AboutNatasha Kozyreva Expertise You can ask me questions on the Russian language, literature and culture. As a resident of Saint-Petersburg, I'd be glad to answer questions about it as well.
I am studying Russian and have a question regarding a pronunciation exception. I understand that " г " has the same sound as the English " g ", however... I have been told that when it appears in a word as:
"ого"
or
"его"
the sound changes to a " v " sound (or " в " in Russian). So in those cases it would be pronounced "ovo" or "yevo", respectively. Can you tell me why this is the case? Also, are these the only instances like this, or are there others?
Thank you / Cпасибо!
Regards / Привет,
Anna
Answer Hello Anna,
I'm not sure why this is do, but I reckon the explanation may be simple: there must have been a shift in pronunciation centuries ago, but the written form didn't change for some reason (as it is the case with many English words).
Hence -ого is pronounced -ово in the genitive case of neuter and masculine adjectives and pronouns: хорошего, доброго, нового (adj.); какого, того, чего, ничего (pronouns).
я - мой - моего
он - его - его
мы - наш - нашего
вы - ваш - вашего
There are some other words derived from pronouns that also have "г" pronounced "в", e.g. сегодня and итого.
I'm afraid that it all may sound quite complicated, but actually it's not. Just keep in mind that it almost exclusively applies to the endings of the words, сегодня being the only exception I know, and mostly to adjectives and pronouns.
The vast majority* of the -го-ending-words you'll come across are pronounced -во because it is very rare for other categories of words to end this way (those are largely borrowed ones, like Лего (Lego), идальго (hidalgo) etc.).
*However, not that "ого" (meaning "whoa" or something like that) is ogo/oho and "mnoga".
Some examples for you:
1. "Счастливого пути!" (Have a good trip) - счастливого is adj., masc., gen. => pronounced -в.
2. Я многого не понял. (I didn't understand a lot) - pron., neutr., gen. => pron. "mnogova".
3. Они танцуют танго. (They're dancing tango) - tango is a noun => г.
4. Всего хорошего! (All the best!/Good bye!) - всего is pron., neutr., gen., хорошего is adj., neutr., gen => -в, -в.
