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Kyle
Pronunciation of г?
I'm a new learner of Russian and I haven't found many good resources to answer this.
What confuses me is when it's found in expressions like "что нового?" or "до скорого" - when I hear these, the "г" sounds move like "в".
Does "г" change sound depending on the letters coming before/after or am I just hearing this incorrectly?
May 10, 2018 7:03 AM
Answers · 10
3
In the combinations "ого" and "его" this letter is pronounced as "в", especially when these combinations are at the end of the adjectives.
"что нового?" is pronounced like "shto novaVa"
"до скорого" is pronounced like "da skoraVa"
If they are at the beginning or middle of the word (огород, договор..), nothing happens: "г" remains "г".
In the adverbs (много, строго, дорого...) "г" also remains "г".
I hope I helped you.
If there's anything else I can help you, please, feel free to ask me.
Have a nice day.
May 10, 2018
2
In endings -ого and -его Г turns into B sound: большого - большо[ва], синего - сине[ва], скорого - скоро[ва], чего - че[во].
May 10, 2018
2
Kyle, this happens in the adjectival endings ого/его. And in a pronoun его.
(technically, adjectival endings are just pronoun 'его' who sticked to an adjective.
Красна+его=красного=red-one, red-that, the-red. You'll see later than we have long and short forms of adjectives)
This doesn't happen in -ого- otherwise:
огород [ɐɡɐˈrot] 'vegetable garden'
дорого [ˈdorəɡə] 'it is expensive', 'expensively'.
дорогой [dərɐˈɡoj] 'dear', 'expensive'.
May 10, 2018
1
Yes, you hear it correctly :)
In the combinations "ого" and "его" this letter is pronounced as "в", especially when these combinations are at the end of the adjectives. As you may have noticed, even the word "его" ("his") are pronounced as [ево].
If they are at the beginning or middle of the word (огород, договор..), nothing happens: "г" remains "г".
In the adverbs (много, строго, дорого...) "г" also remains "г".
May 10, 2018
You can also meet a few instances where г is pronounced like х in a few words like легко
May 13, 2018
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Kyle
Language Skills
Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin), English, Spanish, Turkish
Learning Language
Chinese (Mandarin), Spanish, Turkish
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