Stress and the vowels it moves

One syllable rules the word

Every Russian word has exactly one stressed syllable, and nothing on the page tells you which one. Stress is not fixed to a position the way it is in Polish or French: it can fall anywhere, and it moves when the word changes form.

Getting it wrong is not a small accent problem. за́мок is a castle, замо́к is a lock; мука́ is flour, му́ка is torment. Textbooks print the mark; real Russian never does.

Unstressed о becomes а

This is the single most useful pronunciation rule in the language. An о that is not stressed is pronounced like а. In молоко two of the three о's are unstressed, so a Russian says ma-la-KO.

Voiced consonants go quiet at the end

At the end of a word б в г д ж з are pronounced as п ф к т ш с. You write друг and say друк; you write хлеб and say хлеп. The spelling keeps the letter because the rest of the word's forms need it.

хлеб и молокоbread and milk

Two spellings that lie to you

сегодня (today) is said си-VOD-nya: the г here is pronounced в. The same happens in the ending -ого/-его. And ё is always stressed – but Russian books normally print it as plain е, so всё appears as все.

Сегодня хорошая погода.The weather is good today.