The modern Russian alphabet consists of 33 letters. The alphabet in its current representation has existed since 1942. In fact, the year 1918 can be considered the year of the formation of the modern Russian alphabet - then it consisted of 32 letters (without the letter ё). Origin of the alphabet, according to historical documents, is associated with the names Cyril and Methodius and refers to the 9th century AD. From the moment of its origin until 1918, the alphabet changed several times, incorporating and excluding signs. At one time it had over 40 letters. The Russian alphabet is also sometimes called the Russian alphabet.
Russian alphabet with the name of the letters
On our site for each letter of the Russian alphabet there is a separate page with detailed description, examples of words, pictures, poems, riddles. They can be printed or downloaded. Click on the desired letter to go to her page.
A a B b C c D d E f f f g f g h I i y y k k l l M m N n O P p p r s s t t u u v f x x z z z h Sh sh y y y y b
Often in writing instead of the letter e, the letter e is used. In most cases, the substitution is straightforward for the reader, but in some contexts it is necessary to use the letter ё to avoid ambiguity. Russian letters are neuter nouns. It should be borne in mind that the style of the letters depends on the font.
Letter numbering
In some logical tasks to determine the next element in a series, in games when solving comic ciphers, in competitions for knowledge of the alphabet and in other similar cases, you need to know sequence numbers letters of the Russian alphabet, including numbers when counting from the end to the beginning of the alphabet. Our visual "strip" will help you quickly determine the number of a letter in the alphabet.
- BUT
1
33 - B
2
32 - AT
3
31 - G
4
30 - D
5
29 - E
6
28 - Yo
7
27 - AND
8
26 - W
9
25 - And
10
24 - Y
11
23 - To
12
22 - L
13
21 - M
14
20 - H
15
19 - O
16
18 - P
17
17
- R
18
16 - FROM
19
15 - T
20
14 - At
21
13 - F
22
12 - X
23
11 - C
24
10 - H
25
9 - W
26
8 - SCH
27
7 - Kommersant
28
6 - S
29
5 - b
30
4 - E
31
3 - YU
32
2 - I
33
1
Letters of the Russian alphabet
Frequent questions about the letters of the Russian alphabet are: how many letters are in the alphabet, which of them are vowels and consonants, which are called uppercase and which are lowercase? Basic information about letters is often found in popular questions to students primary school, in tests for erudition and determining the level of IQ, in questionnaires for foreigners on knowledge of the Russian language and other similar tasks.
Number of letters
How many letters are in the Russian alphabet?
There are 33 letters in the Russian alphabet.
Some people, in order to memorize the number of letters in the Russian alphabet, associate them with popular phrases: “33 pleasures”, “33 misfortunes”, “33 cows”. Other people associate with facts from their lives: I live in apartment number 33, I live in region 33 ( Vladimir region), I play in the team number 33 and the like. And if the number of letters of the alphabet is forgotten again, then the associated phrases help to remember it. It will probably help you too?
Vowels and consonants
How many vowels and consonants are in the Russian alphabet?
10 vowels + 21 consonants + 2 no sounds
Among the letters of the Russian alphabet are:
- 10 vowels: a, o, y, s, e, i, e, e, u, and;
- 21 consonant letters: b, c, d, d, d, g, h, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, f, x, c, h, w, u;
- 2 letters that do not mean sounds: b, b.
The letter means sound. Compare: “ka”, “el” are the names of letters, [k], [l] are sounds.
Uppercase and lowercase
Which letters are uppercase and which are lowercase?
Letters are uppercase (or uppercase) and lowercase:
- A, B, C ... E, U, I - capital letters,
- a, b, c... uh, i — lower case.
Sometimes they say: large and small letters. But this wording is incorrect, since it means the size of the letter, and not its style. Compare:
B is a large capital letter, B is a small capital letter, b is a large lowercase letter, b is a small lowercase letter.
Proper names are written with a capital letter, the beginning of sentences, an appeal to “you” with an expression of deep respect. AT computer programs the term "letter case" is used. Uppercase letters are typed in uppercase, lowercase letters are typed in lowercase.
Javascript is disabled in your browser.ActiveX controls must be enabled in order to make calculations!
(alphabet) - a set of graphic characters - letters in the established sequence, which create the written and printed form of the national Russian language. Includes 33 letters: a, b, c, d, e, e, e, f, h, i, d, k, l, m, n, o, p, r, s, t, y, f, x, c, h, w, u, b, s, b, e, u, i. Most letters in writing are graphically different from printed ones. Except for ъ, ы, ь, all letters are used in two versions: uppercase and lowercase. In printed form, the variants of most letters are graphically identical (they differ only in size; compare, however, B and b), in writing, in many cases, the spelling of uppercase and lowercase letters differ from each other (A and a, T and t, etc.).
The Russian alphabet conveys the phonemic and sound composition of Russian speech: 20 letters convey consonant sounds (b, p, c, f, e, t, s, s, g, w, h, c, u, g, k, x, m, n, l, p), 10 letters - vowels, of which a, e, o, s, and, y are only vowels, i, e, e, u - the softness of the previous consonant + a, e, o, y or combinations j + vowel ("five", "forest", "ice", "hatch"; "pit", "ride", "tree", "young"); the letter "y" conveys "and non-syllable" ("battle") and in some cases the consonant j ("yogi"). Two letters: "b" ( solid mark) and "ь" (soft sign) do not denote separate independent sounds. The letter "b" serves to denote the softness of the preceding consonants, paired in hardness - softness ("mayor" - "mole"), after the letters of hissing "b" is an indicator of some grammatical forms in writing (3rd declension of nouns - "daughter", but “brick”, imperative mood - “cut”, etc.). The letters "b" and "b" also act as a separator sign ("rise", "beat").
The modern Russian alphabet, in its composition and basic letter styles, goes back to the ancient Cyrillic alphabet, whose alphabetic characters have been from the 11th century. changed in form and composition. Russian alphabet in modern form was introduced by the reforms of Peter I (1708-1710) and the Academy of Sciences (1735, 1738 and 1758), the result of which was to simplify the styles of letters and to exclude some obsolete characters from the alphabet. So, the letters Ѡ (“omega”), Ꙋ (“uk”), Ꙗ, Ѥ (iotized a, e), Ѯ (“xi”), Ѱ (“psi”), digraphs Ѿ (“from”) were excluded. , OU (“y”), signs of stress and aspiration (strength), abbreviation signs (titles), etc. New letters were introduced: i (instead of Ꙗ and Ѧ), e, y. Later, N. M. Karamzin introduced the letter "e" (1797). These changes served to transform the old Church Slavonic seal for secular publications (hence later the name of the printed font - "civilian"). Some excluded letters were subsequently restored and excluded again, some of the extra letters continued to be used in Russian writing and printing until 1917, when by decree People's Commissariat Education of December 23, 1917, confirmed by a decree of the Council of People's Commissars of October 10, 1918, the letters Ѣ, Ѳ, І (“yat”, “fita”, “i decimal”) were excluded from the alphabet. The use of the letter "ё" in print is not strictly required, it is used mainly in dictionaries and educational literature.
The Russian "civilian" alphabet served as the basis for most of the writing systems of the peoples of the USSR, as well as for some other languages written on the basis of the Cyrillic alphabet.
| Ah | [a] | Kk | [ka] | xx | [Ha] |
| bb | [be] | Ll | [el] | ts | [ce] |
| Vv | [ve] | Mm | [Em] | hh | [che] |
| Gg | [ge] | Hn | [en] | shh | [sha] |
| dd | [de] | Oo | [about] | Shch | [sha] |
| Her | [e] | Pp | [pe] | bj | [hard sign, old. ep] |
| Her | [yo] | RR | [er] | Yy | [s] |
| Learn | [ge] | ss | [es] | b | [soft sign, old. er] |
| Zz | [ze] | Tt | [te] | uh | [e reverse] |
| ii | [and] | woo | [y] | Yuyu | [Yu] |
| yy | [and short] | FF | [ef] | Yaya | [I] |
- Bylinskiy K.I., Kryuchkov S. E., Svetlaev M. V., The use of the letter ё. Handbook, M., 1943;
- Deeringer D., Alphabet, translated from English., M., 1963;
- Istrin V. A., The emergence and development of writing, M., 1965;
- Musaev K. M., Alphabets of the languages of the peoples of the USSR, M., 1965;
- Ivanova VF, Modern Russian language. Graphics and spelling, 2nd ed., M., 1976;
- Moiseev A. I., Modern Russian alphabet and alphabets of other peoples of the USSR, RYaSh, 1982, No. 6;
- see also the literature under the article
The importance of writing in the development of mankind is difficult to overestimate. Back in the era when the alphabet did not exist in sight, ancient people tried to express their thoughts in the form of rock inscriptions.
Alphabet of Elizabeth Boehm
First they drew figurines of animals and humans, then various signs and hieroglyphs. Over time, people managed to create easy-to-understand letters and put them into an alphabet. Who was the creator of the alphabet of the Russian language? To whom do we owe the opportunity to express ourselves freely through writing?
Who laid the foundation of the Russian alphabet?
The history of the emergence of the Russian alphabet goes back to the 2nd millennium BC. Then the ancient Phoenicians came up with consonants and used them for a long time to draw up documents.
In the VIII century BC, their discovery was borrowed by the ancient Greeks, who significantly improved the letter by adding vowels to it. In the future, it was the Greek alphabet, with the help of which statutory (solemn) letters were compiled, that formed the basis of the Russian alphabet.
Who created the Russian alphabet?
In the Bronze Age in Eastern Europe Proto-Slavic peoples lived, speaking the same language. 
Primer Slavonic letters Greatest Teacher B. Jerome of Stridon
Around the 1st century AD, they began to break up into separate tribes, as a result of which several states inhabited by Eastern Slavs. Among them was Great Moravia, which occupied the lands of modern Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, partly Ukraine and Poland.
With the advent of Christianity and the construction of temples, people needed to create a written language that would allow them to record church texts. To learn how to write, the Moravian prince Rostislav turned to the Byzantine emperor for help. Michael III, and he sent Christian preachers Cyril and Methodius to Moravia. In 863, they came up with the first Russian alphabet, which was named after one of the preachers - Cyrillic.
Who are Cyril and Methodius?
Cyril and Methodius were brothers from Thessalonica (now the Greek Thessaloniki). In those days in their hometown, in addition to Greek, they spoke the Slavic-Thessalonica dialect, which formed the basis Church Slavonic.
Initially, Cyril's name was Konstantin, and he received his second name just before his death, having taken a monastic vow. In his youth, Constantine studied with the best Byzantine teachers of philosophy, rhetoric, dialectics, and later taught at the University of Magnavra in Constantinople. 
Monument to Saints Cyril and Methodius in Saratov. The author of the photo is Zimin Vasily.
In 863, having gone to Moravia, with the help of his brother Methodius, he created. distribution center Slavic writing became Bulgaria. In 886, the Preslav book school was opened on its territory, where they were engaged in translations from Greek and rewrote Cyrillic and Methodius originals. Around the same time, the Cyrillic alphabet came to Serbia, and at the end of the 10th century it reached Kievan Rus.
Initially, the first Russian alphabet had 43 letters. Later, 4 more were added to it, and the 14 former ones were removed as unnecessary. The first time some of the letters appearance resembled Greek, but as a result of an orthographic reform in the 17th century, they were replaced by those that we know today.
By 1917, there were 35 letters in the Russian alphabet, although in fact there were 37 of them, since Yo and Y were not considered separate. Additionally, the letters I, Ѣ (yat), Ѳ (fita) and V (zhitsa) were present in the alphabet, which later disappeared from use.
When did the modern Russian alphabet appear?
In 1917-1918, a major spelling reform was carried out in Russia, thanks to which the modern alphabet appeared. Its initiator was the Ministry of Public Education under the Provisional Government. The reform began before the revolution, but was continued after the transfer of power to the Bolsheviks. 
Wikimedia Commons / Jimmy Thomas ()
In December 1917 the Russian statesman Anatoly Lunacharsky issued a decree according to which all organizations were ordered to use the new alphabet, consisting of 33 letters.
Although the spelling reform was prepared before the revolution and had no political underpinnings, at first it was criticized by opponents of Bolshevism. However, over time, the modern alphabet took root and is used to this day.
Why are the letters in the alphabet in this order? June 23rd, 2016
Often I meet the answer to this question on the Internet in this form: "this inexplicable fact". But I still found some explanations that I want to convey to you. And you already tell me if you have heard a different version.
With the Russian alphabet, everything is simple. Slavic writing only a little over a thousand years old, and its history is known. In the second half of the 9th century, the brothers Cyril and Methodius decided to bring Slavic world Christianity, and since Christianity is the religion of the book, Cyril invented the alphabet for the Slavs, the Glagolitic alphabet.
Cyril came up with original styles (although based on the Greek minuscule common in those days), and the order in in general terms saved. Maybe then, so that it would still be convenient to denote numbers with letters. Maybe because he did not know another order. Maybe because alphabet order the language of the Bible is sacred - it is said in the Bible: “I am alpha and omega”, that is, the beginning and the end.
The only thing was to give some place to the letters that denoted sounds that were absent in Greek: B, Zh, C, Ch, Sh, etc. And they were placed either next to the letters denoting the maximum similar sounds(B - next to C, G - next to Z), or to the end of the alphabet. When instead of the Glagolitic they began to use a more similar to Greek letters Cyrillic alphabet, the alphabetical order is generally preserved, although some rare letters in different lists occupy different places, and some are available only in part of the lists.
The Greek alphabet took its letter order from Semitic writing. There is a legend about the Phoenician Cadmus, who taught the Greeks writing. Like the Slavs, the Greeks needed additional letters, so at the end Greek alphabet we see phi (Φ), chi (Χ), psi (Ψ) and omega (Ω) absent from the Phoenicians. By the way, in early lists these letters do not exist, the alphabet ends either in upslon (Y) or in general in tau (T).
To the same source ascends, ultimately, and Latin alphabet, which is why the order of the letters in it differs so little from the Russian we are used to. Perhaps the most noticeable is that in place of G in front of the letter D (D) we see C (read as “k”). But if you look at the Latin letter G, you can see that it is derived from C (and was produced quite late - that is why the name Guy for a long time abbreviated with the letter C - never heard of Julius Caesar's "Caius"?).
But where the order of the letters in the Semitic letter came from is not known exactly. The signs themselves, most likely, did not arise without the influence of Egyptian writing, but the Semites themselves came up with the order. Moreover, even before the appearance of the Semitic writing itself: for the first time it is found in the Ugaritic letter, and it is cuneiform.
If the Europeans simply copied the order of the letters (perhaps in order to preserve, at least basically, their numerical values behind the letters), then the ancient Indians, who had a good linguistic tradition, having received the Semitic letter at their disposal, arranged the letters in accordance with the pronunciation: first vowels, then consonants, and within these groups the order is also not random. And the Indians came up with separate numbers for themselves. Then, through the Arabs, these figures reached Europe, and we know them under the name "Arab" - but that's another story.
Here's another opinion: The fact is that the system of the current alphabet comes from the old Russian alphabet. And to memorize it, the method of mental images was used. After all, it is easier to memorize a meaningful text than to memorize a set of characters. So there was precisely such an order and no other. Of course, over time, it changed, some letters left, some were added, but the skeleton, so to speak, remained.
“Az beeches vede. The verb is good. Live green, earth, and, like some people, think of our peace. Rtsy word firmly - uk furt her. Tsy, worm, shta ra yus yati.
One possible translation of this text is as follows:
“I know letters: writing is a treasure. Work hard, earthlings, as you should reasonable people- comprehend the universe!
Carry the word with conviction: knowledge is a gift from God! Dare, delve into, in order to comprehend the light of existence!
or something else interesting:
Squared 7 by 7
In the first line:
I know God, I say good, so I exist.
In the second line:
Life is abundant on Earth when universal truth is in community from God.
In the third line:
For all thinking people only He (God) speaks peace.
On the fourth line:
The word, approved from above, calls to confidently hold on to the foundations of the wisdom of goodness in order to complete the path, to come into harmony for a new beginning.
On the fifth line:
The protection of our earth's borders and growth ensure God's protection and our unity.
On the sixth line:
The harmonious development and growth potential of my family and me, as a part of it, depends on the Supreme source and the history of the family.
On the seventh line:
The meaning of life is in the desire to improve the spirit and soul until it fully matures in perfect personality in eternity.
Vertical 1 column:
My life is like a thought clothed in sound, striving for harmony, the smallest particle of reason in the universe.
2nd column:
God creates around people hard border and guides them towards self-improvement.
3rd column:
Knowledge of the Earth and reflection on it call for peace in the spirit of our kind (people).
4 column:
To speak the truth is our tradition, our protection, part of our soul. (What is the strength of a brother? - In Truth!)
5 column:
The benefit of the Universe is that God the Creator confidently and firmly creates the growth of everything, for the complete maturation of the seed.
6 column:
essence of being human society in peace, peace, balance, harmony, unity from the Supreme Source to the perfect soul.
7 column:
The existing heavenly Source brings to our world both the beginning of everything and the growth of everything, and the experience of people in time.
Diagonal from top to bottom and left to right:
I think a lot and the basis of my creativity is the supreme Source always.
sources
