Э э — e
«e» is a vowel of the Russian script, read as “e as in "bet", never ye”. A plain e as in "bet", with no y in front of it — the sound the letter ye only has after a consonant. For example, in the word “поэт” — poet. The Russian alphabet has 33 letters in total. Almost always a sign of a loan: poet, etazh. Native words starting with it can be counted on one hand. It appears, for example, in the word “это дорого” — that is expensive.
In short
| Character | Э э |
| Name | e |
| Sound | e as in "bet", never ye |
| What it is | a vowel |
In our course the character comes 31st of 33, its neighbours in the course are ь and ю, appears in 60 words of this site.
How to type Э э
- On a phone: add the Russian keyboard in the keyboard settings (Gboard on Android; Keyboards in the iPhone settings).
- In Word on Windows: type U+044D and press Alt+X right after it — the code turns into the character.
- On a Mac: switch to the Unicode Hex Input source, hold Option and type 044D.
- Unicode code points: э — U+044D, Э — U+042D. With them, the characters can be found in the character map of any system.
How it sounds
A plain e as in "bet", with no y in front of it — the sound the letter ye only has after a consonant
The character in a word
A lone character is hard to remember: memory holds on to meaning, and a letter has none. The word it stands in provides that anchor.
- поэтpoet
The character in the “twenty new letters” group
Clean learning material, best taken in pairs: б against п, д against т, ж against ш — voiced against voiceless, same mouth shape.
The iotated е, ё, ю, я write y plus a vowel in one sign, and after a consonant they soften it.
Words with this character
- это дорогоeto dorogothat is expensive
- этажetazhfloor, storey
- электричествоelektrichestvoelectricity
- на этой неделеna etoy nedelethis week
- экзаменekzamenexam
- аэропортaeroportairport
- это моя винаeto moya vinait is my fault
- экранekranscreen
- электронная почтаelektronnaya pochtaemail
- мэрияmeriyacity hall
- экскурсияekskursiyaexcursion, guided tour
- в этом годуv etom goduthis year
How to remember this character
A single letter is the hardest thing to remember: memory has nothing to hold on to — a character has no meaning. A three-step loop works: see the character, try to recall the sound (for «e» it is “e as in "bet", never ye”, as in the word “поэт”), see the right answer.
And come back to it the next day, not in an hour: a check a day or two later beats a check the same day. Nobody holds the whole alphabet — 33 letters — at once.
- It is better to test yourself the next day than at the end of the same session. That is why a word comes back to you tomorrow.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · g = 0.82 when tested a day or two later, against 0.56 on the same day.
- Studying a little every day gets more into your head than spending the same total time in one sitting.checked many timesDonovan & Radosevich, 1999, Journal of Applied Psychology 84(5) · 63 studies compared, difference d = 0.46 — a sizeable figure for a learning effect.
Frequently asked
How does the Russian character э read?
As “e as in "bet", never ye” — it is a vowel of the Russian script. A plain e as in "bet", with no y in front of it — the sound the letter ye only has after a consonant. For example, in the word “поэт” — poet.
What is the letter э called?
E. A character's name and its sound are different things in the Russian script: it is called “e” and reads as “e as in "bet", never ye”. Learn the second one: the name only helps when the alphabet is recited aloud.