Thread: Е, Ë and Э caracters

What's the difference between Е, Ë and Э.

Which caracter do you use for the following sounds:
hey, page, late (é in french)
chair, air, (è in french)
delete, mecanism (e in french)

Thank you!

Originally Posted by snorkyller

What's the difference between Е, Ë and Э.

These are three different letters, that's the difference. =)

Originally Posted by snorkyller

Which caracter do you use for the following sounds:
hey, page, late (é in french)
chair, air, (è in french)
delete, mecanism (e in french)

Thank you!

hey, page, late (é in french) = хэй, пэйдж, лэйт
chair, air, (è in french) = чэир (of course, it sounds not exactly like that, but more closely to эи), эир
delete, mecanism (e in french) = дэлит, мэканизм

Е marks iotated e-sound, while Э does not.

In writing: мера (е shows the softness of the preceding consonant), мэр (the consonant is hard).

Ё marks iotated o-sound.

More facts:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ye_(Cyrillic)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yo_(Cyrillic)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E_(Cyrillic)

hey, page, late: usually ей is used, эй exists as a variant for not confusing with similar words or to avoid wrong iotatation.
chair, air: there is no unanimity here. Some transliterate like эй, some transliterate like э. Usually, it is needless to write э after ч like in chair, it is е instead.
delete, mechanism: e here also. If you want to be precise, и in delete and э in mechanism.

Originally Posted by snorkyller

What's the difference between Е, Ë and Э.

These different letters of the Cyrillic alphabet denote three different sounds:

1. Е roughly sounds like "ye" in the word "yesterday"

2. Ë roughly sounds like "yo" in the word "yogurt"

3. Э roughly sounds like "e" in the words "well" and "bell"

Hope it helps.

Russian letter Е in some words sounds like "ye" but in some words (especially foreign) sounds like "e" (Э).
Moreover letter Е is almost always used instead of Ё. Ё is used in dictionaries and books for children and foreign students.


Do not confuse Russian letter Э with Ukrainian letter Є and euro sign € !

Ukrainian and Russian letters have different pronunciation.

Ukrainian Е approximately equal to Russian Э
Ukrainian Є approximately equal to Russian Е


Thousand years ago E, Є, Ё, Э were the single letter E(Є) equivalent to Greek letter Epsilon (Εε)


é in french — approximately Е
è,ê in french — approximately Э
e in french — very approximately Ё

Everything is clear!

Thank you for your precise explanations!