Alphabet: the shared letters

The other thirty letters, shared with Russian — tap each card to hear how it is spoken in Kazakh. Vowels come first, then the consonants. Three letters are left out on purpose: ъ and ь are silent signs and ё appears only in Russian loanwords.

Practice this lesson

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Words (30)

Tap a card to hear pronunciation

а

open back 'a', as in 'father'

example: алма — apple
е

'ye' at the start of a word, 'e' elsewhere

example: екі — two
и

long 'ee' as in 'see'

example: ит — dog
о

'o' as in 'more'

example: он — ten
у

'oo' — or 'w' next to a vowel

example: су — water
ы

short muffled 'uh', a back vowel

example: қыс — winter
э

'e' as in 'end' — loanwords only

example: экран — screen
ю

'yu'

example: аю — bear
я

'ya'

example: қоян — rabbit
б

'b'

example: бала — child
в

'v' — mostly loanwords

example: вагон — wagon
г

'g' as in 'go'

example: гүл — flower
д

'd'

example: дос — friend
ж

'zh', like the s in 'pleasure'

example: жыл — year
з

'z'

example: қаз — goose
й

'y' as in 'boy'

example: шай — tea
к

'k' — the front k

example: кітап — book
л

'l'

example: көл — lake
м

'm'

example: мысық — cat
н

'n'

example: нан — bread
п

'p'

example: апа — older sister
р

rolled 'r'

example: бір — one
с

's'

example: сүт — milk
т

't'

example: тау — mountain
ф

'f' — loanwords

example: футбол — football
х

harsh 'kh', like Scottish 'loch'

example: хат — letter (mail)
ц

'ts' — loanwords

example: цирк — circus
ч

'ch' — loanwords

example: чемодан — suitcase
ш

'sh'

example: шам — lamp
щ

long soft 'shch' — rare

example: ащы — bitter

Sentences (3)

Бала нан жейді.

The child eats bread.
Мысық сүт ішеді.

The cat drinks milk.
Мен қазақ тілін үйренемін.

I am learning the Kazakh language.