LingoflySerbian alphabet
The Serbian alphabet is the Serbian Cyrillic: 30 letters. 30 letters, 30 sounds, each with a Latin counterpart. The characters are grouped: six letters of serbian's own, the other twenty-four. Every character on this page can be played: the sound is stored as a file and does not depend on the voices installed on your system.
All 30 letters in one list
а (a), б, в, г, д, ђ, е, ж, з, и (i), ј, к, л, љ, м, н, њ, о (o), п, р, с (s), т, ћ, у (u), ф, х, ц, ч, џ, ш
Six letters of Serbian's own
They are ј, љ, њ, ћ, ђ, џ. Three of them, ћ, ђ and џ, form soft-and-hard pairs where English hears a single sound: soft ћ against hard ч, soft ђ against hard џ. Telling them apart by ear is the hardest listening task in the language.
The other twenty-four
Six of them read the way they look: а (a), е, к, м, о (o), т. Six only look Latin: В is v, Н is n, Р is r, С (s) is s, У (u) is oo, Х is the ch of Scottish "loch", but lighter. The other twelve are new shapes for familiar sounds.
- А аa as in "father"
- Б бb as in "book"be
- В вv as in "van"ve
- Г гg as in "go", always hardge
- Д дd as in "door"de
- Е еe as in "bed"
- Ж жzh as in "measure"že
- З зz as in "zoo"ze
- И иee as in "see"i
- К кk as in "kite"ka
- Л лl as in "lamp"el
- М мm as in "map"em
- Н нn as in "no"en
- О оo as in "more", pure
- П пp as in "pen"pe
- Р рa rolled rer
- С сs as in "sun"es
- Т тt as in "top"te
- У уoo as in "food"u
- Ф фf as in "fun"ef
- Х хthe ch of Scottish "loch", lighterha
- Ц цts as in "cats"ce
- Ч чch as in "church"če
- Ш шsh as in "ship"ša
What to know about this script
There are 30 letters for exactly 30 sounds. Vuk Karadžić built the alphabet on one rule — "write as you speak, read as it is written". No letter is silent, and a vowel sounds the same with or without stress.
Serbian uses both scripts, Cyrillic and Latin, and they convert into each other letter for letter. Three Cyrillic letters are written in Latin with two signs (lj, nj, dž), but they count — and alphabetize — as one letter.
Where this script came from and why it looks the way it does
Serbian is written in two alphabets at once, letter for letter: Београд (Beograd) and Beograd are the same word, and any text converts mechanically from one script to the other. Elsewhere in Europe only the neighbours on the same language base write in two scripts side by side: Montenegrins and Bosnians.
Ranko Bugarski, «Jezik i identitet», 2010
Test yourself
Five characters at random. No need to answer aloud — just pick; the answer appears at once.
- Which character reads as “a as in "father"”?
A pure open a, steady as in "father"; an unstressed a never fades to "uh"
- Which character reads as “g as in "go", always hard”?
An ordinary g as in "go", always hard — it never softens before e and i
- Which character reads as “e as in "bed"”?
Always e as in "bed"
- Which character reads as “ee as in "see"”?
A pure ee
- Which character reads as “l as in "lamp"”?
A plain l as in "lamp"
How to learn letters so they stay
You cannot learn a table by staring at it. What works: see a character, try to recall its sound, get it wrong, see the right answer — and come back to that character in a day, not in an hour.
- Recalling beats re-reading. Covering the translation and trying to remember it does more than reading it ten more times.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · 188 experiments, 272 comparisons. g = 0.61; against plain re-reading 0.51, against passive review 0.93.
- It is better to test yourself the next day than at the end of the same session. That is why a word comes back to you tomorrow.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · g = 0.82 when tested a day or two later, against 0.56 on the same day.
- Studying a little every day gets more into your head than spending the same total time in one sitting.checked many timesDonovan & Radosevich, 1999, Journal of Applied Psychology 84(5) · 63 studies compared, difference d = 0.46 — a sizeable figure for a learning effect.
That is why the alphabet in the app is learned a few characters at a time, not all at once: nobody holds 30 signs in one sitting.
Frequently asked
How many letters in the Serbian alphabet?
30 letters — Serbian Cyrillic: а (a), б, в, г, д, ђ, е, ж, з, и (i), ј, к, л, љ, м, н, њ, о (o), п, р, с (s), т, ћ, у (u), ф, х, ц, ч, џ, ш. The characters have capital and small forms.
Can I listen to how the Serbian letters sound?
Yes. 30 signs on this page have sound: click a character to hear it. The sound works on any phone, and nothing needs to be installed.
How long does it take to learn the Serbian alphabet?
A few characters a day — one to two weeks, if you come back to what you covered. The whole alphabet crammed in an evening is remembered for an evening: without reviews the next day and three days later, the characters are almost entirely gone.
Where to start: letters or words?
With the letters. A word in an unfamiliar script cannot be read at all, and a word card tells you no more than a picture.