Lesson 6. Serbian Cyrillic: ј, љ, њ, ћ, ђ, џ
In the previous lesson we saw 24 Serbian Cyrillic letters that are the same as the Russian ones. Today — six special letters. We already know their Latin twins.
Six special Cyrillic letters
| Latin | Cyrillic | Sound | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| j | ј | й | jabuka — apple |
| lj | љ | мягкое л (ль) | ljubav — love |
| nj | њ | мягкое н (нь) | konj — horse |
| ć | ћ | мягкое ч | kuća — house |
| đ | ђ | мягкое дж | đak — pupil |
| dž | џ | твёрдое дж | džem — jam |
Let’s go through them one by one.
ј — “y” sound
The letter ј looks like the Latin j. It sounds like the English “y” in “yes”.
љ — soft “l”
The letter љ looks like л and the soft sign ь merged together. It sounds like a soft “l” (as in “million”).
њ — soft “n”
The letter њ looks like н fused with ь. It sounds like a soft “n” (as in “canyon”).
ћ — soft “ch”
The letter ћ has a small bar across the top in the middle. It is a soft “ch” sound.
ђ — soft “j” (as in “jeans”)
The letter ђ looks like ћ, but with a little tail. It is a soft “j” sound.
џ — hard “j”
The letter џ looks like ц, but the tail is on the right leg. It is a hard “j” sound.
Exercises
Exercise 1
Read these Serbian words in Cyrillic: јабука, кућа, ноћ, коњ, књига, љубав.
Show answer
“ya-bu-ka”, “ku-tcha” (soft ch), “notch” (soft ch), “kon’” (soft n), “kn’i-ga” (soft n + i), “l’u-bav” (soft l).
Exercise 2
Write these in Latin script: ђак, џем, краљ, мој.
Show answer
đak, džem, kralj, moj.
Exercise 3
How are the letters ћ and ђ different? What sounds do they stand for?
Show answer
ћ is a soft “ch”, with no tail at the bottom. ђ is a soft “j”, with a tail at the bottom. Both are soft.
Exercise 4
The word књига has four letters. But how many sounds does it have?
Show answer
The word књига has five letters: к, њ, и, г, а. And five sounds: к + њ (soft n) + и + г + а.
Exercise 5
The English word “horse” in Serbian is konj (in Latin) or коњ (in Cyrillic). How many letters are there in the Serbian word коњ?
Show answer
Three letters: к, о, њ. The letter њ counts as one.
Lesson vocabulary
- jabuka (јабука)
- — apple
- kralj (краљ)
- — king
- knjiga (књига)
- — book
- konj (коњ)
- — horse
- kuća (кућа)
- — house
- noć (ноћ)
- — night
- đak (ђак)
- — pupil
- džem (џем)
- — jam
- ljubav (љубав)
- — love
- moj (мој)
- — my