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» Alphabet by counting. The number of letters in the alphabets of different nations

Alphabet by counting. The number of letters in the alphabets of different nations

The role of writing in the development of the entire human society cannot be overestimated. Even before the appearance of the letters we are familiar with, ancient people left various marks on stone and rocks. At first these were drawings, then they were replaced by hieroglyphs. Finally, writing using letters, which is more convenient for transmitting and understanding information, has appeared. Centuries and millennia later, these signs-symbols helped restore the past of many peoples. A special role in this matter was played by written monuments: various codes of laws and official documents, literary works and memories of outstanding people.

Today, knowledge of the language is an indicator not only intellectual development a person, but also determines his attitude towards the country in which he was born and lives.

How it all began

In fact, the foundation for the creation of the alphabet was laid by the Phoenicians at the end of the 2nd millennium BC. e. They came up with consonant letters, which they used for quite a long time. Subsequently, their alphabet was borrowed and improved by the Greeks: vowels already appeared in it. This was around the 8th century BC. e. Further, the history of the Russian alphabet can be reflected in the diagram: Greek letter - Latin alphabet - Slavic Cyrillic alphabet. The latter served as the basis for the creation of writing among a number of related peoples.

Formation of the Old Russian state

From the 1st century AD, the process of disintegration of the tribes that inhabited the territory of Eastern Europe and spoke a common Proto-Slavic language began. As a result, Kievan Rus was formed in the area of ​​the middle Dnieper, which later became the center of a large state. It was inhabited by part Eastern Slavs, who over time developed their own special way of life and customs. Received further development and the story of how the Russian alphabet appeared.

The growing and strengthening state established economic and cultural ties with other countries, primarily Western European ones. And for this, writing was needed, especially since the first Church Slavonic books began to be brought to Rus'. At the same time, there was a weakening of paganism and the spread of a new religion throughout Europe - Christianity. This is where the urgent need arose for the “invention” of the alphabet, thanks to which the new teaching could be conveyed to all Slavs. It became the Cyrillic alphabet, created by the “Thessaloniki brothers”.

The important mission of Constantine and Methodius

In the 9th century, the sons of a noble Thessalonica Greek, on behalf of the Byzantine emperor, went to Moravia - at that time a powerful state located within the borders of modern Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

Their task was to introduce the Slavs who inhabited Eastern Europe, with the teachings of Christ and the ideas of Orthodoxy, as well as conduct services in the native language of the local population. It was no coincidence that the choice fell on the two brothers: they had good organizational skills and showed particular diligence in their studies. In addition, both were fluent in Greek and Constantine (shortly before his death, after being tonsured as a monk, he was given a new name - Cyril, with which he went down in history) and Methodius became the people who invented the alphabet of the Russian language. This was perhaps the most significant result of their mission in 863.

Cyrillic base

When creating the alphabet for the Slavs, the brothers used the Greek alphabet. They left the letters corresponding to the pronunciation in the languages ​​of these two peoples unchanged. To designate the sounds of Slavic speech that were absent among the Greeks, 19 new signs were invented. As a result, the new alphabet included 43 letters, many of which were subsequently included in the alphabets of the peoples who once spoke a common language.

But the story about who invented the alphabet of the Russian language does not end there. During the 9th-10th centuries, two types of alphabet were common among the Slavs: the Cyrillic alphabet (mentioned above) and the Glagolitic alphabet. The second contained a smaller number of letters - 38 or 39, and their style was more complex. In addition, the first signs were used additionally to indicate numbers.

So did Kirill invent the alphabet?

For several centuries now, researchers have found it difficult to give an unambiguous answer to this question. In the “Life of Cyril” it is noted that “with the help of his brother... and students... he compiled the Slavic alphabet...”. If this is really the case, then which of the two - Cyrillic or Glagolitic - is his creation? The matter is complicated by the fact that the manuscripts written by Cyril and Methodius have not survived, and in later ones (dating back to the 9th-10th centuries) none of these alphabets are mentioned.

To figure out who invented the Russian alphabet, scientists have conducted a lot of research. In particular, they compared one and the other with alphabets that existed even before their appearance and analyzed the results in detail. They never came to a consensus, but most agree that Cyril most likely invented the Glagolitic alphabet, even before his trip to Moravia. This is supported by the fact that the number of letters in it was as close as possible to the phonetic composition of the old Slavic language(designed specifically for writing). In addition, in their style, the letters of the Glagolitic alphabet were more different from the Greek ones and bear little resemblance to modern writing.

The Cyrillic alphabet, which became the basis for the Russian alphabet (az + buki is the name of its first letters), could have been created by one of Konstantin’s students, Kliment Ohritsky. He named her that in honor of the teacher.

The formation of the Russian alphabet

Regardless of who invented the Cyrillic alphabet, it became the basis for the creation of the Russian alphabet and modern alphabet.

In 988 Ancient Rus' accepts Christianity, which significantly influenced future fate language. From this time on, the formation of our own writing began. Gradually, the Old Russian language, the alphabet of which is based on the Cyrillic alphabet, is being improved. This was a long process that ended only after 1917. Then they introduced last changes into the alphabet we use today.

How the Cyrillic alphabet has changed

Before the Russian alphabet acquired the form it has today, the fundamental alphabet underwent a number of changes. The most significant reforms were in 1708-10 under Peter I and in 1917-18 after the revolution.

Initially, the Cyrillic alphabet, which was very reminiscent of the Byzantine script, had several extra, doublet letters, for example, и=і, о=ѡ - they were most likely used to convey Bulgarian sounds. There were also various superscripts that indicated stress and aspirated pronunciation.

Before the reign of Peter I, the letters denoting numbers were designed in a special way - it was he who introduced Arabic counting.

In the first reform (this was caused by the need to compile business papers: 7 letters were removed from the alphabet: ξ (xi), S (zelo) and iotized vowels, I and U were added (they replaced the existing ones), ε (reverse). This made it much easier alphabet, and it began to be called “civil.” In 1783, N. Karamzin added the letter E. Finally, after 1917, 4 more letters disappeared from the Russian alphabet, and Ъ (er) and b (er) began to denote only the hardness and softness of consonants. .

The names of the letters have also changed completely. Initially, each of them represented a whole word, and the entire alphabet, according to many researchers, was filled with a special meaning. This also showed the intelligence of those who invented the alphabet. The Russian language has preserved the memory of the first names of letters in proverbs and sayings. For example, “start from the beginning” - that is, from the very beginning; “Fita and Izhitsa - the whip is approaching the lazy one.” They are also found in phraseological units: “to look with a verb.”

Praise to the Great Saints

The creation of the Cyrillic alphabet became greatest event for everything Slavic world. The introduction of writing made it possible to pass on the accumulated experience to descendants and tell the glorious history of the formation and development of independent states. It is no coincidence that they say: “If you want to know the truth, start with the alphabet.”

Centuries pass, new discoveries appear. But those who invented the alphabet of the Russian language are remembered and revered. Proof of this is the holiday, which is celebrated annually on May 24 all over the world.

Emperor Michael III streamlined the writing system for the Slavic language. After the appearance of the Cyrillic alphabet, which dates back to the Greek statutory (solemn) letter, the activity of the Bulgarian school of scribes (after Cyril and Methodius) developed. Bulgaria becomes the center of the spread of Slavic writing. The first Slavic book school was created here - Preslav Book School, in which the Cyril and Methodius originals of liturgical books (Gospel, Psalter, Apostle, church services), new Slavic translations from Greek are being made, original works appear in the Old Slavonic language (“About the writing of Chrnoritsa Khrabra”). Later, Old Church Slavonic penetrates Serbia, and at the end of the 10th century it becomes the language of the church in Kievan Rus.

Old Church Slavonic, being the language of the church, was influenced by the Old Russian language. It was an Old Church Slavonic language with elements of living East Slavic speech. Thus, the modern Russian alphabet comes from the Cyrillic alphabet of the Old Church Slavonic language, which was borrowed from the Bulgarian Cyrillic alphabet and became widespread in Kievan Rus.

Later 4 new letters were added, and 14 old ones were in different time excluded as unnecessary, since the corresponding sounds disappeared. The first to disappear was the iotized yus (Ѩ, Ѭ), then the large yus (Ѫ), which returned in the 15th century, but disappeared again at the beginning of the 17th century [ ], and iotinated E (Ѥ); the remaining letters, sometimes slightly changing their meaning and form, have survived to this day as part of the Church Slavonic alphabet, which for a long time was mistakenly considered identical with the Russian alphabet. Spelling reforms of the second half of the 17th century (related to the “correction of books” under Patriarch Nikon) fixed the following set of letters: A, B, C, D, D, E (with orthographic excellent optionЄ, which was sometimes considered a separate letter and was placed in the alphabet in place of the present E, that is, after Ѣ), Ж, Ѕ, З, И (with a spelling different variant И for the sound [j], which was not considered a separate letter), І, K, L, M, N, O (in two orthographically different styles: “narrow” and “wide”), P, R, S, T, U (in two orthographically different styles:), F, X, Ѡ (in two orthographically different styles: “narrow” and “wide”, as well as as part of the ligature “ot” (Ѿ), usually considered a separate letter), Ts, Ch, Sh, Shch, b, ы, b, Ѣ, Yu, Ya (in two styles: Ꙗ and Ѧ, which were sometimes considered different letters, sometimes not), Ѯ, Ѱ, Ѳ, V. Sometimes the big yus (Ѫ) and the so-called “ik” (in the form of the current letter “u”) were also included in the alphabet, although they had no sound meaning and were not used in any word.

The Russian alphabet remained in this form until the reforms of Peter I of 1708-1711 (and the Church Slavonic alphabet remains like this to this day), when superscripts were abolished (which, incidentally, “abolished” the letter Y) and many doublet letters were abolished,

The modern Russian alphabet consists of 33 letters. The alphabet in its current form has existed since 1942. In fact, the year 1918 can be considered the year of the formation of the modern Russian alphabet - then it consisted of 32 letters (without the letter ё). The origin of the alphabet, according to historical documents, is associated with the names Cyril and Methodius and dates back to the 9th century AD. From its origin until 1918, the alphabet changed several times, adding and excluding characters. At one time it consisted of more than 40 letters. The Russian alphabet is also sometimes called the Russian alphabet.

Russian alphabet with letter names

On our website for each letter of the Russian alphabet there is a separate page with detailed description, examples of words, pictures, poems, riddles. They can be printed or downloaded. Click on the desired letter to go to its page.

A a B b C c D d E d e e e f f g h h i i j j K k L l M m N n O o P p R r S s T t U u F f X x C t H h Sh sh sch q y y b ee y y I

Often in writing instead of the letter е the letter e is used. In most cases, the replacement does not cause difficulties for the reader, but in some contexts it is necessary to use the letter ё to avoid ambiguity. Russian letters are a neuter noun. It is worth considering that the style of letters depends on the font.

Numbering of letters

In some logical problems To determine the next element in a series, in games when solving comic ciphers, in competitions for knowledge of the alphabet and in other similar cases, you need to know the serial numbers of the letters of the Russian alphabet, including numbers when counting from the end to the beginning of the alphabet. Our visual “strip” will help you quickly determine the number of a letter in the alphabet.

  • A
    1
    33
  • B
    2
    32
  • IN
    3
    31
  • G
    4
    30
  • D
    5
    29
  • E
    6
    28
  • Yo
    7
    27
  • AND
    8
    26
  • Z
    9
    25
  • AND
    10
    24
  • Y
    11
    23
  • TO
    12
    22
  • L
    13
    21
  • M
    14
    20
  • N
    15
    19
  • ABOUT
    16
    18
  • P
    17
    17
  • R
    18
    16
  • WITH
    19
    15
  • T
    20
    14
  • U
    21
    13
  • F
    22
    12
  • X
    23
    11
  • C
    24
    10
  • H
    25
    9
  • Sh
    26
    8
  • SCH
    27
    7
  • Kommersant
    28
    6
  • Y
    29
    5
  • b
    30
    4
  • E
    31
    3
  • YU
    32
    2
  • I
    33
    1

Letters of the Russian alphabet

Frequent questions about the letters of the Russian alphabet are: how many letters are in the alphabet, which of them are vowels and consonants, which are called uppercase and which are lowercase? Basic information about letters is often found in popular questions for students primary classes, in tests of erudition and determination of IQ level, in questionnaires for foreigners on knowledge of the Russian language and other similar tasks.

Number of letters

How many letters are in the Russian alphabet?

There are 33 letters in the Russian alphabet.

To remember the number of letters in the Russian alphabet, some people associate them with popular phrases: “33 pleasures”, “33 misfortunes”, “33 cows”. Other people associate it with facts from their lives: I live in apartment number 33, I live in region 33 (Vladimir region), I play in team number 33 and the like. And if the number of letters of the alphabet is forgotten again, then associated phrases help to remember it. It will probably help you too?!

Vowels and consonants

How many vowels and consonants are there in the Russian alphabet?

10 vowels + 21 consonants + 2 do not mean sound

Among the letters of the Russian alphabet are:

  • 10 vowels: a, o, u, s, e, i, e, e, yu, and;
  • 21 consonant letters: b, v, g, d, j, g, z, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, f, x, c, h, w, sch;
  • 2 letters that do not mean sounds: ь, ъ.

The letter means sound. Compare: “ka”, “el” - names of letters, [k], [l] - sounds.

Uppercase and lowercase

Which letters are uppercase and which are lowercase?

Letters can be uppercase (or capital) and lowercase:

  • A, B, V... E, Yu, Z - capital letters,
  • a, b, c... e, y, i - lower case.

Sometimes they say: large and small letters. But this formulation is incorrect, since it means the size of the letter, and not its style. Compare:
B is a large capital letter, B is a small capital letter, b is a large lowercase letter, b is a small lowercase letter.

Proper names, the beginning of sentences, and “you” are written with a capital letter as an expression of deep respect. IN computer programs The term "letter case" is used. Capital letters are typed in uppercase, lowercase letters are typed in lowercase.

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    Oh yes, I remembered the lower grades when we wrote codes, we used a digital system and put one letter in order, and the other against the order, by the way the letter P the number is the same and back and forth it is the seventeenth - once I knew all this by heart and was able to write encryption quickly enough.

    There are 33 letters in the Russian alphabet. Each letter corresponds to its own number. The distribution follows the principle A - 1 letter of the alphabet, B - 2 letter of the alphabet, etc. until the last letter - I, which is the 33rd letter.

    It would seem, well, why does anyone need to know the serial numbers of letters in the Russian alphabet? Probably, those who have taken IQ tests know that you need to know this in order to successfully cope with test tasks. There may be not one or two such tasks in the test, but much more. For example, in this test there are five of forty such tasks.

    Here, for example, is the very first test task and the last fifth one:

    Below is the alphabet in the figure, which shows which letter of the 33 letters of the Russian alphabet has which serial number. The first digit is a forward count, the second digit is a reverse count. In this form, the numbering and the alphabet itself are easier to remember than in a list.

    There are only 33 letters in the Russian alphabet:

  • It’s not always possible to find even the simplest things on the Internet; the same goes for alphabet numbering.

    The ordinal numbers of the letters, you can see in the table below, the correct order and correspondence of the ordinal number.

    The letter A comes first.

    The letter B is in second place.

    The letter B is in third place.

    The letter G is in fourth place.

    The letter D is in fifth place.

    The letter E is in sixth place.

    The letter is in seventh place.

    The letter Z is in eighth place.

    The letter Z is in ninth place.

    The letter I is in tenth place.

    The letter Y is in eleventh place.

    The letter K is in twelfth place.

    The letter L is in thirteenth place.

    The letter M is in fourteenth place.

    The letter N is in fifteenth place.

    The letter O is in sixteenth place.

    The letter P is in seventeenth place.

    The letter R is in eighteenth place.

    The letter C is in nineteenth place.

    The letter T is in twentieth place.

    The letter U is in twenty-first place.

    The letter F is in twenty-second place.

    The letter X is in twenty-third place.

    The letter C is in twenty-fourth place.

    The letter H is in twenty-fifth place.

    The letter Ш is in twenty-sixth place.

    The letter Ш is in twenty-seventh place.

    The letter B is in twenty-eighth place.

    The letter Y is in twenty-ninth place.

    The letter b is in the thirtieth place.

    The letter E is in thirty-first place.

    The letter U is in thirty-second place.

    The letter I is in thirty-third place.

    There are 33 letters in the Russian alphabet. Probably everyone knows this. And the serial number of a letter can be useful to solve some riddle, charade, or read an encrypted letter.

    Serial number of letters in the Russian alphabet.

    • A - number 1 ,
    • B - number 2 ,
    • B - number 3 ,
    • G - number 4 ,
    • D - number 5 ,
    • E - number 6 ,
    • - 7 (some people forget that e and is still different letters, they should not be confused),
    • F - 8,
    • Z - 9,
    • I - 10,
    • J - 11,
    • K - 12,
    • L - 13,
    • M - 14,
    • N - 15,
    • O - 16,
    • P - 17,
    • R - 18,
    • S - 19,
    • T - 20,
    • U - 21,
    • F - 22,
    • X - 23,
    • C - 24,
    • H - 25,
    • Sh - 26,
    • Shch - 27,
    • Ъ (hard sign) - 28,
    • Y - 29,
    • b ( soft sign) - 30,
    • E - 31,
    • Yu - 32,
    • I'm 33.

    Russian alphabet in reverse order looks like this (first comes the serial number, and after the number the letter itself)

    • 33 - A,
    • 32 - B,
    • 31 -B,
    • 30 - G,
    • 29 - D,
    • 2 - E,
    • 27 - ,
    • 26 -F,
    • 25 - W,
    • 24 - And,
    • 23 - J,
    • 22 - K,
    • 21 - L,
    • 20 - M,
    • 19 - N,
    • 18 - Oh,
    • 17 - P,
    • 16 - R,
    • 15 - C,
    • 14 - T,
    • 13 - U,
    • 12 - F,
    • 11 - X,
    • 10 - C,
    • 9 - H,
    • 8 - Ш,
    • 7 -SH,
    • 6 - b,
    • 5 - Y,
    • 4 - b,
    • 3 - E,
    • 2 - Yu,
    • 1 -I.
  • The letter A has a serial number of 1

    B-serial number-2

    B-serial number-3

    The letter E has number 6

    The letter has serial number 7

    F-number 8

    Letter Z-number 9

    And - has serial number 10

    E friend J- number 11

    K-12 in a row

    Letter L-13

    We count the letter H as 15 in a row.

    16 is the letter O

    Ъ-28 letter of the alphabet

    A a a ordinal digit 1

    B b b e ordinal digit 2

    In in ve ordinal digit 3

    G g ge ordinal digit 4

    D d de serial digit 5

    E e ordinal digit 6

    serial digit 7

    Zh zhe serial number 8

    Z z z z ordinal digit 9

    And and and ordinal number 10

    th and short ordinal number 11

    K k ka (not ke) serial number 12

    L l el (or el, not le) serial number 13

    M m em (not me) ordinal number 14

    N n en (not ne) ordinal number 15

    O o o ordinal number 16

    P p pe ordinal number 17

    R r er (not re) ordinal number 18

    C s es (not se) ordinal number 19

    T t te ordinal number 20

    Y y y ordinal number 21

    F f ef (not fe) ordinal number 22

    X x ha (not he) ordinal number 23

    Ts ts tse ordinal number 24

    H h h ordinal number 25

    Sh sh sha (not she) serial number 26

    Shch shcha (not yet) serial number 27

    ъ ъ hard sign ordinal number 28

    Y y y ordinal number 29

    b ь soft sign ordinal number 30

    Uh uh (uh reverse) serial number 31

    Yu Yu Yu serial number 32

    I I I serial number 33

    It is useful to know the serial numbers of letters of the Russian alphabet, it is good to know the reverse numbering of letters, and sometimes you need to know the numbering of pairs of letters equally distant from the ends of the alphabet. This knowledge can help in solving various kinds of logical problems.

    So, the Russian alphabet is numbered in order:

    Alphabet in reverse order:

    Pairs of letters equally distant from the ends of the alphabet:

  • fourth

    The letter dd will be 5

    The letter Her will be 6

    The letter will be 7

    The eighth, ninth and tenth are the letters Zh, Z, I

    Eleventh letter

    Twelfth letter

    To record sounding speech, letters required. In Russian modern language 33 letters that make up the Russian alphabet. All necessary information about the alphabet is presented in our article.

    Short story

    Who created the Russian alphabet? The question is not so obvious. After all, over the course of ancient times, many changes have been made to it, many reforms have been carried out.

    In Rus', the alphabet - Cyrillic - appeared in connection with the adoption of Christianity, and it was required primarily in the church. Each letter had a name (for example, a - az, b - beeches, c - lead, etc.) Numbers were also designated by letters. They wrote without spaces or punctuation marks. Long and well-known words were written abbreviated, placing above them special sign- title. To make it easier for monks learning to read to remember the alphabet in order, they were offered a special prayer to memorize (“alphabet”), where each line began with the letter b alphabetical order(the first - on az, the second - on beeches, etc.).

    There is no doubt that the creators of the first Slavic alphabet are Saints Cyril and Methodius. But what is the first alphabet? There is an opinion that Cyril created the Glagolitic alphabet, and the Cyrillic alphabet, which forms the basis of the modern alphabet, is the creation of a disciple of St. Cyril, Kliment Ohridski.

    Many reforms to the Russian alphabet were intended to bring it closer to what sounds are actually still used in speech. Therefore, the letters Ѯ, Ѱ, Ѳ, Ѵ and several others disappeared.

    Primary oral speech, therefore the alphabet is designed to reflect its phonetic composition.

    Letters of the Russian alphabet

    The Russian, as well as the Latin, alphabet is based on Greek. Many letters are very similar even now. For example, β - in, π - n, etc. However, the sound composition Greek language different from Slavic. Therefore, Cyril and Methodius slightly increased the number of letters, trying to ensure that the alphabet had signs for all vowels and consonants. We don't have to resort to using special symbols or writing 2-3 letters to convey one sound.

    Learning the alphabet

    Letters in Russian, as in any other alphabet, are arranged in a certain order. Naturally, it is random. So is it necessary to memorize the Russian alphabet in order? Of course you need it! After all, it is in this sequence that words are located in the dictionary and the names of children in the school magazine, books in the library and articles in the encyclopedia - any elements of any list. Of course, at the beginning of the dictionary the alphabet is usually given for those who could not remember it, but it is always better to know it yourself than to rely on a hint.

    Learning the alphabet is not difficult. The Russian language alphabet for children in the form of a poster with colorful pictures can be bought at any store for schoolchildren. There are many poems and songs for learning the alphabet in order. For foreigners learning the Russian language, a table of transcription of the Russian alphabet may be useful, which suggests not only the style of letters, but also their pronunciation.

    What have we learned?

    From the article we learned that the basis of the Russian alphabet is its Greek counterpart. We found out who and when the alphabet was invented. Answered the question why Everyday life know the order of letters in the alphabet.