Russian Keyboard Tester

The ЙЦУКЕН layout

The standard Russian keyboard is called ЙЦУКЕН, after the first six letters of its top row. Its 33 letters take up the 26 letter keys and the punctuation keys next to them:

• Top row: Й Ц У К Е Н Г Ш Щ З, then Х and Ъ on the two bracket keys.
• Middle row: Ф Ы В А П Р О Л Д, then Ж and Э on the semicolon and apostrophe keys.
• Bottom row: Я Ч С М И Т Ь, then Б and Ю on the comma and full stop keys.
• Ё is in the top-left corner, on the same key as the backtick on an English keyboard.

Russian keyboards are printed with both alphabets: Cyrillic in one colour or corner, Latin in the other. You switch between them in the operating system, not on the keyboard.

Punctuation on a Russian layout

The full stop and comma are where a lot of typing mistakes come from:

Character	Russian layout
.	The key right of Ю (the / key on an English keyboard)
,	Shift + the same key
“	Shift + 2
№	Shift + 3
;	Shift + 4
:	Shift + 6
?	Shift + 7
/	Shift + \

Windows also has a Russian (Typewriter) layout, which swaps the number row so the punctuation marks are typed without Shift and the digits need it. Choose it only if your keyboard is printed that way.

Phonetic layouts for English keyboards

If your keyboard has no Cyrillic letters printed on it, a phonetic layout puts each Russian letter on the English key that sounds alike, so Д is on D and Л is on L. Windows includes Russian – Mnemonic and macOS includes Russian – Phonetic. They are easier to learn on an English keyboard, but they don’t match a Russian keyboard if you later switch to one.

On a Mac, also note the difference between the Russian and Russian – PC input sources. Russian – PC matches Windows and the keys printed on most keyboards. The plain Russian layout puts some punctuation and Ё on different keys.

Common Russian keyboard problems

You type “ghbdtn” instead of “привет”. The keyboard is on the English layout. Switch with Alt + Shift, Ctrl + Shift or the Windows key + Space. Retyping is the only fix, so check the language indicator in the taskbar before you type a long message.

The layout switches while you type. Alt + Shift and Ctrl + Shift are easy to press by accident with other shortcuts. You can change or turn off the hot key in Settings, under Time & language, Typing, Advanced keyboard settings, Input language hot keys.

Commas come out as question marks, or the full stop is missing. You may be using a phonetic or typewriter layout without knowing it. Check which Russian layout is selected next to the language name.

Ё doesn’t type. Ё is on the top-left key, which some compact keyboards move or remove. Many Russian writers type Е instead, which is accepted in everyday writing, but the tester shows whether the key itself works.

What to press in the tester

The on-screen keyboard above shows Cyrillic labels, matched to each physical key. Because keys are matched by position, every key lights up whether Windows is on Russian or English, so you can test the hardware first and fix the language setting afterwards. Press Ё, Х, Ъ, Ж, Э, Б, Ю and the full stop key, then check your switch shortcut in the typed text box.