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Croatian is written with the Latin alphabet of Ljudevit Gaj, with five letters carrying a mark (č, ć, đ, š, ž) and three letters written with two signs (dž, lj, nj). Its spelling is one of the most regular in Europe: each letter stands for one sound, every letter is said, and a word is read exactly as it is written. The difficulties for an English speaker are few: several letters have another sound than in English (c is said “ts”, j “y”, h like the “ch” of Scottish “loch”); r is rolled and can be the vowel of a syllable (prst, Krk); and two “ch” sounds (č and ć) and two “j” sounds (dž and đ) are told apart.
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The Croatian alphabet
The Croatian alphabet has thirty letters. The letters with a mark are letters of their own, each placed right after its plain letter: č and ć after c, đ after dž, š after s, ž after z. The groups dž, lj and nj count as one letter each and are sorted after d, l and n: in a dictionary, ljeto comes after every word in l, and njihov after every word in n. The letters q, w, x and y are not part of the alphabet; they are found only in foreign names and words (New York, show). The vowels are named after their sound, most consonants with an e as in “bed” after them (be, ce, de), a few with the e before them (ef, el, em). The names that catch out an English speaker are those of c (tseh), h (hah), j (yeh), r (er) and v (veh).
A letter’s name is what you say when you spell a word aloud, for example your name or address on the phone.
| Letter | Name | Sounds | Examples | Tip |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A a | a /a/ | /a/ | mama | like “a” in “father”, but short (mama); never “ay” as in “name” said ah; never “ay” |
| B b | be /be/ | /b/ | brat | as in English said beh, the “e” as in “bed” |
| C c | ce /tse/ | /ts/ | ulica crn | “ts” as in “cats”, at the start of a word too (crn); never “k” or “s” said tseh; never “see” |
| Č č | če /tʃe/ | said cheh, with the “ch” of “church” | ||
| Ć ć | će /tɕe/ | said chyeh, with the softer “ch” | ||
| D d | de /de/ | /d/ | dan | as in English, the tongue against the upper teeth said deh, the “e” as in “bed” |
| DŽ dž | dže /dʒe/ | said jeh, with the “j” of “jam” | ||
| Đ đ | đe /dʑe/ | said jyeh, with the softer “j” | ||
| E e | e /e/ | /e/ | sedam more | like “e” in “bed”, pure and held steady (sedam); never “ee”, and never silent at the end of a word (more) said eh; never “ee” |
| F f | ef /ef/ | /f/ | film | as in English said ef, as in English |
| G g | ge /ɡe/ | /ɡ/ | grad | hard, as in “go”, before e and i too; never the “j” of “jet” said geh, with the hard g of “go”; never “jee” |
| H h | ha /xa/ | /x/ | hvala kruh | like “ch” in Scottish “loch” (hvala), at the end of a word too (kruh) said hah, with the “ch” of “loch”; never “aitch” |
| I i | i /i/ | /i/ | riba | like “ee” in “see”, but short (riba); never “eye” said ee; never “eye” |
| J j | je /je/ | /j/ | ja | like “y” in “yes” (ja); never the “j” of “jet” said yeh; never “jay” |
| K k | ka /ka/ | /k/ | kuća | as in English, without the puff of air of “cat” said kah; never “kay” |
| L l | el /el/ | /l/ | škola | a clear “l”, as in “look”, at the end of a syllable too said el, as in English |
| LJ lj | elj /eʎ/ | said ely, ending with the “lli” of “million” | ||
| M m | em /em/ | /m/ | mama | as in English said em, as in English |
| N n | en /en/ | /n/ | ne | as in English said en, as in English |
| NJ nj | enj /eɲ/ | said eny, ending with the “ny” of “canyon” | ||
| O o | o /o/ | /o/ | voda | a pure “o”, between British “hot” and “law” (voda); never “oh” gliding into “oo” as in “go” said o, short and pure; never “oh” |
| P p | pe /pe/ | /p/ | prst | as in English, without the puff of air of “pen” said peh, the “e” as in “bed” |
| R r | er /er/ | /r/ · /r̩/ | riba trg | a rolled r, the tip of the tongue tapping behind the upper teeth (riba); between two consonants, the vowel of its syllable (trg) said er, with a rolled r; never “ar” |
| S s | es /es/ | /s/ | sunce | “s” as in “sun”, between two vowels too said es, as in English |
| Š š | eš /eʃ/ | said esh, with the “sh” of “shop” | ||
| T t | te /te/ | /t/ | otac | as in English, the tongue against the upper teeth and without the puff of air of “top” said teh, the “e” as in “bed” |
| U u | u /u/ | /u/ | ulica | like “oo” in “food”, but short (ulica); never “you” and never the “u” of “bus” said oo; never “you” |
| V v | ve /ʋe/ | /ʋ/ | voda | a light “v”, the lower lip only touching the upper teeth (voda); never the English “w” said veh; never “vee” |
| Z z | ze /ze/ | /z/ | zima | “z” as in “zoo” (zima) said zeh; never “zed” or “zee” |
| Ž ž | že /ʒe/ | said zheh, with the “s” of “pleasure” |
Spelling aloud. A word is spelt aloud with the name of each letter: to the question Kako se piše? (“How is it written?”), the answer for Ana is a – en – a. The letters dž, lj and nj are named as one letter: ljeto is spelt elj – e – te – o, never el – je.
- Kako se piše?How is it written?
- crnblack
- hvalathank you
- jaI
- ribafish
- trgsquare
Remember
In Croatian, c is called tseh, h hah, j yeh and v veh. The letters with a mark and the groups dž, lj, nj are separate letters, both in the alphabet and in a dictionary.
Many consonants are said much as in English: b, d, f, g (always hard, as in “go”), k, l, m, n, p, s, t and z, although p, t and k are said without the puff of air heard in English “pen”, “top” or “cat”. Said differently are c, h, j, r, v and the vowels. Croatian has five vowels, a, e, i, o, u; each has one clear sound, stressed or not, and is never reduced to the “a” of “about”.
Difference from English
English vowels glide: “no” ends in “oo”, “day” in “ee”. Croatian vowels are pure and held steady: voda has a clean “o”, sedam a clean “e”. A final e is always said: more (“sea”) has two syllables, mo-re. Three letters have the sound of another English letter or group: c is said “ts”, j “y”, and h like the “ch” of Scottish “loch”.
Common mistakes
[krn]→ [tsrn]In crn, c is said “ts”, at the start of a word too.[dʒa]→ [ja]In ja, j is said like “y” in “yes”.[mor]→ [ˈmore]In more, the final e is said.
Practise
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Letter combinations
Three Croatian letters are written with two signs: dž, lj and nj. Each stands for one sound and counts as one letter. Where a d and a ž only meet across the parts of a word, they are two letters said one after the other: nadživjeti (“to outlive”) is nad followed by živjeti. At the start of a name or a sentence, only the first sign of the group takes a capital (Ljubljana, Njemačka); in a word written all in capitals, both do (LJETO).
| Spelling | Sounds | Examples | Tip |
|---|---|---|---|
| dž | /dʒ/ | džep | like “j” in “jam”, with the tongue curled a little back (džep); one sound, never d followed by ž |
| lj | /ʎ/ | ljeto | one sound, close to the “lli” of “million” (ljeto); never an l and a j said apart |
| nj | /ɲ/ | knjiga | one sound, like the “ny” of “canyon” (knjiga); never an n and a j said apart |
Difference from English
English writes several sounds with two letters (“sh”, “ch”, “th”); Croatian has only these three groups, and each is a letter of the alphabet. Lj and nj are the soft “l” and “n” heard in English “million” and “canyon”, said as one short sound: ljeto has two syllables, lje-to, never three.
- džeppocket
- ljetosummer
- knjigabook
Practise
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Written marks
Croatian uses two marks, each part of the letter: the wedge (kvačica) over č, š and ž, and the stroke over ć. The bar across đ is part of that letter. A mark never shows the stress; it shows another sound, and a word written without its mark is spelt wrong, or becomes another word. Č and ć are two different letters, and so are dž and đ: č and dž are the harder sounds, said with the tongue curled a little back; ć and đ the softer ones, said with the middle of the tongue raised towards the palate.
| Spelling | Sounds | Examples | Tip |
|---|---|---|---|
| č | /tʃ/ | čaj | like “ch” in “church”, with the tongue curled a little back (čaj) |
| ć | /tɕ/ | kuća | a softer “ch”, as in “cheese” said with the tongue further forward and its middle raised (kuća) |
| đ | /dʑ/ | rođendan | a softer “j”, close to the “j” of “jewel”, with the middle of the tongue raised (rođendan) |
| š | /ʃ/ | škola | like “sh” in “shop” (škola) |
| ž | /ʒ/ | žena | like the “s” of “pleasure” (žena) |
Difference from English
English has one “ch” and one “j” sound; Croatian has two letters for each: č / ć and dž / đ. Many speakers say them almost alike, but they are always kept apart in spelling, and which letter a word takes is learnt with the word: čaj (“tea”) but kuća (“house”), džep (“pocket”) but rođendan (“birthday”).
- čajtea
- kućahouse
- rođendanbirthday
- školaschool
- ženawoman, wife
Capital letters. As in English, a capital is used at the start of a sentence and for proper names, including the names of countries and towns (Hrvatska, Zagreb). Days, months, languages and adjectives of nationality are written with a small letter, unlike in English: ponedjeljak (“Monday”), siječanj (“January”), hrvatski (“Croatian”). In a letter or a message, the polite pronoun is written with a capital as a sign of respect: Vi, Vas. A capital letter is written with its mark: Čakovec, Šibenik, Đakovo.
Stress and length. Croatian words have a stress, long and short vowels and a rising or falling pitch, but none of them is written in ordinary texts; accent marks are found only in dictionaries and grammars. The stress of a word is learnt by ear, with the word.
Reading Croatian
Each letter stands for one sound, and every letter is said: there is no silent letter, and a final e is heard (more). The letter r between two consonants, or at the start of a word before a consonant, is the vowel of its syllable: prst (“finger”) is one syllable, trg (“square”) too, and the island of Krk is said with a rolled r in place of a vowel. In standard Croatian, the old vowel jat is written ije where it was long and je where it was short: mlijeko (“milk”), mjesto (“place”). In everyday speech, ije is said as a “ye” with a long e (mlijeko sounds like “MLYEH-ko”), je as a short “ye” (mjesto, “MYES-to”).
- prstfinger
- trgsquare
- mlijekomilk
- mjestoplace
Remember
One letter, one sound: c is “ts”, j is “y”, h is the “ch” of “loch”, and every e is said. Dž, lj and nj are single letters; č and ć, dž and đ are kept apart in writing.
Practise
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In short
| Written | Said | Example |
|---|---|---|
| c | “ts” | crn |
| j | “y” of “yes” | ja |
| h | “ch” of “loch” | hvala |
| r | rolled; a vowel between consonants | riba, trg |
| č / ć | “ch”, harder / softer | čaj, kuća |
| dž / đ | “j”, harder / softer | džep, rođendan |
| š, ž | “sh”, “s” of “pleasure” | škola, žena |
| lj, nj | “lli” of “million”, “ny” of “canyon” | ljeto, knjiga |
| ije, je | long “ye”, short “ye” | mlijeko, mjesto |
| final e | always said | more |
| stress | never written |