Spelling Rule - Basic Russian Spelling Rules

Basic Russian Spelling Rules

• Spelling Rule #1
  • After the velar consonants г, к, and х:
  • and the sibilant consonants ж, ч, ш, щ:
    • one must never write the "hard" vowel ы, but must always replace it with its "soft" equivalent и, even though after ж and ш, и is pronounced as if it were written ы.

• Spelling Rule #2
  • After the velar cons г, к, and х:
  • the sibilant consonants ж, ч, ш, щ
  • and the hard consonant ц:
    • one must never write the "soft" vowel ю, but must always replace it with its "hard" equivalent у, even though after ч and щ, у is pronounced as if it were written ю.
    • one must never write the "soft" vowel я, but must always replace it with its "hard" equivalent а, even though after ч and щ, а is pronounced as if it were written я.

• Spelling Rule #3
  • After the sibilant consonants ж, ч, ш, щ and the hard consonant ц:
    • one must never write the letter о unless the syllable in which the о is to be added in the suffix is stressed.
    • if the syllable in which the о is to be added in the suffix is unstressed, then one must always write е.

This spelling rule does not have a great deal of effect on actual Russian pronunciation, because when unstressed, the vowels о and е are weakened to a very weak sound like the schwa.

Note that this rule relates to the fact that stressed о after ж, ц, ч, ш and щ is pronounced the same as the always-stressed letter ё after the same letters. In most words, ё is preferred over stressed о after ж, ц, ч, ш and щ. When stress changes, ё invariably loses its accent.

• Spelling Rule #4
  • If any of the vowels ь, й or я is at the end of a word, it is dropped in order to add another suffix. This is the case with many feminine and masculine (those ending in й) nouns in Russian:
    • One must always replace the ь, й or я with и and never with ы, even though after ж, ш, and ц, и is pronounced as if it were written ы and other suffixes for nouns allow ы after the always-hard consonant ц.