С с — es
«es» is a consonant of the Russian script, read as “s as in "sun"”. Always the s of "sun", never z and never k, whatever letter follows. For example, in the word “спасибо” — thank you. The Russian alphabet has 33 letters in total. Looks like a Latin C, but reads s — even before e and i, where Latin C would say something else. It appears, for example, in the word “спасибо” — thank you.
In short
| Character | С с |
| Name | es |
| Sound | s as in "sun" |
| What it is | a consonant |
In our course the character comes 19th of 33, its neighbours in the course are р and т, appears in roughly every fifth word on this site.
How to type С с
- 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+0441 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 0441.
- Unicode code points: с — U+0441, С — U+0421. With them, the characters can be found in the character map of any system.
How it sounds
Always the s of "sun", never z and never k, whatever letter follows
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.
- спасибоthank you
The character in the “six impostors: familiar shape, foreign sound” group
The most dangerous group: the eye recognizes the letter and reads it wrong. в is v, not B; н is n, not H; р is a rolled r, not P.
с is always s, even before e and i. у is the vowel oo, not a consonant. х is the ch of Scottish "loch" — the slot where borrowed words keep their h.
Words with this character
- спасибоspasibothank you
- пожалуйстаpozhaluystaplease
- до свиданияdo svidaniyagoodbye
- я из Москвыya iz MoskvyI am from Moscow
- повторите, пожалуйстаpovtorite, pozhaluystarepeat, please
- вы говорите по-английски?vy govorite po-angliyski?do you speak English?
- спокойной ночиspokoynoy nochigood night
- до встречиdo vstrechisee you
- шестьshestsix
- семьsemseven
- восемьvosemeight
- десятьdesyatten
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 «es» it is “s as in "sun"”, as in the word “спасибо”), 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 с read?
As “s as in "sun"” — it is a consonant of the Russian script. Always the s of "sun", never z and never k, whatever letter follows. For example, in the word “спасибо” — thank you.
What is the letter с called?
Es. A character's name and its sound are different things in the Russian script: it is called “es” and reads as “s as in "sun"”. Learn the second one: the name only helps when the alphabet is recited aloud.
What can с be confused with?
Looks like a Latin C, but reads s — even before e and i, where Latin C would say something else. Similar characters are best studied side by side and deliberately compared: learned on different days, they stay separate and get mixed up at their first meeting inside a word.