”, so to speak. Take a look at the table below.

Find out even more about Russian:

How to say Happy New Year in Russian language

Happy New Year in Russian language

Learn Russian online video lesson_#1

Russian video lesson_№1

How to say ussr in Russian

USSR in Russian

In the Russian language there are three main vocalic based spelling rules, which indicate the letter combinations which are not acceptable. Remember that these rules illustrate numerous declension irregularities in nouns, adjective and pronouns of the Russian language as well as verbs’ conjugations.

Russian Spelling Rules

 

Spelling Rule #1

spelling-rules-1Hearing the difference between ы and и sounds poses a certain challenge for English-speakers.

If you take some time to memorize and learn the following rule you will be able to circumvent some quite common mistakes when you write in Russian.

“After the velar consonants г, к, and х:

and the sibilant consonants ж, ч, ш, щ:

under no circumstances you can use the letter ы, which is “hard”. Instead you should use the “soft” equivalent, which is и. Note that after ж and ш we say ы, but in writing it is always и.”

Spelling Rule #2

Spelling Rules #2“After the velar consonants г, к, and х:

the sibilant consonants ж, ч, ш, щ

and the hard consonant ц:

you can never write ю, which is a “soft” vowel. It should always be substituted with the “hard” y, in spite of the fact that after letters ч and щ it sounds like ю;

you can never use я, which is “soft”. Always substitute it with “hard” а, despite the fact that after letters ч and щ we pronounce я.”

Spelling Rule #3

Spelling Rules #3

“After the sibilant consonants ж, ч, ш, щ and the hard consonant ц:

Under no circumstances can one use о. There is one exception to the rule though. If the о is part of the stressed suffix, you can go ahead and write о.

If the suffix is unstressed the added part is written with е.”

 

This particular rule isn’t quite as significant in terms of pronunciation, because if о and у are not stressed, they degrade to a neutral schwa sound.

Remember that this particular rule is connected with the fact that the stressed о after letters ж, ц, ч, ш and щ is pronounced just as the stressed ё after those same letters. In most cases the letter ё is preferable compared to о after letters ж, ц, ч, ш and щ. If the stress is changed letter ё is deprived of the accent.

Spelling Rule #4

Spelling Rules #4

In case letters ь, й or я are at the end of a word they are omitted and basically replaced with an additional suffix. This mostly concerns numerous feminine and masculine nouns (those that end with й).

In this case ь, й and я should always be substituted with letter и instead of ы. For example in the plural: ночь - ночи, музей - музеи, семья - семьи. Some other suffixes make it possible to use the “hard” ы after ц, which is always “hard”.

Now you know how to spell words in Russian.

Learning Russian on your own? Good job! But are you sure you're doing everything right? Take lessons with me to learn the real Russian language. Book a trial now for only $10!

Anastasia
Russian Tutor

Choose your native tutor at ARusPro

Get your free individual study plan form

Sort By Likes
Filter - All
About Russian Language
Russian Learning Tips For Free | How to Learn the Russian Language
All how to say-s
All Russian video lessons
  • Difficult Russian

    Blog

  • Where is my language exchange partner FB.

    Russian Lessons on Skype Vs. Language Exchange

  • how-to-say-russian-common-words-and-phrases

    How To Say Russian Common Words and Phrases

  • Lessons from native Russian teacher Anastasia...

    Learn Russian Online

  • Strategies for Memorizing Russian Vocabulary

    Strategies for Memorizing Russian Vocabulary

  • Russian Alphabet

    How To Learn Russian Alphabet: The Ultimate Guide to ABC

  • russiantutora.com video testimonials

    video-testimonials

0

  • Why study Russian?
  • Who am I?
  • Why me?
  • Russian lesson prices
  • How am I going to teach you?
  • Where to find me?
  • Register
  • Navigation
Russian video lesson №1
Cary about russian tutor Anastasia
Steven about lessons with Russian tutor Anastasia

Tags

Language LearningAll how to say-sRussian video lessonAll Russian video lessonsWhy study Russian?Beginners LevelAbout RussianVocabulary Quizzeshow to say

How to say yes and no in Russian

yes and no in Russian

How to say I am fine in Russian

I am fine in Russian

How to say dance in Russian

dance in Russian

How to say English in Russian

How to say english in Russian

How to say bless you in Russian

bless you in Russian

Happy women’s day in Russian

Happy women's day in Russian

How to say how was your day in Russian

How to say How was your day in Russian

Russian word for astronaut

Russian word for astronaut

Copyright © 2021 Russian Tutor For You at Russiantutora.com