The Stress Mark - aN introduction
With few exceptions, all Russian words have one vowel (or syllable) that is stressed. The stressed vowel is pronounced louder, or with the most force. The stressed vowel is indicated by an accent mark placed over it: а́, э́, о́, у́, ы́, я́, е́, ю́, и́. The letter ё is also stressed but has two dots rather than a stress mark.
The stress mark and the dots over the letter ё are rarely included in day-to-day writing. In ambiguous contexts, the stress mark is sometimes written to differentiate between two words with identical spelling but different meaning and stress. In addition, dictionaries and Russian language learning books often include stress marks for informational or instructional purposes. Single-syllable words are almost always stressed. Such words are not written with stress marks since the stress is obvious.
Stress marks can shift to different syllables in verb conjugation, noun declension, and formation of the plural.
Compound nouns and compound adjectives can contain two stressed vowels, one of which will be slightly more pronounced.
There are a few but very common situations where a stress is not present. For example, single-syllable prepositions are sometimes pronounced unstressed. Likewise, there are common phrases in which a normally stressed word goes unstressed.
When a vowel is stressed, its pronunciation does not vary significantly from one word to the next. However, the pronunciation of an unstressed vowel can vary. This is most apparent with а, я, е, and о. The difference between the stressed and unstressed versions of у, ю, ы, и, and э is less prominent. When unstressed, the pronunciation of the vowels а and о are very similar to one another. Likewise, when е and я are unstressed, their pronunciation is similar.
The stress mark and the dots over the letter ё are rarely included in day-to-day writing. In ambiguous contexts, the stress mark is sometimes written to differentiate between two words with identical spelling but different meaning and stress. In addition, dictionaries and Russian language learning books often include stress marks for informational or instructional purposes. Single-syllable words are almost always stressed. Such words are not written with stress marks since the stress is obvious.
Stress marks can shift to different syllables in verb conjugation, noun declension, and formation of the plural.
Compound nouns and compound adjectives can contain two stressed vowels, one of which will be slightly more pronounced.
There are a few but very common situations where a stress is not present. For example, single-syllable prepositions are sometimes pronounced unstressed. Likewise, there are common phrases in which a normally stressed word goes unstressed.
When a vowel is stressed, its pronunciation does not vary significantly from one word to the next. However, the pronunciation of an unstressed vowel can vary. This is most apparent with а, я, е, and о. The difference between the stressed and unstressed versions of у, ю, ы, и, and э is less prominent. When unstressed, the pronunciation of the vowels а and о are very similar to one another. Likewise, when е and я are unstressed, their pronunciation is similar.