Hard Sign (Ъ) vs Soft Sign (Ь) | Russian Alphabet Pronunciation | Russian Comprehensive

What is the role of Hard Sign (Ъ) and Soft Sign (Ь) in Russian?
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✓ What exactly are Hard Sign (Ъ) and Soft Sign (Ь) in Russian?
✓ How do they sound?
✓ When do you use them?

The bottom line is, they both serve as an apostrophe in Russian, only Ь indicates that the consonant is SOFT, and Ъ indicates that the consonant is HARD.
They can be used:
Ъ - between a consonant and vowel;
Ь - between a consonant and a vowel / between 2 consonants / at the end of a word after a consonant.

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Long time ago, in Russian, every word had to end with a vowel.
Sometimes it would be a very short sound, and there were two of them: Ъ and Ь.
Right, the Hard sign (Ъ) and the Soft sign (Ь) used to be short vowels. Back then, they were called “Ер” and “Ерь”.

Over time, those short vowels at the end of words got reduced, though still kept in spelling. On practice, the Hard sign (Ъ) indicated that the preceding consonant was hard, and the Soft sign (Ь) indicated that the preceding consonant was soft.

In the early 20th century, Ъ at the end of words or between two consonants was deemed excessive and was soon abolished.
Today, both the Hard sign (Ъ) and the Soft sign (Ь) are used to separate a consonant and a vowel (mostly Я, Ё, Е, Ю), only the Hard sign (Ъ) separates a Hard consonant and a vowel, and the Soft sign (Ь) separates a Soft consonant and a vowel. Though in fluent speech, syllables with Ъ and Ь (i.e. МЬЯ vs МЪЯ) do sound pretty similar. In some other languages, a similar function is given to an apostrophe.

Ь has a much wider usage than Ъ in Russian; Ь can be used at the end of words or in between two consonants, and it indicates that the preceding consonant is soft.
Neither Ъ nor Ь can be a stand alone letter or the first letter in a word.

At the same time, there are some letters in Russian that are always hard or always soft, and will sound the same way, whether there is the Soft sign (Ь), or not.

0:28 - What do the Hard Sign (Ъ) and the Soft Sign (Ь) sound like in Russian?
1:03 - The function of Ъ and Ь
6:45 - Using Ъ and Ь today vs in the past
7:37 - Ъ in memes / online comments
7:50 - Ь in the middle / at the end of a word
9:24 - Ь after Ж, Ш, Ц
10:11 - Ь after Ч, Щ
11:11 - Ь in "-ться"

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