Let's practise pronunciation of the Serbian letters "lj" and "nj". In the video you'll be able to see their counterparts in the Cyrillic script. Try to listen and repeat:
Two Latin letters produce one Serbian sound
Lj and nj are digraphs in Serbian Latin script: each pair represents one consonant and corresponds to one Cyrillic letter, љ or њ. Do not pronounce an independent l followed by j in ljudi, or n followed by j in njegov.
Start with a clear vowel on both sides—lja, lje, nja, nje—then move into whole words. Keep airflow smooth and avoid inserting an extra vowel between the consonant and the following sound.
The middle of the word reveals whether the tongue slipped
| Latinica | Ћирилица | English |
|---|---|---|
| Ljiljana zaliva bosiljak na balkonu. | Љиљана залива босиљак на балкону. | Ljiljana waters basil on the balcony. |
| Njegov konj mirno čeka pored ograde. | Његов коњ мирно чека поред ограде. | His horse waits calmly beside the fence. |
| Letnja haljina visi na gornjoj vešalici. | Летња хаљина виси на горњој вешалици. | The summer dress hangs on the upper hanger. |
| Udaljeno zvono najavljuje nedeljno jutro. | Удаљено звоно најављује недељно јутро. | A distant bell announces Sunday morning. |
| Najljubazniji putnik pomaže starijoj gospođi. | Најљубазнији путник помаже старијој госпођи. | The kindest passenger helps an elderly lady. |
Build a ladder from syllable to sentence
Underline every lj and circle every nj in the examples. Read only the marked syllables, then the words, and finally each entire sentence without breaking the digraph apart.
- Cyrillic counterpart of lj?
- Write njegov konj in Cyrillic.
- How many consonant sounds does nj represent?
- Which target digraph appears in najljubazniji?
- Translate letnja haljina.
Љ and њ leave the page as complete consonants
- љ
- његов коњ
- one
- lj
- summer dress
Record Ljiljana and njegov three times inside different sentences. A clean sound in isolation counts only when it survives the neighbouring words.
Marina Petrović