Thread: when do i say о and а

like the word довольо ( dovolno ) but people say dAvolNA why ? and what is the grammar rule

The same reason when American people say "hot" they actually say something close to "hut". It is language accents
BTW the word is "довольно"

It is described by the pronunciation rule that is called "vowel reduction" and should be in any Russian language textbook.

For a beginner it's enough to remember that unstressed "o" is pronounced (roughly) as "a", and unstressed "e" should sound almost like "и".

молокО ~ [малакО]
собАка ~ [сабАка]

верЁвка ~ [вирЁвка]
пеликАн ~ [пиликАн]

Originally Posted by natan

like the word довольо ( dovolno ) but people say dAvolNA why ? and what is the grammar rule

No grammar rule, only a phonological law. o and a both change into a in the prestressed syllable or in the word-initial position, in all the other unstressed positions both are pronounced as schwa.

thanks