A common question for anyone starting to learn Croatian is:

“If I learn Croatian, will I be able to understand people from Serbia or Bosnia?”

The short answer is yep.

When you decide to learn Croatian, you’re actually unlocking the ability to communicate with people across several countries in the Balkans.

Linguistically speaking, Croatian, Serbian, and Bosnian are part of the same language continuum (historically referred to as Serbo-Croatian). This means they’re highly mutually intelligible.

If you speak one, you’ll easily understand the others.

However, culturally and politically, they’re recognized as distinct, separate languages. While they’re very similar, there are a few important differences in how they sound, how they’re written, and the words they use.

Keep reading, and I’ll break down the main differences for you in simple terms.

Are they the same language?

To give you an easy comparison, think of the differences between American English, British English, and Australian English.

An American and an Australian can easily have a long conversation without any major issues. They might use different words for certain things (like “trunk” vs. “boot”, or “fries” vs. “chips”), and they have different accents, but they’re still speaking English.

The situation with Croatian, Serbian, and Bosnian is very similar, though the history and politics of the region make the distinction much stronger for the people who live there. You’ll understand over 90% of what a Serbian or Bosnian person says to you if you learn Croatian.

The alphabets: Latin vs. Cyrillic

The most obvious difference you’ll notice right away is how the languages are written.

• Croatian strictly uses the Latin alphabet (the same letters we use in English, plus a few special ones like č, š, and ž).
• Serbian officially uses the Cyrillic alphabet, but the Latin alphabet is also widely used in everyday life, on the internet, and in newspapers. Serbians are completely bilingual when it comes to reading both alphabets.
• Bosnian officially uses both, but in practice, the Latin alphabet is used almost all of the time.

If you’re learning Croatian, you only need to worry about the Latin alphabet!

Pronunciation: Ijekavian vs. Ekavian

A long time ago, the old Slavic language had a vowel sound called jat. As the languages evolved, different regions started pronouncing this vowel differently. This created different dialects.

• Croatian and Bosnian generally use the Ijekavian dialect. This means the old jat vowel turned into an ije or je sound.
• Serbian (for the most part) uses the Ekavian dialect. This means the old vowel simply turned into an e sound.

Here’s how this looks in practice. Notice the spelling and pronunciation difference:

Vocabulary differences

While most of the basic Croatian vocabulary is identical across all three languages, there are certain everyday words that are completely different.

Bosnian often acts as a middle ground, sometimes sharing words with Croatian, sometimes with Serbian, and occasionally having its own unique words (often borrowed from Turkish due to history).

Here’s a simple table showing some common word differences:

Grammar: infinitives vs. da + present

Grammar is almost identical, but there’s one major difference in how sentences are structured when you put two verbs together (like “I want to work” or “I need to go”).

In Croatian, you use the conjugated first verb, followed by the second verb in its infinitive (dictionary) form. This is exactly how we do it in English!

In Serbian, they prefer to use the word da (that) plus the present tense of the second verb.

In Bosnian, both ways are acceptable and used commonly.

Let’s look at the phrase “I want to work” to see the difference:

Borrowing words vs. making new ones

Another fascinating difference is how each language handles modern, international words.

Croatian language rule-makers are known as “purists.” This means they prefer to invent a brand new Slavic word rather than borrowing a foreign word.

Serbian and Bosnian, on the other hand, are much more relaxed and happily adopt international words as they are.

For example, look at the word for “airport”:

• Serbian/Bosnian: Aerodrom (borrowed from international terms)
• Croatian: Zračna luka (literally translates to “air port” using native Croatian words)

Or the word for “football” (soccer):

• Serbian/Bosnian: Fudbal
• Croatian: Nogomet (made from noga meaning leg, and met from the verb to sweep/kick)

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As you can see, Croatian, Serbian, and Bosnian have their unique flavors, rules, and histories. But at their core, they’re so incredibly similar that learning one opens the door to all three.

If you focus on Croatian, just remember:

• You’ll use the Latin alphabet.
• You’ll use ije/je sounds instead of e sounds.
• You’ll use infinitive verbs after words like “want” or “can”.
• You’ll learn some unique “purist” Croatian words.

If you accidentally use a Serbian word in Croatia, or vice versa, people will still understand exactly what you mean!