Script guide › Latin
How to recognize Croatian
Croatian is one of 35 languages in Grafle's Latin group. Here's what it looks like, where you'll see it on signs, and how to tell it apart from its lookalikes.
Spot it fast
- Uses ć and the crossed đ alongside č/ž — but no Polish ł/ą or Czech ř/ů.
- The acute ć is the tell for Croatian (or Bosnian/Serbian Latin); Slovene never uses it.
What Croatian looks like
Sva ljudska bića rađaju se slobodna i jednaka.
Bok! Doći ću sutra navečer, može?
Tko rano rani, dvije sreće grabi.
Latin scripts: The alphabet you're reading now. Each language gives itself away by its own special letters and accent marks.
Where you'll see it on signs
- Croatia
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
Easy to confuse with
- Slovene — Slovene sticks to plain č, š, ž. The extra letters ć and đ mean Croatian (or Bosnian/Serbian Latin). Word tell: school is šola in Slovene, škola in Croatian.
- Czech — Croatian has ć and đ but never Czech's ř, ě or ů.
- Slovak — Croatian has ć/đ; Slovak has ľ and ô. Both use č/š/ž.