Russian alphabet for kids русский алфавит

Russian alphabet chart with pictures

33 letters · tap 🔊 to hear each one.

Picture	Letter	Word	Meaning	Listen
	А	арбуз	watermelon	🔊
	Б	белка	squirrel	🔊
	В	волк	wolf	🔊
	Г	гриб	mushroom	🔊
	Д	дом	house	🔊
	Е	ель	fir tree	🔊
	Ё	ёжик	hedgehog	🔊
	Ж	жук	beetle	🔊
	З	заяц	hare	🔊
	И	индюк	turkey	🔊
	Й	йогурт	yogurt	🔊
	К	кошка	cat	🔊
	Л	лев	lion	🔊
	М	мяч	ball	🔊
	Н	нос	nose	🔊
	О	обезьяна	monkey	🔊
	П	попугай	parrot	🔊
	Р	рыба	fish	🔊
	С	слон	elephant	🔊
	Т	тигр	tiger	🔊
	У	утка	duck	🔊
	Ф	фламинго	flamingo	🔊
	Х	хлеб	bread	🔊
	Ц	цыплёнок	chick	🔊
	Ч	черепаха	turtle	🔊
	Ш	шарик	balloon	🔊
	Щ	щенок	puppy	🔊
	Ъ	объятия	hug	🔊
	Ы	сыр	cheese	🔊
	Ь	конь	horse	🔊
	Э	эскимо	ice cream on a stick	🔊
	Ю	юла	spinning top	🔊
	Я	яблоко	apple	🔊

The Russian alphabet for kids on this page shows all 33 Cyrillic letters the way a child meets them in a Russian азбука: one letter, one friendly picture word. А is for арбуз (watermelon), Б for белка (squirrel), В for волк (wolf), and so on to Я for яблоко (apple). Tap any card to hear the letter and its word in clear audio, then play Find it or Memory when the shapes start to feel familiar.

How many letters are in the Russian alphabet?

There are 33 letters: 10 vowels, 21 consonants and 2 signs. The vowels come in pairs: А/Я, О/Ё, У/Ю, Э/Е, Ы/И. The second letter in each pair either softens the consonant before it or adds a "y" sound at the start of a word, so Я sounds like "ya" in яблоко. The two signs, the hard sign Ъ and the soft sign Ь, make no sound of their own. That is why the cards use words where they sit inside: объятия (hug) for Ъ and конь (horse) for Ь. The letter Ы never starts a normal word either, so its card shows сыр (cheese).

Russian letters that look like English (and trick letters)

Children who already know English letters get a head start, and a few surprises. Sort the Cyrillic letters into three friendly groups:

Make a game of the trick letters: write РОТ (mouth) and ask your child to read it the Russian way. It is not "pot"!

How children in Russian-speaking countries learn the alphabet

In a Russian kindergarten, children learn to hear sounds before they write them: "What sound does мышка start with?" Teachers often call vowels red and consonants blue or green on sound charts. The first reading book, the букварь, then moves quickly from letters to syllables: М + А = МА, and МА-МА becomes the first word most children read. Syllable cubes, known as Zaitsev cubes (кубики Зайцева), put whole chunks like ПА, ЛО, МУ on wooden blocks so children can build words before they know every letter name.

You can copy this at home. Once your child knows М, А, П, О, write МА, ПА, МО, ПО on cards and read them together, then join them: ПА-ПА. It feels like magic to a five-year-old.

Letter names and letter sounds

Russian letters have names (Б is "be", Л is "el") but young children read with sounds, so say "b" not "be" when you blend. Also notice stress: in молоко (milk) only the last О is stressed, and the unstressed ones sound closer to "a". Children hear this naturally; you only need to explain it when they start to spell. The letter Ё is always stressed, and printed books often write it as Е, which is why children's books usually keep the two dots.

Practising the Russian alphabet at home

1. Three letters a week. Start with А, М, О, then П, Т, К. Real words appear fast: кот, мак, ток.
2. Letter hunt. Find letters on food packets, book covers and shop signs.
3. Body letters. Make Т with arms out, Л with legs apart, Х with arms and legs in a star.
4. Print this page. The letter chart prints cleanly from your browser, so you can pin it at your child's eye level. There is no PDF file to download.
5. Sing. Any alphabet song helps, and the picture words become a song too: "А – арбуз, Б – белка..."

Writing comes later. Russian schools teach joined cursive handwriting from first grade, so at 4-6 simple printed capitals in the sand or with a finger are plenty. If your child is also learning English letters, our ABCD game and phonics sounds use the same calm style.

What to expect by age

At 3-4, most children recognise a handful of letters, usually those in their own name and in мама. At 4-5 they can name most letters and say the first sound of a word. At 5-6 many read syllables and short words such as дом, кот, сыр, мяч. If your child mixes up letters, that is normal at this age in any alphabet. Keep it light and praise effort. For more words, visit learn Russian for kids; families who speak Ukrainian will find the Ukrainian alphabet, which shares many letters but adds Ґ, Є, І and Ї.

Русский алфавит для детей

В русском алфавите 33 буквы: 10 гласных, 21 согласная и два знака, твёрдый знак и мягкий знак. Нажмите на букву, и ребёнок услышит букву и слово с картинкой: А – арбуз, Б – белка, В – волк.

Сначала учите звуки, а потом складывайте слоги: МА, ПА, МО. Первое слово, которое читает ребёнок, чаще всего МАМА. Играйте в буквы на улице и дома, ищите их на коробках и в книжках.

Не спешите с письмом. В пять-шесть лет достаточно рисовать печатные буквы пальцем на песке или на бумаге.

How to use this page at home

Say it, then find it

Play for a few minutes, then look for the same thing away from the screen: russian words on the shelf, in the kitchen, on the way to school. A child learns a word properly when they meet it twice, once on the screen and once in their hand.

Ten minutes is enough

Short and happy beats long and tired. Stop while your child still wants more, and come back tomorrow: the same page on five short days teaches far more than one long sitting. Nothing here is scored, so there is no reason to push.

Use both languages

Tap the language button at the top to hear the words in your home language first and the second language after. Hearing the same picture named in two languages is one of the few things research agrees builds attention as well as vocabulary.