Do you want to learn Russian cursive? Let us start this post with the most important recommendation – don’t be afraid! Certainly, you have already seen the meme showing the Russian doctors’ cursive writing or with words like “chinchilla” (шиншилла) or “you will deprive” (лишишь).

Yeap! They look like a series of spikes with no distinction between letters. So,  you might wonder, how am I supposed to read that?… The answer to this question is the same as another equivalent question, how do native Russian speakers read that? To make a long story short, you will need an organized method to navigate the challenges, pay attention to recognizing the main features of Russian letters in cursive, and finally, use a sound strategy to practice efficiently your Russian cursive writing. Let´s see together how it works! 

Comprehending the Russian Cursive Alphabet

Start with the basics: begin by familiarizing yourself with the Russian cursive alphabet. The Russian alphabet consists of 33 letters, each with its distinct form and joining rules. Although you will develop your cursive writing style, a comfortable starting point is learning a common and modern teaching style. 

Understanding the fine distinctions of letter formation is crucial in mastering Russian cursive. Here is a non-exhaustive list of features of some letters that require special care. We hope that it helps you navigate the challenges of writing in Russian cursive:

• Бб: The lowercase form looks like a Latin d or a version of the Greek letter delta. 
• Гг:  The direction of the horizontal line is inverted in the lowercase form.
• Дд: The capital form is similar to the Latin D, but the lowercase seems like a Latin g. 
• Ии: Both forms, capital and lowercase are handwritten as the Latin Uu. 
• Мм: It is formed by adding a front tail to the cursive letter Ии. Marking the tail when joining letters is key to recognizing this letter. We will explain this below. 
• Пп: The capital form is written as the math symbol π, but the lowercase is like a Latin n. 
• Рр: The capital form is such as the Latin P, but lowercase – commonly – is an open Latin p. 
• Тт: The capital form is written as the cursive П with an additional vertical line. The lowercase is like a Latin m. Some people add an overbar to remind that is a т. 

Managing the Connections

Mind the connections: pay careful attention to the way letters join in cursive. After you practice writing each letter individually, you can initiate writing common words to be familiar with how some words may look. For instance, try to write the Russian word for “Hi”, Привет. 

You have to resist the temptation of reading “р, и, т” with the English sounds of “p, u, m”. As you practice more and more by reading and writing Russian cursive, you will remember this naturally. Now, you are ready to explore three more words that are common and extremely important in any language, the conjunction “or”, или; the noun “mom”, мама; and the proper name “Maria”, Мария.

What do you notice here, Tailor? Exactly! When you have a connecting letter in front of the Russian cursive letters л, м, я, the slightly ascendant frontal tip of the letters is conserved. This ‘rule’ is extremely useful when you want to read words that involve combinations with и and ш; however, sometimes native Russian may forget to emphasize this feature. 

Recognizing the Patterns

Focus on the patterns: write Russian in cursive as you learn more words and conjugate verbs. There are many endings in Russian that you will have to remember when you are learning the language. For example, when you conjugate verbs of the second group, you will study endings such as -ишь and -им, for the pronouns ты (informal you) and мы (we), respectively. Be aware that these endings include letters that together are difficult to read. Similarly, this situation may happen with other endings. Let’s see what these endings look like in cursive: 

Practicing Efficiently

To get the most out of your practice sessions, using the Cursive Generation Tool is highly recommended. This tool allows you to input any text and see it instantly transformed into cursive, helping you visualize and replicate the proper letter formations and connections. Regularly practicing with the tool will enhance your writing speed and accuracy, making your mastery of Russian cursive much more efficient. Good luck with your writing!