Is the "y" consonant sound always pronounced in the Russian letters е ё я and ю?
I need an explanation on to how this works in pronunciation, because I've been told that e is pronounced like ye and e, but also that it's only pronounced like "ye." Thanks, and native speakers only please!
More Questions From This User See All
Answers & Comments
Verified answer
No. Only word-initially. after a vowel, or after one of the "znak" letters (ъ and ь). On top of that, except in very formal speech, it tends to fall out of vowel+{е,ё,ю,я} combinations, causing the vowels on either side to merge in what sounds very much like a diphthong.
It's wrong under any circumstances to articulate an iotic consonant in {е,ё,ю,я} when it follows a consonant (instead of palatalising the preceding consonant itself). In fact it's the most stereotypical feature of a foreign accent, and what a Russian would primarily do when imitating a foreigner's speech (same as an English speaker would say "de ting" for "the thing", etc.) is to pronounce a word like зря as z-r-y-a rather than the correct z-r'-a.
(If the difference is hard to understand, here's another analogy: think of the difference between "pill" (with a "breathed" initial [p]) and "uphill" (with a regular [p] followed by a separate "breathy" consonant). They sound close but are in fact completely distinct. To pronounce a "y" post-consonantally in Russian, despite transliterations like "Ryazan" or "Lyubov", is as incorrect as pronouncing "pill" as "p-hill".)
Е can be pronounced as "ye" or "e" depending on the placement of the letter. It will typically take the "ye" sound.
Ё always takes the "yo" sound, as it's always stressed
Я can make the "ya" sound, or a more open "a" sound, again, depending on the placement.
Ю always takes the "yu" sound.
I hear zed in my abode and anybody else around me says "zee". i'm susceptible to pronounce it "zed" on account this is the actual call of the letter, yet no person in usa is common with it by capacity of that call. i'm beneficial it relatively is considering you're Dutch and can have stated that your self or you know others who say it yet they don't say that right here for some reason. the 1st time I stated that for the duration of a style right here i grew to become into laughed at and that i grew to become into so ashamed, thinking i grew to become into incorrect, although this is authentic to declare it the two way.