Short I facts for kids
The letter Й (lowercase й) is a special letter used in the Cyrillic alphabet. It's often called "Short Ee" or "Short I" because it sounds like a quick 'y' in words like "yes" or "toy."
| Cyrillic letter Short Ee | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Cyrillic alphabet | ||||||
| А | Б | В | Г | Ґ | Д | Ђ |
| Ѓ | Е | Ѐ | Ё | Є | Ж | З |
| Ѕ | И | Ѝ | І | Ї | Й | Ј |
| К | Л | Љ | М | Н | Њ | О |
| П | Р | С | Т | Ћ | Ќ | У |
| Ў | Ф | Х | Ц | Ч | Џ | Ш |
| Щ | Ъ | Ы | Ь | Э | Ю | Я |
| Non-Slavic letters | ||||||
| Ӑ | Ӓ | Ә | Ӛ | Ӕ | Ғ | Ҕ |
| Ӻ | Ӷ | Ԁ | Ԃ | Ӗ | Ӂ | Җ |
| Ӝ | Ԅ | Ҙ | Ӟ | Ԑ | Ӡ | Ԇ |
| Ӣ | Ҋ | Ӥ | Қ | Ӄ | Ҡ | Ҟ |
| Ҝ | Ԟ | Ԛ | Ӆ | Ԓ | Ԡ | Ԉ |
| Ԕ | Ӎ | Ӊ | Ң | Ӈ | Ҥ | Ԣ |
| Ԋ | Ӧ | Ө | Ӫ | Ҩ | Ҧ | Ҏ |
| Ԗ | Ҫ | Ԍ | Ҭ | Ԏ | Ӯ | Ӱ |
| Ӳ | Ү | Ұ | Ҳ | Ӽ | Ӿ | Һ |
| Ҵ | Ҷ | Ӵ | Ӌ | Ҹ | Ҽ | Ҿ |
| Ӹ | Ҍ | Ӭ | Ԙ | Ԝ | Ӏ | |
| Old letters | ||||||
| Ҁ | Ѻ | ОУ | Ѡ | Ѿ | Ѣ | Ꙗ |
| Ѥ | Ѧ | Ѫ | Ѩ | Ѭ | Ѯ | Ѱ |
| Ѳ | Ѵ | Ꙟ | ||||
| List of Cyrillic letters | ||||||
| Cyrillic digraphs | ||||||
Contents
What is the Short Ee Letter?
The Short Ee letter, written as Й (uppercase) and й (lowercase), is part of the Cyrillic alphabet. This alphabet is used in many languages, especially in Eastern Europe and Asia. The sound of Short Ee is like the 'y' in the English word "yes."
How Short Ee Looks
You might notice that the letter Й looks a lot like the Cyrillic letter И. The main difference is the small curved mark above it. This mark is called a breve (or kratka in some languages). It tells you that the 'И' sound is made shorter and turns into a 'y' sound.
Where Short Ee is Used
The Short Ee letter is important in several languages:
- In Russian, it's called И краткое (I kratkoye), which means "short I."
- In Ukrainian, it's known as Йот (Yot) or Ий (Yi).
- In Bulgarian, it's called И кратко (I kratko), also meaning "short I."
- It's also used in the Belarusian alphabet.
Other Letters Like Short Ee
Some languages that use the Cyrillic alphabet have a different letter for the 'y' sound. For example, in Serbian, Macedonian, and Azeri, they use the letter Ј instead of Й.
Related Letters and Topics
- I (Cyrillic): Learn more about the letter that looks similar to Short Ee.
- Je (Cyrillic): Discover another Cyrillic letter that makes a similar sound.
Images for kids
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Contrastive use of Cyrillic kratka (for consonant [j]) and Latin breve (for short vowel [ĭ]) above и in Russian-Nenets dictionary
See Also
In Spanish: Й para niños
