localize-sr

Translate to Serbian (sr) — High-Fidelity Skill

Scope & Variants — CRITICAL

Serbian has TWO officially equal writing systems, mandated by Article 10 of the Serbian Constitution: Cyrillic (ћирилица) and Latin (латиница). They are NOT regional dialects or formality registers — they are alternate scripts for the same language, fully interchangeable letter-by-letter via a 1:1 mapping.

Locale	Script	Usage	Preference signal
`sr-Cyrl` / `sr` (default in many CLDR contexts)	Ћирилица (Cyrillic)	Official documents, government, schools, traditional press, religious texts, formal institutional copy	Older audiences, conservative branding, state institutions, Republika Srpska
`sr-Latn`	Latinica (Latin)	Internet, business, IT, advertising, modern UI, international-facing material	Younger audiences, tech products, web/mobile UI, globally-facing brands

Practical reality:

The Serbian government promotes Cyrillic as primary by law (2021 Law on Use of Serbian Language).
In digital products the Latin script dominates ~70-80% of real-world use because keyboards default to it and URL/email systems handle it without ambiguity.
Most software localization targets Latin first, then Cyrillic if the product needs institutional credibility.

Hard rule — NEVER mix scripts within one text (severity 3.0)

The single most-failed Serbian rule by AI translators: producing one string with both scripts. This is unambiguously wrong.

✓ Correct: Кликните на дугме „Сачувај" (all Cyrillic) ✓ Correct: Kliknite na dugme „Sačuvaj" (all Latin) ✗ Wrong: Кликните na dugme „Сачувај" (mixed — auto-fail) ✗ Wrong: Kliknite на dugme "Sačuvaj" (mixed — auto-fail)

The only exception: technical identifiers (Git, API, JSON, npm, React, URLs, placeholders {var}, file paths) stay in Latin script even inside Cyrillic text. This is the standard convention, not a violation. See "Technical identifiers" below.

When the target locale is unspecified

Always ask on first use if the user requests just "Serbian":

Serbian has two official writing systems — both equal, fully interchangeable, but never mixed within one text. Which one should I target?

Latin (sr-Latn, Recommended for software) — Dominant in IT, web, business, advertising. Default for most product UI. Modern feel.

Cyrillic (sr-Cyrl) — Officially primary per Serbian Constitution. Used in government, traditional press, schools, religious texts. Required for state-facing and institutional products.

Both (parity localization) — Some products legally require both. I'll deliver Latin + Cyrillic side-by-side.

Default to sr-Latn if no answer (software default).

Cyrillic ↔ Latin 1:1 mapping table (for self-conversion verification)

Cyrillic	Latin	Cyrillic	Latin	Cyrillic	Latin
А а	A a	К к	K k	Т т	T t
Б б	B b	Л л	L l	Ћ ћ	Ć ć
В в	V v	Љ љ	Lj lj	У у	U u
Г г	G g	М м	M m	Ф ф	F f
Д д	D d	Н н	N n	Х х	H h
Ђ ђ	Đ đ	Њ њ	Nj nj	Ц ц	C c
Е е	E e	О о	O o	Ч ч	Č č
Ж ж	Ž ž	П п	P p	Џ џ	Dž dž
З з	Z z	Р р	R r	Ш ш	Š š
И и	I i	С с	S s
Ј ј	J j

Critical: three Cyrillic digraphs (Љ Њ Џ) become TWO-letter Latin sequences (Lj Nj Dž). Case-sensitive — Љубав → Ljubav, ЉУБАВ → LJUBAV.

Diacritics are essential in Latin script — Č Ć Ž Š Đ. Replacing them with C, Z, S, Dj is a critical readability failure (crna and crna are nonsense for "crna" → blackness; but Sacuvaj for Sačuvaj is genuinely broken text, even though some legacy systems strip them).

BCMS continuum note (NOT mutual locales)

Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, and Montenegrin are mutually intelligible South Slavic varieties (collectively "BCMS"), but they are politically and orthographically distinct languages with their own ISO codes (sr / hr / bs / cnr). Do NOT treat them as variants of each other. Critical differences vs Croatian (hr):

Concept	Serbian (sr) — ekavian	Croatian (hr) — ijekavian
time	vreme	vrijeme
nice	lepo	lijepo
milk	mleko	mlijeko
child	dete	dijete
children	deca	djeca
river	reka	rijeka
world	svet	svijet
beautiful	lep	lijep

If a string contains vrijeme / lijepo / mlijeko / dijete, it is Croatian, not Serbian — flag and fix to ekavian (vreme / lepo / mleko / dete).

Other BCMS giveaways that mean "not Serbian":

tjedan (Croatian) vs nedelja (Serbian) — week
siječanj/veljača/ožujak (Croatian month names) vs januar/februar/mart (Serbian)
kruh (Croatian) vs hleb (Serbian) — bread
tisuća (Croatian) vs hiljada (Serbian) — thousand
tko (Croatian) vs ko (Serbian) — who
što (Croatian) vs šta (Serbian) — what
nogomet (Croatian) vs fudbal (Serbian) — football

Register Auto-Detection (Apply Before Translating)

Serbian formality is set by pronoun + verb-ending choice, with capitalization conventions for the formal form. Auto-detect from source:

Source signal	Target register
Casual / conversational / personal (`Hey!`, contractions, emoji, marketing voice, social)	Informal (ti) — `ti` pronoun, lowercase, 2nd-person sg. verb endings (-š), familiar imperative (`Sačuvaj`, `Klikni`). Allow short forms, allow established loanwords (`klipbord`, `link`, `imejl`).
Neutral product UI / docs / consumer software (DEFAULT)	Formal (Vi) — `Vi` capitalized for direct address, 2nd-person pl. verb endings (-te), polite imperative (`Sačuvajte`, `Kliknite`). Possessive `Vaš/Vaša/Vaše` also capitalized.
Legal / banking / government / enterprise B2B	Formal (Vi) elevated — same `Vi` form but full constructions, no contractions, prefer reflexive impersonal (`Vrši se / Obavlja se`), avoid casual loanwords (use `elektronska pošta` over `imejl` in legal text).

Hard rule: never mix levels in one text. A string with Možete da promenite (formal) and tvoja podešavanja (informal possessive) is broken.

Capitalization rule for Vi: Vi / Vaš / Vaša / Vaše / Vaši / Vam / Vas are capitalized in direct second-person address (whether you're writing to one person or many). This signals respect — failing to capitalize is read as informal even if the verb forms are formal.

Default for software UI: Vi (formal) unless brand voice is explicitly youth/casual.

Critical Hard Rules (Severity ≥ 2.0 — Auto-Fail If Wrong)

1. Script consistency — never mix Cyrillic + Latin (severity 3.0)

Documented above. The only exception is Latin technical identifiers inside Cyrillic text.

2. Word integrity — verb prefixes NEVER split (severity 3.0)

Serbian verbs with prefixes are single words. Splitting them by a space changes meaning catastrophically or produces gibberish.

✗ Wrong (split)	✓ Correct (joined)	What the split means
`pre vesti` / `пре вести`	`prevesti` / `превести`	"pre" (prefix alone) + "vesti" (news) — nonsense
`iz vršiti` / `из вршити`	`izvršiti` / `извршити`	nonsense
`pre nositi` / `пре носити`	`prenositi` / `преносити`	nonsense
`na praviti` / `направити`	nonsense
`sa čuvati` / `са чувати`	`sačuvati` / `сачувати`	nonsense
`pre uzmi` / `пре узми`	`preuzmi` / `преузми`	nonsense
`o pozovi` / `о позови`	`opozovi` / `опозови`	nonsense

Reflexive se is the OPPOSITE pattern — se is a separate clitic word, NEVER attached. prijavi se, registruj se, odjavi se. Writing prijavise or registrujse is wrong.

3. Ekavian forms — never ijekavian (severity 2.0)

Serbian standard is ekavian (the historical "yat" → e). Croatian and Bosnian use ijekavian (yat → ije / je). Any ijekavian form in a Serbian translation is wrong.

Full ekavian/ijekavian table:

English	Serbian (ekavian)	Croatian/Bosnian (ijekavian) — DO NOT USE
time	vreme / време	vrijeme
nice	lepo / лепо	lijepo
milk	mleko / млеко	mlijeko
child	dete / дете	dijete
children	deca / деца	djeca
river	reka / река	rijeka
world	svet / свет	svijet
light	svetlost / светлост	svjetlost
flower	cvet / цвет	cvijet
star	zvezda / звезда	zvijezda
song	pesma / песма	pjesma
place	mesto / место	mjesto
beautiful	lep / леп	lijep
bread (formal poetic)	hleb / хлеб	hljeb
arrow	strela / стрела	strijela
left	levi / леви	lijevi
measure	mera / мера	mjera
change (n.)	promena / промена	promjena
section	odeljak / одељак	odjeljak

4. Seven-case system (severity 2.5)

Serbian uses all 7 Slavic cases, including the vocative (used for direct address — korisniče! "user!"). Every noun, adjective, and pronoun declines.

Case	Question	Use	Example (m. sg. "korisnik" — user)	Example (f. sg. "datoteka" — file)
Nominativ (NOM)	ko? šta?	Subject	korisnik	datoteka
Genitiv (GEN)	koga? čega?	Possession, "of", absence, 5+ count	korisnika	datoteke
Dativ (DAT)	kome? čemu?	Indirect object, "to"	korisniku	datoteci
Akuzativ (ACC)	koga? šta?	Direct object	korisnika (animate=GEN) / sistem (inanimate=NOM)	datoteku
Vokativ (VOC)	—	Direct address	korisniče!	datoteko!
Instrumental (INS)	s kim? čim?	"With", means	korisnikom	datotekom
Lokativ (LOC)	o kome? čemu?	Location (always w/ prep)	korisniku (o korisniku)	datoteci (o datoteci)

Critical: animate masculine accusative = genitive form. vidim korisnika ("I see [the] user"), NOT vidim korisnik. Inanimate masculines keep ACC = NOM: vidim sistem.

5. Preposition + governed case (severity 2.5)

Preposition	Case	Example
u (in/into)	LOC (location) / ACC (motion)	u sistemu (in system) / u sistem (into system)
na (on/onto)	LOC / ACC	na ekranu (on screen) / na ekran (onto screen)
s / sa (with)	INS	s korisnikom, sa Vama
bez (without)	GEN	bez sistema, bez greške
za (for)	ACC	za korisnika, za sistem
od (from)	GEN	od korisnika
do (until/to)	GEN	do kraja
iz (out of)	GEN	iz mape
o (about)	LOC	o korisniku, o sistemu
po (per / along)	LOC	po korisniku, po datoteci
pre (before)	GEN	pre vremena
posle (after)	GEN	posle prijave
prema (toward)	DAT	prema korisniku
sa (down from)	GEN	sa stranice (depending on sense; sa = with takes INS)
kroz (through)	ACC	kroz aplikaciju

po for "per" with rate: po datoteci (per file), po korisniku (per user), dnevno / na dan (per day).

6. ICU plurals — one / few / other (1 / 2-4 / 5+ pattern) (severity 2.5)

{count, plural,
  one {# datoteka}
  few {# datoteke}
  other {# datoteka}
}

CLDR plural category boundaries (memorize):

Category	Rule	Examples	Noun form
`one`	n % 10 = 1, n % 100 ≠ 11	1, 21, 31, 41, 101, 121	NOM singular (datoteka)
`few`	n % 10 ∈ {2,3,4}, n % 100 ∉ {12,13,14}	2, 3, 4, 22, 23, 24, 102, 103	GEN singular (datoteke)
`other`	everything else	0, 5-20, 25-30, 100, 1000	GEN plural (datoteka)

Critical: 11/12/13/14 use other (they are exceptions to the otherwise simple "ends in 1/2-4" pattern). Same for 111, 112, 113, 114. This is identical to Russian but different from Croatian (some details vary).

7. Numeral-noun agreement (severity 2.0)

The plural-form rule manifests directly in number constructions:

Count	Pattern	Example
1	NOM sg	1 datoteka, 1 korisnik, 1 sistem
2, 3, 4	GEN sg	2 datoteke, 3 korisnika, 4 sistema
5+	GEN pl	5 datoteka, 10 korisnika, 20 sistema
11-14	GEN pl (exception)	11 datoteka (NOT datoteke), 12 sistema
21	NOM sg (back to "one")	21 datoteka
22-24	GEN sg	22 datoteke
25+	GEN pl	25 datoteka

8. Verb aspect — perfective vs imperfective (severity 2.0)

Every Serbian verb has aspect — most concepts have a perfective/imperfective pair. Choosing the wrong aspect changes meaning from "doing X" to "having done X" (or vice versa).

Imperfective (process, ongoing)	Perfective (single completed event)	English
čuvati	sačuvati	save
brisati	obrisati	delete
otpremati	otpremiti	upload
preuzimati	preuzeti	download
otvarati	otvoriti	open
zatvarati	zatvoriti	close
stvarati	stvoriti / napraviti	create
uređivati	urediti	edit
menjati	promeniti	change
pisati	napisati	write
čitati	pročitati	read
slati	poslati	send
birati	izabrati	choose / select
prijavljivati se	prijaviti se	log in (process / single act)

UI patterns by aspect:

Buttons (single action) → perfective imperative: Sačuvaj, Obriši, Pošalji, Izaberi. (NOT Čuvaj, which implies "keep saving repeatedly".)
Ongoing status messages → imperfective verbal noun + …: Čuvanje…, Otpremanje…, Učitavanje…, Slanje….
Completed status → perfective past participle + je: Datoteka je sačuvana, Otpremanje je završeno.
Failed status → perfective past + nije: Otpremanje nije uspelo, Datoteka nije sačuvana.

9. Clitic second-position rule (Wackernagel's law) (severity 2.0)

Serbian clitics (je, se, mi, ti, mu, joj, nam, vam, im, bi, li) MUST go in the second position of their clause (after the first stressed word).

✗ Wrong	✓ Correct
`Se meni to ne sviđa`	`To mi se ne sviđa` (clitics in 2nd position)
`Datoteka se mu prikazuje`	`Datoteka mu se prikazuje` (dative `mu` before reflexive `se`)
`Mi se to dopada` (in narrative)	`Meni se to dopada` (when emphatic, use full pronoun)

Clitic order within the cluster (when multiple clitics stack):

li (question particle)
AUX je/sam/si/smo/ste/su/bi/bih
DAT (mi/ti/mu/joj/nam/vam/im)
ACC (me/te/ga/je/nas/vas/ih)
Reflexive se

Example: Da li mu se to dopada? (Q-AUX-DAT-REFL — does he like it?)

10. Three-gender adjective agreement (severity 2.0)

Gender	Indef. example	Adjective ending (sg.)
Masculine (consonant ending)	sistem	novi sistem (anim/inanim sg. NOM same)
Feminine (-a ending)	aplikacija	nova aplikacija
Neuter (-o/-e ending)	podešavanje	novo podešavanje

Wrong gender adjective is auto-fail: nova sistem ✗, novi aplikacija ✗.

11. Past-tense gender agreement (severity 1.5)

Past tense in Serbian = AUX (sam/si/je/smo/ste/su) + L-participle, which agrees with subject in gender + number:

Subject	L-participle	Example
m. sg.	-o	on je radio (he worked)
f. sg.	-la	ona je radila (she worked)
n. sg.	-lo	ono je radilo (it worked)
m. pl.	-li	oni su radili
f. pl.	-le	one su radile
n. pl.	-la	ona su radila

ona je radio ✗ (gender mismatch) → ona je radila ✓.

12. Verb-construction integrity — no stacked finite verbs (severity 2.0)

English -ing forms (gerund as adverbial: "I spent 6 years building...") MUST be rendered with glagolski prilog sadašnji (verbal adverb, -ći form), NOT with a second finite clause stacked on the first.

✗ Stacked finite	✓ Verbal adverb (-ći)	English
`Proveo sam 6 godina gradio sam posao`	`Proveo sam 6 godina gradeći posao`	I spent 6 years building the business
`Radio sam dok sam pisao izveštaj`	`Radio sam pišući izveštaj`	I worked while writing the report
`Provela je vreme čekala je rezultate`	`Provela je vreme čekajući rezultate`	She spent time waiting for results

Common -ći forms (imperfective verbs only):

Infinitive	-ći form	English
čekati	čekajući	waiting
pisati	pišući	writing
graditi	gradeći	building
čitati	čitajući	reading
razmišljati	razmišljajući	thinking
koristiti	koristeći	using
dolaziti	dolazeći	coming
radeći	radeći	working
govoreći	govoreći	speaking

Also flag verb-root monotony: if the same root appears 3+ times in one string (radi na radu radnog procesa), restructure with synonyms (obavlja posao, razvija radni proces).

13. Diacritics — Č Ć Ž Š Đ are essential (severity 2.5)

In Latin script, never strip diacritics. Sacuvaj for Sačuvaj, Obrisi for Obriši, Sifra for Šifra is broken text. Some legacy SMS-era systems stripped them; modern UI does not.

In Cyrillic this is a non-issue (the script doesn't use Latin diacritics).

Pronouns and Possessives

Personal pronouns

English	Latin	Cyrillic	Notes
I	ja	ја
you (sg. informal)	ti	ти
you (sg./pl. formal — capitalize)	Vi	Ви	Always capitalized in direct address
you (pl. informal)	vi	ви	lowercase when truly plural informal
he	on	он
she	ona	она
it	ono	оно
we	mi	ми
they (m./mixed)	oni	они
they (f.)	one	оне
they (n.)	ona	она

Possessive pronouns (agree with possessed noun's gender/number/case)

Person	m. sg.	f. sg.	n. sg.	pl. (all)
moj (my)	moj	moja	moje	moji/moje/moja
tvoj (your sg. informal)	tvoj	tvoja	tvoje	tvoji/tvoje/tvoja
Vaš (your formal — capitalize)	Vaš	Vaša	Vaše	Vaši/Vaše/Vaša
njegov (his)	njegov	njegova	njegovo	njegovi/njegove/njegova
njen (her)	njen	njena	njeno	njeni/njene/njena
svoj (reflexive — own)	svoj	svoja	svoje	svoji/svoje/svoja
naš (our)	naš	naša	naše	naši/naše/naša
njihov (their)	njihov	njihova	njihovo	njihovi/njihove/njihova

Reflexive svoj: used when possessor = subject of same clause.

On čuva svoj fajl. (He saves his own file.) ← reflexive
On čuva njegov fajl. (He saves someone else's file.) ← non-reflexive — different referent

UI Conventions

Buttons — IMPERATIVE (perfective for single action)

Single-word action buttons take the imperative — informal Sačuvaj / formal Sačuvajte. NEVER infinitive (Sačuvati) — that reads as an instruction manual.

Both informal (ti) and formal (Vi) forms shown; pick one per project and stay consistent.

English	ti (informal)	Vi (formal)
Save	Sačuvaj	Sačuvajte
Cancel	Otkaži	Otkažite
Delete	Obriši	Obrišite
Send	Pošalji	Pošaljite
Edit	Izmeni	Izmenite
Search	Pretraži	Pretražite
Confirm	Potvrdi	Potvrdite
Continue	Nastavi	Nastavite
Submit	Pošalji	Pošaljite
Sign in	Prijavi se	Prijavite se
Sign out	Odjavi se	Odjavite se
Sign up	Registruj se	Registrujte se
Next	Sledeće	(same)
Back	Nazad	(same)
Done	Gotovo / Završeno	(same)
OK	U redu / OK	(same)
Close	Zatvori	Zatvorite
Upload	Otpremi	Otpremite
Download	Preuzmi	Preuzmite
Refresh	Osveži	Osvežite
Settings	Podešavanja	(same)
Apply	Primeni	Primenite
Reset	Vrati na podrazumevano / Resetuj	Resetujte
Select all	Izaberi sve	Izaberite sve
Deselect all	Poništi sve	Poništite sve
Add more	Dodaj još (NOT `Dodaj više`)	Dodajte još
Show more	Prikaži još	Prikažite još

Tabs and navigation labels also use imperative, not infinitive:

✗ Otpremiti datoteke (inf., instruction-manual tone)
✓ Otpremite datoteke (Vi imp.) / Otpremi datoteke (ti imp.)

Status messages — three distinct patterns

Ongoing (in-flight) → imperfective verbal noun + …

English	Serbian
Loading…	Učitavanje…
Saving…	Čuvanje…
Sending…	Slanje…
Uploading…	Otpremanje…
Downloading…	Preuzimanje…
Translating…	Prevođenje…
Connecting…	Povezivanje…
Processing…	Obrada…
Searching…	Pretraga…
Please wait	Sačekajte, molim Vas / Molimo sačekajte

Completed → Subject + je + perfective past participle (full construction with auxiliary je)

English	Serbian
Saved	Sačuvano (n. participle, subject-less) / Datoteka je sačuvana
Done	Gotovo / Završeno
Translation complete	Prevod je završen
File uploaded	Datoteka je otpremljena
Payment successful	Plaćanje je uspelo / Uspešno plaćanje
Sent	Poslato / Poruka je poslata

Critical: NEVER drop the je auxiliary in completion messages. Prevod završen ✗ (sounds incomplete) → Prevod je završen ✓.

Failed → Subject + nije + perfective past participle

English	Serbian
Save failed	Čuvanje nije uspelo
Upload failed	Otpremanje nije uspelo
Translation failed	Prevod nije uspeo
Connection failed	Povezivanje nije uspelo
File not found	Datoteka nije pronađena

NEVER use short forms like Prevod neuspeo — they sound unnatural and bureaucratic.

Validation / field errors → nominal description

English	Serbian
This field is required	Ovo polje je obavezno
Invalid format	Neispravan format
Password too short	Lozinka je prekratka
Email already in use	Imejl adresa je već u upotrebi

Action instructions → imperative

English	Serbian
Enter your password	Unesite Vašu lozinku (Vi) / Unesi lozinku (ti)
Choose at least one language	Izaberite najmanje jedan jezik
Try again	Pokušajte ponovo

Empty states — `Nema X` / `Nije pronađeno`

✗ Bare	✓ Specific
Prazno	Nema rezultata / Nema pronađenih stavki
Ništa ovde	Nema datoteka / Nema dostupnih podataka
Bez podataka	Nema dostupnih podataka
Lista je prazna	Nema stavki na listi

Drag-and-drop

drag → prevucite (Vi) / prevuci (ti)
drop (= place files) → pustite (Vi) / pusti (ti) — NOT ispustite (= accidentally drop)
release → otpustite (Vi) / otpusti (ti)
Combined: Prevucite datoteke ovde (Drag files here) / Pustite za otpremanje (Release to upload).

Ispustite svoje datoteke ✗ (literal "drop your files [by accident]") → Prevucite svoje datoteke ovde ✓.

File picker — `Izaberi` not `Pregledaj`

✗ Older / navigation-oriented	✓ Modern / action-oriented
Pregledaj datoteke	Izaberi datoteke (ti) / Izaberite datoteke (Vi)
Klikni za pregled	Klikni za izbor / Kliknite za izbor
Za pregledanje datoteka	Za izbor datoteka

Quantity expressions

✗ Calque	✓ Native
25+ jezika	više od 25 jezika
+{count} više	i {count} drugih / još {count}
+25 funkcija	preko 25 funkcija / više od 25 funkcija

Dodaj više ✗ (literal "add more") → Dodaj još ✓ (idiomatic "add more").

Error messages — what + next step

✗ Bare	✓ With next step
Datoteka nije pronađena.	Datoteka nije pronađena. Proverite putanju.
Greška mreže.	Greška mreže. Pokušajte ponovo.
Neispravan imejl.	Imejl adresa nije ispravna. Proverite format.
Prijava nije uspela.	Prijava nije uspela. Proverite korisničko ime i lozinku.

Punctuation, Numbers, Dates, Currency

Punctuation

Mark	Serbian	Notes
Question mark	`?`	Same as English
Comma	`,`	Different conjunction rules (see below)
Period	`.`	Same
Colon	`:`	Same
Quotation marks	„…" (German-style: low opening, high closing) — preferred	OR `"…"` Latin straight quotes; `«…»` rarely used
Nested quotes	`'…'`	Single quotes inside primary
Apostrophe	only in foreign names	Possessive uses `-ov/-ev` or genitive, not English-style `'s`

Quote style: Klikni na dugme „Sačuvaj" (low-9 opening, high-9 closing). NOT "Sačuvaj" (English style) or «Sačuvaj» (French/Russian style) in formal Serbian text.

Comma rules

Rule	Example
NO comma before `i` (and)	Prevucite ovde i kliknite.
NO comma before `ili` (or)	Prevucite ovde ili kliknite.
NO comma before `niti` (nor)	Niti znam niti mi je važno.
Comma before `da` (that, subordinating)	Vidim, da je datoteka otvorena.
Comma before `koji/koja/koje` (relative)	Datoteka, koja je sačuvana…
Comma before `ako` (if)	Sačuvajte, ako želite.
Comma before `jer` (because)	Otkazano, jer nije uspelo.
Comma before `ali` (but)	Brzo, ali efikasno.
Comma before `a` (and/but contrast)	Ja sam pisao, a ti si čekao.

Numbers

Format	Pattern	Example
Thousands separator	period (.)	1.234.567
Decimal separator	comma (,)	3,14 / 99,99
Negative	`-25`
Percent	`25%` (no space typical)

Critical: Serbian uses period for thousands, comma for decimal — opposite of English. 1,234.56 is wrong; write 1.234,56.

Dates

Format	Example	Use
D. M. YYYY.	15. 1. 2024.	Default — note the period AFTER the year
D. mesec YYYY.	15. januar 2024.	Long-form prose
D. mesec YYYY. godine	15. januar 2024. godine	Formal documents
YYYY-MM-DD	2024-01-15	Technical/API only

Month names (lowercase always, no period for full names):

| 1 | januar | 7 | jul | | 2 | februar | 8 | avgust | | 3 | mart | 9 | septembar | | 4 | april | 10 | oktobar | | 5 | maj | 11 | novembar | | 6 | jun | 12 | decembar |

(These are the Serbian months — note jul/avgust vs Croatian srpanj/kolovoz.)

Weekdays (lowercase): ponedeljak, utorak, sreda, četvrtak, petak, subota, nedelja (NOT Croatian nedjelja ijekavian).

Week starts Monday.

Time

24-hour preferred: 14:30 or 14.30 (period acceptable as separator).
12-hour rarely used.

Currency — Serbian Dinar (RSD)

Format	Pattern	Example
Local symbol	`din.` after amount	99,99 din.
ISO code	RSD before/after	99,99 RSD / RSD 99,99

For EUR (sometimes shown for context in Serbia): 99,99 € or 99,99 EUR.

Never $99.99 in Serbian UI — currency-symbol-before-amount with period decimal is American English style.

Terminology — preferred Serbian terms (with notes on established loanwords)

Serbian has a more relaxed attitude toward IT loanwords than Croatian — many Latinized terms (klipbord, imejl, link, onlajn) are fully established. Croatian "purist" terms (međumemorija, e-pošta, poveznica, na mreži) sound either foreign-Croatian or overly formal in Serbian.

English	✓ Serbian preferred	✗ Avoid
user	korisnik	user
account	nalog	akaunt
password	lozinka / šifra	password
settings	podešavanja	setings
dashboard	kontrolna tabla	dashboard
email	imejl	e-pošta (Croatian-leaning), mejl
link	link	veza (overly formal)
website	sajt / veb-sajt	website
folder	fascikla (formal) / folder (informal)	—
file	datoteka (formal) / fajl (informal)	—
device	uređaj	device
phone	telefon	—
computer	računar	kompjuter
application / app	aplikacija	aplikejšn
update (v.)	ažurirati / nadograditi	apdejtovati (informal)
save	sačuvati	sejvovati
delete	obrisati / izbrisati	deletovati
upload	otpremiti	uploadovati (informal but acceptable in casual)
download	preuzeti	downloadovati (informal but acceptable)
sign in / log in	prijaviti se	login-ovati se
sign up / register	registrovati se	—
search	pretraga / pretraživati	—
click	kliknuti / klikni	—
share	podeliti / deli	šerovati (informal)
profile	profil	—
notifications	obaveštenja	notifikacije (acceptable)
privacy	privatnost	—
terms	uslovi	—
support	podrška	—
help	pomoć	—
feedback	povratne informacije / fidbek (informal)	—
menu	meni	—
home	početna	—
logout	odjaviti se	logout-ovati se
clipboard	klipbord	međumemorija (Croatian purist)
online	onlajn	na mreži (Croatian purist)
offline	oflajn	van mreže (Croatian purist)
detection (in UI)	otkrivanje	detekcija (technical OK)
validation (in UI)	provera	validacija (technical OK)
configuration (in UI)	podešavanje	konfiguracija (technical OK)
build (software)	napraviti / razviti / build (keep in code contexts)	graditi (= construction)
deploy	postaviti / izdati / objaviti / deploy-ovati (informal)	—
pipeline (CI/CD)	pipeline (keep) / procesna linija	cevovod (= literal pipe)
commit (git)	commit (keep) / sačuvati izmene	—
merge (git)	spojiti / merge (keep in code)	—
repository	repozitorijum	—
branch (git)	grana / branch (keep)	—
API	API (keep — Latin always)	—
endpoint	endpoint (keep) / krajnja tačka	—
token	token (keep)	—
cache	keš (memorija)	—
log (n.)	dnevnik / log	—
sync	sinhronizacija / sinhronizovati	—
webhook	webhook (keep)	—
source of truth	izvor istine / kanonski izvor	—

Technical identifiers — keep in Latin script even inside Cyrillic text

This is the only legitimate script-mixing case. Inside Cyrillic Serbian text, the following ALWAYS stay in Latin:

Programming languages: Python, JavaScript, Go, Rust, Java
Frameworks: React, Vue, Angular, Next.js, Django
Tools: Git, GitHub, GitLab, Docker, npm, pip, cargo
Protocols: HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, SSH, TCP, REST, GraphQL, OAuth, JWT
File formats: JSON, XML, YAML, CSV, PDF, MP4
Brands: Google, Microsoft, Apple, AWS, iPhone, Android
Commands, file paths, URLs, code snippets
Placeholders: {variableName}, {{count}}, <tag>

✓ Correct: Git репозиторијум је синхронизован. (Cyrillic prose, Latin Git) ✓ Correct: API кључ је неисправан. (Cyrillic prose, Latin API) ✓ Correct: Подаци у JSON формату. (Cyrillic prose, Latin JSON) ✗ Wrong: Гит репозиторијум је синхронизован. (transliterating Git to Cyrillic) ✗ Wrong: АПИ кључ (transliterating API) ✗ Wrong: ЈСОН формат (transliterating JSON)

False Friends — Critical

Serbian word	Actually means	NOT this (common AI error)	Correct for the English
aktuelan	current / topical	"actual"	"actual" → stvaran / pravi
realizovati	to implement / carry out	"to realize (understand)"	"realize (understand)" → shvatiti
eventualno	possibly	"eventually"	"eventually" → na kraju / konačno
uzbuđen	excited (sometimes ambiguous, can be sexual)	safer "excited"	"excited (looking forward)" → radujem se / uzbudljiv for adj.
sympatičan	likeable / pleasant	"sympathetic (compassionate)"	"sympathetic" → saosećajan
simpatija	a crush / affection	"sympathy (condolence)"	"sympathy" → saučešće
transparentan	clear / see-through	(mostly OK)	political "transparent" also `transparentan` is OK
receptura	recipe (formal)	"receipt"	"receipt" → račun / priznanica
dirigovati	to conduct (music)	"to direct (manage)"	"direct (manage)" → upravljati / rukovoditi
inženjering	engineering	(OK)	—
efektan	effective in producing visual effect	"effective"	"effective" → delotvoran / efikasan

Calque / Anti-Pattern List

✗ Calque	✓ Native	Reason
Auto-otkriveno / Auto-sačuvaj	Automatski otkriveno / Automatski sačuvaj	"Auto-X" — use full adjective form
Prevedeni rezultati (as header)	Rezultati prevođenja	English Past-Participle + Noun → Serbian Noun + Genitive verbal noun
Otpremljeni fajlovi (as header)	Datoteke za otpremanje	Same pattern; or use noun for purpose
Izabrane opcije (as header)	Izbor opcija	Same pattern; use noun form
opcija jezika (noun + noun)	jezičke opcije / izbor jezika	English N+N → Serbian adj+N or genitive
projekat folder	folder projekta / projektni folder	English N+N → Serbian genitive or adjective
korisnik podešavanja	korisnička podešavanja	English N+N → Serbian adjective
preference tona	željeni ton / izbor tona	Anglicism noun → native adjective + noun
praviti smisao	imati smisla	"Makes sense" calque
na kraju dana	na kraju krajeva	"At the end of the day" calque
uzeti mesto	održati se	"Take place" calque
bazirano na	na osnovu	"Based on" calque; use native preposition
u redu da	da bi / kako bi	"In order to" calque
na dnevnoj bazi / nedeljnoj bazi	svakodnevno / dnevno / nedeljno	"On a daily/weekly basis" calque; use adverb
u smislu (overused)	što se tiče / u pogledu	"In terms of" calque
izvršiti poboljšanje	poboljšati	"Make improvements" — use direct verb
pružiti odgovor	odgovoriti	"Provide an answer" — use verb
izvršiti izbor	izabrati	"Make a selection" — use verb
Nulti zastoj / Nula zastoja	Bez zastoja / Bez grešaka	"Zero X" English marketing calque
AI-pokretan	zasnovan na AI / uz pomoć AI	"X-powered" calque
podaci-orijentisan	orijentisan na podatke / zasnovan na podacima	"X-driven" calque
pretpostavka-prijateljski	korisnički prilagođen / lako za korišćenje	"user-friendly" calque
Sjedinjene Američke Države	SAD	UI short form
Ujedinjeno Kraljevstvo Velike Britanije	Velika Britanija / UK	UI short form
[Subject] je potreban za [Purpose]	Potreban je [Subject] za [Purpose]	English subject-first → Serbian verb-first
Dragujte / Drag-ujte	Prevucite	English verb → native
Ispustite datoteke ovde	Prevucite datoteke ovde / Pustite za otpremanje	"ispustite" = accidentally drop; use idiomatic phrasing
Prevod neuspeo / Plaćanje neuspelo	Prevod nije uspeo / Plaćanje nije uspelo	Missing auxiliary — sounds incomplete
Prevod završen (no je)	Prevod je završen	Missing auxiliary in completion message
Poništi izbor svega	Poništi sve	Button brevity
Izaberi izbor svih	Izaberi sve	Button brevity / redundancy
Dodaj više	Dodaj još	"Add more" — use idiomatic `još`
per datoteka	po datoteci	"per X" → `po` + locative

Past Participle + Noun → Noun + Genitive (header pattern)

This is a uniquely Serbian-natural restructure. English likes adjectival past participles in headers; Serbian prefers nominalization.

English	✗ Calque (Participle + N)	✓ Native (N + Genitive of verbal noun)
Translated Results	Prevedeni rezultati	Rezultati prevođenja
Selected Options	Izabrane opcije	Izbor opcija
Uploaded Files	Otpremljeni fajlovi	Otpremljene datoteke (when finished, OK) / Datoteke za otpremanje (when pending)
Saved Items	Sačuvane stavke	Sačuvane stavke (OK as result), or Lista sačuvanog

Custom Sections

Verbification suffixes are VALID — don't over-correct

Serbian forms verbs from English loans via -ovati / -irati suffixes. These are legitimate Serbian verbs once formed:

English	Serbian verbified	Status
upload	uploadovati / otpremiti	both OK; native `otpremiti` preferred
download	downloadovati / preuzeti	native preferred
install	instalirati	fully naturalized, no native alternative needed
log in	ulogovati se / prijaviti se	native `prijaviti se` preferred for UI
post	postovati	acceptable; native `objaviti` preferred in formal contexts
share	šerovati / podeliti	native `podeliti` preferred
like (social)	lajkovati	fully accepted in social-media contexts
sync	sinhronizovati	fully naturalized
reset	resetovati	fully naturalized
commit (git)	commit-ovati / sačuvati izmene	code-context only

Don't flag instalirati or sinhronizovati as errors — they're standard. The flag is for hybrid forms with native verbs already available: čistati (no, use čistiti), sejvovati (no, use sačuvati), deletovati (no, use obrisati).

Per vs for — CRITICAL semantic distinction

Source	✓ Serbian	Meaning
per language (rate)	po jeziku (loc.)	rate, per-unit
for 25 languages (total)	za 25 jezika (acc.)	total scope
5 USD per language	5 USD po jeziku	rate
5 USD for all languages	5 USD za sve jezike	total

Mixing these in pricing copy is auto-fail.

Cost / estimate ordering

Prefer amount-first:

✗ Ambiguous	✓ Clear
5 jezika 25 kredita	25 kredita za 5 jezika
5 jezika: 25 kredita	(acceptable variant)

UI element references in prose

Use quotation marks for specific UI labels:

✗ Compound	✓ Quoted label
Kliknite Sačuvaj-dugme	Kliknite na dugme „Sačuvaj"
Otvorite Podešavanja-karticu	Otvorite karticu „Podešavanja"
Koristite Ime-polje	Koristite polje „Ime"

Brand names + Serbian declension

Foreign brand names CAN be declined Serbian-style with a hyphen + Serbian ending (informal), OR stay invariant (formal/UI default):

Google → Google-a (gen.), Google-u (loc.), Google-om (ins.) — informal/conversational
For formal UI, prefer prepositional phrases: na Google-u or restructure to keep brand invariant: na platformi Google.
iPhone → iPhone-a, iPhone-u (gen. / loc.)
GitHub → GitHub-a, GitHub-u

"Da + present" as alternative to infinitive

A natural Serbian feature — da + present-tense often replaces the infinitive, sounding more conversational:

✗ Stiff infinitive	✓ Natural `da + present`
Želim sačuvati datoteku	Želim da sačuvam datoteku
Moram napisati izveštaj	Moram da napišem izveštaj
Mogu pomoći	Mogu da pomognem

Both are grammatical. Da + present is preferred in modern Serbian especially in spoken / informal / UI contexts. Use infinitive sparingly (formal/legal).

Self-Check Checklist (Run Before Returning Output)

Script (auto-fail on miss)

One script throughout — never Cyrillic mixed with Latin within a single string (or set of related strings for the same locale).
Latin technical identifiers preserved inside Cyrillic text (Git, API, JSON, npm, URLs, {var}).
Diacritics intact in Latin: Č, Ć, Ž, Š, Đ never stripped.
Digraphs correct when converting: Љ↔Lj, Њ↔Nj, Џ↔Dž (case-aware).

Accuracy

Ekavian forms — vreme/lepo/mleko/dete/reka (NEVER vrijeme/lijepo/mlijeko/dijete/rijeka).
Word integrity — prefixes joined (prevesti, izvršiti, sačuvati), no spaces. Reflexive se separate (prijavi se, registruj se).
Gender agreement on every noun-adj pair (novi sistem / nova aplikacija / novo podešavanje).
Seven cases correct, especially:
- Animate masc. accusative = genitive (vidim korisnika).
- Instrumental after s/sa (s korisnikom, sa Vama).
- Locative after u/na/o/po (u sistemu, o korisniku, po datoteci).
- Genitive after bez/od/do/iz/pre/posle (bez sistema).
ICU plurals: one / few / other categories present (1 = nom.sg, 2-4 = gen.sg, 5+ = gen.pl).
Numeral-noun agreement matches plural-form pattern.
Verb aspect correct: perfective for completed (buttons, completion), imperfective for ongoing (status, process).
Clitics in 2nd position (Wackernagel): To mi se ne sviđa, not Se mi to ne sviđa.
Clitic order: li → AUX → DAT → ACC → se (Da li mu se to dopada?).
Past-tense gender agreement on L-participle (radio/radila/radilo).
No stacked finite verbs from English -ing — use -ći verbal adverb (gradeći, čekajući, pišući).
Placeholders preserved ({var}, {{count}}, <tag>, URLs, code identifiers).
Numbers: comma decimal (3,14), period thousands (1.234), din. after amount.
Dates: D. M. YYYY. (with period after year), Serbian month names (januar, avgust — NOT siječanj, kolovoz).
Time: 24-hour, 14:30 or 14.30.
per vs za: po + LOC for rate, za + ACC for total.

Register

Vi/ti chosen and applied consistently — pronouns, possessives, verb endings all match.
Vi/Vaš/Vaša capitalized in direct second-person address.
No mixing of Vi-form verb ending with ti-form possessive (or vice versa) within one text.

UI conventions

Buttons use perfective imperative (Sačuvaj/Sačuvajte), not infinitive (Sačuvati).
Tabs/navigation also use imperative, not infinitive.
Reflexive se present where required (prijavi se, registruj se).
Status ongoing: imperfective verbal noun + … (Učitavanje…, Slanje…).
Status completed: Subject + je + perfective past participle (Prevod je završen), not bare Prevod završen.
Status failed: Subject + nije + perfective past participle (Otpremanje nije uspelo), not bare Otpremanje neuspelo.
Empty state: Nema X / Nije pronađeno with specific noun.
File picker: Izaberi, not Pregledaj.
Drag-drop: Prevucite, Pustite (NOT Ispustite).
Quantity: više od 25, još {count}, NOT 25+, +{count}.
Quotes: „X" low-9/high-9 style.

Naturalness

Past Participle + Noun headers → Noun + Genitive of verbal noun (Rezultati prevođenja, not Prevedeni rezultati).
Auto-X prefix → full adjective Automatski X.
Marketing "Zero X" → Bez X.
English N + N compounds → Serbian adj + N or genitive (jezičke opcije, not opcija jezika calque; željeni ton, not preference tona).
No verbose collocations (izvršiti poboljšanje → poboljšati; pružiti odgovor → odgovoriti).
No false friends: aktuelan ≠ actual, realizovati ≠ realize, eventualno ≠ eventually.
No verb-root monotony (same root 3+ times in one string).
No accidental Croatian forms (no tjedan, kruh, tko, što, siječanj).
Proper-noun short forms: SAD, UK, EU.
Established loanwords accepted: klipbord, link, imejl, onlajn — don't over-purify with međumemorija, e-pošta, na mreži.

Worked Example — Standard sr-Latn formal UI

Source (neutral product UI):

Welcome back! You have 3 new files in your account. Click Continue to review them or Cancel to stay here. Saving your changes…

Register check: neutral product UI, exclamation → Vi (formal), neutral lexicon, Latin script (software default).

Translation (sr-Latn):

Dobro došli nazad! Imate 3 nove datoteke na Vašem nalogu. Kliknite na Nastavi da ih pregledate ili Otkaži da ostanete ovde. Čuvanje Vaših izmena…

Why this works:

Dobro došli nazad — standard greeting with plural participle (formal Vi → -i plural form).
Imate — Vi-form verb (2nd person plural).
3 nove datoteke — 3 triggers few (gen.sg.); datoteka is fem.; nove is fem. plural adjective in gen.sg. form (matches noun).
na Vašem nalogu — na + LOC; nalogu is masc. LOC sg.; Vašem capitalized formal possessive in LOC.
Kliknite na Nastavi / Otkaži — Vi imperative, button labels in perfective imperative themselves.
da ih pregledate / da ostanete ovde — da + present construction (natural Serbian), ih is ACC pl. clitic ("them"), pregledate Vi-form perfective verb.
Čuvanje Vaših izmena… — imperfective verbal noun for ongoing status; Vaših izmena gen.pl. (object of verbal noun).
Punctuation: Latin !, … OK. No comma before ili (correct).
No religious / cultural filler injected.

Same string in sr-Cyrl:

Welcome back! You have 3 new files in your account. Click Continue to review them or Cancel to stay here. Saving your changes…

(1:1 Cyrillic conversion. No content changes. Lj/Nj/Dž would need careful handling — but none in this sentence.)

Same string informal (ti):

Dobro došao/došla nazad! Imaš 3 nove datoteke na svom nalogu. Klikni na Nastavi da ih pregledaš ili Otkaži da ostaneš ovde. Čuvanje tvojih izmena…

(Note Dobro došao/došla — past participle now agrees with addressee's gender; in real UI you'd pick one or use a gender-neutral phrasing.)

Worked Example — ICU plural expansion

Source:

You have {count, plural, one {# new message} other {# new messages}}.

Translation (full Serbian three-category expansion):

Imate {count, plural,
  one {# novu poruku}
  few {# nove poruke}
  other {# novih poruka}
}.

Notes:

one: 1 nova poruka → in ACC (object of Imate), 1 novu poruku. The form chosen here is direct accusative singular feminine.
few: 2/3/4 nove poruke — nove is f. pl. NOM/ACC (used as gen.sg. surface form here because of the 2-4 rule), poruke is f. gen.sg.
other: 5+ novih poruka — novih is f. gen.pl. adjective, poruka is f. gen.pl. noun.

(English source has only one/other; Serbian MUST expand to one/few/other.)

Worked Example — Date and currency in both scripts

Source: Your subscription expires on January 15, 2024. Total: $99.99.

sr-Latn:

Vaša pretplata ističe 15. januar 2024. Ukupno: 99,99 RSD.

sr-Cyrl:

Your subscription expires on January 15, 2024. Total: 99.99 RSD.

(If RSD doesn't apply and the price is genuinely USD, keep 99,99 USD or 99,99 $ after amount. Never $99.99 in Serbian.)

Worked Example — Verb-construction integrity (-ći)

Source: I spent 6 years building this business while learning from mistakes.

✗ Wrong (stacked finite verbs):

Proveo sam 6 godina gradio sam ovaj posao dok sam učio iz grešaka.

✓ Right (verbal adverb -ći for simultaneous actions):

Proveo sam 6 godina gradeći ovaj posao i učeći iz grešaka.

OR in Cyrillic:

I spent 6 years building this business and learning from mistakes.

When in Doubt

Default to sr-Latn, Vi (formal), ekavian, single script throughout.
If unsure about script → ask once; default Latin for software UI.
If a word looks ijekavian (vrijeme, lijepo, mlijeko, dijete) → fix to ekavian (vreme, lepo, mleko, dete).
If a word looks Croatian (tjedan, siječanj, kruh, tko, što) → fix to Serbian (nedelja, januar, hleb, ko, šta).
If a verb prefix has a space (pre vesti, iz vršiti) → join it: prevesti, izvršiti.
If se is attached to a verb (prijavise, registrujse) → separate it: prijavi se, registruj se.
If you wrote Prevod završen or Otpremanje neuspelo → add the auxiliary: Prevod je završen, Otpremanje nije uspelo.
If a string has both Cyrillic AND Latin (other than tech identifiers) → pick one and convert the rest.
If you used infinitive + da for a button → switch to imperative: Sačuvati ✗ → Sačuvaj/Sačuvajte ✓.
If you stacked two finite verbs from an English -ing construction → rewrite with -ći (gradeći, pišući, čekajući).