Once you’ve learned Russian to a basic level, you’ll probably want to explore more of the Russian-speaking world online. Also known as Рунет, the Russophone internet is a great way to go further with your knowledge of Russian.
So to dive in deeper, it’s a good time to get yourself familiar with the russkaya klaviatura (the Russian keyboard) and learn how to type in Russian.
To make sure that you’re fully prepared for the journey of typing in Russian, this article will cover a few things, including how the Russian keyboard works, typing on different devices and how to type tricky letters.
By the end of this article, you should be ready to tap that typewriter, surf the web, text with friends, enter forums and look up anything you want in Russian.
Pro Tip
By the way, if you want to learn Russian fast and have fun, my top recommendation is Russian Uncovered which teaches you through StoryLearning®.
With Russian Uncovered you’ll use my unique StoryLearning® method to learn Russian through story… not rules. It’s as fun as it is effective. If you’re ready to get started, click here for a 7-day FREE trial.
Use the table of contents below to skip to the section that interests you most. Otherwise, keep scrolling to learn all about how to type in Russian.
Table of Contents
Benefits Of Typing In Russian
While it's important to be able to read and write Russian cursive, so much of our lives today take place online. As such, knowing how to type in Russian is essential to communicating with the wider Russophone world.
One of the biggest benefits of typing in Russian is how much access it gives you to Russian speakers themselves. You can text with druzya (friends), or trying out gaming on Russian servers if you’re really up for a challenge.
On top of that, being able to type in Russian means having access to so much more information and learning material. Once you know how to type in Russian you can look up things online with ease.
So if you ever run into an unfamiliar word or want to search for a Russian-language movie that sounds interesting you'll know how to do it. Likewise, you can start looking for Russian-language material that’s specifically interesting to you.
So let’s dive in and explain….
How The Russian Keyboard Works
Here comes the good news. Typing in Russian is very straightforward and works exactly the same way as it does in English. For each búkva (letter) in the alphabet, there’s a klávisha (key) that matches it on the keyboard.
And unlike languages like Spanish and French, there aren’t any diacritic marks like ê and ö that you have to learn.
That means that there’s a one-to-one relationship between what your fingers do and what comes out. And just like you would on an English keyboard, you can make zaglávnye búkvy (capital letters) by holding down the shift key.
There are two exceptions to this one-to-one rule which only happen occasionally. And I’ll go into detail about them later on. So don't stress!
The only caveat I'll add is that to learn how to type, being familiar with the Russian alphabet is essential. So if you need to review any of that you can read my post about Russian pronunciation (which covers the alphabet) as well as the one on Russian spelling rules.
How To Add A Russian Keyboard To Your Device
More good news – adding the Russian keyboard to your device is really easy.
On A Mac
If you have a Mac you can just go to the main menu with the Apple icon, then select ‘System Preferences', and then ‘Keyboard.'
Once you’re there, just go ‘Input Sources' and click the (+) button and select Russian.
On A PC
If you have a PC, you just go to ‘Settings’ then ‘Time & language’ and then ‘Language & region.’ From there you can choose one of the different Russian keyboards. Speaking of which…
The Kinds Of Russian Keyboards
Now that you know how a Russian keyboard works, you should know about the different kinds.
When adding a keyboard to your device, you might run into two possible layouts for Russian.
One is usually just called ‘Russian’ or it could be called ‘Russian’ with a country specified the same way you might see ‘English (US)’ and ‘English (UK)’ as options. It could also be called ‘Russian PC.’
Essentially these are all the same and have the letters йцуке in the top left. This is also sometimes called the JCUKEN in English texts. Moreover, it's the standard keyboard layout for Russian.
The other keyboard you might run into is called ‘Russian – Phonetic.’ This has the letters яшерты in the top left which are meant to match with the letters on the QWERTY keyboard.
While the phonetic keyboard can be useful for familiarising yourself with the Cyrillic alphabet, you should absolutely commit yourself to learning the standard Russian version.
This is what Russian speakers use every day and probably the only keyboard layout you’ll run into in a Russian-speaking country. On top of that, if you buy a keyboard in a Russian-speaking country (or a Russian keyboard online) this is how the keys will be arranged.
One piece of good news is that there’s really no difference between the keyboard layouts in different countries. So whether you choose Russian in Russia, Belarus, or Kazakhstan, it will all be the same and the keys will be in the same place.
The Quirks Of Typing In Russian
There are definitely a few things to get used to when typing in Russian. For one, the Russian alphabet is made up of 33 letters, which is quite a few more than the 26 that English has.
This means that a lot of punctuation marks like ” ; : and ? don’t have their own set-aside keys like they do on the QWERTY keyboard.
So to make these punctuation marks, you have to type a combination of the shift key and a number, just like you would on a QWERTY keyboard to make the exclamation mark.
How To Type In Russian On A Smartphone
Typing in Russian on a smartphone is pretty straightforward. In fact, it has the same keyboard layout so it’s almost the exact same thing as typing on a computer.
You just need to adjust your keyboard setting to include Russian/Русский and you’re ready to go.
The only exception is with the letter ъ which you'll find out how to type in the section below on tricky letters.
The Tricky Letters For Typing In Russian
There are a handful of letters in Russian that can be a bit strange or unclear to type. Let's cover each of these now.
Is It Ё Or Е?
If you’ve been studying Russian for a while, then you should be familiar with the letter ё. It comes up all the time in everyday words like её (her) свёкла (beet) and приём (reception, receiving).
And when you learn the Russian alphabet, it’s considered to be its own distinct letter between Е and Ж. Take a look at the alphabet below for a refresh.
The letter Ё/ё is also the last letter to become part of the Russian alphabet (about 230 years ago) so it has some quirks that came with it.
Centuries ago, words like свёкла which is now pronounced svyo-KHLAH were pronounced as svye-KLAH. So as you can see, the ‘yeh’ became a ‘yoh’ sound in certain situations over time.
The letter ë was added to the alphabet to address the sound change and make the distinction. However, this wasn’t applied everywhere in equal measure.
The weird result of this is that you can see words like её, свёкла, and приём written both with the letter ë and also as ее, свекла, and прием with the letter e.
While texts for language learners and children tend to always make the distinction between е and ё, it can vary a lot in regular texts.
As a result, things like government documents, newspapers, Russian books, and any sort of publication might use ë but more often write it as an e.
This is reflected in typing on a Cyrillic keyboard as well. Almost no keyboards have a separate key set aside for the letter ё. Usually, typing it means doing something with the letter ‘e.’
On mobile phones, for example, this means just holding down the ‘e’ key until the option for ё comes up. You can of course just do as many Russians do and write it with a e. The choice is yours.
Typing The Hard Signs And Soft Signs
Two of the trickiest letters for Russian learners to fully get their head around are the ь and ъ. These are known as the мягкий знак (soft sign) – ь and the твёвдый знак (hard sign) – ъ.
Without going into too much detail, these actually come from the same letter once known as a yer (also spelled jer) and they don’t have a sound of their own but they affect the consonant that comes before them by making them hard or soft, hence the names.
If you're typing on a full Russian keyboard with йцуке at the top, then neither the мягкий знак or the твёрдый знак will pose any problems for you.
They both have their own keys with ь being in the same place as N on a QWERTY keyboard and ъ being two keys to the right of the letter P where the ] key is.
On a mobile keyboard, however, there’s less space so the arrangement of the hard and soft signs is a bit different.
So if you’re typing something about your favorite Russian movie (like), you’ll notice that the hard sign ъ doesn't have a key of its own but the soft sign does.
So to make the твёрдый знак (ъ) you just hold down the мягкий знак (ь) and select it. Легкотня (easy-peasy)!
Practicing The Russian Keyboard
Now you understand how the Russian keyboard works, which one you should use, and what letters might be challenging, it’s time to start practicing. Great…so where should you start?
Learning to type again can be a bit strange for some people and I recommend practicing where you can see the layout of the Russian klaviatura as you go. There are loads of sites where you can do this for free with the layout in front of you, like:
How To Type In Russian
Now that you've covered the basics, you can see that typing in Russian is important but not a huge challenge.
And by this point, you should have a solid understanding about
- The benefits of knowing how to type in Russian
- How the Russian keyboard works and which one to use
- How to type in Russian on any device
- Why letters like ё, ъ and ь can be tricky
So now you can go forth and type a message to your friends, post in on a forum, and search Runet to your heart's content.
And if you want even more Russian content, you can always learn through stories thanks to my course, Russian Uncovered, which teaches you through StoryLearning.
Remember that half of doing something is getting started and after that it’s just practice. So enjoy the journey and as always удача из удач (best of luck)!
Olly Richards
Creator of the StoryLearning® Method
Olly Richards is a renowned polyglot and language learning expert with over 15 years of experience teaching millions through his innovative StoryLearning® method. He is the creator of StoryLearning, one of the world's largest language learning blogs with 500,000+ monthly readers.
Olly has authored 30+ language learning books and courses, including the bestselling "Short Stories" series published by Teach Yourself.
When not developing new teaching methods, Richards practices what he preaches—he speaks 8 languages fluently and continues learning new ones through his own methodology.
