Bosnian Language Guide

Official language in
Bosnia & Herzegovina
Script
Latin, Cyrillic

Where it's spoken

Bosnian is named among the official languages in the constitution of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which lists the Bosnian language, the Croat language and the Serb language. The constitution of Republika Srpska names the language of the Serb people, the language of the Bosniak people and the language of the Croat people as its official languages. A reference grammar likewise describes Bosnian, together with Croatian and Serbian, as functioning as an official language in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

The same grammar says that there are a few vocabulary items specifically Bosnian, but that in the majority of cases Bosnian uses both the Serbian and the Croatian words interchangeably. Example: the note on this app's card "Molim vas, pokažite pasoš" ("Please show your passport") says that Bosnian uses pasoš where Croatian uses putovnica.

Sources

Script & pronunciation

The Bosnian orthography states that two scripts are in use in the language today, Latin and Cyrillic, and that the Latin script is used much more often. This app's Bosnian cards are written only in Latin letters and have no separate romanization field.

The Latin alphabet writes three sounds with two characters each: dž, lj and nj. The orthography says each of these digraphs is read as one sound, and notes that in some compound and foreign words d and ž, or n and j, stand next to each other and are read as two sounds. Example: this app's card "Jako ste ljubazni" ("You are very kind") contains lj in ljubazni.

The orthography writes the sound h in a long list of words, among them kahva, hljeb, hiljada and historija. Example: this app's card "Bosanska kahva" ("Bosnian coffee") notes that kahva is the traditional form of kafa and names this particular coffee.

The reference grammar says that standard Bosnian uses only the ijekavian pronunciation, in which a frequent sound is spoken and written je or ije where the ekavian pronunciation has e. Example: the note on this app's card "Za dvije osobe" ("For two people") says that the feminine "two" is dvije, not ekavian dve.

Sources

Grammar essentials

A yes-no question can use the particle li after the verb, or can begin with da li. The reference grammar's usage labels mark je li and možemo li as Croatian and Bosnian, and da li je and da li možemo as Serbian and Bosnian, so both patterns are marked as occurring in Bosnian. Examples: this app's card "Govorite li engleski?" ("Do you speak English?") puts li after the verb, and its card "Da li cijena uključuje doručak?" ("Is breakfast included?") begins with Da li.

After a verb of wanting, a da-clause with a present-tense verb can stand where an infinitive is also possible. The grammar's labels mark želiš da radiš as Serbian and Bosnian and želiš raditi as Croatian and Bosnian. Example: this app's card "Želim da podignem novac." ("I'd like to withdraw money.") uses želim followed by da and a present-tense verb.

After the numbers 2, 3 and 4 the noun takes the counting form, which is similar to the genitive singular but not identical with it, and after 5 through 10 it takes the genitive plural. Example: this app's card "Za dvije osobe" ("For two people") puts osobe after dvije.

Sources

Politeness & etiquette

The Bosnian orthography lets a writer choose a capital or a lowercase initial for the second-person pronouns and possessives (ti, Ti, tvoj, Tvoj; vi, Vi, vaš, Vaš) when addressing one person, and says that vi and vaš are written with a lowercase initial when addressing an institution or a larger number of people. This app's cards write the polite forms in lowercase, as in "Molim vas, pokažite pasoš" ("Please show your passport").

Example: this app's card "Vi" ("You (polite)") notes that the polite "Vi" shares its form with the plural, and its card "Jako ste ljubazni" ("You are very kind") notes that with the polite vi the adjective takes the plural form.

Sources

Browse all TravelPhrases languages