After consonants, the vowel letter pairs а/я, э/е, о/ё, ы/и, and у/ю represent essentially the same vowel sound. Their only difference is that the letters in the bottom row tell you that the preceding consonant is palatalized, or soft.* HARD CONSONANTS SOFT CONSONANTS Да-да! - Oh yes! дядя - uncle мэр - mayor мер - of measures быт - daily life бит - computer bit живот - belly живёт - he/she lives музыка - music мюзикл - musical (show) * a palatalized consonant is pronounced with the blade of the tongue pressed up against the hard palate, it sounds like a consonant plus the [y] sound of “yes” pronounced at the exact same time.