Russian ⟨ы⟩ can be a little difficult to master, especially if one wishes for a native-like pronunciation. When stressed, the vowel in question is a close central unrounded vowel
: IPA /ɨ/
. But, as with all "hard vowels" in Russian, it strongly velarizes any preceding consonant, which manifests as a noticeable glide after the consonant and before ⟨ы⟩. So, ты comes out phonetically as [t̻ˠɰɨ]
, where ɰ
is the IPA symbol for the velar approximant – a ⟨w⟩ (as in water) without rounding the lips. This gives ⟨ы⟩ a diphthong-like quality distinct from /ɨ/
in many other languages. One thing to note is that Russian speakers maintain the velar approximant before [ɨ]
even when pronouncing ⟨ы⟩ in isolation (without any consonant before it to velarize), e.g., when reciting the alphabet.
To make /ɨ/
, try following the instructions in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9hogVBFECQ. For an English speaker, one way may be to start with something like 'woo', and get rid of the lip-rounding.