Грамматика русского языка. Часть 1. Русский алфавит. Глава 1. Гласные А, О, Э, У. Russian Grammar. Part 1. Russian Alphabet. Unit 1. The Vowels А, О, Э, У.

The first sounds you will learn to pronounce will be the vowels А, О, Э, У .

The letter А a [transcribed ah when stressed]
The stressed a sounds almost like the a in father, but it is brighter and shorter.
Examples:
так [tahk] thus
лак [lahk] varnish
мак [mahk] poppy

The letter О о [transcribed aw when stressed]
The stressed о sounds like the aw in law, but it is crisper.
Examples:
кто [ktaw] who
кот [kawt] cat
лот [lawt] lot

The Unstressed A and O [transcribed uh]
Now you know how to pronounce the stressed a and o in Russian. Whenever they appear in an unstressed position in a word of more than one syllable, both the a and o sound like the uh - sound in lemon.
Examples:
там [tahm] there
мама [mah-muh] mother
кот [kawt] cat
кота [kuh-tah] of the cat

The Letter Э э [transcribed eh]
The letter э sounds almost like the eh in men, but keep your mouth a little more closed.
Examples:
это [eh-tuh] this is
этак [eh-tuhk] thus (coll.)
этот [eh-tuht] this (m.)
Did you notice the sound of the stressed a and the unstressed o in these words?

The Letter У у [transcribed oo]
The letter у sounds much shorter than the oo in noodles. Puckering your lips will help you to pronounce the Russian у.
Examples:
ум [oom] mind, intelligence
тут [toot] here
тому [tuh-moo] to that (one)

The Unstressed Э and У
The э and the у sound almost the same, whether stressed or unstressed. (That is, the unstressed э and у sound almost like their stressed counterparts. Hence, there will be no variation in the respective transcriptions of these letters).