Common Letters
The following table lists the Cyrillic letters which are used in the alphabets of most of the national languages which use a Cyrillic alphabet. Exceptions and additions for particular languages are noted below.
| Upright | Italic/Cursive | Name | Sound |
|---|---|---|---|
| А а | А а | A | /a/ |
| Б б | Б б | Be | /b/ |
| В в | В в | Ve | /v/ |
| Г г | Г г | Ge | /ɡ/ |
| Д д | Д д | De | /d/ |
| Е е | Е е | Ye | /je/, /ʲe/ |
| Ж ж | Ж ж | Zhe | /ʒ/ |
| З з | З з | Ze | /z/ |
| И и | И и | I | /i/, /ʲi/ |
| Й й | Й й | Short I (Russian: I kratkoye) | /j/ |
| К к | К к | Ka | /k/ |
| Л л | Л л | El | /l/ |
| М м | М м | Em | /m/ |
| Н н | Н н | En | /n/ |
| О о | О о | O | /o/ |
| П п | П п | Pe | /p/ |
| Р р | Р р | Er | /r/ |
| С с | С с | Es | /s/ |
| Т т | Т т | Te | /t/ |
| У у | У у | U | /u/ |
| Ф ф | Ф ф | Ef | /f/ |
| Х х | Х х | Kha | /x/ |
| Ц ц | Ц ц | Tse | /ts/ |
| Ч ч | Ч ч | Che | /tʃ/ |
| Ш ш | Ш ш | Sha | /ʃ/ |
| Щ щ | Щ щ | Shcha, Shta | /ʃtʃ/, /ɕː/, /ʃt/ |
| Ь ь | Ь ь | Soft sign (Russian: myagkiy znak) or Small yer (Bulgarian: er malak) |
/ʲ/ |
| Ю ю | Ю ю | Yu | /ju/, /ʲu/ |
| Я я | Я я | Ya | /ja/, /ʲa/ |
The soft sign ⟨ь⟩ is not a letter representing a sound, but modifies the sound of the preceding letter, indicating palatalisation ("softening"), also separates the consonant and the following vowel. Sometimes it does not have phonetic meaning, just orthographic; e.g. Russian туш, tush 'flourish after a toast'; тушь, tushʹ 'India ink'. In some languages, a hard sign ⟨ъ⟩ or apostrophe ⟨’⟩ just separates consonant and the following vowel (бя, бья, бъя = б’я ).
Read more about this topic: Cyrillic Alphabets
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