č / ć
The Sounds Č and Ć
Standard Croatian spelling distinguishes č and ć. Keep the correct letter even when two speakers pronounce them similarly.
How It Works
Learn č and ć together with actual words. Compare čaj with kuća: the first uses č and the second uses ć. The spelling cannot always be recovered from a local pronunciation, because regional speech may weaken or merge the distinction.
Some word families provide clues. The word noć keeps ć in noćni. Other changes create a different consonant, so a shared meaning is not permission to copy the same letter into every related word.
Listen to a clearly pronounced example and practise it slowly. You do not need to judge a speaker’s dialect to spell a word correctly. In this course, examples preserve the standard written distinction.
Examples (3)
- Čaj je topao.
The tea is warm.
Čaj begins with č.
- Kuća je blizu.
The house is nearby.
Kuća contains ć.
- Noć je mirna.
The night is peaceful.
Noć ends in ć; the sound is part of the word.
How It Connects
Learn This First
Identify the relevant letters in the alphabet before studying the sound contrast or digraph.
Related Patterns
Practice č / ć in Bubblegum
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