Russian
sounds
lesson 8. separation signs. Ь and ъ
Soft sign Ь
You are already familiar with the soft sign and its first function – softening of consonants. Today, you will learn what else it is capable of!
First, do you remember our conversation about the soft vowels Я, Е, Ё, Ю? They consist of Й and one of the hard vowels (ЙА, ЙЭ, ЙО, ЙУ). While softening of the consonants, the initial Й sound was lost (МЯТЬ, НЮД, ЛЮК). However, there is a way to save that Й sound. And this is when we need the soft sign again.
The second goal of the soft sign is “separation.” When Ь comes between a consonant and a vowel, you soften the consonant AND save the Й sound of the vowel.
Listen to the examples:
ПЮ – ПЬЮ; КОНЬЯК; ВЬЮН; СУДЬЯ.
Hard sign Ъ
What if you don’t need to soften a consonant? What if you want to keep it hard even before a soft vowel? That’s when you need a hard sign. It always stands between
a consonant and a vowel, and you should keep the consonant hard and keep the initial Й sound of a soft vowel.
Listen to the examples: СЪЁМ;
ОБЪЕКТ;
ИЗЪЯН.
It’s easy to remember their functions from their names – the soft sign softens a consonant, the hard sign keeps it hard. That’s how simple it is! Just kidding 😉 I know how difficult it is, so don’t rush forward, try to master pronunciation step by step.
Lesson 8 – Listen and repeat
Exercise: Listen and repeat:
ПЮ – ПЬЮ, ПЮ – ПЬЮ, ПЮ – ПЬЮ; БЯ – БЬЯ, БЯ – БЬЯ, БЯ – БЬЯ; МЕ – МЬЕ, МЕ – МЬЕ, МЕ – МЬЕ; ТЁ – ТЬЁ, ТЁ – ТЬЁ, ТЁ – ТЬЁ; СИ – СЬИ, СИ – СЬИ,
СИ – СЬИ;
БЬЮ, БЬЮ, БЬЮ; СУДЬЯ, СУДЬЯ, СУДЬЯ; КОНЬЯК, КОНЬЯК, КОНЬЯК; ВЬЮН, ВЬЮН, ВЬЮН; СТАТЬЯ, СТАТЬЯ, СТАТЬЯ; ЛЬЁТ, ЛЬЁТ, ЛЬЁТ;
ПЮ – ПЪЮ, ПЮ – ПЪЮ, ПЮ – ПЪЮ; БЯ – БЪЯ, БЯ – БЪЯ, БЯ – БЪЯ; МЕ – МЪЕ, МЕ – МЪЕ, МЕ – МЪЕ; ТЁ – ТЪЁ, ТЁ – ТЪЁ, ТЁ – ТЪЁ;
СЪЁМ, СЪЁМ, СЪЁМ; ИЗЪЯН, ИЗЪЯН, ИЗЪЯН; ОБЪЕКТ, ОБЪЕКТ, ОБЪЕКТ; ПОДЪЕЗД, ПОДЪЕЗД, ПОДЪЕЗД; ПОДЪЁМ, ПОДЪЁМ ПОДЪЁМ;
ПЬЮ – ПЪЮ, ПЬЮ – ПЪЮ, ПЬЮ – ПЪЮ; БЬЯ – БЪЯ, БЬЯ – БЪЯ, БЬЯ – БЪЯ; МЬЕ – МЪЕ, МЬЕ – МЪЕ, МЬЕ – МЪЕ; ТЬЁ – ТЪЁ, ТЬЁ – ТЪЁ, ТЬЁ – ТЪЁ.