[MUSIC] [MUSIC] Russian consonants may be hard or soft. 15 hard consonants have soft counterparts. The consonants Ж, Ш, Ц are always hard. The consonants Ч, Щ, Й (и краткое) are always soft. Hard and soft consonants. Hard – soft. Б – Б'. В – В'. Г – Г'. Д – Д'. З – З'. К – К'. Л – Л'. М – М'. Н – Н'. П – П'. Р – Р'. С – С'. Т – Т'. Ф – Ф'. Х – Х'. Always hard: Ж, Ш, Ц. Always soft: Ч', Щ', Й'. The softness of a consonant is indicated in writing by the soft sign Ь which follows it or by letters и, е, ё, ю, я. Я, Ю, Ы are not written after the consonants Г, К, Х, Ж, Ш, Ч, Щ. Voiced and voiceless consonants. There are voiced and voiceless consonants: Л, Р, М, Н are always voiced. Х, Ч, Щ, Ц are always voiceless. Voiced Б, В, Д, З, Ж, Г become voiceless before voiceless consonants П, Ф, Т, С, Ш, К and at the end of a word. A few of Russian consonants form some sort of pairs between each other. The two consonants in a pair sound very similar with the difference that the first one is voiced and its pair is voiceless. Russian voiced consonants are pronounced as their voiceless counterparts when they appear at the very end of the word. Example: обед (dinner). Voiced consonants become voiceless when they are followed by other voiceless consonants. Example: юбка (skirt). Voiceless consonants sound voiced when they are followed by voiced consonants. Example: футболка. Pairs of consonants. Voiced – voiceless. Б – П. В – Ф. Г – К. Д – Т. Ж – Ш. З – С. Correlative pairs. Always voiced: Й, Л, М, Н, Р. Always voiceless: Х, Ц, Ч, Щ. Б [П]: клуб, трубка. П [Б]: суп был вкусный. В [Ф]: перерыв, вперёд. Ф [В]: шарф голубой. Г [К]: друг, друг Саша. К [Г]: вокзал. Д [Т]: год, лодка. Т [Д]: отдых. Ж [Ш]: муж, ложка. Ш [Ж]: это наш дом. З [С]: раз, сказка. С [З]: просьба. Some special cases. The genitive singular pronoun «его» and the genitive singular modifier endings -ого/-его are pronounced with [в] in place of [г]: его, красного. The combinations -тся/-ться are pronounced as if spelled [-цца]: учиться.