Russian Hard and Soft Consonants

All Russian consonants can be divided into hard and soft. Soft consonants are consonants which are palatalized, and hard consonants are not. Most of the consonants form consonant pairs, consonants which differ only by the presence or absence of palatalization.

A few Russian consonants do not form consonant pairs. The voiceless alveolar affricate and the alveopalatal fricatives are always hard. In contrast, the voiceless alveopalatal affricate and the palatal glide are always soft.

Palatalization is extensive in Russian. Soft consonants can occur syllable-initially and finally. One example of syllable-final palatalization is with the minimal pair [mat] checkmate and [mat'] mother.

An important distinction of Russian consonants is hard and soft. The soft consonants are palatalized, and the hard ones are not. Most consonants form pairs with a hard and soft counterpart.