how to pronounce был

/bɨɫ/

audio example by a male speaker

audio example by a female speaker

the above transcription of был is a detailed (narrow) transcription according to the rules of the International Phonetic Association; you can find a description of each symbol by clicking the phoneme buttons in the secction below.

был is pronounced in one syllable

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1. example pitch curve for pronunciation of был

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video examples of был pronunciation

An example use of был in a speech by a native speaker of standard russian:

“… потому что мир не был так тесен а сейчас …”

meanings of был

verb:

Masculine singular past indicative imperfective of быть (bytʹ).

был frequency in russian - A1 level of CEFR

the word был occurs in russian on average 1269.5 times per one million words; this frequency warrants it to be in the study list for A1 level of language mastery according to CEFR, the Common European Framework of Reference.