SOFT & HARD CONSONANTS IN RUSSIAN 🇷🇺 #learnrussian #russiangrammar #easyrussian #russianlanguage

What's the soft sign in Russian? Well, it is a letter, but it doesn't make any sound, but it does affect consonants that it follows. It softens them. So, if a consonant is not followed by the soft sign, it's considered hard or regular. But if it's followed by the soft sign, it becomes soft. Let's compare. B-b-b-b So, without the soft sign, it's just a regular b-b-b-b With the soft sign, though, it is soft-b-b-b-b Let's pronounce a few more pairs. le le nne ssi tsi English officially doesn't have hard and soft consonants but if you pronounce the English word onion then the first end sounds soft to me and the second end sounds hard or regular. Onion. Some of my students told me that to them a soft consonant in Russian sounds like is followed by a tiny y sound. Perhaps it helps. And soft and hard consonants in Russian may actually affect word meanings. Let's look at a couple of examples. Mat. Mat. Mat is a mat like a yoga mat whereas mat is mother. Mio. Miel. Miel is chalk whereas Miel is shallow water. Okay now wait a second. If the soft sign softens consonants and they're hard or regular without it then what the heck does the hard sign do? Would you like a video on that? Ooh clef hanger so exciting. Write in the comments.