Грамматика русского языка. Часть 2. Изменение звуков. Глава 3. Действие "мягких" гласных. Russian Grammar. Part 2. Sound Variations. Unit 3. Action Of The Soft Vowels.

Now that you know how consonants are softented by the soft sign [ь], let's see how the soft vowels и, я, ё, е and ю do the same.

The vowel и after a consonant

Compare:

мал [mahl] small (m.) and мил [meel] nice (m.)
пол [pawl] floor and пил [peel] (he) drank
пар [pahr] steam and пир [peer] feast
кот [kawt] cat and кит [keet] whale
лапа [lah-puh] and липа [lee-puh]