How to Learn the Russian Alphabet (Cyrillic)

There are 33 cards in the deck below. You can read through them, practise them right here with the flip-card player, and then save the deck to study properly with spaced repetition — the method that makes them stick for months, not minutes.

The traps are the false friends: В is "v", Н is "n", Р is "r", С is "s", У is "oo", and Х is "kh". Your brain wants to read them as English, so those need extra drilling.

The fix is active recall plus spaced repetition. Instead of re-reading the list (which feels productive but barely works), you test yourself — pull each answer out of memory — and you review each card on a schedule that stretches over time. Every time you successfully recall a fact, the memory gets stronger and the next review is pushed further out. That's how you go from "I saw it once" to "I just know it."

1. Break it into small batches. Learn the "same as English" letters first (А, К, М, О, Т), then the false friends, then the brand-new shapes (Ж, Ф, Ц, Ч, Ш, Щ).
2. Test, don't re-read. Look at the question, say the answer out loud before flipping the card. The little struggle to recall is what builds the memory — a smooth re-read does almost nothing.
3. Review on a schedule. Spaced repetition shows you each card right before you'd forget it. Get one right and it comes back in a few days, then a week, then a month. Miss one and it comes back sooner.
4. Keep sessions short and daily. Five to ten minutes a day beats a two-hour cram every time. Consistency is the whole game.

One fact per card. Two letters make no sound of their own — the hard sign (Ъ) and soft sign (Ь); they change the letter before them.

Here's every card in the set. Practise them above, or save the deck and let spaced repetition schedule your reviews automatically.