Russian Cursive Й й (Short I): How to Write It
By Daily Cyrillic · Updated
Cursive й is a cursive и with a small curved breve above it, shaped like a tiny smile or a u. The breve is added after the word is written. A short glide like the "y" in "boy"; it never forms a syllable on its own.
Reading time: about 1 min.
- Sound
- /j/, written y
- Letter name
- и краткое
- Often confused with
- и, ё
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Sound
A short glide like the "y" in "boy"; it never forms a syllable on its own.
How to write cursive й, step by step
- Write a normal cursive и: up, down, up, down, exiting to the right.
- Keep writing the rest of the word.
- Return and draw a short curved stroke, open at the top, centered over the и.
The capital Й
Capital Й is the large U-shaped И with the same small breve above. It appears mainly in borrowed words and names such as Йорк.
How it connects to other letters
Since й mostly ends words or follows vowels, its exit stroke often finishes the word. The breve is the only pen lift.
Letters it is confused with
й / и: Without the breve, й becomes и and мой turns into a nonword. Always check for the little curve.
й / ё: Both letters carry a mark that comes last. ё has two dots, й has one curved stroke.
Example words in cursive
Read the cursive word first, then check the print form and meaning.
| Cursive | Transliteration | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|---|
| мой | мой | moy | my |
| чай | чай | chay | tea |
| музей | музей | muzéy | museum |
| йогурт | йогурт | yógurt | yogurt |
Common mistakes
- Drawing the breve as a straight dash or a dot, which hides the difference from и.
- Placing the breve over the next letter because it was added too late and too far right.
Turn this guide into words you can use
Build a free Russian set for this topic, with examples and ElevenLabs AI audio.