Latin and Cyrillic

Foundations

Both alphabets are official in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Everyday Bosnian writing is mostly in Latin.

How It Works

Bosnian can be written in the Latin alphabet (latinica) or the Cyrillic alphabet (ćirilica). Both are official. In daily life, most Bosnian text is in Latin letters: phone messages, food menus, shop signs, newspapers and websites such as Klix.ba.

The two alphabets match each other letter for letter. Every Latin letter has one Cyrillic partner, and the spelling does not change anything else. For example, kafa in Latin is the same word as кафа in Cyrillic. Letters with a small mark or a stroke, like č, š, ž, ć, đ, are single letters. Three pairs, lj, nj, dž, are written with two Latin signs but are one sound each.

Some signs and older books use Cyrillic, and some families use it more than others. You can read Bosnian well without it. This course writes every word in Latin with all its marks, so type š and č and do not replace them with plain s and c.

Examples (4)

  1. Ovo je kafa.

    This is coffee.

    Written in Latin letters, as in this course.

  2. Pišem poruku Emini.

    I am writing Emina a message.

    Phone messages are almost always in Latin letters.

  3. Jelovnik je na latinici.

    The menu is in Latin letters.

    Latinica is the Bosnian word for the Latin alphabet.

  4. Znak je na ćirilici.

    The sign is in Cyrillic.

    Ćirilica is the Cyrillic alphabet.

Common Mistakes

  • Replacing letters with marks by plain ones.

    Zelim cevape.
    Želim ćevape.

    Latin Bosnian keeps its marks. Zelim is not the spelling of želim, and the marks change the sound.

How It Connects

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

Latin and CyrillicFoundations

Learn This First

The two scripts are one of the choices the course variety makes.

Words in This Pattern

latinicaćirilica