Alphabetical Order

This tutorial introduces the letters in an order that makes sense for learning the alphabet, which is not necessarily the same as alphabetical order. After all, order isn’t necessary for most elementary conversation. When was the last time someone asked you to sing the alphabet song in a business meeting or at a social gathering? (Of course, if you did want to sing an alphabet song in Russian, you’d need to know the names of the letters. They’re also useful if you need to spell something in Russian. Here are the names of the letters.)

If you’re serious about Russian, though, you’ll eventually buy a dictionary and will find alphabetical order useful when looking up words.

Below you see the alphabet in order. The first row contains the capital letters; the second row contains the small letters.

  А Б В Г Д Е Ё Ж З И Й К Л М Н О П Р С Т У Ф Х Ц Ч Ш Щ Ъ Ы Ь Э Ю Я
  а б в г д е ё ж з и й к л м н о п р с т у ф х ц ч ш щ ъ ы ь э ю я

Note: the letters е and ё are grouped together when alphabetizing.

On the next page, you get to sort the letters into their proper order.