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De letter В

 

Б<----- Previous letter | В | Next letter -----> Г

 

 

 

 

The В is the third letter of the Russian alphabet.

 

Capital letter	Lower case
В	в

 

 

Listen to the sound of this letter.

 

Names
This letter is called вэ or веди (vé or vyedy). Вэ is the new name, веди is the old name.

Pronunciation, transliteration and transciption
The letter В is usually pronounced as the V of Victor. At the end of a word or when the letter В precedes another consonant, the sound is more like the letter F.
The transliteration of В is V.
The transcription of В is V.
In the German language the letter В is usually represented by a W. The reason behind that is that many Russian words entered the German language through Polish, in which words like Wodka and Wolga are also spelled with a letter W. Don't let this confuse you, the English get the pronunciation right, not the Germans. It is pronounced as a V, not as a W.

 

Origin and appearance
The letter В looks exactly like the Latin capital letter B. The lower case is simply a smaller version of the capital letter. In Ancient Greek, the letter Béta was pronounced as a B. In New greek, the letter B is pronounced like the letter V. When the Cyrillic alphabet was invented, the letter Béta was sometimes pronounced as a B and sometimes as a V. One letter which is pronounced in two different ways, a recipe for misunderstanding. That's probably the reason why two letters of the Cyrillic letter Alphabet were based on the Greek letter Béta, the letter Béta was split in two different letters, each with their own distinct pronunciation.

 

Собор Василия Блаженного (Saint Basil's Cathedral) in Moscow. In Russian, the name Basil is written with a В.

 

 

The Russian spelling alphabet
In the Russian spelling alphabet people say Василий (Vasily) to indicate the letter В.

 

 

Common words with the letter В

в	v	in, to
вы	vy	you (plural and polite)
вот	vot	that
век	vyek	century
ваш	вash	your (polite)
весь	vyes	all
вино	vinó	wine
вода	vadá	water
война	vayná	war
весна	vyesná	spring
ветер	vyétyer	wind
вечер	vyétsyer	evening
время	vryémya	time
водка	vódka	vodka
Волга	Vólga	Volga
верста	verstá	verst (Russische unit og length)
всегда	vsekda	always
великий	velíky	great
весёлый	vesyóly	cheerful

 

In various fonts

Calibri	Вв
Calibri Italic	Вв
Times New Roman	Вв
Mistral	Вв
Monotype Corsiva	Вв
Segoe Print	Вв
Comic Sans MS	Вв
Century Gothic	Вв

 

The river Volga (Волга), Russia's most famous river, starts with the letter В. On the picture, you see the Volga in Yaroslavl.