Thread: the ч sound

Do some Russians pronounce the letter ч with a 'sh' sound rather than a 'ch' sound? I hear the same word, such as четыре, pronounced differently depending on the source, sometimes with 'ch', and other times with 'sh'. Which way is more common?

"Ч" in "четыре" is ALWAYS pronounced as "ch". If someone pronounce it as "sh" it's a serious mistake or an accent.
Basically "ч" is pronounced as "ch" in 99% of cases. But there are a few exceptions.

"Ч" is pronounced as "ш" in:
- the word "что" (што) (and its derivatives except of "нечто"),
- in a number of words with combination of letters "чн" (it should be pronounced as "шн", though some native speakers insist on saying "чн" regardless)
eg. конечно, яичница, нарочно, etc. (конешно, яишница, нарошно)

Thank you gRomoZeka! It is so good to be able to come to this forum and get great advice very quickly. This has to be the best forum for learning Russian that there is, thanks to people like you

You are very much welcome!

Though to my shame I forgot to mention, that "чн" is NOT always pronounced as "шн" - only in SOME words. There are probably lists somewhere, there are not too many of them.

Until you learn all these exceptions it might be a good idea to stick to "ч" in unfamiliar words. Statistically speaking your chances of making a mistake will be rather low.

Originally Posted by gramota.ru

Сочетание ЧН, как правило, произносится в соответствии с написанием. Во всех случаях, когда на месте ЧН должно произноситься [шн] или может произноситься [шн] наряду с [чн], в словаре даются соответствующие указания.

Originally Posted by gRomoZeka

Until you learn all these exceptions it might be a good idea to stick to "ч" in unfamiliar words. Statistically speaking your chances of making a mistake will be rather low.

+1

Basically, some people believe diminishing "чт" to "ш" is the so-called original "Moscow accent". The old Moscovites would say "булоШная" and write "булоЧная".

Perhaps, the most notable is "Со свиным рылом в калаШный ряд" even though it's spelled as "калаЧный" (from "калач"). Remember KalaSHnikov? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AK-47)

People of non-Russian ethnicities (from so-called Russian republics) may regaluraly pronounce ч as щ. For example, an old Tatar or Mari may prononce chetyre as shetyre (щетыре) or something like that. Be prepared

Originally Posted by SoftPretzel

Do some Russians pronounce the letter ч with a 'sh' sound rather than a 'ch' sound? I hear the same word, such as четыре, pronounced differently depending on the source, sometimes with 'ch', and other times with 'sh'. Which way is more common?

There's no common way. It depends on a particular word:

яичница (fried eggs) - [sh]
яичники (ovary) - [ch]

что, чтобы - [sh]
зачем, почему, чей, чего - [ch]

"Ch" is prononced as "sh" in a very few words, although quite common ones, like "chto", "chtoby", "konechno". I totally agree with this post: http://masterrussian.net/mforum/view...233271#p233271