The Dark L

Level 1Sounds Like temno l

Dark л: мал, лук, сол. Light л before е, и, ј: лето, лист. Soft љ: љубов.

How It Works

Dark л comes before а, о and у, before a consonant, and at the end of a word: мал (small), лук (onion), сол (salt), бела (white), молам (please).

Light л comes before е, и and ј: лето (summer), лист (leaf), лице (face). Notice that пријател (friend) ends with a dark л, but the plural пријатели has a light one.

Where љ comes in: before а, о and у, л is dark, so a soft l there needs its own letter, љ, as in љубов (love). It sounds like the light л of лето, or a little softer, and it keeps words apart: бела (white) and беља (trouble). Before е, и and ј, write л, never љ.

Tip: if your л sounds too light before а, о and у, listeners may hear љ. Keep it dark and round there.

Examples (5)

  1. Кучето е мало.

    The dog is small.

    Мало has a dark л before о.

  2. Купи лук и сол.

    Buy onions and salt.

    Both лук and сол have a dark л.

  3. Летото е топло.

    Summer is warm.

    Лето has a light л before е; топло has a dark one before о.

  4. Имам многу пријатели.

    I have many friends.

    The л in пријатели is light because и follows.

  5. Масата е бела.

    The table is white.

    Бела has a dark л. With љ, беља would mean trouble.

Common Mistakes

  • Writing л for the soft sound in words like love.

    Тоа е голема лубов.
    Тоа е голема љубов.

    Љубов needs the soft letter љ. Лубов is not a word.

  • Writing љ before и or е because л sounds light there.

    Имам многу пријатељи.
    Имам многу пријатели.

    Before е, и and ј, the light l is always written л. Пријатељи is the Serbian spelling.

How It Connects

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

The Dark LLevel 1

Learn This First

Reading л well needs the difference between л and љ.