A9 Bosnian, Serbian and Montenegrin

Bosnian, Serbian and Montenegrin are separate standard languages quite similar to the Standard Croatian (some people consider them ‘variants’ of a single language). I will summarize the most important differences.

You should keep in mind that there are regions in Croatia where some ‘Serbian’ words are used, and some ‘Croatian’ words can be found in Serbia as well. Of course, Bosnian and Montenegrin are somewhere in the middle. Furthermore, we can talk about ‘Croatian’ and ‘Serbian’ only if we discuss the standardized languages. If we take into the account how people actually speak, the situation is much more complex.

Spelling

The major difference is that Serbian and Montenegrin use another alphabet – Cyrillic. However, each letter of Croatian Latin corresponds to one letter of Serbian Cyrillic.

Actually, in Serbia today the Cyrillic alphabet is mostly used in official and ceremonial uses. Majority of newspapers are published in the ‘Serbian Latin’ script (identical to ‘Croatian Latin’). Web sites published in Cyrillic have usually a ‘LAT’ button somewhere. For instance, Politika daily has pages both in Cyrillic and Latin (check CYR and LAT links on top), but B92 is in Latin only. Even the web site of Serbian government has links ћирилица Cyrillic and latinica Latin on the top (Cyrillic is chosen by default). Statistics show that about 1/6 of text on Serbian web sites is written in the Cyrillic script.

In Montenegro, the Cyrillic alphabet is even less used. The web site of Montenegrin government has the two links on top, but the Latin script is displayed as default. Most web pages, even official ones, are in Latin script only.

Besides using Cyrillic script sometimes, there are few differences in spelling (both in Serbian/Montenegrin Latin and Cyrillic). The first one is spelling of foreign names. Serbian and Montenegrin usually respell them using approximated pronunciation:

original	Serbian spelling
New York	Njujork	Њујорк
George Bush	Džordž Buš	Џорџ Буш
Chicago	Čikago	Чикаго

The second difference is spelling of the future tense. When an infinitive in -t is immediately followed by an auxiliary ću², ćeš²... it’s spelled together, and the infinitive-final -t is discarded, with possible sound mutations:

Croatian	Serbian
pisat ću	pisaću	писаћу
jest ću	ješću	јешћу
reći ću	reći ću	рећи ћу

This is, however, merely a spelling convention: the words ću², ćeš² are second-position words; therefore, Serbian words like pisaću are limited to the 1st position in a sentence! They are usually listed as separate verb forms in Serbian grammars.

Ekavian ‘Pronunciation’

As I have already mentioned, there are three common ‘pronunciations’: Ijekavian, Ikavian and Ekavian (there are more in various dialects, but these three prevail in public). The name is misleading, since the difference is visible in spelling as well. The basic difference is: where Standard Croatian has Ijekavian mlijeko, Ikavian has mliko and Ekavian mleko for milk.

People usually associate Ekavian (mleko, pesma) and not Ijekavian (mlijeko, pjesma) with Serbian, but it’s not really true, since Serbs use both as standard: most Serbs outside of Serbia (e.g. Bosnia, Croatia and Montenegro) use Ijekavian, and Serbs in most of Serbia, including Belgrade, use only Ekavian. You can find both in Serbian newspapers, but Ekavian clearly dominates. (The Serbian Standard is much less strict than Croatian, there is a bigger choice of ‘acceptable’ variants. If you find a ‘dictionary of differences’ listing bijeli as ‘Croatian’ vs. beli as ‘Serbian’ you can immediately conclude it’s oversimplifying things.)

There’s a tradition of playing down differences between Ekavian and Ijekavian: most people, especially in Serbia, are used to hear and read both (but they can write and speak only Ekavian). However, Ekavian forms are not completely trivial – they cannot be completely obtained from (Standard Croatian) Ijekavian forms, and Ijekavian forms cannot be obtained at all from Ekavian. For example, there are some words where Ekavian has e, in comparison to Ijekavian i, like in these common verbs:

verb	Ijekavian	Ekavian
heat	grijati (grije)	grejati (greje)
laugh	smijati (smije) se²	smejati (smeje) se²
hate	mrziti	mrzeti (mrzi)
sit	sjediti	sedeti (sedi)
be worth	vrijediti	vredeti (vredi)

These differences are sometimes surprising to native speakers as well: very few people in Croatia would guess the forms mrzeti and vredeti. Different verbs have to be learned: the verb brijati (brije) shave has the same form in both ‘pronunciations’, while grijati (grije) heat doesn’t. The verb sjediti shows the expected je vs. e in the 1st syllable, besides the unexpected i vs. e in the second one (the same holds for vrijediti). Therefore, Ekavian forms of these verbs turn out to be more complicated.

However, the verb vidjeti and similar ones, including razumjeti, are much simpler in Ekavian: their past forms are always regular, and verbs like razumjeti are plain verbs in Ekavian, all forms regularly derived from the inf:

verb	Ijekavian	Ekavian
want	htjeti (hoće +, htio, htjela)	hteti (hoće +)
see	vidjeti (vidi, vidio, vidjela)	videti (vidi)
understand	razumjeti (razumije,...)	razumeti
may	smjeti (smije, smio, smijela)	smeti

The Ekavian verbs razumeti and smeti have a specific ending in pres-3pl: -eju, which is different from Ijekavian or Ikavian.

Sequences -je- in endings of verbal adjectives are not subject to these differences. In all ‘pronunciations’, words voljen loved, primljen received etc. have the same form.

The same applies to verbal nouns in -je; the difference in sjećanje vs. sećanje (both meaning memory) is only in the 1st syllable; the final -je, which forms the gerund, is not affected.

Also, words starting with je- are not affected: it’s jesti (jede, jeo) eat in both Ekavian and Ijekavian (interestingly, there is a difference in Ikavian; however, it’s not important for Serbian).

Personal pronouns are not affected as well: for example, njega (A/G of on he) is the same in all ‘pronunciations’. However, the noun njega care (of a person) is affected – it’s nega in Ekavian.

There are more words with non-trivial correspondences:

word	Ijekavian	Ekavian
part	dio (dijel-)	deo (del-)
last year	lani	lane
lazy	lijen	lenj

When -je comes after a vowel which is not i (e.g. dvoje two people, jaje egg) the forms are the same in Ekavian, Ijekavian and Ikavian. Of course, the same applies to verbal forms such as pije he/she drinks nije he/she/it is not etc. Ekavian forms have to be learned if you want to know them.

I will list Serbian words in both Ijekavian and Ekavian forms in this chapter.

Other partially regular differences

A major difference is loss of h in native words in Serbian (both Ekavian and Ijekavian; however, it was restored at the beginning of words in standard Serbian). It has been replaced by either v or j:

term	Croatian	Serbian
deaf	gluh	gluv
dry	suh	suv
fly (insect)	muha	muva
cook (verb)	kuhati	kuvati
son’s wife	snaha	snaja

In nouns ending in -ol, Serbian (both Ekavian and Ijekavian) had lost final -l, which is restored whenever any ending is added. It also happened to -r in nouns and adverbs ending in -er:

term	Croatian	Serbian
salt	sol f	so (sol-) f
table	stol	sto (stol-) m
ox	vol	vo (vol-) m
evening	večer f	veče (večer- f)
yesterday	jučer	juče
also	također	takođe

This change didn’t happen in bol pain. These forms are used coloquially in some parts of Croatia as well, e.g. veče can be often heard in Dalmatia.

The noun veče is considered neuter in N and A, and feminine when it gets any ending, which is an occasional source of confusion for native speakers.

There are a bit simplified forms or pronouns; however, these forms are colloquially used in Croatia as well:

term	Croatian	Serbian
who	tko	ko
someone	netko	neko
what	što	šta

In some words there’s su in Croatian vs. sa in Serbian, while in others there’s no difference; common examples are:

term	Croatian	Serbian
cooperation	suradnja	saradnja
consent	suglasnost f	saglasnost f
conflict	sukob
contents	sadržaj

As you can see, such words often correspond to English words with co- or con-, but there’s no real rule which words have the difference, and which don’t.

Vocabulary Differences in Nouns and Adjectives

Serbian has some specific common nouns:

term	Croatian	Serbian
bladder	mjehur	bešika
neighbor (m)	susjed	komšija m
neighbor (f)	susjeda	komšinica
week	tjedan (tjedn-)	nedjelja nedelja sedmica
island	otok	ostrvo
pants, trousers	hlače f pl.	pantalone f pl.
farmer’s market	tržnica	pijaca
floor (of a building)	kat	sprat
wave	val	talas
handbag, purse	torba	tašna
wheel (not to steer)	kotač	točak (točk-)
condition, prerequisite	uvjet	uslov
air	zrak	vazduh

Some words are only slightly different:

term	Croatian	Serbian
eyeglasses	naočale f pl.	naočari f. pl.
price-list	cjenik	cjenovnik cenovnik
palace	palača	palata
salary	plaća	plata
point, dot	točka	tačka
priest	svećenik	sveštenik
physician (m)	liječnik	ljekar lekar
physician (f)	liječnica	ljekarka lekarka
coal	ugljen	ugalj (uglj-)

There are also different terms related to modern life:

term	Croatian	Serbian
movie theatre	kino	bioskop
boxer	boksač	bokser
animated cartoon	crtić (colloq.)	crtać (colloq.)
factory	tvornica	fabrika
jeans (pants)	traperice f pl.	farmerke f pl.
football (soccer)	nogomet	fudbal
football player	nogometaš	fudbaler
mobile phone	mobitel	mobilni (adj.)
theater	kazalište	pozorište
rolling shutters	roleta	roletna
train	vlak	voz

Especially, terms related to cooking and food show numerous differences; these terms are often completely unknown outside their ‘territory’:

term	Croatian	Serbian
green beans	mahune f pl.	boranija
liver (to eat)	jetra f pl. / jetrica f pl.	džigerica
apricot	marelica	kajsija
bread	kruh	hljeb hleb
oats	zob	ovas (ovs-)
beans	grah	pasulj
cream (cooking)	vrhnje	pavlaka
rice	riža	pirinač
vinegar	ocat (oct-)	sirće (sirćet-)
soup	juha	supa / čorba
carrot	mrkva	šargarepa
hazelnut	lješnjak	lješnik lešnik
parsley	peršin	peršun
leek	poriluk	praziluk
elderberry	bazga	zova

As you can see, some words are quite similar, but others are completely unrelated. In real life, the variation in culinary terms is much greater, especially within Croatia. Some ‘Croatian’ terms like riža and mrkva are also used in Serbia, especially in some parts, and sometimes a distinction is made between mrkva and šargarepa. There are differences in words for standard house items:

term	Croatian	Serbian
spoon	žlica	kašika
scissors	škare f pl.	makaze f pl.
towel	ručnik	peškir
cup (of tea, coffee)	šalica	šolja / šoljica
toilet seat	(WC) školjka	(WC) šolja
dishes, kitchenware	suđe / posuđe	sudovi m pl.
kitchen sink	sudoper	sudopera

Some terms are specific to Serbia, but Croatian terms are used in Serbia too, sometimes with a bit specific meaning:

term	Croatian	Serbian
bed sheet	plahta	čaršav (thick) / plahta (thin)
blanket	deka	ćebe / deka

Some words differ in gender. Sometimes, the difference exists only in the spoken language; in other cases, only in the standard languages:

term	Croatian	Serbian
candy	bombon	bombona bombon (very rare)
flu	gripa	grip
mayonnaise	majoneza	majonez
planet	planeta planet (std.)	planeta
visit	posjeta posjet (*)	posjeta poseta
pain	bol f bol (*)	bol

Forms marked by (*) are considered standard, but are quite rare in the real use, while (std) are standard words which are a bit less common than the other variant. (You’ll also hear bombona in parts of Croatia; as stated before, there are many variants of some words.) The words for minute and second have an even more complex distribution:

forms	Croatia	Serbia
minuta minute sekunda second	common and standard	less common, but used
minut minute sekund second	used in some parts (Slavonia, Dalmatia)	common

There are numerous differences in scientific terms, especially chemistry and biology:

term	Croatian	Serbian
hydrogen	vodik	vodonik
oxygen	kisik	kiseonik
nitrogen	dušik	azot
tin	kositar (kositr-)	kalaj
gas	plin	gas
liquid	tekućina	tečnost
(chem.) compound	spoj	jedinjenje
(chem.) solution	otopina	rastvor
cell (in biology)	stanica	ćelija
mammal	sisavac (sisavc-)	sisar
rat	štakor	pacov
camel	deva	kamila
shark	morski pas (ps-)	ajkula
science	znanost f	nauka

However, prison cell is just ćelija in both Croatian and Serbian. Croatian uses obitelj f for human family, while Serbian uses porodica, and both usually use just porodica for families in biology (sets of closely related species).

There are also different terms in physics and math, and generally school:

term	Croatian	Serbian
triangle	trokut	trougao (trougl-)
rule (to draw lines)	ravnalo	lenjir
straight line	pravac (pravc-)	prava
curve	krivulja	kriva
diameter	promjer	prečnik
lens	leća	sočivo
sum	zbroj	zbir
degree	stupanj (stupnj-)	stepen
equation	jednadžba	jednačina
lecture, class in school	sat	čas
class (group of students)	razred	odjeljenje odeljenje
upbringing, manners	odgoj	vaspitanje
first-grader	prvaš	prvak
third-grader	trećaš	trećak
eight-grader	osmaš	osmak

However, notice that razred in both Croatia and Serbia means grade in school (e.g. prvi razred first grade). The word odgoj is used in Serbia as well, but vaspitanje is much more common; furthermore, Standard Serbian insists on the stress vaspitanje, which is rare in real life in Serbia.

Some words have only a slightly different form due to different adaptation of foreign words (this table includes only characteristic words showing ways words differ):

term	Croatian	Serbian
accent	akcent	akcenat (akcent-)
depression	depresija	depresija
fascist	fašist	fašista m
casette	kazeta	kaseta
orange	naranča	narandža / pomorandža
chimp	čimpanza	šimpanza
clown	klaun	klovn

The form kaseta is standard in Croatian as well, but it’s very rare in real use. As you can see, some words have only different stress.

Some words adapted from Greek have k- in Croatian, and h- in Serbian, where English words usually have ch; another, less common difference in such words is -b- vs -v-, and -c- vs -k-:

term	Croatian	Serbian
chaos	kaos	haos
chemistry	kemija	hemija
surgeon	kirurg	hirurg
chlorine	klor	hlor
Christianity	kršćanstvo	hrišćanstvo
chronicle	kronika	hronika
barbarians	barbari	varvari
labyrinth	labirint	lavirint
ocean	ocean	okean

This is not completely regular, as e.g. archeology also comes from Greek, has ch, but it’s arheologija in both Croatia and Serbia. The same holds for psihologija psychology, arhitektura architecture and some other terms.

Some regions, countries and cities also have different names, sometimes the difference is slight:

term	Croatian	Serbian
Athens	Atena	Atina
Babylon	Babilon	Vavilon / Vavilonija
Cyprus	Cipar (Cipr-)	Kipar (Kipr-)
Europe	Europa	Evropa
Jerusalem	Jeruzalem	Jerusalim
Persia	Perzija	Persija
The Netherlands	Nizozemska (adj.)	Holandija
Romania	Rumunjska (adj.)	Rumunija
Spain	Španjolska (adj.)	Španija

There are more different names, these are just the most common; the difference applies to derived adjectives and names of inhabitants, of course. There’s a well known difference in the adjective derived from Slovenia, and the adjective meaning Slavic, i.e. related to Slavic people and/or languages:

term	Croatian	Serbian
Slovene	slovenski	slovenački
Slavic	slavenski	slovenski

Additionally, there’s a difference in adjectives derived from places ending in -iški in Croatian:

term	Croatian	Serbian
Parisian	pariški	pariski
Tunisian	tuniški	tuniski

Words related to government, having the suffix -kracija in Croatian, have -kratija in Serbian:

term	Croatian	Serbian
bureucracy	birokracija	birokratija
democracy	demokracija	demokratija

There are terms which correspond to two words in Croatia – an ‘international’ one, and a word made from Slavic roots (or borrowed from Czech in the 19th century) – which are used interchangeably, or one is formal and the other colloquial, or there’s a small difference in meaning, while only the ‘international’ word in used in Serbian. Common pairs are:

term	Croatian	Serbian & Croatian
library	knjižnica	biblioteka
machine	stroj	mašina
music	glazba	muzika
system	sustav	sistem

For example, in Croatia, only knjižnica is used for public libraries, while biblioteka can mean any book collection, e.g. in someone’s home.

Then, there’s a difference which applies only to standard languages, while Croatia, or parts of Croatia, uses words which are used in Serbia in everyday speech:

term	Croatia	Serbia
thousand	tisuća (std.) hiljada	hiljada
million	milijun (std.) milion	milion
clothes iron	glačalo (*) pegla	pegla
pharmacy	ljekarna (*) apoteka	apoteka
tomato	rajčica (*) paradajz pom(idor) (coast)	paradajz

Again, words marked by (*) are considered standard, formal, but they are quite rare in speech. Conversely, there are some words which are used in Serbia and not in Croatia, but words common to Serbia and Croatia actually dominate in Serbia as well, such as:

term	Croatia & Serbia	Serbia (rare)
centimeter (unit)	centimetar (-r-)	santimetar (-r-)
hour (in general use)	sat	čas
universe	svemir	vasiona
floor (of a room)	pod	patos
later (adverb)	kasnije	docnije

(I have divided the variable part of words with a vertical line to make everything more compact.)

A couple of loanwords have ce in Croatia vs se in Serbia:

term	Croatia	Serbia
certificate	certifikat	sertifikat
Barcelona	Barcelona	Barselona

In Serbian, suffixes -ka and -kinja are more common to derive feminine nouns, while Croatian prefers -ica; again, in some terms there’s no difference:

female term for	Croatian	Serbian
university student	studentica	studentkinja
doctor	doktorica	doktorka
teacher	učiteljica
mathematician	matematičarka

Forms studentica and doktorica are accepted as standard in Serbian as well, but are much less common than the alternative forms.

There are some specific adjectives as well; again, some are only slightly different:

term	Croatian	Serbian
used	korišten	korišćen
common	opći	opšti
happy, lucky	sretan (srećn-)	srećan (srećn-)
moldy	pljesniv	buđav
secure, safe	siguran (sigurn-)	bezbjedan (-n-) bezbedan (-n-)
artificial	umjetan (umjetn-)	veštački

The relational suffix -ski is used in Serbia with some nouns, where the suffix -ni is used with the same nouns in Croatia:

base noun	Croatian	Serbian
autobus bus	autobusniʷ¹	autobuski
jezik language	jezični	jezički
porez tax	porezni	poreski

Vocabulary differences in verbs

Verbs ending in -isati (-iše) are very characteristic of Serbia and most of Bosnia; they usually correspond to Croatian verbs in -irati («). They are all adaptations of foreign words. Common ones are:

verb	Croatian	Serbian
define	definirati («)	definisati (-še)
formulate	formulirati («)	formulisati (-še)
generate	generirati («)	generisati (-še)
function	funkcionirati («)	funkcionisati (-še)
ignore	ignorirati («)	ignorisati (-še)
integrate	integrirati («)	integrisati (-še)
intervene	intervenirati («)	intervenisati (-še)
manage, oversee	kontrolirati («)	kontrolisati (-še)
operate	operirati («)	operisati (-še)
reform	reformirati («)	reformisati (-še)
reserve	rezervirati («)	rezervisati (-še)
tolerate	tolerirati («)	tolerisati (-še)

(The thin vertical line, as usual, divides the constant part on the left of it from the variable part on the right.)

They also have stress on different syllables.

However, it’s completely wrong to think that all Croatian verbs in -irati correspond to Serbian verbs in this way. In fact, there are many verbs in -irati used in Serbia as well, such as:

analizirati («) analyze diplomirati («) graduate (on univ.) kopirati («) copy kreirati («) create maskirati («) mask parkirati («) park (a car)

planirati («) plan studirati («) study (on univ.) šokirati («) shock trenirati («) train varirati («) vary etc.

Also, some Croatian -irati verbs correspond to Serbian ones in -ovati (-uje). Common ones are:

verb	Croatian	Serbian
improvise	improvizirati («)	improvizovati (-uje)
isolate	izolirati («)	izolovati (-uje)
combine	kombinirati («)	kombinovati (-uje)
compensate	kompenzirati («)	kompenzovati (-uje)
modernize	modernizirati («)	modernizovati (-uje)
organize	organizirati («)	organizovati (-uje)
pack	pakirati («)	pakovati (-uje)
stabilize	stabilizirati («)	stabilizovati (-uje)

When such verbs have -cirati in Croatian, they have -kovati in Serbian:

verb	Croatian	Serbian
disinfect, sanitize	dezinficirati («)	dezinfikovati (-uje)
identify	identificirati («)	identifikovati (-uje)
complicate	komplicirati («)	komplikovati (-uje)
modify	modificirati («)	modifikovati (-uje)

Occasionally, there’s a non-trivial correspondence to Croatian -irati verbs:

verb	Croatian	Serbian
comment	komentirati («)	komentarisati (-še)

Many recently adapted verbs – mostly colloquial – often have just -ati in Croatia vs -ovati (-uje) in Serbia:

verb	Croatian	Serbian
like (on Facebook)	lajkati	lajkovati (-uje)
surf	surfati	surfovati (-uje)
strike (in workplace)	štrajkati	štrajkovati (-uje)

There are few more verbs are used a bit differently in Serbian.

The verb smjeti (smije, smio, smjela) may – in Ekavian form smeti – has an additional meaning in Serbia: dare.

The verb umjeti (umije, umio, umjela) know how – in Ekavian form umeti – is quite common in Serbia:

Umijem da plivam! I know how to swim. (Ijekavian)

Umem da plivam! (the same, Ekavian)

These verbs are specific as well:

verb	Croatian	Serbian
be silent	šutjeti / šutiti	ćutati (ćuti)
move, shift	pomicati (pomiče) ~  pomaknuti (pomakne)	pomjerati («) ~  pomjeriti pomerati («) ~  pomeriti
mention	spominjati ~¹  spomenuti (spomene)	pominjati ~¹  pomenuti (pomene)
watch, look at	promatrati («)	posmatrati («)
lose weight (perf.)	smršaviti	smršati

Some verbs have fine differences in use, which often go unnoticed; for example, there are two verbs meaning cut, one for fine, one for coarse cuts – but what is ‘fine’ is not the same in Croatia and Serbia:

tool	Croatia	Serbia
knife	rezati (reže)	rezati (reže)
scissors		seći (seče, sekao, sekla)
axe	sjeći (siječe, sjekao, sjekla)

So, in Croatia, people use rezati (reže) for trimming fingernails and cutting paper – both normally done with scissors – while in Serbia, a different verb is used.

This verb pair has a subtle difference:

završavati («) ~ završiti («) finish

It can be used simply with a subject in N, and without any objects in Croatia, but in such use, se² is required in Serbia:

Utakmica je završila. The game has ended. (in sports)

Utakmica se završila. (the same meaning, in Serbia)

Grammar and other differences

Adverbs puno/jako vs. mnogo are characteristic in meaning a lot, very. Of course, vrlo can be used as well, but it’s not used in speech much. The use of these adverbs is different in Croatia and Serbia:

Puno hvala! Thanks a lot. (Croatia, Serbia)

Mnogo hvala! Thanks a lot. (mostly Serbia)

Jako sam umorna. I’m very tired. (common in Croatia)

Mnogo sam umorna. I’m very tired. (common in Serbia)

Vrlo sam umorna. I’m very tired. (both languages, more formal)

Observe that mnogo is normally used in both Croatian and Serbian meaning much before comparatives: mnogo veći much bigger. This is a subtle difference.

There some often-used nicknames for men in Serbia ending in -a: Pera (from Petar), Vlada (from Vladimir and similar), Brana (from Branislav), etc., all behaving as any name ending in -a. They are quite rare in Croatia, where forms Pero, Vlado, etc. are preferred.

A famous difference is preference for da + present instead of infinitives in Serbia. Using infinitives in Serbia is not ungrammatical, but they are simply rarely used (especially in speech); these results are from Google™, in thousands (try yourself similar expressions):

form	Croatia (.hr)	Bosnia (.ba)	Serbia (.rs)
Želim da kažem	0.2	54	116
Želim reći	74	51	10
Želim da idem	0	24	45
Želim ići	12	4	0.3

As usual, Bosnia (which includes Ijekavian Serbian in parts of Bosnia) is somewhere in between.

Another difference is in the ‘can’t be bothered to’ construction, where different verbs and cases are used:

Ne da mi se... (Croatian)

Mrzi me... (Serbian)

Montenegrin

Montengrin uses more or less the same vocabulary and spelling conventions as Serbian, but only the Ijekavian variant. It uses few specific forms, like nijesmo vs. Croatian/Serbian nismo we aren’t. Words having sequences dj in Croatian often have đ in Montenegrin:

word	Croatian	Montenegrin
where	gdje	đe
nowhere	nigdje	niđe
girl	djevojka	đevojka

Recently the Montenegrin alphabet introduced two additional letters: ś and ź (there are Cyrillic versions as well) for specific consonants heard in speech there – but they are rarely used in real life.

It has been observed that Montenegrin public media have recently started to use more Croatian forms than before.

Bosnian

Bosnian (or: Bosniak, there’s a dispute over name – there are disputes about almost everything) uses only Latin script and Ijekavian. Two spelling differences (e.g. Njujork and imaću) are used sometimes in Bosnian, but it seems that Croatian versions occasionally prevail (New York, imat ću). Standard Bosnian sometimes freely mixes Croatian and Serbian terms, so both tisuća and hiljada 1000 seem acceptable.

Since Bosnian is a standard used by Bosniaks who are predominantly Muslim, there are lot of oriental and Islamic terms. Sound h is always retained, even when not in Croatian (one example is lahko easy vs Croatian lako; of course, lahko exists in some dialects in Croatia too, but it’s not standard). There are some specific terms, e.g. daidža uncle (Croatian ujak).

Bosnia-Herzegovina is today officially tri-lingual, as evidenced by this warning on a box of cigarettes that displays three identical sentences (the first one is just in Cyrillic; I have taken a photo of an actual box):

Fingernails are cut by rezati (reže) in Bosnia, but the verb sjeći (siječe, sjekao, sjekla) is sometimes used too.

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