Capitalization in Serbian | Serbian Grammar

Serbian capitalization is lighter than English capitalization. Sentences and proper names begin with capitals, but languages, nationality adjectives, days, months, and most words inside a multiword institutional name remain lowercase. Copying English title case into Serbian therefore makes otherwise correct prose look unidiomatic.

The rules apply equally to Cyrillic and Latin. The only extra visual issue in Latin is that dž, lj, and nj are single alphabetic letters written with two characters, so they have special title-case forms: Dž, Lj, and Nj. The broader Serbian spelling guide to capitalization covers additional advanced name types.

Sentences and ordinary proper names

Capitalize the first word of a sentence and the names of people, countries, cities, streets, and other unique entities. (neutral) This is the ordinary rule in every register.

Милица живи у Новом Саду, али ради у Београду.

Milica lives in Novi Sad but works in Belgrade.

Следећег лета путујемо у Црну Гору.

Next summer we're travelling to Montenegro.

Inflection does not remove a proper name's capital: nominative Београд becomes locative Београду, and Нови Сад becomes Новом Саду. The ending changes because Serbian marks case; the referent remains a proper name.

Personal names capitalize their name components: Иво Андрић / Ivo Andrić, Јован Јовановић Змај / Jovan Jovanović Zmaj. A title before a name is normally lowercase: професор Петровић (“Professor Petrović”), докторка Илић (“Dr Ilić”). At the beginning of a sentence, it is capitalized only because it begins the sentence.

Професор Петровић данас не држи предавање.

Professor Petrović isn't giving a lecture today.

Разговарао сам са професором Петровићем после часа.

I spoke with Professor Petrović after class.

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Capitalization and case do different jobs. The capital identifies a name; the ending identifies the name's grammatical role. Serbian normally keeps both.

Peoples are capitalized; languages and adjectives are not

Names for members of peoples and inhabitants are nouns and take capitals: Србин / Srbin, Српкиња / Srpkinja, Енглез / Englez, Београђанин / Beograđanin. Names of languages and nationality or place adjectives are lowercase: српски / srpski, енглески / engleski, београдски / beogradski.

This differs sharply from English, which writes Serbian, English, and Belgrade-based with capitals. In Serbian, the adjective describes a relation or quality; it is not itself treated as the proper name.

Она је Српкиња, али на послу углавном говори енглески.

She is Serbian, but at work she mostly speaks English.

Купио сам српско-енглески речник у београдској књижари.

I bought a Serbian–English dictionary in a Belgrade bookshop.

Наш нови колега је Нишлија и одлично познаје нишку кухињу.

Our new colleague is from Niš and knows Niš cuisine extremely well.

There is one related contrast worth learning early. Possessive adjectives formed directly from personal names with -ов/-ев/-ин retain a capital: Марков / Markov (“Marko's”), Јеленин / Jelenin (“Jelena's”), Његошев / Njegošev (“Njegoš's”). Relational adjectives in -ски/-шки/-чки are lowercase: српски, нишки, београдски.

Марков телефон је остао у Јелениној торби.

Marko's phone was left in Jelena's bag.

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Ask whether the word names a person or people (Србин) or merely describes a relation (српски). The noun is capitalized; the adjective is usually lowercase.

Days, months, seasons, and school subjects

Serbian writes days, months, seasons, and school subjects lowercase unless they begin a sentence or form part of a proper name. This is another common English-transfer point.

Category	Standard Serbian	English contrast
day	понедељак / ponedeljak	Monday
month	октобар / oktobar	October
season	пролеће / proleće	spring
language/subject	српски / srpski, математика / matematika	Serbian, Mathematics

Испит из српског је у понедељак, 12. октобра.

The Serbian exam is on Monday, October 12.

Multiword institutions and organizations

In the full official name of an institution, organization, company, or public body, capitalize the first word. Later words are lowercase unless they are independently proper names. (formal/administrative) This is particularly visible in letterheads, forms, news, and official correspondence.

Cyrillic	Exact Latin	Why
Народна скупштина	Narodna skupština	Only the first word begins the institutional name.
Министарство просвете	Ministarstvo prosvete	The field просвета is a common noun.
Универзитет у Београду	Univerzitet u Beogradu	Београд remains a proper name inside the institution name.
Народна библиотека Србије	Narodna biblioteka Srbije	Србија remains a proper name.
Српска академија наука и уметности	Srpska akademija nauka i umetnosti	Only the opening word is capitalized.

English speakers often capitalize every major word, but Народна Библиотека Србије is not standard Serbian capitalization. Acronyms are a separate convention: the last institution above is САНУ / SANU.

Конкурс је објавило Министарство просвете.

The Ministry of Education published the call for applications.

Рукопис се чува у Народној библиотеци Србије.

The manuscript is kept at the National Library of Serbia.

When an expression is descriptive rather than the official name, it remains lowercase: министарство је објавило (“the ministry announced”), универзитет организује (“the university is organizing”). Context and official-name status matter; capitals are not a substitute for emphasis.

Titles of works and headings

Serbian normally uses sentence-style capitalization in titles: capitalize the first word and any proper names, not every content word. This is standard in publishing (formal/literary/academic) and in ordinary headings.

За сутра читамо роман „На Дрини ћуприја“.

For tomorrow we're reading the novel ‘The Bridge on the Drina.’

Наслов мејла је „План састанка за следећу недељу“.

The email subject line is ‘Meeting plan for next week.’

In the first title, На is capitalized because it opens the title, and Дрини because Дрина is a river name. The common noun ћуприја stays lowercase.

Capitalizing the Latin digraphs

Latin dž, lj, and nj are single letters. When only the initial letter of a word is capitalized, use Dž, Lj, and Nj. When an entire word is in capitals, use DŽ, LJ, and NJ.

Cyrillic	Latin title case	Latin all capitals
Џем / ЏЕМ	Džem	DŽEM
Љиљана / ЉИЉАНА	Ljiljana	LJILJANA
Његош / ЊЕГОШ	Njegoš	NJEGOŠ

На вратима пише „Љиљана Марковић“, односно „Ljiljana Marković“.

The door says ‘Ljiljana Marković,’ in Cyrillic and Latin respectively.

На плакату великим словима пише „ЏЕЗ ВЕЧЕ“ — „DŽEZ VEČE“.

The poster says ‘JAZZ NIGHT’ in capital letters—in Cyrillic and Latin.

Writing LJiljana or NJegoš mixes all-capital and title-case conventions inside one letter. Conversely, LjILJANA is not the all-capital equivalent of ЉИЉАНА. This is not false splitting: both visible characters change case together only when the entire letter sequence is set in capitals.

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At the start of an ordinary proper name, write Lj, Nj, or Dž. On an all-capital sign, write LJ, NJ, or DŽ. In both settings each digraph remains one alphabetic letter.

Polite pronouns in correspondence

In direct correspondence to one person, Ви, Ваш, Вас, Вама may be capitalized to mark respect (formal). Lowercase forms are standard for addressing several people and are also widespread in less formal communication. The capital does not change pronunciation or grammar.

Поштована госпођо Јовановић, шаљем Вам тражене документе.

Dear Ms Jovanović, I am sending you the requested documents.

Do not scatter respectful capitals through every noun and title. The convention targets the second-person pronoun and corresponding possessive forms in a direct formal address.

Common Mistakes

1. Capitalizing language names like English.

❌ Учим Српски и Енглески.

Incorrect — language names are lowercase in Serbian.

✅ Учим српски и енглески.

I'm learning Serbian and English.

2. Lowercasing a name for a member of a people.

❌ Ана је српкиња из Крагујевца.

Incorrect — the noun naming a member of a people begins with a capital.

✅ Ана је Српкиња из Крагујевца.

Ana is a Serbian woman from Kragujevac.

3. Applying English title case to an institution.

❌ Студирам на Универзитету У Београду.

Incorrect — the preposition is lowercase; only the first word and the proper name Beograd take capitals.

✅ Студирам на Универзитету у Београду.

I study at the University of Belgrade.

4. Mishandling a capitalized Latin digraph.

❌ LJiljana živi u NJegoševoj ulici.

Incorrect — ordinary title case is Lj and Nj, not the all-capital forms LJ and NJ.

✅ Ljiljana živi u Njegoševoj ulici.

Ljiljana lives on Njegoš Street.

5. Dropping diacritics when capitalizing.

❌ DJORDJE CITA VESTI.

Incorrect — capitals do not remove Serbian diacritics or turn đ into dj.

✅ ĐORĐE ČITA VESTI.

Đorđe is reading the news.

Key Takeaways

Capitalize sentences and proper names, but not language names, nationality adjectives, days, months, or seasons.
Names for people and inhabitants are capitalized: Србин; corresponding adjectives are lowercase: српски.
Multiword institutions normally capitalize the first word plus any embedded proper names.
Serbian titles use sentence-style capitalization, not English title case.
Latin digraphs use Dž/Lj/Nj in title case and DŽ/LJ/NJ in all capitals.

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