Russian uses phonetic transcription for the Cyrillization of its many loanwords from French. Some use is made of Cyrillic's iotation features to represent French's front rounded vowels and etymologically-softened consonants.
In the table below, the symbol represents either a "softened" consonant or the approximant pronounced as //j//. When applicable, a softened consonant can be indicated in transcription either by a following iotated vowel or by .
Russian transcription | Examples | Comments | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
phoneme(s) | grapheme(s) | ||||
[b] | b | б | bateau-lavoir – бато-лавуар | ||
[ʃ] | ch | ш | Charles – Шарль | ||
[d] | d | д | Bordeaux – Бордо | ||
[f] | f, ph | ф | Foucault – Фуко | ||
[ɡ] | g, gu | г | Guillaume – Гийом | ||
[ɲ] | gn | нь | Boulogne – Булонь | ||
– | h | – | Humanité – Юманите | ||
г | Hugo – Гюго Le Havre – Гавр | often in the case of h aspiré | |||
[ʒ] | j, g(e) | ж | Jean – Жан | ||
[k] | c, qu, k | к | Camus – Камю | ||
[l] | l | ль | Gilbert – Жильбер | before a consonant or at the end of a word | |
л | Louvre – Лувр | before vowels | |||
[lj] | li | ль | Montpellier – Монпелье | ||
[m] | m | м | monde – монд | ||
[n] | n | н | Rhône – Рона | ||
[ŋ] | ng | нг | |||
[p] | p | п | Pierre – Пьер | ||
[ʁ] | r | р | Renoir – Ренуар | ||
[s] | s, ç, c | с | Rousseau – Руссо | ||
[sj] | ti | сь | Libération – Либерасьон | ||
[t] | t | т | pointe – пуэнт | ||
[v] | v | в | Verlaine – Верлен | ||
[w] | w | в | Gwénaël – Гвенаэль | sometimes transliterated with in loanwords from English | |
[ks] [kz] [gz] | x | кс кз гз | Xavier – Ксавье Saint-Exupéry – Сент-Экзюпери | according to the pronunciation of the | |
[j] | y, i, il(l) | й | yeuse – йёз Bayard – Байяр Guillaume – Гийом | after a vowel or word-initially | |
ь | Lavoisier – Лавуазье | after a consonant | |||
il(l) | ль | Marseille – Марсель | frozen form | ||
[z] | z, s | з | Vierzon – Вьерзон |
Russian transcription | Examples | Comments | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
phoneme(s) | grapheme(s) | |||
[a], [ɑ] | a, â | а | Charles – Шарль | |
[e], [ɛ] | é, è, ê, ai, e | е | René – Рене | |
э | Edmond – Эдмон Citroën – Ситроэн | at the beginning of a word, following a vowel, or rarely for pronounced as /[ɛ]/ at the end of a word | ||
[ø], [œ] | eu, œ, œu | ё | Villedieu – Вильдьё | is generally simplified to in Russian |
э | Eugène – Эжен Maheu – Маэ | at the beginning of a word, or after a vowel | ||
[ə], — | e | – | Charles – Шарль | e muet |
е | De Gaulle – Де Голль | only in cases where pronounced as /[ə]/ is usually pronounced, e.g., le, de, que, rebelle, etc. | ||
[i] | i, y | и | Village – Виляж | |
[o], [ɔ] | o, au, ô | o | Rhône – Рона | |
[wa] | oi | уа | Troyes – Труа | |
[u], [w] | ou | у | Louvre – Лувр | |
[y], pronounced as /link/ | u | ю | L'Humanité – Юманите | |
[ɑ̃] | an, am, en, em | ан, ам | Ambroise – Амбруаз Occidental – Оксиданталь | nasal vowels are written as the corresponding oral vowel followed by pronounced as //n// (or pronounced as //m// before pronounced as //m, b, p//) |
[ɛ̃] | in, en, ain | ен, ем, эн, эм | Saintes – Сент Ain – Эн | |
[ɔ̃] | on, om | он, ом | Comte – Конт | |
[œ̃] | un | ен, ем, эн, эм | Verdun – Верден | |
[wɛ̃] | oin | уэн | pointe – пуэнт |
Finally, the softened consonants modify the following vowels:
softening | Examples | Comments | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
After a vowel or | After a consonant or | ||||
ʲа | я | cognac – коньяк Bayard – Байяр | |||
ʲе ; ʲё | ие, йе ; йё | ье ; ьё | trieur – триер Cahiers du cinéma – Кайе дю синема Richelieu – Ришелье | ||
э | never follows a softened consonant | ||||
ʲи | йи | ьи | Tilly – Тийи | ||
ʲо | йо | ьо | Chillon – Шильон | ||
ʲу | ю | ||||
ʲю | йю | ью | |||
ʲ | before a consonant or at the end of a word, softening is written with |