Bosnian Beside Croatian and Serbian

Foundations

Bosnian shares most of its grammar with Croatian and Serbian, but its everyday word choices and spellings are its own.

How It Works

Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian grew from the same language, and a speaker of one usually follows the others. The grammar is nearly the same. The differences are mostly in a few words and spellings.

MeaningBosnianCroatianSerbian
breadhljebkruhhleb
weeksedmicatjedannedelja or sedmica
thousandhiljadatisućahiljada
milkmlijekomlijekomleko

Many Bosnians also use kruh or vlak now and then, so a word that is not on this list is not automatically wrong. Poppy uses the Bosnian choices in every lesson, so your sentences sound natural in Sarajevo, Mostar and Tuzla.

Examples (4)

  1. Hljeb je svjež.

    The bread is fresh.

    Hljeb is the usual Bosnian word for bread.

  2. Imam hiljadu knjiga.

    I have a thousand books.

    Hiljada is the Bosnian word for a thousand.

  3. Sedmica ima sedam dana.

    A week has seven days.

    Sedmica is the everyday Bosnian word for week.

  4. Pijem mlijeko i kafu.

    I drink milk and coffee.

    The ijekavian spelling mlijeko is the Bosnian one.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

Bosnian Beside Croatian and SerbianFoundations

Learn This First

The three standards compare easily once you know Bosnian and its course variety.

Learn Next

Patterns that build on this one.

Words in This Pattern

hrvatskisrpskihljebsedmicahiljada