Serbian language

Serbian (in its own language: српски језик, srpski jezik) is a Slavic language belonging to the Serbo-Croatian diasystem, spoken by Serbian people and Montenegrin people. It is the state language in Serbia and Montenegro and one of the state languages in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo.

Writing system

Serbian may be written with the Cyrillic alphabet (ћирилица, ćirilica) or with the Latin alphabet (latinica). In Serbia, only the Cyrillic script is official but the Latin script is also widely used. It is very easy to switch from one to another writing system thanks to a simple system of correspondence. This coexistence of two alphabets resembles the situation of Belarussian.

The alphabetic order is different between the two systems.

• Cyrillic order (called азбука, azbuka): А Б В Г Д Ђ Е Ж З И Ј К Л Љ М Н Њ О П Р С Т Ћ У Ф Х Ц Ч Џ Ш
• Latin order (called abeceda): A B C Č Ć D Dž Đ E F G H I J K L Lj M N Nj O P R S Š T U V Z Ž

Cyrillic letter	Letter name (Cyrillic)	Latin letter	Letter name (Latin)	Pronunciation (IPA)	Pronunciation (English approximate equivalent)
A, a	a	A, a	a	[a]	a in "father", u in "cut"
Б, б	бе	B, b	be	[b]	b
В, в	ве	V, v	ve	[ʋ]	Resembles v.
Г, г	ге	G, g	ge	[g]	g in "give"
Д, д	де	D, d	de	[d]	d
Ђ, ђ	ђе	Đ, đ (Dj, dj is an unofficial, foreign transcripcion)	đe	[dʑ]	dy in "good year"
E, e	e	E, e	e	[e]	e in "let"
Ж, ж	же	Ž, ž	že	[ʒ]	s in "pleasure"
З, з	зе	Z, z	ze	[z]	z
И, и	и	I, i	i	[i]	i in "link"
J, j	је	J, j	je	[j]	y in "yet"
К, к	ка	K, k	ka	[k]	k
Л, л	ле	L, l	le	[l]	l
Љ, љ	ље	Lj, lj	lje	[ʎ]	li in "million"
М, м	ме	M, m	me	[m]	m
Н, н	не	N, n	ne	[n]	n
Њ, њ	ње	Nj, nj	nje	[ɲ]	ni in "onion"
O, o	o	O, o	o	[o]	aw in "saw", o in "song"
П, п	пе	P, p	pe	[p]	p
Р, p	ре	R, r	re	[r]	rolled r
C, c	се	S, s	se	[s]	s
T, т	те	T, t	te	[t]	t
Ћ, ћ	ће	Ć, ć	će	[tɕ]	ty in "let you"
У, y	у	U, u	u	[u]	oo in "look" or "soon"
Ф, ф	фе	F, f	fe	[f]	f
X, x	ха	H, h	ha	[x]	ch in "loch"
Ц, ц	це	C, c	ce	[ts]	ts
Ч, ч	че	Č, č	če	[tʃ]	ch in "such"
Џ, џ	џе	DŽ, dž	dže	[dʒ]	j
Ш, ш	ша	Š, š	ša	[ʃ]	sh