Thread: Г = G or V

Всем привет

I am a begginer of Russian and have a quick question for anyone of you knowledgable polyglots out there.

Is there a standard rule or system for when the Russian "Г" is pronounced as a English G or V?
eg.
нечего = English "V"
зажигает = English Hard "G"

If there is no standard rule - is there some helpful trick or method that helped you learn the difference from word to word. Or, is it a case of exposure and memory?

Thanks in advance.

I think deviations in pronunciation in Russian are marginal in actual fact. Even if you say нечего with G it's OK. Just combine reading and listening and do not think too much about such an intangible problem. As a rule if you see Г – say G. That’s all.

I guess the rule is just "the endings -ого/-его sound -ово/-ево".
Examples
Огород - г sounds like g, ого- is not an ending here.
сегодня - г sounds like v becouse the word is combined from 2 words: сего(this, so -его is an ending)and дня(of day).
его - his - just remember that it sounds ево.
зажигает - there is no -ого\-его, it sounds with g.
So нечего sounds like нечево. I don't agree with DagothWarez that нечего with g is OK, it is not! It sounds like a kid's language, every native in the beginning is reading books this way but the adults saying like that sound at least wierd.

I think sooner than someone actually begins to speak he’ll correct all that “rough edges” natural way by listening to native speakers. These troubles aren’t worth a hill of beans.

Thanks for the answers.

Like Dagoth said, it should not really a big problem for me to ponder over.

With words like сегодня & его I look at the words and pronounce them with a V automatically because I know the words from usage. However I was looking at song lyrics and came across an unknown and pronounced it incorrected, thus the inspiration for that simple question.

If a word ends in -его/-ого, I can assure you it is pronounced as a V. This is a genetive adjective ending, and this is just a set ending that is always pronounced like that.

Молодого (молодово)
Хорошего (хорошево)
Красного (красново)

However, if it is in the middle of a word, don't count on it being pronounced as a v. Погода is actually pronounced "Pagoda"

you got the basic part right - ого or его when it is a genitive adjectival ending or used to be one! the г is pronounced /v/. I'm not sure where dragonbreath heard нечего pronounced with a /g/ there. Maybe out in the boondocks (=захолустье often referred to jokingly as Урюпинск) of northern Russia, but in Standard Russian - it ain't gonna happen, it's /n'echiva/.

There are a few exceptions - сегодня is one, but if you analyze it, it comes from an adj. + noun: сего дня of this day, from сей день this day. archaic.

I may as well add this: г is also pronounced a bit like English /h/ in words referring to or derived from the word referring to God or the stem благ- in church-related words. Бог, благодарим. Not many, though. I'm sure Muscovites can correct me and point out the few items.

I'm curious, how this came to be. For the most part, russian is a phonetic language, yet ого and его are not pronounced phonetically sometimes. What happened?

Originally Posted by Darobat

I'm curious, how this came to be. For the most part, russian is a phonetic language, yet ого and его are not pronounced phonetically sometimes. What happened?

Exceptions to every rule, though.
Много for instance, is pronounced with a 'g'

Who knows how it came to be.
It just is.

I'm curious, how this came to be. For the most part, russian is a phonetic language, yet ого and его are not pronounced phonetically sometimes. What happened?

Strange question. Why did so many phonetical changes happen in English?

Endings -ого, -его are inherent to most Slavic languages (with some variations in spelling and pronunciations). Only in Russian it's pronounced as as "V", pronouncing those endings with "G" will make you sound like an old preast (in some movies you can hear those endings pronounced as G).

The rule is not hard to remember but there but there are words that end -ого and they are pronounced as expected - G:

много, ого!

EDIT:
vxp posted earlier than me but I didn't read his post.

Originally Posted by vxp

Exceptions to every rule, though.
Много for instance, is pronounced with a 'g'

This is not an exception though. The root is мног- here so there is an ending -o, not -ogo.

hey dagoth, what is shype ? please explain.

[

Originally Posted by danielNeal

hey dagoth, what is shype ? please explain.

[

LOL........SHYPE :P That would indeed be a much better name for the program.

Originally Posted by danielNeal

hey dagoth, what is shype ? please explain.

[

http://www.skype.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skype
http://forum.skype.com