Read Cyrillic
The Serbian azbuka
Serbian Cyrillic has 30 letters, each mapping 1:1 to a Latin letter, with no silent letters. Learn the shapes here, then test yourself with the recognition drill.
Practise recognition
A Cyrillic letter appears. Pick its Latin sound, or use keys 1-4.
All 30 letters
/a/ · авион (airplane)
Same as Latin A — says 'ah'.
/b/ · баба (grandmother)
Says B. (Don't confuse with В, which is V.)
/ʋ/ · вода (water)
Looks like Latin B, but says V — Вода = voda.
/ɡ/ · глава (head)
A corner like Greek Γ — always a hard G.
/d/ · дан (day)
Says D. The lowercase д can look like a little 'g'.
/dʑ/ · ђак (pupil)
A soft 'dj' — the palatal, gentler pair of Џ, said with the tongue against the hard palate.
/e/ · екран (screen)
Same shape as Latin E — says 'eh'.
/ʒ/ · жена (woman)
Says 'zh' — like the 's' in 'measure'.
/z/ · зуб (tooth)
Shaped like a 3, buzzes like a Z.
/i/ · игра (game)
A backwards N, but says 'ee'.
/j/ · јабука (apple)
Latin J's twin — says 'y' as in 'yes'.
/k/ · књига (book)
Same as Latin K.
/l/ · лав (lion)
Says L.
/ʎ/ · љубав (love)
'ly' glued together — as in 'million'.
/m/ · мама (mom)
Same as Latin M.
/n/ · нос (nose)
Looks like Latin H, but says N.
/ɲ/ · њива (field)
'ny' glued together — as in 'canyon'.
/o/ · око (eye)
Same as Latin O.
/p/ · пас (dog)
A doorway (Greek Π) — says P.
/r/ · риба (fish)
Looks like Latin P, but rolls an R.
/s/ · сунце (sun)
Looks like Latin C, but hisses like S.
/t/ · трава (grass)
Same as Latin T.
/tɕ/ · ћерка (daughter)
A soft 'tch' — lighter than Ч.
/u/ · уво (ear)
Looks like Latin y, but says 'oo'.
/f/ · филм (film)
Says F.
/x/ · хлеб (bread)
Looks exactly like Latin X, but is a raspy /h/ from the back of the throat — the ch in 'loch' or 'Bach', not English 'h'.
/ts/ · цвет (flower)
Says 'ts' — as in 'cats'.
/tʃ/ · чај (tea)
Says 'ch' — as in 'church'.
/dʒ/ · џеп (pocket)
A hard 'j' — as in 'jungle'.
/ʃ/ · шума (forest)
Says 'sh' — as in 'shoe'.