Lesson 30: Hard Sign (Ъ) vs Soft Sign (Ь) | Russian Alphabet Pronunciation | Russian Comprehensive

[@RussianComprehensive]

0:28 - What do the Hard Sign (Ъ) and the Soft Sign (Ь) sound like in Russian? 1:03 - The function of Ъ and Ь 6:45 - Using Ъ and Ь today vs in the past 7:37 - Ъ in memes / online comments 7:50 - Ь in the middle / at the end of a word 9:24 - Ь after Ж, Ш, Ц 10:11 - Ь after Ч, Щ 11:11 - Ь in "-ться" Long time ago, the Hard sign (Ъ) and the Soft sign (Ь) used to be short vowels. Today, they don't have any sound, they both are used to separate a consonant and a vowel (mostly Я, Ё, Е, Ю), only the Hard sign (Ъ) separates a Hard consonant and a vowel, and the Soft sign (Ь) separates a Soft consonant and a vowel. In some other languages, a similar function belongs to an apostrophe. ❗️ Keep in mind that in fluent speech, syllables with Ъ and Ь (i.e. МЬЯ vs МЪЯ) do sound pretty similar. Read more about Ъ and Ь in the description! 👆 *Learn* *to* *Read* *in* *Russian* in an Hour or So *(Full* *Guide* *For* *Reading* *in* *Russian):* kzbin.info/aero/PLpgpVaWoAiTF7qeZnkArrYt2Fd6CJf2au 👆 This video is a part of a *Jump-Start* *Guide* *for* *Learning* *Russian:* kzbin.info/aero/PLpgpVaWoAiTEF8aNQvPnFCLBrtIeF3tqa

[@MazeofL]

Where do I vote in order to name you the best Russian teacher on the internet? You deserve the credit. You and your content are amazing!!!

[@RussianComprehensive]

😄 Спасибо, Алекс! You're so kind!

[@benjiang9789]

Quite agree!

[@danm7596]

I've only watched half of this one video and I'm convinced too!

[@hache318]

agreed!

[@catboy721]

So many Russian teachers go with the whole palatization speech for this, so I found this explanation much clearer and much more practical for language learners. Not sure linguists would agree with the 'apostrophe' view, but this was very helpful. At speed, Russian speakers tend to swallow syllables, so these are tough things for language learners to pick up on

[@Хосе-ш4д]

I just found this awesome awesome Russian language professor. She’s really good at teaching this beautiful language.

[@julianjohncraft3091]

Been studying Russian off and on for 50 years. I've seen/heard hundreds of pronunciation tutorials, and I lived with Russians for three years. Never have I heard so brilliantly unique an explanation of these two sound modifiers. The new ideas and subtle insights are deeply novel with a truly effective result. Fact is, many might show up at first for your beauty, but, lord, are they ever in for a surprise when what else they encounter is a very gifted, unprecedented quality of instruction. Thank you for all of us who are applauding.

[@RussianComprehensive]

🤗

[@karlkueng8595]

Danke!

[@RussianComprehensive]

Oh wow! Thank you Karl, glad you found it helpful!

[@romalleyza]

Thank you so much for explaining this! I a have been wondering why ь is found directly after ш in so many verb conjugations when it doesn’t change anything - now I know it’s for historical reasons only. Вы очень хорошая учителя, большое спасибо, Ольга!

[@RussianComprehensive]

Спасибо большое, Райан!

[@AA-vl7hx]

I've seen a lot of videos about this and all they did was show how their toung was placed and repeat the sounds over and over. This is the only one that has a good explanation that I can understand. Thank you so much.

[@RussianComprehensive]

🤗

[@AleksanteriAnttila]

Even though I cannot hear the difference in each of those words, this was a big help, thanks!

[@RussianComprehensive]

Just give yourself some time to get used to those sounds

[@guitarfliud10]

Ohhhh this was so helpful I’m gonna cry 😭 Tysm! I was so confused for so long!

[@RussianComprehensive]

🤗

[@gwho]

3:35 the key explanation that makes sense, without a lot of words that don't make sense.

[@andrewccf]

You are the best and most beautiful Russian teacher.this vid helped me ^__^

[@marioedson10]

Hello Im Brazilian i started to study Russian in this year Im so Lucky i had found this Channel broke my all doubts about Hard Sign and Soft sign. this channel is really helpful you doing a great Job i really enjoying and learning by videos thank for Helping all of us teaching that amazing Language 😊!

[@RussianComprehensive]

Спасибо, Марио! I'm happy you find it helpful!

[@hebreuisraelita]

Eu também

[@HowdyJ]

Gotta' say, this is the first video I've come across that really hit it hoe for me. It's CRAZY subtle, but you made it as clear as I think it could be. Thank you!

[@RussianComprehensive]

I’m happy to hear that 🤗

[@DoctorVinnieBoombatz]

I don't understand why my textbook doesn't just clearly and simply present the vowels like this, brilliant! 2:07

[@RussianComprehensive]

❤️

[@Anthony-p1q]

I get it thank you. Finally . Because of your teaching 💯

[@elvirasvensson5204]

You just make me understand something I never did before. Thank you and you earned a new subscriber💪🏻

[@adamoziris2101]

DAMN, Thanks a lot, you saved my life. I study English with phonetics and I couldn't just jump to another language and left the phonetics aside. I was in a huge struggle to understand the sound of ь and ъ in Russian words, and you were the one that made it clear and useful. I'm really thankful ❤️

[@adamoziris2101]

...sorry for the bad English...

[@gwho]

imo, hard sign and soft sign are convolunted ways of accomplishing two things - 1) taking Y sound and blending it into the preceding consonant, or 2) keeping a consonant separate from the following Y sound. If Russian had a dedicated letter letter for the Y sound, then the soft sign letter wouldn't be needed at all - the default would be to blend Y into the consonant, and only the hard sign would indicate separation.

[@o_o9039]

​@@adamoziris2101what bad English

[@adityaheriawanputra4803]

Oh, it's really clear. Thank you so much for the lesson. :))

[@samirkhoury2935]

Thank you so much, i've been pretty much confused with the ъ sign, dropped russian and started bulgarian because it has a similar letter yet it's different and i was still confused. Your video pretty much cleared it up.

[@MichaelB-wm5cg]

Best video on helping me with pronunciation I have come across. Сбасибо.

[@felinepeople]

Definitely subscribing, thanks for this useful video! I’m curious to hear more about ъ used in internet slang. Your English is also really good, I hope that someday my Russian is as good as your English is 😭

[@practiceday-to-dayhindi6083]

Indeed, you are the best teacher so far I’ve found on you tube. Kudos !👏👍🏻👏

[@Sutatu]

Thank you! I'm learning Russian in Duolingo and during the letters study I came across this hard/soft sign and I just couldn't understand their purpose. But your explanation was so good I'm only 4min in and I already understand it now! It is very similar to Japanese combo letters with 'ya, yu, yo', for example a common mistake I hear people say: Tokiyo (to-ki-yo) when it is suppose to be Tokyo (to-kyo). The 'i' in 'ki' is missing and you don't pronounce it. Other examples from Japanese: kyou (=today) and not ki-yo-u, jyu (=ten) not ji-yu etc... Thanks again!

[@ZhivagoDoctor]

Best explanations of hard and soft signs!!

[@Atlantiquasa]

Man....i just have to say from personal testimonial, thank you. Thank you so much for the lessons. When I started and pursued Russian as a single black guy in Miami, my peers and family called me crazy, deeming it as impossible for someone like me. With so much doubt, it fueled the fire needed to keep going, despite the progressive difficulties. Youve lost faith in us as your distant Russian language students, and as a result, i too never lost faith in your teaching skills and my learning skills. In the month of November, im happy to say I will be expressing my absolute gratitude and happiness with having learned Russian through you at a beginners level, and will keep it going. So, from the bottom of my heart, спасибо! Someday i see myself leaving comments purely in Russian thanks to you!

[@Dean-sn7sm]

1:15 if you are explaining this in the future, some more examples I think of are ‘don’t’ and ‘won’t’. English spelling is often wonky but were it not for the apostrophe, it would be ‘dawnt’ and ‘wawnt’. Which would be confusing because daunt and want are actual words with different meanings. But this doesn’t always apply, words like ‘you’re’ and ‘your’ sound the same, whereas ‘we’re’ and ‘were’ sound different, like I said, very wonky. The best example I can put forth is O’clock. It’s a shortening of ‘on the clock’ and we say it as ‘oh-clock’ or ‘uh-clock’. It’s a good example because ‘ocklock’ is obviously wrong.

[@jsjb3468]

Спасибо

[@КристоферДосс]

I have lived in Moscow 22 years, and the soft sign is still the bane of my existence.

[@theludvigmaxis1]

What an excellent teacher.

[@amysanchez3699]

I think the apostrophe made sense for me as a Czech speaker because they're used to make a y/j sound in l', d', etc

[@nikolatesla5300]

Thank you so muchh❤ I learnt a lot😊

[@nurnu349]

Yes, your videos are incredibly helpful.

[@Troll_996]

6:52 The Hard sign and soft signs past sound

[@darkaugustine]

THANK YOU

[@mr_afraz]

Very Knowledgeable Content, Viewer From India 🇮🇳

[@KadenExplodes]

Omg tysm it helped me a lot ! Also good explaining ! 😍😍 I learned so much from you :D I love Russian,but i always wondered what ь and ъ sounded like, how they're used,when they're used,and now i know ! Tysm

[@JohnAGoldsmith]

Like the other comments here say: this is really an excellent presentation, in every way.

[@Kolsev]

Super useful! Thank you so much.

[@sundarvaradhachari2938]

Excellent explanation even to beginner.

[@VerticalBlank]

This is so much more helpful than all the other channels.

[@АдидСаломон]

Excellent explanation.

[@Xairic]

Very helpful video, спасибо!

[@martinohu]

Between the pronunciation of MaTb and MaT, it seems to change not only the sound of consonant but the length of vowel "a" and their form (open/close). Did I listen to the difference right? Thanks for such a helpful video!

[@RussianComprehensive]

The length of vowels doesn't make any difference in Russian: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hn3NgqyXfrWgsNU

[@EstudianteTeco]

Отличное видео, прекрасное объяснение! Спасибо, я это долго искал

[@RussianComprehensive]

🤗

[@danm7596]

Awesome explanation!

[@perloofficial]

Супер! Очень интересно, спасибо большое

[@RussianComprehensive]

Спасибо, Джанкарло!

[@kartkoe]

this is super helpful!! thank you so much

[@rainycream530]

Thank you so much. It’s very helpful and easy to be understood

[@angelawong0172]

I am studying Russian. I am subscribing you. 😍🙏🏻

[@gilbertoborges8478]

Excelente explicação

[@AyaChible]

The best explanation ever 😭💜

[@FCAFlyer]

Thanks.

[@kigunawanedisantoso2567]

Nice explanation. So good

[@johnpatrick4185]

Very clear! Visuals very helpful!

[@gwho]

7:45 i LOVE that construction. so perfect~! Hard.

[@yashwanthramaswamy7277]

Man this is by far the best video ive come across explaining the soft sign and hard sign , but there is two things im still not clear with , 1) hard sign, what difference it exactly brings from that of a soft sign?? either making the consonant harder or stressing the following й + vowel sound? , 2) when using soft sign after a consonant and between two consonants i cant help but notice that the only difference it creates is the tongue placement i.e. back of your teeth vs roof of the mouth. Am i correct?....... Very thankful for anyone who could answer!! :)

[@RussianComprehensive]

1. Ъ doesn't affect a consonant (it stays hard), while Ь makes it soft (though the pronunciation in syllables like МЪЯ - МЬЯ is very similar) 2. correct You might want to go through the first 3 videos over here, to get a better idea of what hard/soft consonants are: kzbin.info/aero/PLpgpVaWoAiTF7qeZnkArrYt2Fd6CJf2au

[@yashwanthramaswamy7277]

@@RussianComprehensive that was really helpful thank you :)

[@dayanbalevski4446]

In Bulgarian they make more sense than Russian because they have a sound in Bulgarian. ь sounds like j (aktjor) (Актьор) - a Actor or Сервитьор (Servitjor) - a Waiter Ъ sounds like 'uh' like in fun in english. It is used like an apostrophe, but it makes a sound between a/o - so it is technically a vowel in Bulgarian. Дърво (Д'рво) (D'rvo) which is "tree" or "wood" - the Ъ is used a "bridge" vowel to make the sounds softer/fluid between two consonants, and not abrupt.

[@txdorovaa]

In our language, Ъ has its own sound, and it's a vowel

[@gwho]

interesting. thanks for sharing.

[@gwho]

I like this very much. that's kind of what it does in russian too, in reality, even though they don't teach that it does that. If Russian made ь indicate the j/Y sound, then they could get rid of 5 of their vowels. Instead of а, э, и, о, у + я, е, Й, ё, ю, + ы it could be а, э, и, о, у + ьа, ьэ, ьи, ьо, ьу + ы

[@carloambito3334]

Akt’or

[@carloambito3334]

D”rvo

[@rickortega80]

I'm learning Russian now!! Spaseba!😁

[@DeadnWoon]

By the way, as the man who reads liturgical texts in Church Slavonic language at the church services, I must add that in much-older-Russian, hard sign was possible before non-iotated vowels, as well.

[@ghilliem.g.5824]

Thank you so much, i'm a native portuguese speaker so i'v always had trouble understanding this letter, that is because everywhere i searched, all i found was people comparing it to the apostrophe, but that always confused me because in portuguese the apostrophe doesn't affect sound at all. For example: d'água (of water) is pronounced like "dágua", without a pause. So i never got it when people made the apostrophe-soft sign comparisson, but you explain it perfectly in this video, so i finally understood what it is supposed to do. It compares better to the H in portuguese, wich doesen't have a sound but is used to change the sounds of other letters. For example, in PT "nha" is pronounced like "ньа" or "нья", and "lha" is "льа" or "лья", only situation wich this comparisson wouldn't apply would be "cha" where its pronounced like "ша" or "ща" (but one could argue does are kinda like softer "c" sounds), and "hospital" where it doesent affect the word at all and its just pronounced like "оспитау".

[@sabreskar]

thanks!

[@n1lknarf]

very good. saw a tutorial someone saying tatiana with a strong N instead of making a stop at TATb and then pronouncing RNA. It's not the same Tatnaha than Tatbrna

[@iskandar149]

what an amazing video, waiting too long for such one

[@juanmab58]

This video is pure gold!! Btw does anybody feel like the 'soft' sounds sound more 'hard' and viceversa? For example in мель/мел or уоль/угал. That last "L" in угал sounds like english L and for me is way more 'soft' than the previous word (that sounds kinda similar to an spanish L)

[@RussianComprehensive]

I'd recommend you watch a quick explanation for Hard/Soft consonants in Russian :) kzbin.info/www/bejne/j6Oyd6xqqpyWr68 And the next one, to practice the difference between Hard/Soft syllables: kzbin.info/www/bejne/apS2mIOmprZlkJo

[@elielsilva8586]

I swear to you this was the closest I got to giving up on the language

[@RussianComprehensive]

I hope you changed your mind though! :)

[@theplinkerslodge6361]

Learning Russian is easy, they said...

[@gwho]

10:35 why is it that in Russian writing, "SHy" get a special letters instead of being "SH+soft sign"? Why make this special case letter, but other letters have to use soft sign instead?

[@story_street]

thanks i love russia and i learn russian

[@gwho]

11:33 that's weird to me. why not soft Zh or hard Ch? it's totally doable, and Russian has hard and soft versions of all consonants.

[@gwho]

There isn't a difference between soft sign being between two consonants vs soft sign being after a consonant. In both cases the function is the same - it palatalizes the consonant preceding the soft sign. So it's better not to create unnecessary categories.

[@AnisHamadeh]

Aha, now I'm beginning to get it ... Dankeschön, Спасибо!

[@sunsnows]

Ohh I finally understand what the signs do now! But I cant tell the difference between the hard and soft sign :')

[@fluteloopsyd]

This sooo hard, wow. But at the same time it's never made more sense, so thank you so much; it really helped.☺ But I still don't fully get it.😂

[@RussianComprehensive]

You might want to start over from the beginning, here: kzbin.info/aero/PLpgpVaWoAiTF7qeZnkArrYt2Fd6CJf2au It's a break down of How Russian vowels work, Russian Hard vs Soft consonants, and a Reading exercise (3 first videos in the playlist, around 20 min in total). After that, watch the explanation for Ъ and Ь once again. It should make more sense in the end.

[@fluteloopsyd]

@@RussianComprehensive Wow, thank you so much! I'll watch it.😄😊

[@ricknoelle4507]

This was extremely helpful. Thank you for the very clear explanation. I'm glad I have found your channel.

[@sunving]

Thank you very much. I don’t know how ь follow infinitive to pronounce.

[@RussianComprehensive]

-ть is pronounced this way: kzbin.info/www/bejne/apS2mIOmprZlkJo

[@Thegentlebro1789]

the soft sign between two consonant makes hard the sound of the consonant that follows?

[@RussianComprehensive]

no, Ъ and Ь only affect a consonant they follow

[@aliceaccorsi2782]

(5 dislikes)/(393 likes) = 0,0127 = 1,27% !!! This means that nearly 99 persons out of 100 find this video really amazing and perfect. I am not gonna make you compliments, because the mathematics already does them for me. 🤣👍👍 Well done! Best Regards, from Italy.

[@deinemutter7472]

0:36 Well that is a nice sound!

[@Anthony-dy5cq]

It sounds like soft signs pull the syllable down where it appears while the hard one pitches it up where it appears?

[@RussianComprehensive]

With the Hard sign, the consonant stays hard, and the Soft sign makes the consonant soft. Here’s on the difference between hard and soft consonants: kzbin.info/www/bejne/j6Oyd6xqqpyWr68

[@EmilioAt77]

I've been studying Russian for a year now, and I think after this video I finally can get a hold of ь and ъ 😁 Благодарю 🙏🏻😊

[@pravoslavn]

Would you consider doing a video on the vowel reduction which occurred in Mowcow Russian about 200 years ago, whereby the middle vowel O, when occuring in an unstressed syllable, is reduced to a back vowel? I am aware that Lower Volga Russian does not follow that phonological reduction. My guess is that the trendy elite began speaking that way in Moscow, and that practice spread, and then the Soviet Union came along and wished to standardize Russian all over the country, and so taught that vowel reduction as "standard Russian." A lecture by you on this whole process would be really helpful. (And, by the way, I utterly refuse to make that vowel reduction when I attempt to speak RU... ☺ )

[@HaliPuppeh]

I'm not sure what made me think of this, but would having either ь or ъ affect the devoicing of a final consonant or in a cluster since the consonant is no longer the last letter? For example, a word like тетрадь? Would the last consonant still devoice to a T?

[@RussianComprehensive]

Привет! There are voiced and voiceless consonants, and both can be hard or soft. A -д at the end of a word devoices to -т, and -дь will devoice to -ть. Тетрадь is pronounced as [титрАть]. I actually explain this over here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/n57MiXqehJJ-mZI

[@محمدعلیحبیباللهی-ي8ف]

That was complete and amazing lesson. but I still have some difficulty to diagnose which sound is soft and which one is hard... what I gathered was that when pronounce a letter with help of palate the sound is hard and other wise is soft. Am I correct? Thanks again for amazing video.

[@RussianComprehensive]

Check out the first three lessons from this Pronunciation playlist. I think, it’ll answer your question: kzbin.info/aero/PLpgpVaWoAiTF7qeZnkArrYt2Fd6CJf2au

[@paulbangaladesh9756]

Awesome!!!

[@юньб]

but Ня~ 3:02

[@filipe5226]

And she said “Й у makes you”, I felt that 😔

[@Vancouver-vx2eo]

So Natalya I should pronounce Natalia not Na tal ya right or it’s similar when you pronounce it quickly (I saw Natalya in google translate said it pronounce Natal’ya so I wonder is it both correct or not)

[@RussianComprehensive]

There you go: kzbin.info/www/bejne/npC5i5aXn8x5b7c

[@lvvry1855]

Around 10:30 completely confusing. The Shcha sound is considered soft? It sounds very hard to me! Same with "ch". Obviously I don't understand soft and hard with these last consonants.

[@RussianComprehensive]

There you go: kzbin.info/www/bejne/j6Oyd6xqqpyWr68

[@Eshyy_]

Я русская.... Но зачем я смотрю уроки русского языка? Я же английский учила...

[@pelagius_morvan]

You said the й dispeared when there was a consonant before but it actually turns to a и to me. You are no saying мя like ma (not the English a but the Latin a like in mama) but rather as mia.

[@RussianComprehensive]

To avoid confusion, check out the HARD / SOFT consonants video I refer to: kzbin.info/www/bejne/apS2mIOmprZlkJo

[@Soundbrigade]

I am little by little guiding a group of retired people through the Russian language (on a very basic level) and I got the question about the soft and hard 'snacks' today and could just a little explain, but I will bring this great explanation with me next time. Really, I have to watch your lessons as there's one BIG problem teaching/learning Russian. There are always the possibility to ONLY transcribe the Russian words, but in that case a lot is missed, so I use the Russian words written in Cyrillic letters AND I (try to) transcribe the words and I explain why 'O' is pronounced 'A' in many cases etc. My idea is to make us recognise the Russian letters and successively learn how to pronounce them. I mean if we end up in Russia we will never see the sign 'MALAKO' or even worse 'PIVA'. PS. I started learning Russian in 1992 and was pretty good at it when I got to work in SPb for a few years, but am slowly forgetting some of my skills. But our class is in it for the fun of it and I have promised to arrange a tour to Russia if I ever win on Lotto ....

[@RussianComprehensive]

I hear you. Today, traveling is quite complicated, but it’ll go back to what it used to be, eventually. Actually, it wasn’t even nearly that expensive or difficult as one might imagine. Before pandemic, a regular Aeroflot airfare to fly between Moscow and NY or Miami in the winter, was around $300 (for a return flight). I can assure you, it won’t require you winning a lottery when you decide to go to Russia :)

[@Soundbrigade]

@@RussianComprehensive We are living in Sweden, and there are several travel agencies arranging a number of various travels to and in Russia. Two of the "students" had found a flood cruise from Moscow to Astrakhan and I had found a bus tour to SPb, Novgorod, Moscow and Velikie Luki (a place I have visited many times). But all and everything was cancelled due to the pandemic. Had it been possible to arrange a tour which also included visits to Russian homes, that had been fantastic. What I really want to communicate is, not just a few simple phrases but as much of the Russian soul I can give. I will take a good friend from Dagestan to her doctor on Friday and I will invite her to our group to tell us about life in Kavkaz. That kind of input is very important as I guess learning the language is a bit hard for some, but this is much about getting together socially and pick up a спасибо here and a здравствуйте there. The soft and hard signs are not on our level, but when someone asks, I have to answer, and your lesson helps a lot.

[@aidenturnblom7072]

0:36 Crickets Chirping

[@SerenaLovesAsh10381]

Nice

[@vannigio6234]

uah! 👍👍👍

[@hotsmissed9965]

when we have one of these vowels "Я Ё Ю Е И" in the end of the world and before them there is a one of those letter "АОУЭЫ" then the "Й" sound should be pronounced, but that's not the case with word like "субъективная" as you can see there is a vowel "А" before "Я" but when I run the voice translation it's pronounced last vowel "Я" without "Й" sounds ???

[@RussianComprehensive]

A word with a stressed Я would be a better example, like моЯ for instance, as unstressed vowels shorten. And yes, you will hear Й in Я when it follows a vowel, there's just no other way to distinguish it as Я, and not А.

[@hotsmissed9965]

​@@RussianComprehensive But it's the Rule of the language ! if "Я, Ё, Ю, Е, И" followed by "А, О, У, Э, Ы" you should hear the "Й" sound so why we don't hear "Й" when we pronounce "субъективная" ? although Я is followed by a vowel A?

[@RussianComprehensive]

We do, check my previous comment. Only you confused which letter follows which

[@DeadnWoon]

In practice, the post-1917 Russian language sometimes used apostrophe instead of hard sign up until the 1960s or so. It may be seen in some books and printed materials made in those times. Ukrainian language simply uses apostrophe instead of hard sign.

[@RussianComprehensive]

True, the same does Belarusian.

[@carlosalbertomoraes2340]

Excellent.

[@paulocoutinho9133]

Здравствуйте из Бразилии. Очень симпатичная и вежливая. Мне тонкие разницы. Как Ш и Щ. 😊

[@kevguimary9479]

I like it