Ш is a retroflex silibant which is pronounced with the tongue rolled backwards. Ж is the voiced version of this. Щ is the alveolo-palatal silibant which is pronounced with the tongue raised to the pallate like with other soft consonants. When pronouncing Ч, use тщ, as it's always soft.
The letter “щ” is also a consonant, and it produces a sch sound. The sound is close to the one you make when you pronounce the word “shrimp.”
The Russian letter "й" is called "и краткое" (it is pronounced [i kratkaye]). We represent its sound as [j], that is, a shorter sound than "и" similar to the sound of "y" in "oyster" or "boy".
The sounds /tʃ/ and /ʃ/ are both voiceless, alveo-palatal consonants. However, /tʃ/ is an affricate while /ʃ/ is a fricative. When you pronounce /tʃ/, the air in your mouth should stop (like a /t/) before it is released (like a /ʃ/).
With /tʃ/ the air is released suddenly like a sneeze, making it almost impossible to extended the sound for any length of time. In contrast, you can extended /ʃ/ virtually as long as you like, as people do when they really want someone to be quiet.
Note that ы sounds like [ i ] in ill, whereas И и sounds like [ee] in meet. The letter ы never occurs as the first letter in the word, therefore it is never capitalized. Click the syllable to listen, then click again and say it with me. Do the whole upper line (with ы) first then go to the lower one (with и).
In Modern Russian, the letter "ъ" is called the hard sign (твёрдый знак / tvjordyj znak). It has no phonetic value of its own and is purely an orthographic device. Its function is to separate a number of prefixes ending in consonants from subsequent morphemes that begin with iotated vowels.
Today, both the Hard sign (Ъ) and the Soft sign (Ь) are used to separate a consonant and a vowel (mostly Я, Ё, Е, Ю), only the Hard sign (Ъ) separates a Hard consonant and a vowel, and the Soft sign (Ь) separates a Soft consonant and a vowel. In some other languages, a similar function is given to an apostrophe.
The consonant “Н” has virtually the same sound as the English “N“. But unlike in English, it's pronounced with the tip of the tongue pressed against the upper teeth.
So the real difference between the Russian “И” and “Ы” sounds is not the position of the mouth, because it is exactly the same, but the position of the tongue. It is positioned in the front, when saying “И”, it is positioned in the back (but not too close to your throat), when saying “Ы”.
The letter ⟨ё⟩ is a stressed syllable in the overwhelming majority of Russian and Belarusian words. In Russian, unstressed ⟨ё⟩ occurs only in compound numerals and a few derived terms, wherein it is considered an exception. It is a so-called iotated vowel.
Й is a full-featured consonant, while Ь is a phonological aspect that affects the preceding consonant. Practically, the difference is very subtle and it affects only the phonetic duration.
However, this new rule was applied inconsistently throughout the Soviet period. Therefore, today, we still use Ъ when separating the prefix and root of a word, but only if the root begins with Е, Ё, Ю or Я. For example, подъезд (approach, driveway, entrance).
Yeru or Eru (Ы ы; italics: Ы ы), usually called Y [ɨ] in modern Russian or Yery or Ery historically and in modern Church Slavonic, is a letter in the Cyrillic script.
Do not mix "ь" and "ъ". The letter "ъ" does not have any sound (like as "ь"). But its function is to harden the letter that comes before it (remember that "ь" softens). This letter can only be followed by е, ё, я, ю, and thanks to "ъ", they are pronounced very clearly.
The twenty-ninth letter of the Russian alphabet, called ы (y) or еры (jery), and written in the Cyrillic script.
These two are pronounced with exactly the same mouth position but /dʒ/ uses the voice, whereas /tʃ/ is just a sudden puff of air similar to a sneeze.
Zhe or Že (Ж ж; italics: Ж ж) is a letter of the Cyrillic script. It commonly represents the voiced retroflex sibilant /ʐ/ (listen). It is also often used with D (Д) to approximate the sound in English of the Latin letter J with a ДЖ combination.
The ʃ sound is from the 'Consonants Pairs' group and it is called the 'Voiceless palato-alveolar sibilant'. This means that you create friction through clenched teeth by directing air flow through a narrow channel formed along the middle of the tongue.
The /ʃ/ sound is spelled with <sh> and <ch> in chaise and Boche . The /ʧ/ sound is spelled with <ch> or <tch>. This is a contrast between a fricative and an affricate, both voiceless and in the same region of the mouth.