К к — ka
«ka» is a consonant of the Russian script, read as “k as in "kite"”. An ordinary k as in "kite", without a puff of air. For example, in the word “как” — how. The Russian alphabet has 33 letters in total. It appears, for example, in the word “как дела?” — how are you?
In short
| Character | К к |
| Name | ka |
| Sound | k as in "kite" |
| What it is | a consonant |
In our course the character comes 12th of 33, its neighbours in the course are й and л, appears in roughly every fifth word on this site.
How to type К к
- 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+043A 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 043A.
- Unicode code points: к — U+043A, К — U+041A. With them, the characters can be found in the character map of any system.
How it sounds
An ordinary k as in "kite", without a puff of air
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.
- какhow
The character in the “five letters you get for free” group
а, к, м, о, т look like Latin and sound like it. The only thing to remember: unstressed о fades toward a, so молоко is said "malako".
Words with this character
- как дела?kak dela?how are you?
- покаpokabye
- как тебя зовут?kak tebya zovut?what is your name?
- откуда ты?otkuda ty?where are you from?
- я из Москвыya iz MoskvyI am from Moscow
- вы говорите по-английски?vy govorite po-angliyski?do you speak English?
- спокойной ночиspokoynoy nochigood night
- кофеkofecoffee
- молокоmolokomilk
- сколько стоит?skolko stoit?how much is it?
- яблокоyablokoapple
- вкусноvkusnotasty
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 «ka» it is “k as in "kite"”, as in the word “как”), 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 к read?
As “k as in "kite"” — it is a consonant of the Russian script. An ordinary k as in "kite", without a puff of air. For example, in the word “как” — how.
What is the letter к called?
Ka. A character's name and its sound are different things in the Russian script: it is called “ka” and reads as “k as in "kite"”. Learn the second one: the name only helps when the alphabet is recited aloud.