Learn Croatian & Serbian language

For foreigners, maybe all the languages spoken in Balkan sound the same, but the natives immediately recognize if a person comes from Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia, or Montenegro. The accent is the main factor that makes these languages different. 

However, it doesn’t influence our understanding of each other. It’s just accent and the language logic, grammar, words, and phrases are the same. Or almost the same. Now we’ll see the differences.

“ije”, “je” and “e”

There are a lot of words in BCSM languages that include “ije” or “je”. For example: mlijeko (milk), lijepo (nice), čovjek (a man), svijet (world)… However, this exists in Croatian, Bosnian, and Montenegrian while in Serbian, these connections of 3 or 2 letters are changed with one letter – e. 

Therefore, Serbian versions of the mentioned words are: mleko, lepo, čovek, svet. 

The natives notice when someone uses “jekavica” (ije/je) and when “ekavica” (e) is used. But many foreigners claim that they don’t hear the difference. When pronounced fastly as the natives speak, Croatian and Serbian versions sound the same to them. 

Different script

In Croatia, Latin script is used, and in Serbia, the main script is Cyrillic, although Latin is also used. For example, the government boards are written in Cyrillic in Serbia but in Bosnia, in both scripts. In Croatia, only in Latin.

Difference in writing foreign names

In the Croatian language, foreign names are written and pronounced as original. For example, New York is written just like that, although in the Croatian alphabet, there are no letters like w and y. 

In the Serbian alphabet, these letters also don’t exist. That’s why Serbians write just as they pronounce. In the case of New York, it is written like – Nju Jork / Њу Јорк.

Personal names are also written like pronounced. For example, George Clooney is Džordž Kluni / Џорџ Клуни.

Some grammar parts

There are differences in some grammar things like forming questions. You can learn it in detail in the lesson about 3 tenses or in the audio stories. But let’s give just a quick resume: 

Tenses

PRESENT TENSE: 

HRV: Plivaš li u moru? – SRB: Da li plivaš u moru? (Do you swim in the sea?)

Gledaju li oni TV? – Da li gledaju oni TV? (Do they watch TV?)

PAST TENSE:

HRV: Jesi li plivala? – SRB: Da li si plivala? (Did you swim?)

FUTURE TENSE:

-different in writing

HRV: Ja ću plivati. → Plivat ću. (I will swim)

SRB: Ja ću plivati. → Plivaću.  (I will swim)

Doći ću = Doći ću (I will come) – only infinitives with the suffix -ti are different in writing in the future tense

-different questions

HRV: Hoćeš li plivati? (Will you swim?)

SRB: Da li ćeš plivati? (Will you swim?)

In reality, many Croatians, especially older people, use “da li” to ask questions. It varies from person to person but in official language that is used in school, on TV, in books, newspapers, and so on, “da li” is avoided. 

Modal verbs

In Serbian grammar, there are both versions:

1. modal verb + infinitive (for example – ja mogu plivati)
2. modal + da + present ( ja mogu da plivam).

But in real life, the second option is mostly used and this makes Serbian different from Croatian, where is used only the first option (with infinitive).

Of course, many people in everyday conversational language use the form with “da”.

Example:

Ne mogu ići na posao danas. // Ne mogu da idem na posao danas. (I can’t go to work today.)

Nisam mogao/mogla ići na posao. // Nisam mogao/mogla da idem na posao. (I couldn’t go to work.)

Neću moći ići na posao. // Neću moći da idem na posao. (I won’t be able to go to work.)

Vocabulary differences

Most of the vocabulary is the same but there are common words that are different. Let’s see the words that are used the most. 

ENGLISH	CROATIAN	SERBIAN
hour; class	sat	čas
to do (finished form)	napraviti	uraditi
what	što	šta
where to *check this audio story	kamo	gde
thousand	tisuća	hiljada
century	stoljeće	vek
train	vlak	voz
football	nogomet	fudbal
rice	riža	pirinač
wave	val	talas
island	otok	ostrvo
Europe, euro	Europa, euro	Evropa, evro
neighbor	susjed	komšija
female colleague (male colleague is the same – kolega)	kolegica	koleginica
percent (%)	posto	odsto
to decide	odlučiti	rešiti
to solve	riješiti	rešiti (two meanings in Serbian)
grade (°C)	stupanj	stepen
to know how to do something	znati	umeti