Читать книгу Russian For Dummies - Serafima Gettys - Страница 39

The letters ж, ц, ч, ш, and щ are called sibilants because they emit a hissing sound. When certain vowels appear after these letters, those vowels are pronounced slightly differently from normal:

 After a sibilant, e is pronounced eh (as in end), and ё is pronounced oh (as in opus). Examples are the words цeнтp (tsehntr) (center) and шёл (shohl) (went by foot).

 The sound ee always becomes i after one of these sibilants, regardless of whether the ee sound comes from the letter и or from an unstressed e. Take, for example, the words мaшинa (muh-shi-nuh) (car) and бoльшe (bohl’-shi) (bigger).