The Croatian Alphabet - Vowels, Consonants, Diacritics & more

Q: How many letters are in the Croatian alphabet?

The Croatian alphabet has 30 letters in total [1] . This includes 5 vowels and 25 consonants, with several letters featuring distinctive diacritical marks.

Q: What are the unique features of Croatian letters?

Croatian letters have several unique characteristics : • Diacritical marks like caron (ˇ) and acute accent (´) • Special letters: Č, Ć, Dž, Đ, Lj, Nj, Š, Ž • Digraphs that represent single sounds • Each letter corresponds to one sound (phonemic orthography)

Q: What is the difference between Č and Ć in Croatian?

Great question! These two letters are different sounds : • Č - pronounced like "ch" in "church" (harder sound) • Ć - pronounced softer, more like "ty" (palatalized) • Both use diacritical marks but represent completely different sounds • Native speakers can easily distinguish between them!

Q: Where is Croatian spoken today?

Croatian is spoken in several places: • Croatia - where it's the official language • Bosnia and Herzegovina - as one of three official languages • Croatian communities worldwide in countries like Germany, Austria, USA, Canada, Australia About 4.8 million people speak Croatian as their native language [3] !

Q: Are Croatian digraphs considered single letters?

Yes! Croatian digraphs are treated as single letters : • Dž, Lj, Nj are each counted as one letter • They appear in alphabetical order in dictionaries • Each represents one sound in pronunciation • This is part of Croatian's phonemic writing system

Q: Is Croatian alphabet easy to learn?

Croatian has several learner-friendly features : • Phonemic orthography - each letter = one sound • Consistent pronunciation rules • Latin script base familiar to many learners • Once you learn the diacritics, pronunciation becomes predictable !

The Croatian alphabet consists of 30 letters, with 5 vowels and 25 consonants^[1]. Based on the Latin script with distinctive diacritical marks, it was standardized during the 19th century as part of the Illyrian movement. The vowels include A, E, I, O, U, while the consonants feature unique letters with diacritics such as Č, Ć, Dž, Đ, Lj, Nj, Š, Ž. These diacritical marks are essential for proper pronunciation and meaning. Croatian is the official language of Croatia and is spoken by approximately 4.8 million people in Croatia and Croatian communities worldwide^[3].

Croatian Vowels (Uppercase)

[A]

[E]

[I]

[O]

[U]

Croatian Vowels (Lowercase)

[a]

[e]

[i]

[o]

[u]

Croatian Consonants (Uppercase)

[B]

[C]

[Č]

[Ć]

[D]

Dž

[Dž]

[Đ]

[F]

[G]

[H]

[J]

[K]

[L]

[Lj]

[M]

[N]

[Nj]

[P]

[Q]

[R]

[S]

[Š]

[T]

[V]

[W]

[X]

[Y]

[Z]

[Ž]

Croatian Consonants (Lowercase)

[b]

[c]

[č]

[ć]

[d]

dž

[dž]

[đ]

[f]

[g]

[h]

[j]

[k]

[l]

[lj]

[m]

[n]

[nj]

[p]

[q]

[r]

[s]

[š]

[t]

[v]

[w]

[x]

[y]

[z]

[ž]

Dž

dž

Letters with Caron (Kvačica)

[c]

[C]

[s]

[S]

[z]

[Z]

Letter with Acute Accent (Akut)

[c]

[C]

Letter with Stroke (Prekriženo)

[d]

[D]

Croatian Digraphs

[lj]

[Lj]

[LJ]

[nj]

[Nj]

[NJ]

dž

[dž]

Dž

[Dž]

DŽ

[DŽ]

Common Consonant Clusters

[bl]

[br]

[cr]

čk

[čk]

[dr]

[fl]

[gl]

[gr]

[hr]

[kl]

[kr]

[pl]

[pr]

[sl]

[sm]

[sn]

[sp]

[st]

[sv]

šk

[šk]

šp

[šp]

št

[št]

[tr]

[tv]

[vl]

[vr]

[zl]

[zv]

[nula]

[jedan]

[dva]

[tri]

[četiri]

[pet]

[šest]

[sedam]

[osam]

[devet]

;

–

—

(

)

[

]

{

}

€

Expand All Collapse All

How many letters are in the Croatian alphabet?

What are the unique features of Croatian letters?

What is the difference between Č and Ć in Croatian?

Where is Croatian spoken today?

Are Croatian digraphs considered single letters?

Is Croatian alphabet easy to learn?

References:

[1] Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts. "Croatian Orthography". Retrieved from https://www.hazu.hr/
[2] Unicode Consortium. "Latin Extended-A Unicode Block (U+0100-U+017F)". Retrieved from https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U0100.pdf
[3] Croatian Bureau of Statistics. "Croatia in Figures". Retrieved from https://www.dzs.hr/