When to make the "v" / "в" or to make the "g" / "г" in place of "г"?
Like the word "его" is said "evo", but phonetically it's said "ego".
Cпасибо.
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1Your question isn't completely clear. Are you asking about the spelling rules (when to write 'г' in place of 'в') or about the pronunciation (when 'г' is pronounced as 'в')?– Aleks GCommented Oct 9, 2013 at 18:01
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@AleksG - You're right, it's not completely clear. I assumed it was about reading rules, not spelling ones, when I answered the question. I made this assumption, because explaining how to spell this or that Russian sound would take a thick book, and no way an answer on a forum.– Yellow SkyCommented Oct 9, 2013 at 20:37
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phonetically it is evo.– AnixxCommented Oct 10, 2013 at 0:24
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2 Answers
It's very simple. If the pronoun, or an adjective, or an ordinal numeral is in the Genitive case, then their ending -его is pronounced like -ih-vuh or -ih-VOH, and the ending -ого like -uh-vuh or -uh-VOH, depending on the accent stress in the word. The bold letters show the stressed vowels in Russian words, the capital letters show the stressed syllables in the English words:
его - pronounced "yih-VOH"
синего - "SIH-nih-vuh"
одного - ud-nuh-VOH
красного - KRUS-nuh-vuh
In all the rest of the cases Г is pronounced like G in "great" (but sometimes like K). To tell the truth, if you always pronounce Г like G in "great", you will be well understood. But if you'd like to always pronounce everything correctly, you'll have to spend much time and effort to achieve that. I wish you good luck!
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@Artemix - Hmm... It did work with me. What did you use as an alternative of the asterixed bolds? Commented Oct 9, 2013 at 20:40
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1Yes, sorry I didn't make that clear. Im was looking for the right to say it, not spell it.– AndigoCommented Oct 9, 2013 at 21:34
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Well, minus putters, come out, tell me what's wrong with my answer. Is it my narrowmindedness, or my arrogance, or my illiteracy? Commented Oct 10, 2013 at 0:52
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@YellowSky See my post on meta. The bold works in the preview, but not after the answer is posted. The recommended solution is to use HTML <b>...</b> tags.– ArtemixCommented Oct 10, 2013 at 6:25
в is pronounced instead of г in его and connected words: full form adjectives, ordinal numerals and possessive pronouns.
- Красивого
- Второго
- Моего
Etymologically, the full form's endings (красив / красивый, красива / красивая) are pronouns extinct by now in Russian but surviving in oblique cases of the words он, она.
The reason for such pronunciation is the fall of г during its transition from a fricative to a stop and introduction of epenthetic в:
[krɐsʲivəvə] < [krɐsʲivə:] < [krɐsʲivəɤə]
Epenthetic в is common for East Slavic languages: Лявон < Leon (Belorussian), павук < *паѫкъ (Ukrainian); какава < cacao (Russian dialectal)
Words ending in -го not etymologically connected to его pronounce г: индиго [ɪnʲdʲigə], фанданго [fɐndangə]
