Serbo-Croatian Sounds

Make sure to set your encoding to Central European (Windows).
Press arrows in the Pronounced column to listen to the sounds.

Characters which pose a pronunciation problem to speakers of English are marked in red and discussed below the table.

Character	Example	Explanation	Pronounced
A a	dar	a: as in: arm, harm
B b	baba	b as in: bad, body
C c	cipela	tz combination as in: blitz
Č č	čar	ch or tch as in: church, fetch, pronounced harder than the English sound
Ć ć	ćar	ch or tch as in: church, fetch, pronounced softer than the English sound
D d	dati	d as in: do, hard
Dž dž	džak	j as in: jeep, jungle, pronounced harder than the English sound
Đ đ	đak	j as in: jeep, jungle, pronounced softer than the English sound
E e	pet	e as in: red, bet
F f	film	f as in: fine, golf
G g	gar	g as in: go, long
H h	hit	h as in: head, hate
I i	vir	i or ee as in: if, peel
J j	jaje	y, as in: yes
K k	kola	c or k as in: car, silk
L l	lula	l as in: long, still
Lj lj	ljubav	ly combination as in million
M m	mama	m as in: mill, ham
N n	noga	n as in: no, news
Nj nj	njuška	ny combination as in British new
O o	voz	o as in: long, strong
P p	pastir	p as in: paper, post
R r	rad	R as in: rare, rob, but rolled
S s	soba	s as in: seldom, yes
Š š	šaka	sh as in: shine, pronounced harder than the English sound
T t	torba	t as in: top, hat
U u	kup	u or oo as in: put, book
V v	voda	v as in: very, lively
Z z	zima	s or z as in: these, crazy
Ž ž	život	s as in: pleasure, pronounced harder than the English sound

Problem Areas in Pronunciation

The principal rule of reading is a one-to-one correspondence between characters and sounds.	This means that every character is always pronounced in the same manner and that every sound is represented with one character only. For example, g is pronounced [g] as in English 'go' in all following words grad 'city', gen 'gene', gimnazija 'high school'. At the same time, there is no other character which represents the same sound.
B, b	Serbo-Croatian b is pronounced in a less tense manner than its English counterpart. Click here to hear it.
C, c	Although the c sound exists in the English language (e.g. blitz [blic]), it is never used at the beginning of a word. Click here to hear it in the initial position.
Č č and Ć ć	In the English language there is only one sound for these two Serbo-Croatian sounds (ch as in cherry). The č sound is harder than its English counterpart while the ć sound is softer. Harder means that your tongue has to be stiffer and it has to press against the palate with a limited surface. Softer means that your tongue has to be sloppier and press against the palate with a wider surface. Click here to see the position of the tongue. Click here to hear č. Click here to hear ć.
D, d	Serbo-Croatian d is pronounced in a less tense manner than its English counterpart. In addition, Serbo-Croatian is a dental sound whereas it English counterpart is pronounced by pressing the tongue against the lower palate. In order to pronounce the Serbo-Croatian d correctly, one has to lower the tongue and press it against the upper teeth. Click here to see the position of the tongue. Click here to hear it.
Dž dž and Đ đ	In the English language there is only one sound for these two Serbo-Croatian sounds (j as in jeep). The dž sound is harder than its English counterpart while the đ sound is softer. Harder means that your tongue has to be stiffer and it has to press against the palate with a limited surface. Softer means that your tongue has to be sloppier and press against the palate with a wider surface. Click here to see the position of the tongue. Click here to hear dž. Click here to hear đ.
G, g	Serbo-Croatian g is always pronounced as [g] as in English 'go' and never as [j] as in English 'gist'. Click here to hear it.
J j	Serbo-Croatian j is always pronounced as [y] as in English 'yet' and never as [j] as in English 'jet'. Click here to hear it.
Lj lj	Serbo-Croatian lj is pronounced as a combination of l and y. It does not have an English counterpart. If you have previously learned Spanish, it is just like continental Spanish 'll' (but not Latin American Spanish 'll'). Click here to hear it.
Nj nj	Serbo-Croatian nj is pronounced as a combination of n and y. It does not have an English counterpart. If you have previously learned Spanish, it is just like Spanish 'n~' Click here to hear it.
R r	In the English language the 'r' sound is pronounced by pressing the sides of the tongue against the upper palate. In Serbo-Croatian, in contrast, it is pronounced by pressing the tip of the tongue against the lower palate. Click here to see the position of the tongue. Click here to hear Serbo-Croatian r.
Š š	The š sound is harder than its English counterpart [sh]. Harder means that your tongue has to be stiffer and it has to press against the palate with a limited surface. Click here to hear it.
T, t	Serbo-Croatian t is pronounced in a less tense manner than its English counterpart. In addition, Serbo-Croatian is a dental sound whereas its English counterpart is pronounced by pressing the tongue against the lower palate. In order to pronounce the Serbo-Croatian t correctly, one has to lower the tongue and press it against the upper teeth. Click here to see the position of the tongue. Click here to hear it.
Ž ž	The ž sound is harder than its English counterpart [zh]. Harder means that your tongue has to be stiffer and it has to press against the palate with a limited surface. Click here to hear it.
NOTE: The only difference between t and d is that the vocal cords are loose when pronouncing d and tense when pronouncing d. The position of the tongue in the mouth cavity is identical.	The same is true about Č and Dž on one hand versus Ć and Đ on the other.

BACK TO GRAMMAR MAIN MENU