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Unlock Cyrillic

Read all 33 Russian letters, hear stress and hard–soft contrasts, and move from short words to signs, a café menu and the first A1 scene.

Learn to read Russian in 32 short units.

Russian · 0 of 32 units done

Module 1

Before your first Russian word

Meet Cyrillic, its sounds and the course stress marks.

  1. 01

    How Russian writing works

    Recognise an alphabet with case and spaces.

    Up next
    ~3 min
  2. 02

    A short history of Cyrillic

    Place modern Russian within the Cyrillic tradition.

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    ~3 min
  3. 03

    Hear stress and soft consonants

    Listen without needing to read the words yet.

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    ~3 min
  4. 04

    The letter stays; its sound can weaken

    Understand teaching accents and natural word audio.

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    ~3 min
Module 2

First sounds and signs

Hear the first contrasts and decode familiar shapes.

  1. 05

    Hear stress, hardness and softness

    Compare spoken words before reading their letters.

    Up next
    ~ min
  2. 06

    а, к, м, о and т

    Join five familiar letters into your first real words.

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    ~8 min
  3. 07

    в, н, р and с

    Give familiar-looking letters their Russian values.

    Up next
    ~8 min
  4. 08

    у, х and е

    Read u, back-of-mouth kh and the first soft-vowel pattern.

    Up next
    ~8 min
  5. 09

    Review: familiar shapes, Russian sounds

    Read the first words silently and recall their spellings.

    Up next
    ~7 min
Module 3

Complete the Cyrillic alphabet

Add small letter families and keep earlier words in use.

  1. 10

    б, г, д, л and п

    Read five new shapes in a house, park and banana.

    Up next
    ~10 min
  2. 11

    з, ж and ш

    Hear s/z and the voiced versus voiceless hush sounds.

    Up next
    ~9 min
  3. 12

    и, й and ы

    Hear the и/ы contrast and distinguish и from й.

    Up next
    ~8 min
  4. 13

    Review: sound and shape families

    Read known words without sound, then check by listening.

    Up next
    ~6 min
  5. 14

    ч, щ and ц

    Separate short ch, long soft sh and ts.

    Up next
    ~8 min
  6. 15

    ф, э and ю

    Read f, plain e and the yu vowel pattern.

    Up next
    ~7 min
  7. 16

    я and ё

    Hear ya/yo initially and soft consonants inside words.

    Up next
    ~8 min
  8. 17

    ь and ъ

    Read signs that change a boundary without adding a vowel.

    Up next
    ~8 min
  9. 18

    Review: every Russian letter

    Read words with soft signs, new vowels and old shapes.

    Up next
    ~6 min
Module 4

How Russian spelling works

Keep the spelling while hearing natural Russian.

  1. 19

    The vowel tells the consonant

    Apply the hard/soft pairs inside whole words.

    Up next
    ~7 min
  2. 20

    Stress changes the vowel you hear

    Locate stress and keep reduced vowel spellings.

    Up next
    ~8 min
  3. 21

    Final sounds and neighbouring consonants

    Hear devoicing while preserving the written word.

    Up next
    ~6 min
  4. 22

    When е stands for ё

    Recognise familiar words with and without the dots.

    Up next
    ~5 min
Module 5

Read real print

Recognise case, alternate letter shapes and practical punctuation.

  1. 23

    Capital partners in names

    Match the few less obvious partners and read names.

    Up next
    ~5 min
  2. 24

    The same words in italic print

    Recognise т, и, д and п when their shapes change.

    Up next
    ~6 min
  3. 25

    Punctuation and a Russian keyboard

    Read familiar punctuation and enter letters in order.

    Up next
    ~5 min
Module 6

Read around you

Use normal print in a town, café and the first A1 scene.

  1. 26

    Names and places

    Read place names with normal initial capitals.

    Up next
    ~5 min
  2. 27

    Read everyday signs

    Find an entrance, exit, pharmacy and metro.

    Up next
    ~5 min
  3. 28

    Read a café menu

    Find a drink and its price in roubles.

    Up next
    ~7 min
  4. 29

    Order and check the reply

    Read the lines of one short café exchange.

    Up next
    ~5 min
  5. 30

    The key, the house and the tomcat

    Enter the first Russian A1 scene through its own words.

    Up next
    ~6 min
Module 7

Check and return

Read fresh print independently and revisit it later.

  1. 31

    Your independent Russian reading check

    Read new words and print without sound or pictures.

    Up next
    ~ min
  2. 32

    Return tomorrow

    Use fresh short material after a day away.

    Up next
    Optional · ~5 min
Reference · Always availableAlphabet and reading guideLook up a sign, replay a sound, or check a reading rule.