Ije and Je

Level 3

Bosnian is ijekavian, so you write ije or je where other standards write e or i.

How It Works

Bosnian words that have an old vowel called jat show it as ije (long) or je (short). This is why Bosnian has mlijeko, lijep and rijeka, where ekavian speakers, as in most of Serbia, write mleko, lep and reka.

Long (ije)Short (je)
lijepljepši
dijetedjeca
cvijetcvjetovi
vrijemevremena

When a word gets longer, the vowel can become short, and the spelling changes with it. After r the short jat is usually written e (vremena, bregovi from brijeg).

You do not need a perfect rule. Learn the word with one or two forms, such as lijep, ljepši, and you will remember the change. There are exceptions, so a dictionary is the final judge.

Do not write dj where Bosnian writes đ. The letters dj in djeca are two sounds, d and j.

Examples (5)

  1. Ovaj grad je lijep, ali onaj je ljepši.

    This city is pretty, but that one is prettier.

    Lijep has ije, and ljepši has je.

  2. Djeca se igraju u parku.

    The children are playing in the park.

    Djeca is the plural of dijete.

  3. Vrijeme je lijepo.

    The weather is nice.

    Vrijeme has the long ije.

  4. Nemam vremena.

    I have no time.

    Vremena is the genitive of vrijeme.

  5. Vidjela sam je jučer.

    I saw her yesterday.

    Vidjela is the feminine past of vidjeti.

Common Mistakes

  • Writing an ekavian form in Bosnian.

    Lepo vreme.
    Lijepo vrijeme.

    Bosnian uses the ijekavian forms.

  • Making the plural of dijete regular.

    dijeca
    djeca

    The plural of dijete has the short form djeca.

How It Connects

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

Ije and JeLevel 3

Learn This First

Long and short jat are ijekavian spellings.

Words in This Pattern

dugkratak