В в — ve
«ve» is a consonant of the Russian script, read as “v as in "van"”. A light v as in "van": the top teeth touch the lower lip, but the lips never close all the way. For example, in the word “вода” — water. The Russian alphabet has 33 letters in total. Looks like a Latin B, but reads v. It appears, for example, in the word “привет” — hi.
In short
| Character | В в |
| Name | ve |
| Sound | v as in "van" |
| What it is | a consonant |
In our course the character comes 3rd of 33, its neighbours in the course are б and г, appears in roughly every fifth word on this site.
How to type В в
- 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+0432 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 0432.
- Unicode code points: в — U+0432, В — U+0412. With them, the characters can be found in the character map of any system.
How it sounds
A light v as in "van": the top teeth touch the lower lip, but the lips never close all the way
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.
- водаwater
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
- приветprivethi
- до свиданияdo svidaniyagoodbye
- выvyyou (formal or plural)
- меня зовутmenya zovutmy name is
- как тебя зовут?kak tebya zovut?what is your name?
- я из Москвыya iz MoskvyI am from Moscow
- повторите, пожалуйстаpovtorite, pozhaluystarepeat, please
- вы говорите по-английски?vy govorite po-angliyski?do you speak English?
- извинитеizviniteexcuse me
- добрый вечерdobryy vechergood evening
- до встречиdo vstrechisee you
- водаvodawater
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 «ve» it is “v as in "van"”, as in the word “вода”), 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 в read?
As “v as in "van"” — it is a consonant of the Russian script. A light v as in "van": the top teeth touch the lower lip, but the lips never close all the way. For example, in the word “вода” — water.
What is the letter в called?
Ve. A character's name and its sound are different things in the Russian script: it is called “ve” and reads as “v as in "van"”. Learn the second one: the name only helps when the alphabet is recited aloud.
What can в be confused with?
Looks like a Latin B, but reads v. 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.