The Serbian Alphabet

Serbian has 30 letters and two official scripts: Cyrillic (the constitutional script) and Latin, which is just as common in everyday life. Each Latin letter has exactly one Cyrillic twin. The course uses Latin; every letter below shows its Cyrillic form too. Tap any letter to hear its name in Serbian.

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All 30 letters (Latin and Cyrillic)

Tap any letter to hear its name in Serbian.

a say “ah” a as in “father” Cyrillic: А а
be say “beh” b as in “bed” Cyrillic: Б б
ce say “tseh” ts as in “cats” Cyrillic: Ц ц
če say “cheh” ch as in “church”, tongue pulled back (hard) Cyrillic: Ч ч
će say “chyeh (soft)” a softer ch, with the tongue flat and forward, close to the t-y in “got you” Cyrillic: Ћ ћ
de say “deh” d as in “dog” Cyrillic: Д д
dže say “jeh” j as in “jam”, tongue pulled back (hard) Cyrillic: Џ џ
đe say “jyeh (soft)” a softer j, with the tongue flat and forward, close to the d-y in “did you” Cyrillic: Ђ ђ
e say “eh” e as in “bed” Cyrillic: Е е
fe say “feh” f as in “fun” Cyrillic: Ф ф
ge say “geh” g as in “go” Cyrillic: Г г
ha say “hah” ch as in Scottish “loch” Cyrillic: Х х
i say “ee” ee as in “see” Cyrillic: И и
je say “yeh” y as in “yes” Cyrillic: Ј ј
ka say “kah” k as in “skip” (no puff of air) Cyrillic: К к
le say “leh” l as in “let” Cyrillic: Л л
lje say “lyeh” one sound: ly as in “million” Cyrillic: Љ љ
me say “meh” m as in “man” Cyrillic: М м
ne say “neh” n as in “no” Cyrillic: Н н
nje say “nyeh” ny as in “canyon” Cyrillic: Њ њ
o say “oh” a short, pure o (no “oh-oo” glide) Cyrillic: О о
pe say “peh” p as in “spin” (no puff of air) Cyrillic: П п
re say “reh” rolled r, as in Spanish “perro” Cyrillic: Р р
se say “seh” s as in “sun” Cyrillic: С с
še say “sheh” sh as in “shop” Cyrillic: Ш ш
te say “teh” t as in “stop” (no puff of air) Cyrillic: Т т
u say “oo” oo as in “food” Cyrillic: У у
ve say “veh” v as in “van” Cyrillic: В в
ze say “zeh” z as in “zoo” Cyrillic: З з
že say “zheh” s as in “pleasure”, but harder Cyrillic: Ж ж

7 letters that sound different for English speakers

Always ts, as in “cats”: cvet = “tsvet” cvet · flower
A soft ch, different from č: kuća = “KOO-chah” kuća · house
A soft j, different from dž: leđa = “LEH-jah” leđa · back
Sounds like English y: jutro = “YOO-tro” jutro · morning
Rough, like ch in Scottish “loch”: hleb = “khleb” hleb · bread
Rolled, and can be a vowel by itself: prst = “prst” prst · finger
Sounds like the s in “pleasure”: žena = “ZHEH-nah” žena · woman

Lj, nj, dž, č and ć, đ, and r as a vowel

Letters	Examples	Sound
lj · nj		one letter and one sound each (Cyrillic љ, њ): ly as in “million”, ny as in “canyon”
dž		one letter (Cyrillic џ): j as in “jam”
č · ć		č = hard ch (čaj “tea”); ć = soft ch (kuća “house”)
dž · đ		dž = hard j (menadžer); đ = soft j (grožđe “grapes”)
r		between consonants r is the vowel of the syllable: prst, trg, brdo
kuća · кућа		the same word in both scripts: one Latin letter = one Cyrillic letter

A word for every letter

Each letter below has its name and a real word from the Flashcardly course (starting with the letter where one exists), with a picture and native audio.