Thread: Trick for memorizing "и" "ы" spelling rule in Russian?

You are right, I am just being lazy about memorizing the rule; I have to do it
The trouble is simply that I can't always hear the difference between и and ы.
I don't normally have any difficulties with spelling.

I know that there is a difference and I hear it if people speak slowly, but because ы doesn't exist in any languages that I speak, I tend to just think of it as an alternative version of i and I don't really know when one or the other is used.

This is difficult for me for the exact same reason that "the" and "a" (definite articles) are difficult for Russians. Or pronouncing the letter "h".

If there is no logic other than that there are some spelling rules, then I'll just learn the rules. It's just a matter of memorising some combinations with the consonants I believe.

Originally Posted by Hanna

I hear it if people speak slowly

By the way, when people speak slowly, /ы/ can actually be of a different quality, compared to the normal spoken language. The main difference a Russian native speaker hears between /ти/ and /ты/ is in the quality of the consonant: soft and hard. The quality of the vowel may vary.

I study Turkish and face the same trouble. Turkish vowel system is absolutely symmetrical, it has pairs e - a, i - ı (this pair is very close to и - ы), ö - o, ü - u. Surprisingly, distinguishing between /i/ and /ı/ sometimes can be as hard for me as distinguishing between /ö/ and /o/ or /ü/ and /u/. This is because the quality of these vowels play a more important role in Turkish, than in Russian.