Thread: When "г" is not pronounced "g"...

I have a recording of someone saying "Подавайте его мне сюда!". When I heard it, the "г" in "его" is pronounced likely as "v", not "g".
And then I found out that г in "ничего", "приятного" in sentence "Приятного аппетита!" and "хорошего" in "Хорошего дня!" is also pronounced like that -- Looks like it also applies for endings for masculine and neuter adjectives in genitive singular (-ого, -его)...
Is there a special rule about pronouncing г in these cases?

Originally Posted by sps

Is there a special rule about pronouncing г in these cases?

Yes. It's pronounced as "v".

In "сегодня" it's pronounced as "v" too, because this word is formed from сего дня ("of this day, at this day").

Originally Posted by Оля

Originally Posted by sps

Is there a special rule about pronouncing г in these cases?

Yes. It's pronounced as "v".

Olya, thank you very much! Thanks also for the info about pronunciation of "сегодня"..!

Originally Posted by Оля

Originally Posted by sps

Is there a special rule about pronouncing г in these cases?

Yes. It's pronounced as "v".

In "сегодня" it's pronounced as "v" too, because this word is formed from сего дня ("of this day, at this day").

Isn't is always pronounced as v when there is an (-)его or -ого part in a word?

What I mean is, if сегодня were not formed by those two words, would it be pronounced as a g? Are there other words with его or ого where it is pronounced as g?

Originally Posted by Leushka

Isn't is always pronounced as v when there is an (-)его or -ого part in a word?

No.
Огорошить, огород, огонь, много, Егор, легонько... In all these words "г" is pronounced as "g".

Originally Posted by Оля

No.
Огорошить, огород, огонь, много, Егор, легонько... In all these words "г" is pronounced as "g".

Oh, I am stupid. I should have known: as beginner as I am, I know много very well. And Егор, well, is the name of my rival-in-love...

Oh yes, I forgot to ask...
Is there a grammar explanation about pronunciation of "г" such in these words..? I mean why it is pronounced so..?

sps, it's just historical development of language. The genitive masc./neuter sg. ending has /v/ in the Standard language. In dialects it can be pronounced with some other consonant.

Think about all the historical developments in English that have lead to one spelling being pronounced differently in different words. For example, rough, thorough, through.

I though there was a specific rule about this...
Thank you, chaika..!

Originally Posted by Leushka

Originally Posted by Оля

No.
Огорошить, огород, огонь, много, Егор, легонько... In all these words "г" is pronounced as "g".

Oh, I am stupid. I should have known: as beginner as I am, I know много very well. And Егор, well, is the name of my rival-in-love...

It's only in the genitive ending -его , -ого. The Г in сегодня is pronounced /v/ because the word originally was сего дня (of this day) (сего is the genitive of сей - this [it's archaic]).

Also Г is sometimes pronounced X:

Бог [бох] (Only in the nominative case, in other cases, the Г is pronounced /g/ as normal.)
лёгкий [лёхкий]
мягкий [мяхкий]

Originally Posted by TATY

Бог [бох] (Only in the nominative case, in other cases, the Г is pronounced /g/ as normal.)

Ouch. I hope He didn't mind me calling Him bok in my prayers...

Thank you, спасибо, tack.

Ещё:
There are some place names that have "h" sound and transliterated in Russian with "г" (for example Голливуд, Гонконг).
Is the г in Гонконг will be read as "h", or will still be read as "g"..?

Originally Posted by sps

Ещё:
There are some place names that have "h" sound and transliterated in Russian with "г" (for example Голливуд, Гонконг.
Is the г in Гонконг will be read as "h", or will still be read as "g"..?

It is pronounced as "g".

Whew..! So it doesn't matter...
Большое спасибо, translations.nm.ru..!

Originally Posted by sps

Whew..! So it doesn't matter...
Большое спасибо, translations.nm.ru..!

The reason is we do not have 'h' sound in Russian. As you probably know, the Russian 'х' is not a 'h' sound, it's a different thing.

Nowdays, it is accepted that 'h' sound in foreign words is transliterated with 'х' into Russian: Хаббл (Hubble), Хельсинки (Helsinki), Хьюстон (Houston), хакер (hacker) etc. It is the modern way of transliterating.

However, previously (especially in 19 century and earlier) Russians used to substitute foreign 'h' with Russian 'г'. And this pronunciation is still preserved in may traditional borrowings: Голливуд (Hollywood), Гудзон (Hudson), Гаррисон (Harrison), Ганновер (Hannover), Гавана (Havana) etc.

The words are pronounced as they are written, since there's no 'h' sound in Russian, and the most of Russians are not able to pronounce it.

Originally Posted by Боб Уайтман

Originally Posted by sps

Whew..! So it doesn't matter...
Большое спасибо, translations.nm.ru..!

The reason is we do not have 'h' sound in Russian. As you probably know, the Russian 'х' is not a 'h' sound, it's a different thing.

Nowdays, it is accepted that 'h' sound in foreign words is transliterated with 'х' into Russian: Хаббл (Hubble), Хельсинки (Helsinki), Хьюстон (Houston), хакер (hacker) etc. It is the modern way of transliterating.

However, previously (especially in 19 century and earlier) Russians used to substitute foreign 'h' with Russian 'г'. And this pronunciation is still preserved in may traditional borrowings: Голливуд (Hollywood), Гудзон (Hudson), Гаррисон (Harrison), Ганновер (Hannover), Гавана (Havana) etc.

The words are pronounced as they are written, since there's no 'h' sound in Russian, and the most of Russians are not able to pronounce it.

Гитлер
Гарри Поттер.

Originally Posted by Боб Уайтман

The reason is we do not have 'h' sound in Russian. As you probably know, the Russian 'х' is not a 'h' sound, it's a different thing. ...

Yes, it sounds different.

Originally Posted by Боб Уайтман

Nowdays, it is accepted that 'h' sound in foreign words is transliterated with 'х' into Russian: Хаббл (Hubble), Хельсинки (Helsinki), Хьюстон (Houston), хакер (hacker) etc. It is the modern way of transliterating.

However, previously (especially in 19 century and earlier) Russians used to substitute foreign 'h' with Russian 'г'. And this pronunciation is still preserved in may traditional borrowings: Голливуд (Hollywood), Гудзон (Hudson), Гаррисон (Harrison), Ганновер (Hannover), Гавана (Havana) etc.

The words are pronounced as they are written, since there's no 'h' sound in Russian, and the most of Russians are not able to pronounce it.

Теперь понятно..! Thank you so much, Боб Уайтман..!

Originally Posted by sps

Originally Posted by Боб Уайтман

The reason is we do not have 'h' sound in Russian. As you probably know, the Russian 'х' is not a 'h' sound, it's a different thing. ...

We do not have W in Russian, so we have the same problem:
traditional borrowings: Вильям Шекспир, доктор Ватсон;
the modern way of transliterating: принц Уильям, Боб Уайтман

Originally Posted by "Оля
No pm :lol: . This question: What I mean is, if сегодня were not formed by those two words, would it be pronounced as a g? [size=4

Are there other words with его or ого where it is pronounced as g?[/size]

Your answer: No.
Огорошить, огород, огонь, много, Егор, легонько... In all these words "г" is pronounced as "g".

So I'm veeery because NO , but then follows a list with the combination existing with его or ого , that are pronounced as a " g ".

So when when you are asked if there are any other words with его or ого that are pronounced with " g ", and your answer is " no ", how come then that list of words with его and ого that are pronounced with a " g " ??

That is why I am sooo confused

Пока - пока,

Крис.

Originally Posted by Крис иэ Антверпен

Are there other words with его or ого where it is pronounced as g?

Your answer: No.
Огорошить, огород, огонь, много, Егор, легонько... In all these words "г" is pronounced as "g".

Chris, the question was:
Isn't is always pronounced as v when there is an (-)его or -ого part in a word?