The Vowels

So, after writing the post about the first case, I realized I should probably explain this somewhere where you can always come back and refer to it.

Basically, there are 5 vowels in Russian. But there are 2 'versions' of each.

А	О	У	Э	Ы
Я	Ё	Ю	Е	И

Maybe you can already see the relationship?

The bottom ones sound the same as the top ones but with a little (y) sound at the beginning. Make sense?

[Pronunciations]

a - ya

o - yo

oo - yu

э - ye

ы - yi^1

Didn't know how to transliterate the last two... but listen to them and hopefully you will understand how they fit in with the rest.

The letters ь and й essentially represent very soft (y) sounds... although the ь by itself is meaningless, in conjunction with something else it adds that (y) sound.

So, I've found that (for me) a good way to think of it is like this:

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Ь + А = Я

Ь + О = Ё

Ь + У = Ю

Ь + Э = Е

Ь + Ы = И

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Я - Ь = А

Ё - Ь = О

Ю - Ь = У

Е - Ь = Э

И - Ь = Ы

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This is just how my mind works (and it works, question is just if it works for you). If this doesn't make any sense, check out the post on the first case to see an example of when you have to use it!

Anyway, this concept is important when changing the endings of words.

1: if you're interested in a quick explanation of the differences in pronunciation between и and ы, see comments