Lesson 4. Special letters: đ, dž, lj, nj, j
In the last lesson we had č, ć, š, ž. Today — five more special letters. Three of them are made of two Latin letters, but they stand for one sound. In Cyrillic, each one has its own single letter.
| Latin | Cyrillic | Sound | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| đ | ђ | мягкое дж (≈ «дь») | đak — pupil |
| dž | џ | твёрдое дж | džem — jam |
| lj | љ | мягкое л (ль) | ljubav — love |
| nj | њ | мягкое н (нь) | konj — horse |
| j | ј | й | jabuka — apple |
Two different “j” sounds: đ and dž
Just like with “ch”, Serbian has two “j” sounds: a soft one and a hard one.
đ — soft “j”
The letter đ (Cyrillic ђ) is a soft, quiet “j”. English doesn’t really have this sound. Try saying “dy” with a light buzz — that’s close.
dž — hard “j”
dž (Cyrillic џ) is a hard “j”, like in the English words “jam” or “jazz”. It is written with two Latin letters, but it is one sound.
lj and nj — soft “l” and “n”
These combinations are also made of two Latin letters, but they stand for one soft sound.
lj= softl, like the “lli” in the English word “million”.nj= softn, like the “ny” in “canyon”.
j — this is “y”
The letter j is read like the English “y” in “yes”. In Serbian Cyrillic it has its own letter — ј (it looks just like the Latin one).
Exercises
Exercise 1
Read aloud: đak, džem, ljubav, konj, jabuka.
Show answer
“dyak” (soft), “jem” (hard), “lyoo-bav”, “kon’” (soft n), “ya-boo-ka”.
Exercise 2
How many sounds are in the Serbian word džem? And how many letters in Latin?
Show answer
Three sounds: “j-e-m”. Four letters in Latin: d, ž, e, m. But dž is one letter of the alphabet — it is just written with two symbols.
Exercise 3
Write in Cyrillic: đak, džem, ljubav, njegov, ja.
Show answer
ђак, џем, љубав, његов, ја.
Exercise 4
The English word “you” starts with a “y” sound plus “oo”. How would Serbians write the sound “yu” with two Latin letters?
Show answer
ju (in Cyrillic јy — with two letters). Serbian has no separate letter for “yu” — it is written as j + u.
Exercise 5
Read: moja kuća. What does it mean?
Show answer
“mo-ya koo-cha” — “my house” (in Serbian, “house” is feminine, so we use “moja”).
Lesson vocabulary
- đak (ђак)
- — pupil
- džem (џем)
- — jam
- ljubav (љубав)
- — love
- konj (коњ)
- — horse
- njegov (његов)
- — his
- jabuka (јабука)
- — apple
- ja (ја)
- — I
- moj (мој)
- — my