Welcome to the Russian alphabet, also known as the Cyrillic alphabet. It has 33 letters. Some will look familiar, while others will be completely new. Mastering this alphabet is the first and most important step to reading, writing, and speaking Russian.

Don't try to memorize all 33 letters at once. The best way to learn is by breaking them into smaller, manageable groups. Let's start with the easiest group: the letters that look and sound almost exactly like their English counterparts.

These five letters are your friends. They look the same and sound the same as in English. You already know them!

Simple, right? When you see these letters, you can be confident you know how they sound. Now for a trickier group.

This next group of letters looks familiar, but their sounds are completely different. These are the "false friends" of the Russian alphabet. It's crucial to learn their true sounds and ignore what your brain tells you they should be.

Now we get to the letters that probably look completely new. This group might seem intimidating, but many have sounds that are common in English. The key is to connect a new shape to a familiar sound.

This next group introduces some sounds that are a little more unique to Russian and other Slavic languages.

Finally, there are two letters in Russian that have no sound at all. They are called the hard sign and the soft sign. Their job is to modify the pronunciation of the letters around them.

Don't worry too much about the signs for now. Just be able to recognize them. You'll get a feel for how they work as you learn more words.

Let's put it all together. Try sounding out these simple Russian words using what you've learned. Remember the false friends!

Ready to test your knowledge?

Learning a new alphabet is a big step. Practice recognizing and sounding out these letters every day. Soon, it will become second nature.