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;"| /{{IPA link|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;"| /{{IPA link|ʋ}}/
| [[labiodental approximant]]
| roughly between '''''v'''ortex'' and '''''w'''ar''
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| '''j'''
| style="text-align:center;"| '''ј'''
| style="text-align:center;"| /{{IPA link|j}}/
| [[palatal approximant]]
| '''''y'''ear''
|-
! colspan="6" | [[Lateral consonant|laterals]]
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| '''l'''
| style="text-align:center;"| '''л'''
| style="text-align:center;"| /{{IPA link|l}}/
| [[alveolar lateral approximant]]
| '''''l'''ight''
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| '''lj'''
| style="text-align:center;"| '''љ'''
| style="text-align:center;"| /{{IPA link|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;"| /{{IPA link|m}}/
| [[bilabial nasal]]
| '''''m'''an''
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| '''n'''
| style="text-align:center;"| '''н'''
| style="text-align:center;"| /{{IPA link|n}}/
| [[alveolar nasal]]
| '''''n'''ot''
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| '''nj'''
| style="text-align:center;"| '''њ'''
| style="text-align:center;"| /{{IPA link|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;"| /{{IPA link|f}}/
| [[voiceless labiodental fricative]]
| '''''f'''ive''
|-
| style="text-align:center;" | '''z'''
| style="text-align:center;" | '''з'''
| style="text-align:center;" | /{{IPA link|z}}/
| [[voiced dental sibilant]]
| '''''z'''ero''
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| '''s'''
| style="text-align:center;"| '''с'''
| style="text-align:center;"| /{{IPA link|s}}/
| [[voiceless dental sibilant]]
| '''''s'''ome''
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| '''ž'''
| style="text-align:center;"| '''ж'''
| style="text-align:center;"| /{{IPA link|ʒ}}/
| [[voiced postalveolar fricative]]
| ''televi'''si'''on''
|-
| style="text-align:center;" | '''š'''
| style="text-align:center;" | '''ш'''
| style="text-align:center;" | /{{IPA link|ʃ}}/
| [[voiceless postalveolar fricative]]
| '''''sh'''arp''
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| '''h'''
| style="text-align:center;"| '''х'''
| style="text-align:center;"| /{{IPA link|x}}/
| [[voiceless velar fricative]]
| ''lo'''ch'''''
|-
! colspan="6" | [[affricates]]
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| '''c'''
| style="text-align:center;"| '''ц'''
| style="text-align:center;"| /{{IPA link|t͡s}}/
| [[voiceless dental affricate]]
| ''po'''ts'''''
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| '''dž'''
| style="text-align:center;"| '''џ'''
| style="text-align:center;"| /{{IPA link|d͡ʒ}}/
| [[voiced postalveolar affricate]]
| as English '''''j'''am''
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| '''č'''
| style="text-align:center;"| '''ч'''
| style="text-align:center;"| /{{IPA link|t͡ʃ}}/
| [[voiceless postalveolar affricate]]
| as English '''''ch'''eck''
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| '''đ'''
| style="text-align:center;"| '''ђ'''
| style="text-align:center;"| /{{IPA link|d͡ʑ}}/
| [[voiced alveolo-palatal affricate]]
| roughly '''''j'''eans''
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| '''ć'''
| style="text-align:center;"| '''ћ'''
| style="text-align:center;"| /{{IPA link|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;"| /{{IPA link|b}}/
| [[voiced bilabial plosive]]
| '''''b'''ook''
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| '''p'''
| style="text-align:center;"| '''п'''
| style="text-align:center;"| /{{IPA link|p}}/
| [[voiceless bilabial plosive]]
| ''to'''p'''''
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| '''d'''
| style="text-align:center;"| '''д'''
| style="text-align:center;"| /{{IPA link|d}}/
| [[voiced dental plosive]]
| '''''d'''og''
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| '''t'''
| style="text-align:center;"| '''т'''
| style="text-align:center;"| /{{IPA link|t}}/
| [[voiceless dental plosive]]
| ''s'''t'''op''
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| '''g'''
| style="text-align:center;"| '''г'''
| style="text-align:center;"| /{{IPA link|ɡ}}/
| [[voiced velar plosive]]
| '''''g'''ood''
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| '''k'''
| style="text-align:center;"| '''к'''
| style="text-align:center;"| /{{IPA link|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}}