Voicing assimilation in spelling

Serbian spelling follows pronunciation, and it does so even at the seams inside a word. When a prefix meets a stem, or a stem meets a suffix, the consonant at the seam often changes to fit the consonant after it — and the spelling writes the changed consonant. So pod + pisati is written potpisati (to sign), and iz + praviti is written ispraviti (to correct). You already know the prefixes; this lesson teaches you to spot them when they look different, and to write them correctly yourself.

Why the consonant changes

Many Serbian consonants come in pairs that are said with the mouth in the same position. One member of each pair is voiced — your vocal cords buzz while you say it (put a finger on your throat and say z-z-z) — and the other is voiceless, the same sound without the buzz (s-s-s). When two consonants stand side by side, the first one takes on the buzz or the lack of it from the second. Serbian then writes what you hear.

Only the consonant AFTER the seam decides. Vowels and the sounds l, lj, m, n, nj, r, j and v never cause a change, which is why izaći, iznad and odneti keep their prefix untouched. The voiceless sounds f, h and c do cause one, just like p, t and k: iz + hrana gives ishrana (nutrition).

A voiced prefix before a voiceless consonant

The prefixes od-, pod-, iz-, raz- and bez- all end in a voiced consonant. Put them before p, t, k, s, š, č, ć, f, h or c and that consonant becomes voiceless.

Seeing ot-, pot-, is-, ras- or bes- at the start of a word, read it as od-, pod-, iz-, raz- or bez-, and the meaning of the word usually opens up. You have met one such word already: otići from the verbs of motion, whose ot- is the same od-, meaning away. There the t is an old fixed spelling rather than this rule, since i is a vowel — so learn otići as it is and do not copy it onto other words.

s- before a voiced consonant

It also works the other way round. The prefix s- (together, into one heap, down) ends in a voiceless consonant, so before b, d, g or ž it turns into z.

The suffixes -ski and -stvo

The adjective suffix -ski and the noun suffix -stvo begin with voiceless s, so a voiced consonant at the end of the stem turns voiceless in front of them.

In mnoštvo and društvo the g first softens to ž before the suffix (the palatalization you met at B1), and that ž then loses its voice to become š.

Words fused from two words

Some everyday words are two old words written as one, and the same change happens at the join: iz + pod gives ispod (under), iz + pred gives ispred (in front of), od + kad gives otkad (since when), od + prilike gives otprilike (roughly).

What the spelling leaves alone

The one exception worth learning now: a d before s or š is written as d, even though you may hear it as t. So you write predsednik (president), podsetiti (to remind), odštampati (to print out), gradski (city, urban) and ljudski (human).

• pred + sednik → predsednik, not pretsednik
• pod + setiti → podsetiti, not potsetiti
• od + štampati → odštampati
• grad + -ski → gradski, ljud(i) + -ski → ljudski

When you are unsure how to write a word, look for the prefix or the stem you already know, then check the next consonant: voiced next consonant, voiced ending; voiceless next consonant, voiceless ending — unless it is a d before s or š, which stays d.