Ш Ж З Щ Ч — five sounds German speakers almost already know. And they finally unlock ПЛОЩАДЬ.
Remember ПЛОЩАДЬ from Lesson 5? You had П–Л–О–?–А–Д–Ь and only the fourth letter was missing. That letter is Щ — and you learn it today.
Your alphabet so far
Letters you already know (lessons 1–5):
А К М О Т — В Н Р С У Х — И Я Л Б Г — П Е Д Ь Ц
Today you add 5 more: Ш Ж З Щ Ч
The five letters
Шш
= "sh"
Like sch in German Schule or Schnee.
Shape: a comb with three teeth pointing down. Count the teeth — there are three. Examples: ШКОЛА (school)
ШОКОЛАД (chocolate)
Жж
= "zh"
A voiced hiss — like the g in German Garage or the j in Journalist (borrowed French sounds).
Shape: perfectly symmetric, like a snowflake or a beetle seen from above. Ж = жук (beetle) — the word starts with Ж. Examples: ЖУРНАЛ (magazine)
ПОЖАР (fire)
Зз
= "z"
Like the voiced s in German Sonne or so (German "s" before a vowel at word start is voiced — exactly this sound). Trap: З is NOT like German "Z" (which = "ts" = Ц). З is softer — Sonne, not Zeit.
Shape: looks just like the number 3. Examples: ЗОНА (zone)
ЗАВОД (factory)
Щщ
= "shch"
Like saying sch from Schule and then adding tsch from Tschüss — squashed together: "shch".
Shape: like Ш (3-tooth comb) with a small tail dangling from the bottom right — same trick as Щ vs Ш is to Ц vs У. Examples: ПЛОЩАДЬ (square/plaza)
ОЩУЩЕНИЕ (feeling)
Чч
= "ch"
Like tsch in German Tschüss or Deutsch.
Shape: looks like a backwards 4 — the curved part on the left, the vertical leg on the right. Or think of a small chair viewed from the side. Examples: ЧЕМПИОН (champion)
ЧЕМОДАН (suitcase)
Ш vs Щ: Both hiss — but Щ has a tail below the right leg. No tail = Ш ("sh"). Tail = Щ ("shch"). Same logic as Ц vs У.
З vs Ц trap: З looks like 3 and sounds like voiced "s" (German Sonne). Ц also looks vaguely curved — but Ц has a tail below the right side, and sounds "ts" (German Zeit). Different shapes, different sounds.
GeoGuessr vocabulary unlocked
These words appear on signs, maps, and building facades across Russia, Ukraine, Serbia, Bulgaria, and Kazakhstan.
ПЛОЩАДЬ
PLO-shchad'
City square / plaza — teased since Lesson 5, now complete
П–Л–О–Щ–А–Д–Ь
ШОССЕ
shos-SE
Highway / road — on blue route signs everywhere
Ш–О–С–С–Е
ШКОЛА
SHKO-la
School — large sign above the entrance
Ш–К–О–Л–А
МАГ АЗИН
ma-ga-ZIN
Store / shop — the generic word for any retail shop
М–А–Г–А–З–И–Н
ЖЕЛЕЗНАЯ ДОРОГА
zhe-LYEz-na-ya do-RO-ga
Railway — "iron road". On train stations and level crossing signs.
Ж–Е–Л–Е–З–Н–А–Я Д–О–Р–О–Г–А
ЗАВОД
za-VOD
Factory / plant — common on industrial buildings and gate signs
З–А–В–О–Д
Yellow letters = new from today. White = letters you already knew.
You now know 26 of 33 Russian letters. The remaining 7 (Й Ф Э Ю Ё Ъ Ы) cover less common sounds. At 26 letters you can already sound out the overwhelming majority of words you'll encounter in GeoGuessr.
Quiz — read the sign
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Word reading — sound it out
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