Serbian · Pronunciation

Serbian Listening and Pronunciation Guide

Key Serbian sounds, script features, and stress patterns for pronunciation practice. Front: the Serbian word or sound pattern in Cyrillic with Latin transliteration. Back: meaning plus a plain-English pronunciation note.

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кућа (kuća)

house. 'ћ' is a soft palatal sound, like a light 'ch' in 'cheap'; it is softer than the harder 'ч' (č), which sounds like the 'ch' in 'church'.

ђак (đak)

student, pupil. 'ђ' is soft, like the 'j' in 'jeep'; it contrasts with the harder 'џ' (dž), like the 'j' in 'jump'.

шест (šest)

six. The letter 'ш' is pronounced 'sh' as in 'shoe'.

жена (žena)

woman, wife. The letter 'ж' is pronounced like the 's' in 'measure' or 'pleasure'.

цена (cena)

price. The letter 'ц' is always pronounced 'ts' as in 'cats'.

трг (trg)

square (a town square). The letter 'р' can act as a vowel between consonants, so this word is pronounced with a rolled 'r' carrying its own syllable, with no separate vowel needed.

риба (riba)

fish. The Serbian 'р' is rolled or tapped with the tongue tip, similar to a Spanish or Italian 'r'.

љубав (ljubav)

love. The letter 'љ' is a single palatalized 'l' sound, like the 'lli' in 'million', not 'l' plus 'j' pronounced separately.

коњ (konj)

horse. The letter 'њ' is a single palatalized 'n' sound, like the 'ny' in 'canyon', not 'n' plus 'j' pronounced separately.

spelling and sound

Serbian spelling is fully phonetic: each letter represents exactly one sound, and each sound is always written the same way, in both the Cyrillic and Latin alphabets.

ч = č

Every Serbian Cyrillic letter has one fixed Latin equivalent; 'ч' always corresponds to 'č', so learning both alphabets is mostly a matter of learning the letter-to-letter mapping.

pitch accent in Serbian

Serbian has a pitch-accent system: a stressed syllable can carry a rising or falling tone, which can distinguish word meaning, though most learners can be understood without mastering it.

стари vs старији (stari vs stariji)

old vs older. Serbian vowels can be pronounced short or long depending on stress, which subtly changes word rhythm, though spelling does not mark this length.

град (grad)

city. Unlike some Slavic languages, Standard Serbian generally keeps word-final consonants voiced, though some devoicing can occur in casual fast speech.

зима (zima)

winter. The letter 'з' is pronounced like the English 'z' in 'zoo'.

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