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Croatian alphabet is simpler than English and much more similar to German or Spanish.
Letters b, d, f, h, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, v, z are pronounced more or less as in English. The letter g is pronounced always as in English go or get.
The following letters have a special pronunciation in Croatian:
Specific letters in Croatian | |
---|---|
c | as tz in tzar |
č | as ch in child |
ć | similar to č, a bit ‘softer’ |
đ | as j in joke |
j | as y in you |
š | as sh in ship |
ž | as s in pleasure |
Sequences of letters dž, lj and nj are considered single letters in Croatian; they are pronounced as follows:
Specific two-letter sequences | |
---|---|
dž | similar to đ, a bit ‘harder’ |
lj | like an l fused with a j as Italian gl (e.g. in figlia) or like English million |
nj | like an n fused with a j
like Spanish ñ (e.g. in señor) or Italian gn (e.g. in bagno) or like English onion |
The 7 letters listed above (c to ž) and these two-letter sequences are Croatian-specific letters and have a somewhat special role in grammar. (You can remember them as consonants having ‘hooks’ on them, including j, having a ‘dot’ + letter c.)
Croatian vowels are quite different than English vowels: they should be pronounced basically like Spanish vowels or roughly as Italian vowels, as rather ‘flat’. Vowels can be either long or short (similar to English fit vs. feet) but in some cities (notably, Zagreb, Rijeka and Pula) that distinction is lost.
Here are some Croatian words to illustrate pronunciation. Press ▶ to listen to them pronounced by a native Croatian speaker:
čaša
▶
glass džep ▶ pocket jež ▶ hedgehog ljudi ▶ people |
noć
▶
night svinja ▶ pig vođa ▶ leader zec ▶ rabbit |
You can hear that the vowel o in noć is pronounced longer in clips above (compare it with vođa), as is e in jež and zec (compare it with džep). The same goes for the first vowels in ljudi and svinja. Many people (including myself) don’t pronounce such differences.
Therefore, I have decided not to mark long vowels, as it would be too complicated for beginners: the rules are really complex and not respected in real life in many parts of Croatia anyway.
Also, most people in Croatia pronounce today ć the same as č, and dž the same as đ. This feature includes most cities.
In the Standard pronunciation of č and dž, the tip of tongue is pressed against the palate (top of the mouth) right above teeth, the teeth are separated, and there’s a gap between lips and teeth; it’s called apical pronunciation.
Since the two letters č and ć have a similar or identical pronunciation (depending on the region of Croatia) people have invented colloquial names for them, used e.g. when you have to explain over the phone how a name is spelled:
č = „tvrdo č” | ć = „meko ć” |
There’s a vowel ə (pronounced as e in English the) that’s never spelled; it appears in the following situations:
1. in seemingly impossible words like čvrst ▶ rigid, hard and krv ▶ blood: they can be approximately pronounced with the vowel ə (at least by some Croatian speakers) as čvərst and kərv. Actually, krv is pronounced a bit like English curve.
2. the same goes for e.g. bicikl ▶ bicycle, which is rather pronounced as bi-ci-kəl (three syllables).
3. when talking about letters, Croatians often pronounce names of letters with that vowel (e.g. the letter "b" as bə).
Although words should be pronounced as spelled, a great majority of Croatians pronounce the sequence ije (when not at the end of the word) as just je, for example:
lijepo ▶ beautifully is usually pronounced as lje-po
prije ▶ before is pronounced as written (pri-je), since the ije comes at the very end
Some people pronounce lijepo as l-j-e-p-o (that is, l and j are separate sounds; this is regarded as standard), others as lj-e-p-o. To help you with the pronunciation, I’ve marked such normally written, but not pronounced i’s like this: lijepo. In the words like prije, where all vowels are normally pronounced, nothing is marked.
There are very few other situations where something is written but not pronounced in Croatian, they will be specially emphasized.
Croatian spells the foreign names and places how they are originally spelled, if the original spelling uses the Latin script (e.g. New York, Chuck Norris), but some words are sometimes respelled; this happens sometimes in Bosnian, and as the rule in Serbian – respelling according to an approximate pronunciation is used (Njujork, Čak Noris).
Letters such as W, X etc. are sometimes used in abbreviations taken from other languages, such as WC for toilet, and in some last names in Croatia, of originally foreign origin (for example, 43 Croatians have the last name Winter, according to the 2011 census results).
Stress (pronouncing one syllable a bit louder, as in English together) has quite complex rules and varies in colloquial speech in different parts of Croatia. Stress is never indicated in writing (similar to the practice in English, but unlike Spanish or Italian), and you are simply supposed to know it.
There are two common ways (or schemes) of stressing words used in speech:
The standard stress is used in Standard Croatian, and in cities of Split, Osijek, Dubrovnik, and surrounding countryside; the area extends to Bosnia, and most of Serbia. This is what you hear on the Croatian Public Radio and TV (this is the pronunciation you will find in language manuals and good dictionaries).
Furthermore, the Standard Croatian has two kinds of stress (ways that one syllable in the word can be stressed): with the rising tone and the falling tone. It’s a bit similar to tones in Swedish or even Chinese. The stress in the Standard Croatian is virtually identical to stress in the Standard Serbian or Bosnian, but many people in Croatia don’t use standard stress in everyday communication. Rules governing standard stress are very complex (the stress changes in various forms of one word) so I think it would be too complex to introduce tones in a course intended for beginners (this approach is followed by most language schools that offer Croatian; I will describe details later, in A7 Stress).
Therefore, I decided just to mark what vowel is stressed, when the stress is not on the first syllable (that’s the default place of stress). This map shows roughly (the shaded area) where the standard stress scheme (or something quite similar to it) prevails in Croatia and neighboring countries, at least in public settings:
The ‘western stress’ is used colloquially, very often heard in Zagreb, surrounding areas and some other cities, including Rijeka and Pula. You can hear it on local radio stations. This is the pronunciation I personally use in everyday life, at work, in school, etc. (It’s sometimes, confusingly, called ‘urban stress’; you will find virtually nothing about it in textbooks.)
There are more stress schemes and ways to pronounce words in various dialects, but they are more or less limited to small areas and villages. They will be briefly described in the section on dialects.
I won’t describe the stress schemes used in unshaded areas of Serbia and Montenegro. For some words, they are a very similar or identical to the ‘western’ stress, for others, quite different.
I will also mark the stressed vowel in the ‘western’ stress, when it’s different from the standard stress position. For many words, there’s little or no difference, and for others, there’s an obvious difference, as demonstrated with words ponekad sometimes and kolač cake (I have underlined the stressed vowels):
word | standard | ‘western’ |
---|---|---|
ponekad | ponekad ▶ | ponekad ▶ |
kolač | kolač ▶ | kolač ▶ |
As you can see, some people pronounce the words ponekad and kolač with the stress on the first syllable, and some others with the stress on the second syllable. You would never know it from the normal spelling, since stress is normally not marked.
Therefore, I marked the word ponekad and similar ones with two stress positions (that is, I have underlined two vowels). The first mark (from left) is always the standard position and the second mark (if indicated) the ‘western’ stress position.
the first mark (if present): standard stress |
||||||
the second mark (if present): ‘western’ stress |
||||||
p | o | n | e | kad |
The word kolač and many others are marked in the same way. (Such markings are my invention. There are also standard stress symbols, but they are quite complicated and used only in specialized books. You can find more in Wikipedia and elsewhere.)
Bear in mind, if nothing is marked, the word is stressed on the first syllable. If there’s only one mark, practically everyone pronounces the stress on the same syllable.
There are a few words where the standard stress is not on the first syllable, but the ‘western’ stress is; one of them is the word for binoculars:
standard: dalekozor ‘western’: dalekozor | = dalekozorʷ¹ |
For such words, I’ll underscore the standard stress position, and write in small superscript letters ‘W1’ after the word (i.e. ‘western’ stress on the 1st syllable), as shown above.
Besides the place of stress in some words, the main difference between the two common ‘schemes’ are stress shifts. They are typical for the standard scheme. These examples will illustrate common stress shifts:
form | standard | ‘western’ |
---|---|---|
cake | kolač | kolač |
cakes | kolači | kolači |
I’m speaking | govorim | govorim |
I’ll speak | govorit ću | govorit ću |
These were just examples – other words don’t have shifts, and there are other kinds of shifts as well. Various shifts will be explained gradually through this ‘course’.
A suggestion. I have to admit, the standard stress scheme is quite complicated, even in my watered-down version. Try learning the standard stress scheme only if you want to speak roughly as news presenters on Croatian Public TV, or you really want to imitate speech from the shaded area. Otherwise, don’t bother with it, and go for the ‘western’ scheme. You’ll sound roughly like someone from the unshaded regions, which is not bad if your main goal is to communicate. Keep in mind, stress is not marked in normal writing at all.
There are only couple of words that differ only by their stress, for example:
frizer freezer
frizer hairdresser
(Again, pay attention that both marks, for stress, and for i’s usually not pronounced are just my inventions: nobody uses them in writing.)
Through this small ‘course’ there will be here and there sound clips with pronunciation of selected words and sentences. When pronunciation varies, the sound clips will be marked like this:
S▶ | play a clip with the standard pronunciation |
W▶ | play a clip with the ‘western’ pronunciation |

I love your blog man, I'm learning tons. I hope it's gonna get even more fleshed out soon. However, your example of the phonetics of the letter ž was a bit strange. I take it as it's just a regular s, but you use "ž as s in pleasure" as an example. The S in pleasure is almost identical to the phonetics in ship.
ReplyDeleteOr is it just me being wrong? Are they that similar? I would rather say the ž sounds like an s in Snake or something.
Hi Filip,
Deleteunfortunately, you're wrong. The ž is indeed similar to š, actually, ž:š = z:s.
you can read more about the sound here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiced_palato-alveolar_sibilant
br Daniel
I think he was referring to the s in pleasure. Which exacly sounds like a ž.
DeleteI know this is an old comment, but thought I would reply.
DeleteI think it depends on your dialect in English. In a General American dialect, the s in "pleasure" is much harsher (almost like a "zh" sound. Think of the sound that a weed wacker makes!) than the s in "ship" (just an "sh" sound). However, I could see them sounding similar/same in some dialects and that may be where the confusion was.
ž definitely does NOT sound like the "s" in "snake"!
That is a very keen observation.
DeleteBTW, I am a retired ESOL teacher who will visit Zagreb and Dalmatia this summer.
I've heard some dialects on the coast pronounce "lj" as just "j". Do some people pronounce "bolje" as "boje" or would people just think you are saying "colours" instead of "better"?
ReplyDeleteI'm having a tough time pronouncing "lj" especially when it is in the middle of the word. (People have even laughed when I try!) Though it's a letter I seem to naturally avoid (Jubo, 'jubav, etc.)
Yes, you're right, of course. But those people mostly distinguish short from long vowels, and falling from rising accents, and bolje "better" and boje "colors" have different accents too (I don't distinguish accents, on the other hand). bolje "better" has a falling accent on o and a long e :)
DeleteHowever, in various regions there are other words for "colors" (boja comes from Turkish boya anyway), usually farba (from German) or pitura (from Venetian, I guess).
Of course, everyone knows that ljubav = jubav, ljudi = judi It's often heard in songs:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGVmorHJbFM
(that song however contains intentionally archaic language)
Also check this: http://www.slobodnadalmacija.hr/Split-%C5%BEupanija/tabid/76/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/299142/Default.aspx
judi, jubav, etc. is generally considered "čakavian", which is a traditional label for some dialects in Croatia that *look* similar (but actually they are less similar than usually people think).
Also, check this out, how much do you understand?
http://www.novilist.hr/Vijesti/Rijeka/Macak-s-Voloskega-nastavljena-tradicija-slikovnica-na-cakavskom
lp
Great blog, you seem quite knowledgeable (on top of being a native speaker). However, I don't get the sounds to play. I click on it and nothing indicates that there's something playing. Sound on computer works, I tried with different browsers. Maybe your site is the issue - if so, I'd appreciate a fix. Keep up the good work! :)
ReplyDeleteYou have to check if JavaScript is enabled. Does the 'Check' button in exercises work for you?
DeleteBoth things work on my PC (Windows/Firefox) and mobile phone (Android)
Lp Daniel
If someone has the same problem (like me): right-click anywhere, view source code, then search "audio" until you find the complete list of the sounds and download all of them by clicking one by one.
DeleteAudio worked some months ago, and then something happened to Google sites, it seems it cannot be played anymore from the page :( I'm working on the issue...
DeleteHey, did you manage to fix it yet? I am eager to learn some croatian for my trip upcoming summer, but its kinda hard without audio... Much appreciated!
DeleteThey work sometimes, other times they don't. It's something with Google Sites.
DeleteYou can download all MP3 files here
br Daniel
Hi, I am a Croatian-born Canadian who never went to school in Croatia. Your site is fantastic. It has cleared up a lot of questions that I had. I also understand why when I speak Hrvatski I sound so radically different from Dalmatians that I meet. It's because my Mom was born in Zagreb and I think that I picked up the western stress from her (and my Grandma who also lived in Zagreb most of her life). Thanks for this great site.
ReplyDeleteThe difference Zagreb vs Split is not merely the stress. Rather, even when people think they speak Standard Croatian, they use their local stress scheme. However, in private, they use a lot of local forms. For the Middle Dalmatian region, such things are briefly described in 78 Dijete vs Dite. More about dialects in A8 Dialects (there's not much there yet, though).
DeleteHvala na pohvalama! lp
Hello.
ReplyDeleteFor "dž similar to đ, a bit ‘harder’", I would say the contrary : "a bit softer"…
:)
Daniel, I cannot thank you enough for all the work you have undertaken to teach Croatian as a second language. I turn to your material constantly for an explanation, to learn a new word or new vocabulary.
ReplyDeleteRecently, I have started to use the "memrize" Croatian web site and I review the material every day. However, I have one comment. For words like "meni, tebi, etc.," I know that there are short forms such as "mi, ti, etc." as well as long forms. So, for example, when you ask for the Croatian DL for the English word "me," it is not clear whether the answer should be "meni" or "mi" as no indication is given as to whether the answer should be the short or long form. The result is nothing more than a guess as to the correct form required. Perhaps you could add "short form" or "long form" to individual words.
Thank you, Michael R
I would suggest you read this site from the start to the end, and then turn to it when needed, since I don't provide back references, e.g. from the point I introduce the instrumental case, I assume you know it. Everything else would turn this into a maze of links - every time I mention the G case, I would have to provide a link to chapter 20, every time I mention past tense, to its chapter etc.
Deletelp Daniel
Daniel,
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure whether my last comment was posted. Basically, on the "memrize" site, you do not differentiate between the short and long form for words such as the DL "meni/mi,"tebi/ti," etc. Therefore it is not possible to answer correctly without guessing. Could you include "short form" or "long form" to the question for these words.
Thanks, Michael
Hi, comments are not posted until I approve them, as I get a lot of spammy comments :/
DeleteI will fix the Memrise this week. The problem is, Memrise is not really designed for languages like Croatian... but I will do something.
br Daniel
Daniel,
ReplyDeleteYour blog in amazing. Thanks for all the work.
Would you say it's difficult for those learning the language to differentiate between č/ć and dž/đ when heard in speech? Especially considering you mentioned that native speakers don't really bother pronouncing them any differently.
ReplyDeleteIt's a dialectal difference. Some people in Croatia have č and ć distinct; most don't. So you can't hear any difference from most speakers, esp. from bigger cities.
DeleteWhat if you are telling someone how to spell a name/word - how would it work in that regard? Would that be a situation where you would have to distinguish the sounds?
DeleteThat's a very good question! It should be added to the chapter. Until I add it, the names are:
Deleteč = tvrdo č
ć = meko ć
The only time when you have to distinguish these sounds is at school. :)
DeleteGot it, thank you very much!
DeleteI've added this information to the body of the chapter in a shaded box. lp
DeleteZdravo! I have a comment regarding your suggestion to focus on learning the Western Scheme. Logically, wouldn't it be easier to learn the Standard Scheme seeing as it is more consistently has the stress on the first syllable? Whereas the Western Scheme often shifts the stress to the second syllable, essentially making one have to memorize exactly where the stress is. Hope I understood it correctly
ReplyDeleteCheers Klaus
Why do you think the western stress scheme has the shift to the second syllable? Obviously something I wrote wasn't clear. Can you tell me what my statement made you think so? Thanks, lp
DeleteI will explain better what "stress shifts" are. They mean the stress shifts in forms of ONE word.
DeleteFor example (I'll use uppercase letters for stressed vowels):
standard scheme:
kOlač "cake"
kolAči "cakes" (plural)
gOvorim "I speak"
govOrio sam "I was speaking"
the 'western scheme':
kolAč "cake"
kolAči "cakes" (plural)
govOrim "I speak"
govOrio sam "I was speaking"
Do you understand now what "stress shifts" are? Not all nouns and verbs have them, the system is complex and explained gradually. Even terms like the dative case aren't explained at this point! lp
I added an explanation to the chapter, is it clearer now? I can't explain the whole language in one chapter. You have to simply believe me when I write that the standard stress scheme is way more complex. It simply is.
DeleteHello Daniel,
ReplyDeleteI've noticed that the letter W is not part of the alphabet yet is still used in some words such as "WC". Why is this the case? I see it is pronounced as a V so is it basically just another form of V?
This abbreviation is simply taken from English (likely via German). It's pronounced ve-ce. lp
DeleteI visited Hungary 24 years ago. The bathroom there is also the wc. Similar pronunciation, too
DeleteThis might be a silly question, but would you say that spelling errors are less common in BCMS due to the simplicity in the letters and their pronunciation?
ReplyDeleteThis is not a silly question. For a variety of reasons, there are still spelling "errors" due to variation in speech. If your dialect has a bit different sounds, you tend to spell words a bit differently.
DeleteTwo issues are the biggest problem:
spelling ije vs je
spelling č vs ć
But there are many other "errors" as well, as people tend to drop some sounds in speech, shorten some words etc
Also, the "official" and "spoken" grammar are different a bit. This is also mentioned here, as features are gradually introduced...
lp Daniel
Note: these are "errors" in Croatia. These two things are not an issue in Serbia. lp
DeleteWould it be correct to say č is usually close to the beginning of a word (hence with a stressed syllable and tvrd) and ć is usually towards the end of a word?
DeleteNo, č can be anywhere, e.g. riječ "word" ends in č. It's not the position, historically they come from completely different origins, ć comes mostly from t (compare noć with Latin nox, noct-is etc).
DeleteHi Daniel, thank you very much for this great blog on Croatian. I have a question about how lj is pronounced at the end of a word, e.g. prijatelj. And how j is pronounced at the end of a word, e.g. njoj. All help is greatly appreciated.
ReplyDeleteHi Daniel, thanks for this great site. I have a question about how to pronounce some consonants at the ends of words, specifically lj, e.g. prijatelj, and j, e.g., u Hrvatskoj
ReplyDeleteHi, comments are moderated, so that's why they don't appear immediately. Normally, consonants and the end are pronounced as anywhere else, in some regions it could be a bit weakened, but it's not the rule.
DeleteI will add words like prijatelj "friend" to examples above, but the easiest way is to search YouTube for any video containing prijatelj in its title and then you can listen to its pronunciation...
-j is like in English boy, again nothing special...
lp Daniel
Thanks, and sorry for posting twice. It seems like a problem with Safari, which gave me no feedback when I submitted the first comment. I switched to Firefox and tried a second time.
ReplyDeleteHi Daniel,
ReplyDeleteI have a question about the pronunciation of the letter "e."
I think the pronunciation would be similar to "ayy" in English phonetics (or, how we say the letter "A" in English). However, when I'm speaking Croatian, I find it sounds more like "eh" (English phonetics), which is a much shorter and abrupt sound.
Which would be correct? For example, for "Teta", Croatians say "teh-tuh" (English phonetics), not "tay-tuh." Is the first the perfect way of saying it, or do Croatians just naturally shorten the vowel sound when speaking?
Yes, teh-tuh is more accurate for the case of teta. As I wrote above, some e's are short, some are long - this holds for all vowels - but this difference is not represented in spelling, you have to know it by heart for each word, and even worse, not all dialects have it, so most people can't even tell where long vowels should be. For example, I pronounce all vowels somewhere in between...
DeleteAs a rule, if you pronounce all stressed vowels a bit longer, you won't sound too unnatural. Unfortunately, to learn where long and where short vowels come is really, really, complicated since it changes in plural, various cases etc etc
Daniel, as always, thank you very much! I know these are often simple questions, but when a speaker doesn't have the background they can be very frustrating! Thank you again!
Deleteso western pronunciation always has fixed stress? if so that’s a relief
ReplyDeleteNot always, there are a couple of words where it shifts in some circumstances; it's explained gradually.
DeleteIt is unclear why you use "western stress", when it is fairly obvious that those accents/stress rules were copied from, i.e. reflect the influence of, German language. "German" or "Germanic stress" would be a more precise and also more informative label.
ReplyDeleteBecause:
Deletea) this stress is dominant in the western parts of Croatia
b) this stress has nothing with German specifically because it applies also to Venetian and Turkish loans (such as alat "tool") -- it's simply closer to the original pronunciation, whatever language the word came from
c) it applies to may native words (svjedok "witness", čuvar "keeper, guard",... hundreds of words... to many verbs etc)
d) you can understand that all if you just read on
What a great blog! As a native Chinese speaker learning Croatian purely out of interest, I've learned a ton. Just a question, do Croatians roll their r like in Spanish or Russian? Are there words like pero and perro in Spanish where the rolling of r makes a big difference? I hope not cuz I've been struggling with this forever
ReplyDeleteAll r's should be rolled, but in reality pronunciation varies by region...
DeleteHi Daniel, do you know of any good youtube videos that help show the difference between č/ć, dž/đ? Such as saying the pronunciations one after another in different words so it's easy to compare and in a clear voice? I get the the general difference between the two ... but saying them and recognizing the difference, I'm still struggling with.
ReplyDeleteI realize many people no longer distinguish between the two sounds, but I'd still like to learn them.
Not really, I don't know :( Besides, likely a majority of people today pronounce them identically. I'll look up...
DeleteThe letter r, is that pronounced similarly as in English or is it more of a trilled r? From the recordings it sounds more trilled, like what I hear in Spanish.
ReplyDeleteTrilled, but it's not essential you pronounce it exactly like us, and it varies a bit across Croatia
Delete