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Lesson 01
Abeceda
The Croatian alphabet
The Croatian alphabet (abeceda) has 30 letters. It is based on the Latin alphabet, with a few extra characters for sounds that English spells with letter combinations. The big advantage: every letter stands for exactly one sound. Once you know how a letter sounds, you can always pronounce a word correctly.
| Letter | Pronunciation | Example | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| A a | like the "a" in "father", but short | auto | car |
| B b | like the English b | brod | boat |
| C c | "ts", as in "cats" | cvijet | flower |
| Č č | hard "ch", as in "church" | čaj | tea |
| Ć ć | soft "ch", as in "cheese", with the tongue further forward | ćevapi | grilled minced-meat rolls |
| D d | like the English d | dan | day |
| Dž dž | hard "j", as in "jungle" | džemper | sweater |
| Đ đ | soft "dj", like the "d" in British "duke" | đak | pupil |
| E e | as in "bed" | epizoda | episode |
| F f | like the English f | film | film |
| G g | hard g, as in "go" (never soft, as in "gem") | grad | city |
| H h | like the "h" in "house", sometimes a little raspier | hvala | thank you |
| I i | like the "ee" in "see" | igra | game |
| J j | like the "y" in "yes" | jaje | egg |
| K k | like the English k | kruh | bread |
| L l | like the English l | list | leaf |
| Lj lj | smooth "ly", like the "lli" in "million" | ljeto | summer |
| M m | like the English m | more | sea |
| N n | like the English n | noć | night |
| Nj nj | like the "ny" in "canyon" (Spanish "ñ") | konj | horse |
| O o | like the "o" in "pot" | oko | eye |
| P p | like the English p | pas | dog |
| R r | rolled r, can also act as a vowel | trg | square |
| S s | sharp s, as in "sun" (never a buzzing z) | sunce | sun |
| Š š | "sh", as in "ship" | šuma | forest |
| T t | like the English t | tata | dad |
| U u | like the "oo" in "food" | uho | ear |
| V v | like the English v | voda | water |
| Z z | buzzing z, as in "zoo" | zima | winter |
| Ž ž | "zh", like the "s" in "measure" | žena | woman |
Did you know?
In Croatian the r can also act as a vowel, without a real vowel next to it. So trg (square) is pronounced "t-r-g", with the r carrying the syllable, just like the island of Krk.