What Makes Croatian Easy to Read and Speak

Croatian is a Slavic language, which means it’s closely related to languages like Czech, Slovak, Russian, and especially Serbian. In fact, Croatian and Serbian are so similar that many people can understand each other when speaking.

But Croatian is also unique, especially because of its three main dialects. Depending on where you are in Croatia, the word “what” is said differently:

• “Što” (pronounced “shtoh”)
• “Ča” (pronounced “tscha”)
• “Kaj” (pronounced “kuy”)

Each of these words gives its name to a different dialect. People in various regions of Croatia speak these dialects, and sometimes they can sound quite different—so much so that someone from one part of the country might have trouble understanding someone from another.

These dialects have also been influenced by neighboring countries. For example:

• People who say “ča” often use words from Italian.
• People who say “kaj” may use words from German.

The Croatian Alphabet

Croatian uses 30 letters in its alphabet. It doesn’t have Q, W, X, or Y, but those letters are used when spelling foreign words, like “New York.”

Croatian does have some letters you won’t find in English:
č, ć, dž, đ, š, ž

These letters can be tricky—especially č and ć, which sound similar but are different. Croatian kids often mix them up on tests!

One thing that makes Croatian easy to read and pronounce is that each letter is always pronounced the same way, no matter where it appears in a word. Here’s how to say them:

A – like u in sun
B – like b in bed
C – like ts in bets
Č – like ch in Charles
Ć – like t in mature
D – like d in daisy
Dž – like dg in fudge
Đ – like d in schedule
E – like the first e in excellent
F – like f in flour
G – like g in go
H – like h in help
I – like ee in week
J – like y in yes
K – like k in king
L – like l in love
Lj – like li in million
M – like m in mother
N – like n in no
Nj – like ñ in señor
O – like o in opera
P – like p in parrot
R – a rolled R, like the sound of an old car engine
S – like s in sun
Š – like sh in wish
T – like t in top
U – like oo in book
V – like v in victory
Z – like z in zebra
Ž – like s in measure

Once you get the sounds right, Croatian becomes much easier to learn and speak. And if your child wants to start learning it in a fun and engaging way, Dinolingo offers colorful lessons and games to help children read and pronounce Croatian words with confidence.