Russian letter ъ

Russian letter: ъ

No sound Order in the alphabet: 28

The Russian letter ъ, called "the hard sign", has no sound. Instead, it changes the sound of the preceding consonant making it hard and separating it from the following vowel.

There are no words in Russian starting from the ъ, therefore we don't display it in big caps.

Below we included words and syllables with and without the ъ, so you can hear the difference.

Writing

Printed v.1
ъ
Printed v.2
ъ
Printed v.3
ъ
Cursive
ъ
Hand-written
ъ

Pronunciation

As in the alphabet
Actual sound
Transcription
[ ]
How to pronounce
does not have its own sound
Pronunciation tips

Practice the syllables and words to understand the difference between when the ъ is there and not there.

Practice in syllables

  • объе
  • обе
  • изъя
  • изя
  • предъя
  • предя

Words with this letter

Audio
With stress marks
объе́кт
Cursive / Hand-written
объект
объект
Transcription / Translation
[ ab-yékt ]
object
Pronunciation tips

Unstressed О sounds like А.
Б followed by Ъ stays hard.

Audio
With stress marks
телеобъекти́в
Cursive / Hand-written
телеобъектив
телеобъектив
Transcription / Translation
[ tye-lye-ab-yek-téef ]
telephoto lens
Pronunciation tips

Practice with a worksheet

Practice the hand-written Russian letter Ъ, as well as the syllables and words listed above, with this worksheet: download the worksheet.