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Serbian

Serbian Language (српски језик / srpski jezik)

Overview

Serbian (Serbian: српски језик, srpski jezik) is a South Slavic language belonging to the Indo-European language family. It is primarily spoken in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia, and among Serbian diaspora communities across the world. Serbian is one of the standardized varieties of the pluricentric Serbo-Croatian language, alongside Croatian, Bosnian, and Montenegrin.

Serbian holds official status in Serbia, Kosovo (de facto), and is one of the official languages of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is notable for being digraphic, meaning it is written in both the Cyrillic and Latin alphabets, which are used interchangeably and equally in official contexts.

Linguistic Classification

  • Family: Indo-European

  • Branch: Balto-Slavic

  • Group: Slavic

  • Subgroup: South Slavic → Western South Slavic

  • Standard Varieties: Eastern Herzegovinian dialect (basis of Standard Serbian)

Serbian is mutually intelligible with Croatian, Bosnian, and Montenegrin, with differences largely lexical and orthographic rather than grammatical. Mutual intelligibility with other South Slavic languages like Slovene and Macedonian is partial, while intelligibility with Bulgarian is lower, though there are strong structural similarities.

To read more about the Bosnian language, click on here.

To read more about the Croatian language, click on here.

Origins and Historical Development

The Serbian language developed from the Common Slavic spoken by the South Slavs who settled in the Balkans during the 6th and 7th centuries. By the 10th century, Old Church Slavonic, particularly the Serbian recension, became the liturgical language.

The medieval period saw the emergence of a written Serbian vernacular in documents such as Miroslav’s Gospel (late 12th century). During Ottoman rule (15th–19th centuries), the language incorporated numerous Turkish and Oriental loanwords.

The modern literary Serbian language was standardized in the 19th century by Vuk Stefanović Karadžić, who reformed the alphabet and codified the grammar and orthography based on the Eastern Herzegovinian dialect. His maxim, “Write as you speak, read as it is written” (Пиши као што говориш, читај како је написано), remains a guiding principle.

Geographic Distribution and Demographics

Serbian is spoken by approximately 9–10 million native speakers, primarily in:

  • Serbia (majority language)

  • Bosnia and Herzegovina (especially in Republika Srpska)

  • Montenegro

  • Croatia (notably in Vojvodina and minority communities)

  • Kosovo

  • Diaspora communities in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, United States, Canada, and Australia.

Dialects

Serbian dialects belong to the Štokavian group of South Slavic dialects, named after the word što (“what”). Major dialectal varieties include:

  • Šumadija–Vojvodina (basis of Standard Serbian)

  • Eastern Herzegovinian (basis of Standard Serbian and Croatian)

  • Torlakian (transitional dialect between Serbian, Macedonian, and Bulgarian)

  • Old Shtokavian and Kosovo–Resava dialects

The main dialectal distinctions are between Ekavian, Ijekavian, and Ikavian pronunciations, referring to the reflex of the historical jat vowel (Ѣ).

  • mleko (“milk”) — Ekavian

  • mlijeko — Ijekavian

  • mliko — Ikavian

Standard Serbian allows both Ekavian and Ijekavian varieties.

Famous Works and Literature

Serbian literature boasts a rich tradition, from medieval chronicles to modernist prose.
Notable works include:

  • Miroslav’s Gospel (Мирослављево јеванђеље, 12th c.), an illuminated manuscript and a UNESCO treasure.

  • The Mountain Wreath (Горски вијенац, 1847) by Petar II Petrović-Njegoš, a cornerstone of Serbian and South Slavic literature.

  • Dictionary of the Serbian Language by Vuk Karadžić, pivotal in standardization.

  • Modern classics include the works of Ivo Andrić (Nobel Laureate, 1961), especially The Bridge on the Drina (На Дрини ћуприја).

  • Contemporary authors include Danilo Kiš, Milorad Pavić, and David Albahari.

Grammar

Overview

Serbian grammar is highly inflectional, featuring:

  • Seven grammatical cases (nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, vocative, instrumental, locative)

  • Three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter)

  • Two numbers (singular and plural)

  • Aspect (perfective vs. imperfective verbs)

  • Free word order, though SVO (Subject–Verb–Object) is most common.

Articles

Serbian does not have definite or indefinite articles, unlike English. Definiteness is expressed through context, word order, or demonstratives.

Example:

  • Имам књигу. (Imam knjigu.) — “I have a book.”

  • Књига је на столу. (Knjiga je na stolu.) — “The book is on the table.”

Demonstrative Pronouns

English Masculine Feminine Neuter
this овај (ovaj) ова (ova) ово (ovo)
that тај (taj) та (ta) то (to)
that (far) онај (onaj) она (ona) оно (ono)

Example:
Овај човек је учитељ. — “This man is a teacher.”
Оно дете трчи. — “That (far) child is running.”

Relative Pronouns

The main relative pronoun is који (koji, “which/who”).
It declines for gender, number, and case.

Example:
Човек који чита је мој брат. — “The man who is reading is my brother.”

Verb Tenses

Serbian verbs conjugate for person, number, tense, and aspect. The main tenses in modern usage are:

Tense Name (Serbian) Example (verb писати “to write”) English Equivalent
Present садашње време пишем I write
Future I будуће време I пisaću I will write
Future II будуће време II будем писао If I (should) write
Perfect перфекат сам писао I have written / I wrote
Pluperfect плюсквамперфекат бејах писао I had written
Aorist аорист писах I wrote (simple past, literary)
Imperfect имперфекат писијах I was writing (archaic)

Verb Conjugation Example

Verb: писати (“to write”) — imperfective aspect

Person Singular Plural
1st пишем пишемо
2nd пишеш пишете
3rd пише пишу

 

Bosniaks
An article on the Bosnian language, to read in full click on this link.

Syntax

The typical word order is Subject–Verb–Object, but it can vary for emphasis or stylistic reasons.

  • Ја волим музику. — “I love music.”

  • Музику волим ја. — “It is I who love music.” (emphatic)

Negation is formed with не before the verb:

  • Не знам. — “I don’t know.”
    Questions are formed by intonation or inversion:

  • Знаш ли? — “Do you know?”

Phonology

Serbian phonology features 30 phonemes: 5 vowels and 25 consonants.
The phonemic principle is nearly perfect — each sound corresponds to one letter.

Vowels:

a, e, i, o, u — all short or long, distinguished by quantity rather than quality.

Notable Consonants:

č, ć, dž, đ, š, ž, nj, lj, j — unique to the South Slavic phonetic system.

Example:

  • Љубав (ljubav) — “love”

  • Ђак (đak) — “pupil, student”

  • Живот (život) — “life”

Vocabulary

The Serbian lexicon is primarily Slavic in origin, with historical borrowings from Turkish, German, Hungarian, Greek, Russian, and English.
Example word sets:

English Serbian (Cyrillic) Serbian (Latin)
book књига knjiga
house кућа kuća
love љубав ljubav
man човек čovek
woman жена žena

Example Sentences

  1. Моје име је Ана. — “My name is Ana.”

  2. Живим у Београду. — “I live in Belgrade.”

  3. Да ли говориш српски? — “Do you speak Serbian?”

  4. Волим да читам књиге. — “I like to read books.”

Conclusion

Serbian is a linguistically rich and historically significant member of the South Slavic branch of the Indo-European family. Its dual-script tradition, inflectional grammar, and expressive literature have made it one of the most versatile and culturally important languages of the Balkans.

A video on the Serbian and Croatian languages.

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