Editing Serbo-Croatian (section)

=== Consonants ===
The [[consonant]] system is more complicated, and its characteristic features are series of [[affricate]] and [[Palatal consonant|palatal]] consonants. As in English, [[voice (phonetics)|voice]] is [[phoneme|phonemic]], but [[aspiration (phonetics)|aspiration]] is not.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! '''Latin script'''
! '''Cyrillic script'''
! '''[[help:IPA|IPA]]'''
! '''Description{{Sfn | Kordić | 2006 | p = 5}}'''
! '''English approximation'''
|-
! colspan="6" | [[Trill consonant|trill]]
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| '''r'''
| style="text-align:center;"| '''р'''
| style="text-align:center;"| {{IPAslink|r}}
| [[alveolar trill]]
| rolled (vibrating) '''r''' as in ''ca'''rr'''amba''
|-
! colspan="6" | [[approximants]]
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| '''v'''
| style="text-align:center;"| '''в'''
| style="text-align:center;"| {{IPAslink|ʋ}}
| [[labiodental approximant]]
| roughly between '''''v'''ortex'' and '''''w'''ar''
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| '''j'''
| style="text-align:center;"| '''ј'''
| style="text-align:center;"| {{IPAslink|j}}
| [[palatal approximant]]
| '''''y'''ear''
|-
! colspan="6" | [[Lateral consonant|laterals]]
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| '''l'''
| style="text-align:center;"| '''л'''
| style="text-align:center;"| {{IPAslink|l}}
| [[alveolar lateral approximant]]
| '''''l'''ight''
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| '''lj'''
| style="text-align:center;"| '''љ'''
| style="text-align:center;"| {{IPAslink|ʎ}}
| [[palatal lateral approximant]]
| roughly ''batta'''li'''on''
|-
! colspan="6" | [[Nasal stop|nasals]]
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| '''m'''
| style="text-align:center;"| '''м'''
| style="text-align:center;"| {{IPAslink|m}}
| [[bilabial nasal]]
| '''''m'''an''
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| '''n'''
| style="text-align:center;"| '''н'''
| style="text-align:center;"| {{IPAslink|n}}
| [[alveolar nasal]]
| '''''n'''ot''
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| '''nj'''
| style="text-align:center;"| '''њ'''
| style="text-align:center;"| {{IPAslink|ɲ}}
| [[palatal nasal]]
| British '''''n'''ews'' or American ''ca'''ny'''on''
|-
! colspan="6" | [[fricatives]]
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| '''f'''
| style="text-align:center;"| '''ф'''
| style="text-align:center;"| {{IPAslink|f}}
| [[voiceless labiodental fricative]]
| '''''f'''ive''
|-
| style="text-align:center;" | '''z'''
| style="text-align:center;" | '''з'''
| style="text-align:center;" | {{IPAslink|z}}
| [[voiced dental sibilant]]
| '''''z'''ero''
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| '''s'''
| style="text-align:center;"| '''с'''
| style="text-align:center;"| {{IPAslink|s}}
| [[voiceless dental sibilant]]
| '''''s'''ome''
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| '''ž'''
| style="text-align:center;"| '''ж'''
| style="text-align:center;"| {{IPAslink|ʒ}}
| [[voiced postalveolar fricative]]
| ''televi'''si'''on''
|-
| style="text-align:center;" | '''š'''
| style="text-align:center;" | '''ш'''
| style="text-align:center;" | {{IPAslink|ʃ}}
| [[voiceless postalveolar fricative]]
| '''''sh'''arp''
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| '''h'''
| style="text-align:center;"| '''х'''
| style="text-align:center;"| {{IPAslink|x}}
| [[voiceless velar fricative]]
| ''lo'''ch'''''
|-
! colspan="6" | [[affricates]]
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| '''c'''
| style="text-align:center;"| '''ц'''
| style="text-align:center;"| {{IPAslink|t͡s}}
| [[voiceless dental affricate]]
| ''po'''ts'''''
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| '''dž'''
| style="text-align:center;"| '''џ'''
| style="text-align:center;"| {{IPAslink|d͡ʒ}}
| [[voiced postalveolar affricate]]
| as English '''''j'''am''
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| '''č'''
| style="text-align:center;"| '''ч'''
| style="text-align:center;"| {{IPAslink|t͡ʃ}}
| [[voiceless postalveolar affricate]]
| as English '''''ch'''eck''
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| '''đ'''
| style="text-align:center;"| '''ђ'''
| style="text-align:center;"| {{IPAslink|d͡ʑ}}
| [[voiced alveolo-palatal affricate]]
| roughly '''''j'''eans''
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| '''ć'''
| style="text-align:center;"| '''ћ'''
| style="text-align:center;"| {{IPAslink|t͡ɕ}}
| [[voiceless alveolo-palatal affricate]]
| roughly '''''ch'''eese''
|-
! colspan="6" | [[plosives]]
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| '''b'''
| style="text-align:center;"| '''б'''
| style="text-align:center;"| {{IPAslink|b}}
| [[voiced bilabial plosive]]
| '''''b'''ook''
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| '''p'''
| style="text-align:center;"| '''п'''
| style="text-align:center;"| {{IPAslink|p}}
| [[voiceless bilabial plosive]]
| ''to'''p'''''
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| '''d'''
| style="text-align:center;"| '''д'''
| style="text-align:center;"| {{IPAslink|d}}
| [[voiced dental plosive]]
| '''''d'''og''
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| '''t'''
| style="text-align:center;"| '''т'''
| style="text-align:center;"| {{IPAslink|t}}
| [[voiceless dental plosive]]
| ''s'''t'''op''
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| '''g'''
| style="text-align:center;"| '''г'''
| style="text-align:center;"| {{IPAslink|ɡ}}
| [[voiced velar plosive]]
| '''''g'''ood''
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| '''k'''
| style="text-align:center;"| '''к'''
| style="text-align:center;"| {{IPAslink|k}}
| [[voiceless velar plosive]]
| ''du'''ck'''''
|}

In [[consonant cluster]]s all consonants are either voiced or voiceless. All the consonants are voiced if the last consonant is normally voiced or voiceless if the last consonant is normally voiceless. This rule does not apply to [[approximant]]s{{spaced ndash}}a consonant cluster may contain voiced approximants and voiceless consonants; as well as to foreign words (''Washington'' would be transcribed as ''VašinGton''), personal names and when consonants are not inside of one syllable.

{{IPA|/r/}} can be syllabic, playing the role of the syllable nucleus in certain words (occasionally, it can even have a long accent). For example, the [[tongue-twister]] ''navrh brda vrba mrda'' involves four words with syllabic {{IPA|/r/}}. A similar feature exists in [[Czech language|Czech]], [[Slovak language|Slovak]], and [[Macedonian language|Macedonian]]. Very rarely other sonorants can be syllabic, like {{IPA|/l/}} (in ''bicikl''), {{IPA|/ʎ/}} (surname ''Štarklj''), {{IPA|/n/}} (unit ''njutn''), as well as {{IPA|/m/}} and {{IPA|/ɲ/}} in [[slang]].{{Citation needed|date=April 2010}}