The Serbian Cyrillic Alphabet | Serbian Grammar

The modern Serbian Cyrillic alphabet, српска ћирилица, has thirty letters. Each has a regular partner in the standard Serbian Latin alphabet, so a Serbian word can normally be converted between the scripts without changing its pronunciation or grammar. Learning Cyrillic is therefore not learning a second language; it is learning a second standard representation of the same language.

The main challenge for English speakers is visual interference. Some Cyrillic letters look familiar but have different values: В is /v/, Н is /n/, and Р is /r/. Learners who know Russian face a different trap: Serbian has its own inventory and does not use letters such as ы, э, ё, й, щ, or ъ. For how both scripts function across Serbian society, see the dual-alphabet overview.

All thirty letters in dictionary order

This is the Serbian Cyrillic dictionary order, called the азбука. The Latin column is an exact Serbian-script counterpart, not an English-style pronunciation guide.

Cyrillic	Latin	IPA	Approximate sound cue
А а	A a	/a/	a in father, but shorter and pure
Б б	B b	/b/	b in book
В в	V v	/v/	v in voice
Г г	G g	/ɡ/	hard g in go
Д д	D d	/d/	d in day
Ђ ђ	Đ đ	/dʑ/	soft voiced sound; no exact English equivalent
Е е	E e	/e/	a pure vowel near e in bed
Ж ж	Ž ž	/ʒ/	s in measure
З з	Z z	/z/	z in zoo
И и	I i	/i/	ee in see
Ј ј	J j	/j/	y in yes
К к	K k	/k/	k in skin
Л л	L l	/l/	l in leaf
Љ љ	Lj lj	/ʎ/	palatal “ly,” one consonant
М м	M m	/m/	m in more
Н н	N n	/n/	n in name
Њ њ	Nj nj	/ɲ/	similar to ny in canyon, one consonant
О о	O o	/o/	a pure o, without an English glide
П п	P p	/p/	p in spin
Р р	R r	/r/	tapped or trilled r
С с	S s	/s/	s in see
Т т	T t	/t/	t in stop
Ћ ћ	Ć ć	/tɕ/	soft, fronted ch; no exact English equivalent
У у	U u	/u/	oo in food
Ф ф	F f	/f/	f in fine
Х х	H h	/x/	like ch in Scottish loch
Ц ц	C c	/ts/	ts in cats
Ч ч	Č č	/tʃ/	ch in church
Џ џ	Dž dž	/dʒ/	j in jam
Ш ш	Š š	/ʃ/	sh in shoe

English cues are approximations, especially for ђ/đ, љ/lj, њ/nj, and ћ/ć. The important writing fact is exact: every row is one Serbian alphabetic letter. Latin lj, nj, and dž each use two visible characters but still count as single letters.

Ана живи у Београду, а ради у Новом Саду.

Ana lives in Belgrade and works in Novi Sad.

Ујутру пијем чај, а после ручка кафу.

In the morning I drink tea, and after lunch I have coffee.

These ordinary sentences show the phonemic principle in action: letters usually give you the sequence of consonants and vowels directly. Serbian spelling does not normally mark pitch accent or vowel length, so the alphabet is highly regular without encoding every feature of pronunciation.

The six correspondences learners must protect

Most script pairs are single characters in both scripts. Six need special attention because the Latin form is either a digraph or carries a diacritic:

Cyrillic	Latin	Example pair
Ђ ђ	Đ đ	Ђорђе — Đorđe
Љ љ	Lj lj	љубав — ljubav
Њ њ	Nj nj	њен — njen
Ћ ћ	Ć ć	кућа — kuća
Ч ч	Č č	човек — čovek
Џ џ	Dž dž	џеп — džep

Also preserve Ж/ž and Ш/š: железница/železnica, школа/škola. Latin dj is not a standard substitute for ђ/đ, and plain c cannot stand for both ч/č and ћ/ć.

Љиљана чека Ђорђа код железничке станице.

Ljiljana is waiting for Đorđe by the railway station.

Exact Latin: Ljiljana čeka Đorđa kod železničke stanice.

Њен џемпер је остао у кући.

Her sweater was left in the house.

Exact Latin: Njen džemper je ostao u kući.

💡

Convert by Serbian letters, not by visual resemblance. Љ becomes one Latin letter lj; Њ becomes nj; Џ becomes dž. Reversing the conversion restores the original single Cyrillic letters.

Dangerous visual lookalikes

Six uppercase Cyrillic letters are especially likely to trigger the wrong English value.

Cyrillic	Serbian value	Do not read it as	Word
В	v	English B	ВОДА = VODA, “water”
Н	n	English H	НОВИ = NOVI, “new”
Р	r	English P	РИБА = RIBA, “fish”
С	s	English C	СОК = SOK, “juice”
У	u	English Y	УЛАЗ = ULAZ, “entrance”
Х	h	English X	ХЛЕБ = HLEB, “bread”

На једним вратима пише „УЛАЗ“, а на другим „ИЗЛАЗ“.

One door says ‘ENTRANCE,’ and the other says ‘EXIT.’

Купи хлеб, воду и сок кад се будеш враћао.

Buy bread, water, and juice on your way back.

💡

When reading an all-capital sign, sound out the Serbian value before guessing the word. РЕСТОРАН is RESTORAN, not “PECTOPAH” with English letter values.

Serbian Cyrillic is not Russian Cyrillic

Knowing another Cyrillic alphabet helps with many shapes, but alphabets are language-specific. Contemporary standard Serbian does not use Russian ы, э, ё, й, щ, ъ, or ь. It also does not use я and ю. Serbian writes the /j/ sequence explicitly with ј where needed: мој (moj, “my”), Јана (Jana), југ (jug, “south”).

Serbian has dedicated letters ј, љ, њ, ћ, ђ, and џ. Do not replace them with Russian-looking combinations or with a soft sign. Russian names are normally adapted to Serbian orthography in Serbian running text (neutral/formal), but detailed name transcription belongs to its own topic.

Ово је мој млађи брат Јован.

This is my younger brother Jovan.

Следећег месеца путујемо на југ.

Next month we're travelling south.

The letter ј looks exactly like Latin j and has the same Serbian value /j/. It replaces neither Russian й mechanically nor an English j sound; it is an independent Serbian letter in its own right.

Two scripts, one standard language

Cyrillic is the constitutionally designated official script in Serbia and is prominent in government and many cultural contexts (formal/official). Latin is also a standardized Serbian script and is widespread in publishing, commerce, digital communication, and everyday public life (neutral/informal/formal depending on context). Actual distribution varies by institution, medium, region, and audience.

Full Serbian literacy includes reading both. The choice between Добро дошли and Dobro došli may convey context or design preference, but both encode the same standard phrase. A whole text normally keeps one script consistently unless a quotation, brand, international symbol, or teaching comparison motivates a switch.

На табли пише „Добро дошли“, а на летку „Dobro došli“.

The sign says ‘Welcome’ in Cyrillic, while the leaflet says it in Latin.

Можеш ли да ми пошаљеш адресу латиницом?

Can you send me the address in Latin script?

A conversion routine

Convert letter by letter while protecting the Serbian correspondences. For example:

Cyrillic source	Latin result
Чекамо Љиљану.	Čekamo Ljiljanu.
Ђорђе носи џемпер.	Đorđe nosi džemper.
Њена кућа је близу.	Njena kuća je blizu.
Живиш ли још у Нишу?	Živiš li još u Nišu?

Capitalization transfers by word, not by blindly uppercasing both characters of a Latin digraph. Љиљана becomes Ljiljana; only all-capital ЉИЉАНА becomes LJILJANA.

Common Mistakes

1. Reading Cyrillic lookalikes as English letters.

❌ Натпис „УЛАЗ“ читам као да У значи енглеско Y.

Incorrect — Serbian Cyrillic У corresponds to Latin U, not English Y.

✅ „УЛАЗ“ читам „ulaz“: то значи „entrance“.

I read УЛАЗ as ‘ulaz’: it means ‘entrance.’

2. Using Russian й instead of Serbian ј.

❌ То је мой телефон.

Incorrect — Serbian writes мој with ј, not Russian й.

✅ То је мој телефон.

That's my phone.

3. Splitting a dedicated Serbian Cyrillic letter.

❌ Лјубица живи у Нјегошевој улици.

Incorrect — Serbian uses the single letters љ and њ, not лј and нј in these words.

✅ Љубица живи у Његошевој улици.

Ljubica lives on Njegoš Street.

4. Losing distinctions in Latin conversion.

❌ Dorde ceka Ljiljanu kod kuce.

Incorrect — omitted diacritics erase đ, č, and ć.

✅ Đorđe čeka Ljiljanu kod kuće.

Đorđe is waiting for Ljiljana at home.

5. Treating Latin as an informal corruption of Cyrillic.

❌ Латиница није стандардно српско писмо.

Incorrect — Serbian Latin is also standardized, though the scripts have different social and official distributions.

✅ И ћирилица и латиница стандардна су писма српског језика.

Both Cyrillic and Latin are standard scripts of the Serbian language.

Key Takeaways

Serbian Cyrillic has thirty letters in the fixed order shown above.
Convert by sound-letter identity, never by Latin-looking shapes.
Preserve ј/j, љ/lj, њ/nj, ћ/ć, ђ/đ, џ/dž, ч/č, ж/ž, and ш/š exactly.
Russian letters such as ы, э, ё, й, щ, ъ, and ь are not part of the Serbian alphabet.
Cyrillic and Latin are structurally equivalent standard scripts, although institutions, media, and audiences distribute them differently.

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