Lesson 5. Serbian Cyrillic: what matches Russian
We already know the Serbian Latin alphabet well. Now comes the second alphabet, Cyrillic. And here’s the great news: most of it is already familiar to you.
24 letters — just like in Russian
These Serbian Cyrillic letters look and sound exactly like the Russian ones:
| Letter | Sound | Example |
|---|---|---|
| а | a | мама — mom |
| б | b | брат — brother |
| в | v | вода — water |
| г | g | град — city |
| д | d | дом — house |
| е | e | море — sea |
| ж | zh | жена — woman |
| з | z | зима — winter |
| и | i | риба — fish |
| к | k | кућа — house |
| л | l | лав — lion |
| м | m | мама — mom |
| н | n | нога — leg |
| о | o | око — eye |
| п | p | пас — dog |
| р | r | рука — hand |
| с | s | сестра — sister |
| т | t | тата — dad |
| у | u | ухо — ear |
| ф | f | фото — photo |
| х | h | хлеб — bread |
| ц | ts | цена — price |
| ч | ch | чај — tea |
| ш | sh | школа — school |
That’s 24 letters. They behave exactly like in Russian.
Which Russian letters are missing in Serbian
The Serbian alphabet does not have these letters:
ё, й, щ, ъ, ы, ь, э, ю, я
That’s nine Russian letters that Serbs don’t have. So what do they use instead?
- Instead of й — the letter ј (from the Latin alphabet, we’ve already seen it).
- Instead of я, ю, ё, е (soft) — combinations:
ја,јy,јо,је. - Instead of щ — usually
шчis written, or another way. - The sounds ы, э — they simply don’t exist as separate ones;
иandеdo the job. - Ъ and ь (hard and soft signs) — not needed, because in Serbian softness is shown by separate letters (
ћ, ђ, љ, њ).
Exercises
Exercise 1
Read these Serbian words in Cyrillic aloud: мама, тата, брат, сестра, вода, хлеб, школа.
Show answer
“mama”, “tata” (dad), “brat”, “sestra”, “voda”, “hleb”, “škola”. All letters work just like in Russian.
Exercise 2
Which letter is missing in Serbian but exists in Russian: а, ы, о, у?
Show answer
ы. It doesn’t exist in the Serbian alphabet.
Exercise 3
The Russian word «мать» cannot be written in Serbian Cyrillic. Why?
Show answer
Because Serbian has no soft sign ь. Softness is shown differently — with separate letters.
Exercise 4
Look at the Serbian word море. How is it read? Does it differ from Russian?
Show answer
It reads “mó-re”. In Russian «море» the “r” is softened, but in Serbian it isn’t: a clear “mo-re”.
Lesson vocabulary
- dom (дом)
- — house
- lav (лав)
- — lion
- uho (ухо)
- — ear
- zima (зима)
- — winter
- cena (цена)
- — price
- foto (фото)
- — photo