STUDY GUIDE

Learn Serbian. Have fun.

LESSON 01

GRAMMAR
VOCABULARY
PRACTICE
ANSWER KEY

www.serbianlanguagepodcast.com
GRAMMAR
SERBIAN ALPHABET

Today we are going to learn the Serbian Alphabet. Serbian language has two
alphabets, one is called Latin Alphabet (or Latinica in Serbian) and the other is the
Cyrillic Alphabet (or Ćirilica in Serbian). Both alphabets are being used in Serbia, in
its’ cursive and print form. We can say that most people in Serbia prefer to use
the Latin Alphabet for everyday purposes and that the official documents in the
country are being printed in Cyrillic. In most cities in Serbia you will find the
names of the streets and road signs both in Latin and Cyrillic.
Today we are going to focus on the Latin alphabet in the print form and in a future
series we will teach you Cyrillic.
The Serbian alphabet has a total of 30 letters, consisting of 25 consonants and 5
vowels. The 5 vowels in Serbian are as follows: A, E, I, O, U.
Most Serbian vowels and consonants will seem very familiar to most English
speakers, but there will be a few very special characters that are unique to the
Serbian language. In this lesson we will focus on the first 15 letters.

The first letter of the alphabet is a. A as in abeceda (which means alphabet) or

Ana (a female name). The pronunciation of the Serbian a corresponds to the
English a in the word about or addition, not like the a in the words April or Amy.
Serbian is a phonetic language, meaning that all Serbian letters have only one
sound and one pronunciation. For every letter in the alphabet in this lesson we
will mention the proper way how to pronounce it and what you should be
avoiding.

The next letter is the letter B. B as in Beograd (which means Belgrade) or brat
(which means brother). The Serbian b sounds the same as the English b in the
words book or brother.

Study Guide 2
www.serbianlanguagepodcast.com © Serbian Language Podcast
The letter C. C as in cipela (which means shoe) or cimet (which means cinnamon).
In English we hear the sound c in the words like pizza or blitz. We see that the
Serbian c is a combination of 2 sounds: the sound t and s, pronounced together
(ts). Note that the Serbian C is not pronounced like the English c in the words
center or cinnamon, which resembles more of an English s sound.

Next, we have the letter Č. Č as in čaj (which means tea) or čokolada (chocolate).
The letter č is the combination of the letter c and the check sign above it. It is one
of the special characters native to Serbian and some other Slavic languages. The
English language doesn’t have the letter č, but in the words chalk or chamber the
sound ch is somewhere close to the Serbian sound č. Note that every word in
English spelled with ch does not sound like the Serbian č– for example words like
champaign and chaos are not similar to the Serbian č sound.

Next up, the letter Ć. Ć as in ćutati (which means to keep silent) or as in ćup
(which means jar). The letter ć is the combination of the letter c and a simple
stroke line above it. Ć is another special letter native to Serbian and some other
Slavic languages. Again, the English language doesn’t have the letter ć, but the
sound ch in the words choose or cheese sounds very close to the Serbian ć. Most
English native speakers experience difficulty distinguishing between the
pronunciation of the Serbian letter ć (as in ćutati) and the previous letter č (in
čokolada). It’s all about the tongue position in your mouth. Serbian native
speakers pronounce the sound ć (in ćutati) with the tip of the tongue touching the
upper front teeth (ćutati) resulting in a softer sound (ć - ću-ta-ti) and the sound č
(in čokolada) with the tip of the tongue touching the middle part of your upper
pallet (čo-ko-la-da) resulting in a harder sound (č - čo-ko-la-da). With practice, this
will become more familiar to.

Study Guide 3
www.serbianlanguagepodcast.com © Serbian Language Podcast
The next letter is D. D as in danas (which means today) or decembar (December).
There is not much difference between the Serbian and English pronunciation of d.
The Serbian d sounds the same as the English D in the words day and December.

Next, we have the letter Dž. Dž as in džem (which means jam) or džentlmen
(meaning gentleman). As we can see, the letter dž is the combination of the letter
d and letter ž. The letter ž has a check sign above it. These two letters (d and ž)
written together are pronounced as dž. In English we hear the sound dž in the
words like fridge or knowledge.

Next is the letter Đ. Đ as in đus (which is orange juice) or as in đak (which means
student/pupil). The letter đ is the letter d with a line that goes across the top of
letter. Đ is another special letter native to Serbian language. We can hear the
sound đ in the English words like joy or juice.

The next letter E. E as in energija (which is energy) or ekologija (which means

ecology). The letter e in Serbian is always pronounced e as in elevator in English or
education. In English, words like ear or early have a very different pronunciation
from the Serbian e.

The next letter is F. F as in firma (which means firm) or focus (focus). There is not
much difference between the Serbian and English pronunciation of f. The Serbian
f sounds the same as the English f in the words firm and focus.

Next is the letter G. G as in godina (which means year) or glava (which means
head). We can hear the Serbian sound g in the English words like garden or good,
but not in the words like generous or giant.

Study Guide 4
www.serbianlanguagepodcast.com © Serbian Language Podcast
The next letter is H. H as in hleb (which means bread) or hotel (which means
hotel). The Serbian his being pronounced as h in happy or hug. There is not much
difference between the Serbian and English pronunciation of the letter h.

Next is the letter I. I as in ideja (which means idea) or Italija (Italy). We can hear
the Serbian sound I in the word English or ink, but not in the words ice or item.

The next letter is J. J as in jaje (which means an egg) or jesti (which means to eat).
We can hear the Serbian sound j in the English words like yellow or year, but not
in the words jump or job.

And the last letter in this lesson is the letter K. K as in kiša (which means rain) or
kilometer (which means kilometer). We can hear the Serbian sound k in the
English words like cut or koala, but not in the words knife or knock.

This concludes the first lesson of the Serbian Latin Alphabet. In the next lesson
we will study the remaining 15 letters.

Study Guide 5
www.serbianlanguagepodcast.com © Serbian Language Podcast
The first 15 letters of the Serbian Latin Alphabet

Serbian Latin Alphabet (A – K)

# Serbian Serbian English Similar sound in

letter English
1. A, a abeceda alphabet about
2. B, b Beograd Belgrade brother
3. C, c cipela shoe pizza
4. Č, č čaj tea chalk
5. Ć, ć ćutati to keep silent choose
6. D, d danas today day
7. Dž, dž džem jam fridge
8. Đ, đ đak pupil joy
9. E, e energija energy elevator
10. F, f firma firm firm
11. G, g godina year garden
12. H, h hleb bread happy
13. I, i ideja idea English
14. J, j jaje egg yellow
15. K, k kiša rain cut

VOCABULARY

Serbian English
abeceda alphabet

Study Guide 6
www.serbianlanguagepodcast.com © Serbian Language Podcast
 ćirilica Cyrillic
latinica Latin
slovo letter, font
Beograd Belgrade
brat brother
cipela shoe
cimet cinnamon
čaj tea
čokolada chocolate
ćutati to keep silent
ćup jar
danas today
decembar December
džem jam
džentlmen gentleman
đus orange juice
đak pupil
energija energy
ekologija ecology
firma firm
fokus focus
godina year
glava head
hleb bread
hotel hotel
ideja idea
Italija Italy
jaje egg
jesti to eat
kiša rain
kilometar kilometer

Study Guide 7
www.serbianlanguagepodcast.com © Serbian Language Podcast
PRACTICE
EXCERCISE #1
Write the first 15 letters of the Serbian Latin Alphabet in the appropriate order:

# Serbian

1. A, a (example)
2.
3.

4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.

EXERCISE #2
Fill in the blanks with a missing letter:

# Serbian English
1. džem (example) jam

2. __ipela shoe
3. __anas today

Study Guide 8
www.serbianlanguagepodcast.com © Serbian Language Podcast
 # Serbian English
4. ja__e egg
5. __rat brother
6. ki__a rain
7. __irilica Cyrillic
8. __entlmen gentleman
9. __ak pupil
10. __leb bread

EXCERCISE #3
Match the Serbian letter with its sound in English word:

# Serbian letter # Sound in English word match

1. d a) gentleman 1d) (example)

2. dž b) choose
3. g c) joy
4. đ d) day

5. ć e) garden

ANSWER KEY
EXCERCISE #1

(The answer is underlined and in bold)

Write the first 15 letters of the Serbian Latin Alphabet in the appropriate order:

# Serbian

Study Guide 9
www.serbianlanguagepodcast.com © Serbian Language Podcast
 # Serbian

1. A, a (example)
2. B, b
3. C, c
4. Č, č
5. Ć, ć
6. D, d
7. Dž, dž
8. Đ, đ
9. E, e
10. F, f
11. G, g
12. H, h
13. I, i
14. J, j
15. K, k

EXCERCISE #2

(The answer is underlined and in bold)

Fill in the blanks with a missing letter:

# Serbian English
1. džem (example) jam
2. _Cipela shoe

3. _Danas today
4. jaJe egg
5. Brat brother
6. kiŠa rain
7. Ćirilica Cyrillic

Study Guide 10
www.serbianlanguagepodcast.com © Serbian Language Podcast
 # Serbian English
8. Džentlmen gentleman
9. Đak pupil
10. Hleb bread

EXCERCISE #3

(The answer is underlined and in bold)

Match the Serbian letter with its sound in English word:

# Serbian letter # Sound in English word match

1. d a) gentleman 1d) (example)

2. dž b) choose 2a)
3. g c) joy 3e)
4. đ d) day 4c)

5. ć e) garden 5b)

Ćao, drugari! Vidimo se!

Study Guide 11
www.serbianlanguagepodcast.com © Serbian Language Podcast