The Bosnian Language

Foundations

Bosnian is a South Slavic language with seven cases, three genders and a spelling that follows the sound.

How It Works

Bosnian belongs to the South Slavic family, next to Slovenian, Macedonian and Bulgarian. It is an official language of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and it is co-official in Montenegro. It is also spoken in the Sandžak region and in diaspora communities around the world.

Three things stand out for a learner. Nouns have seven cases, so endings carry a lot of meaning. Every noun is masculine, feminine or neuter, and there are no words for a or the. Verbs come in two aspects, one for finished actions and one for ongoing ones.

The spelling is friendly. Each letter has one main sound, so you can read a word almost as soon as you know the letters.

Bosnian has its own typical choices, such as hljeb for bread, hiljada for thousand and sedmica for week. You will meet them in every lesson.

Examples (4)

  1. Govorim bosanski.

    I speak Bosnian.

    Bosanski is the name of the language, and it stays in lowercase.

  2. Moja porodica govori bosanski.

    My family speaks Bosnian.

    Many learners grow up hearing Bosnian at home.

  3. Bosanski se piše latinicom i ćirilicom.

    Bosnian is written in Latin and Cyrillic letters.

    Both alphabets are official, and this course uses Latin.

  4. Učim bosanski u Sarajevu.

    I am learning Bosnian in Sarajevo.

    The verb učim means I learn or I study.

How It Connects

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The Bosnian LanguageFoundations

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jezik