A soft sign is one of the letters of the Russian alphabet that does not have its own sound. It is impossible to pronounce phonetically, but, despite this, it is significant and plays a very important role.
Soft Sign Story
At the stage of the emergence of the great and mighty Russian language, our familiar soft sign was used as a very short version of the letter and . Over time, the soft sign lost its purpose, but, like the letter and , continued to soften the consonant in front.
In the Cerno-Slavic dialect, the concept of using the letter b is almost the same as in traditional Russian, with the exception of some details. First, in Church Slavonic, a soft sign, contrary to the rules and canons of the Russian language, is written after the hissing letters at the end of nouns (ladle, guard). Secondly, a soft sign in Church Slavonic was written at the end of any brief passive participles (see, hear).
In some cases, it was permissible not to put a soft sign between the consonants where it should be. For example, instead of the word darkness they could write tma , and so on.
Soft Sign Functions
We all know that consonants are soft and hard. Some consonants are always soft, and some are softened by other letters. For example, iotated vowels soften the solid consonant facing them. A soft sign performs exactly the same function as these vowels - softens the consonants facing it:
- softens the forward consonant;
- performs the separation function in words before iotated vowels and vowel o in borrowed words;
- It does not carry a special phonetic load, but retains the grammatical form in some words (mouse, land, wilderness).
Words with a soft sign in the middle of the word
Let's look at a few special cases in which a soft sign may occur in the middle of a word.
Soft sign between two consonants
Example: horse ki, ban ka, goal f, polka, hospital, coal.
In this case, a soft sign simply softens the consonant in front. Rule: A soft character in the middle of a word is not written between combinations of the consonants sch, sch, ch, ch.
Soft sign between consonant and iotated vowel (separation)
Example: trees, logs, pickles, learning, monkey, bindweed, necklace.
In this case, a soft sign softens the consonant in front. Iotated vowel is decomposed into two sounds .
A soft sign can stand not only in front of iotated vowels.
Example: broth, champignon, canyon, medallion.
Most often this happens in foreign borrowed words.
How not to make a mistake with writing a soft sign in the middle and end of a word?
The soft sign at the end of the word is needed in order to soften the consonant in front.
Examples: coal, salt, moth, tulle, pain, dare, calmness, scrap, teacher, password.
Sounds h, w, w according to the canons of the Russian language cannot be soft a priori, but in some cases a soft sign can be placed after them. It does not soften the consonant in front, but is needed to preserve the grammatical form. Let's see under what circumstances this can happen:
- Feminine nouns (rye, quiet, mouse).
- Verbs in all forms (drain, protect, build, wash).
- For adverbs ending in h and w (back, all the way) and one adverb for w (wide open).
When you do not need to put a soft sign after hissing:
- Masculine nouns (reed, garage, guard).
- Brief adjectives (good, good, fresh).
- Adverbs except for wide open (unbearable, married, too).
- Feminine nouns in the plural of the genitive (pears, clouds, heaps).
A bit about porting
How to transfer words with a soft sign in the middle of the word? It is worth considering separately. Words with a soft sign in the middle of the word often cause difficulties when it is necessary to transfer the word to another line. And in the texts a lot of mistakes of this kind are made.
Word wrap with a soft sign in the middle is as follows: first you need to divide into syllables the word that you want to transfer. Remember that, as many vowels in a word, so many syllables.
Step 1. Example: o-bez-i-na.
It is important to remember that when transferring a word with a dividing soft sign to another line, it is impossible to separate the soft sign from the consonant in front - hyphenation should be carried out only with it.
Step 2. Example: monkey-yang (example of proper transfer).
An important detail: if a soft character is located at the end of a word, you cannot transfer it to another line.
Wrong example: mother-in-law, love, bear.
The right example: a mother-in-law, love, honey, after all.
When transferring, you cannot leave one letter on the line. This rule applies not only to words with a soft sign in the middle of the word, but also to any other word.
Exercises
Soft sign in the middle of the word. 1 class.
1. Emphasize those words in which a soft sign softens the forward consonant:
Weeds, moose, fire, trees, salt, monkey, stakes, flat, letter, sable, deer, strong, trill, medallion, spruce, crane, horse, family, days, coat, caramel, judges, blood, love, nightingales, troublemaker, gimp, cortel, imposing.
2. Enter a soft sign where necessary:
Hush_, reed_, hear_, garage_, list_, rye_, courage_, mirage_, stove_, cross__, married_, good_, beach_, guard_, guard_, uzh_, nastizh_, unbearable_, beach_, nautmash_, cherished_, carried away, rook_, solid_.
3. Perform a phonetic analysis of these words (words can be given to children according to the variations, or each child can be given an individual word):
Portiere, backstage, expanse, sommelier, barrier.
TSYA and TSYA - how right?
Unfortunately, very many make a mistake in this seemingly elementary spelling. How do you know what to write at the end of a verb?
You just need to ask a question to the verb. If the verb answers the question "what to do," a soft sign is put. If the question is "what is doing?" - a soft sign is not needed.
Example: get out (what to do?), Agree (what to do?); show off (what to do?).
Removes (what does?), Agrees (what does?), Flaunts (what does?).