Serbian typography rules · sr
Српски
Serbian sets primary quotation marks as „…” and secondary quotation marks as ’…’. A break in a sentence is written with an en dash (U+2013) with a space on each side; number and date ranges take an en dash (U+2013) with no surrounding spaces.
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Serbian typography at a glance #
| Tag | sr |
|---|---|
| Name | Serbian |
| Primary quotes | „ U+201E double low-9 quotation mark … ” U+201D right double quotation mark |
| Secondary quotes | ’ U+2019 right single quotation mark … ’ U+2019 right single quotation mark |
| Parenthetical dash | spaced en dash |
| Range dash | unspaced en dash |
| Rules with citations | quotes, dashes, ranges, ellipsis, hyphen, nbsp |
| Conformance cases | 21 |
Which locale tags resolve to Serbian? #
The locale option is resolved exactly, then by declared alias, then by dropping the region once; anything else throws POLYTYPO_UNKNOWN_LOCALE.
| Tag | How it resolves |
|---|
Which quotation marks does Serbian use? #
| Primary | „ U+201E double low-9 quotation mark … ” U+201D right double quotation mark — no space inside the marks |
|---|---|
| Secondary | ’ U+2019 right single quotation mark … ’ U+2019 right single quotation mark — no space inside the marks |
quotes
How are apostrophes set in Serbian? #
apostrophe
Which dashes does Serbian use for breaks and ranges? #
Parenthetical break (dash.parenthetical) | an en dash (U+2013) with a space on each side |
|---|---|
Between numbers and dates (dash.range) | an en dash (U+2013) with no surrounding spaces |
The dashes rule reads the parenthetical convention. The ranges rule reads the range convention and is off by default.
dashes
ranges
The ranges rule is off by default; these cases enable it with rules: { ranges: true }.
options: rules: {"ranges": true}
How is the ellipsis set in Serbian? #
An ellipsis keeps its full form after ! and ?; this locale does not abbreviate it there.
ellipsis
How are hyphens handled in Serbian? #
The hyphen lists are empty for this locale, so the hyphen rule changes nothing.
Where does Serbian use no-break spaces? #
Characters that take U+00A0 before them (nbsp.beforePunctuation) | none |
|---|---|
Characters that take U+202F before them (nbsp.narrowBeforePunctuation) | none |
Short words after which the space becomes U+00A0, so the word is not left at the end of a line (nbsp.afterShortWords) | none |
Multi-token abbreviations whose internal spaces become U+00A0 (nbsp.abbreviations) | none |
Units and signs bound to the preceding number with U+00A0 (nbsp.beforeUnits) | none |
Abbreviations bound to the following number with U+00A0 (nbsp.beforeNumber) | none |
Abbreviations bound to the following word with U+00A0 (nbsp.beforeWord) | none |
Symbols bound to the following number with U+00A0 (nbsp.afterSymbols) | none |
Initials (nbsp.initialBinding) | none — disabled: initials are never bound to the name that follows |
spaces
How are symbols set in Serbian? #
symbols
How does Serbian text behave in text, HTML and Markdown modes? #
Each input is the locale's sample sentence followed by a code run, say("a -- b ..."). text mode sets the whole string as prose, code run included. In html and markdown mode the code run comes back byte for byte; only the prose is set.
Which sources define Serbian typography? #
6 citations in spec/locales/sr.json, grouped by the rule each one supports. A citation names the authority; the note records what the source does and does not settle.
ellipsis
- Д. Кликовац, Српска интерпункција, Филолошки факултет Универзитета у Београду, 2024 (серија «Монографије – језик»), ISBN 978-86-6153-752-3, analysing Пешикан/Јерковић/Пижурица, Правопис српскога језика, Матица српска, Нови Сад, 2010, p. 136 (table 1, fn. 5) and p. 164 (§12.1) www.fil.bg.ac.rs
abbreviatedAfterTerminal = false is a DECISION, not a citation. 2010 gives three dots closed up (p. 136) and allows them after ? and ! (p. 164); the two-dot form after a terminal appears only as older practice (Мирко Николић 1973, p. 136 fn. 5) and is never prescribed. MEDIUM. The Pravopis 2010 itself was not read (paid); every statement is the edition of 2010 as Klikovac reports it. The PDF has no text layer and was read as page images. Retrieved 2026-10-24.
ranges
- Д. Кликовац, Српска интерпункција, Филолошки факултет Универзитета у Београду, 2024 (серија «Монографије – језик»), ISBN 978-86-6153-752-3, analysing Пешикан/Јерковић/Пижурица, Правопис српскога језика, Матица српска, Нови Сад, 2010, pp. 330–331 www.fil.bg.ac.rs
dash.range = en-tight. A dash between numbers is written closed up (Пешикан 1993:278, Пижурица 2010:126, Дешић 2015): «рат 1941–1945», «у XV–XVIII веку». ACCEPTED COSTS: a multi-word range member takes spaces in 2010:126–127 («рат 6. IV 1941 – 9. V 1945»), and the rule «од … до» (no dash after «од») is an algorithm, not data; locale data can express neither. The ranges rule is off by default. The Pravopis 2010 itself was not read (paid); every statement is the edition of 2010 as Klikovac reports it. The PDF has no text layer and was read as page images. Retrieved 2026-10-24.
dashes
- Д. Кликовац, Српска интерпункција, Филолошки факултет Универзитета у Београду, 2024 (серија «Монографије – језик»), ISBN 978-86-6153-752-3, analysing Пешикан/Јерковић/Пижурица, Правопис српскога језика, Матица српска, Нови Сад, 2010, pp. 302, 320 (table 8), 328 www.fil.bg.ac.rs
dash.parenthetical = en-spaced. The spaces are normative: the separating dash is set as a spaced mark (Пешикан и др. 1993, p. 328; 2010:122 confirms the function and every example is set spaced). The WIDTH is a DECISION: p. 302 says the dash should be about twice as long as the hyphen or more, which does not choose between U+2013 and U+2014; the monograph sets U+2013. MEDIUM, as hr and bg. Klikovac's p. 328 cites «Пижурица и др. (1993: 126)», probably a misprint for 2010; noted, not corrected. The Pravopis 2010 itself was not read (paid); every statement is the edition of 2010 as Klikovac reports it. The PDF has no text layer and was read as page images. Retrieved 2026-10-24.
hyphen
- Д. Кликовац, Српска интерпункција, Филолошки факултет Универзитета у Београду, 2024 (серија «Монографије – језик»), ISBN 978-86-6153-752-3, analysing Пешикан/Јерковић/Пижурица, Правопис српскога језика, Матица српска, Нови Сад, 2010, (not consulted) www.fil.bg.ac.rs
All three lists are empty: no source consulted gives a closed list of unbreakable hyphenated forms. The 2010 Pravopis chapters on word division were not consulted. Operator decision (no paid sources, pick and pin): ship empty. The Pravopis 2010 itself was not read (paid); every statement is the edition of 2010 as Klikovac reports it. The PDF has no text layer and was read as page images. Retrieved 2026-10-24.
quotes
- Д. Кликовац, Српска интерпункција, Филолошки факултет Универзитета у Београду, 2024 (серија «Монографије – језик»), ISBN 978-86-6153-752-3, analysing Пешикан/Јерковић/Пижурица, Правопис српскога језика, Матица српска, Нови Сад, 2010, pp. 343–345 (table 5) and 360–363 (table 11) www.fil.bg.ac.rs
Primary: U+201E open, U+201D close. p. 343, table 5: «Пижурица и др. 2010: „ ” (То је једини облик који је наведен у наслову.)»; p. 344: the 2010 Pravopis prescribes and uses only this form. Secondary: U+2019 on both sides (the same-glyph pair of fi and sv), p. 361, table 11: «Полунаводницима се издваја ужи навод у оквиру ширег навода» (2010:135); p. 363 fn. 30 notes the form ‘ ’ at 2010:135 as «вероватно грешком». innerSpace none for both. CONFLICT, recorded not resolved: Пешикан и др. 1993:286 also allowed „ “ and » «; the dictionaries РМС, РСАНУ and РСЈ use „ “ (p. 345); Klikovac and Milanović 2019 argue for „ “ or free choice. U+201D follows the current Pravopis, as hr does. Q-W: primary WIDE, secondary NARROW. The secondary U+2019/U+2019 is a DECISION (MEDIUM): table 11 attributes ’ ’ to 2010, but fn. 30 reports ‘ ’ (U+2018/U+2019) printed at 2010:135 and calls it probably a mistake without the note stating which form Klikovac holds correct; pinned as U+2019 both sides, the form table 11 gives. The issue text «„…“ / „…”» was an observation, not a norm. elisionIdioms and elisionClitics are empty: no rule found. Confidence MEDIUM-HIGH: the glyph form is named in words by Klikovac, not read from a text layer. The Pravopis 2010 itself was not read (paid); every statement is the edition of 2010 as Klikovac reports it. The PDF has no text layer and was read as page images. Retrieved 2026-10-24.
nbsp
- Д. Кликовац, Српска интерпункција, Филолошки факултет Универзитета у Београду, 2024 (серија «Монографије – језик»), ISBN 978-86-6153-752-3, analysing Пешикан/Јерковић/Пижурица, Правопис српскога језика, Матица српска, Нови Сад, 2010, (not consulted) www.fil.bg.ac.rs
Every list is empty and initialBinding is none: no source consulted gives a rule for a space between a number and a unit or percent sign, for one-letter words or initials at a line end. Nothing is derived from another language. The 2010 Pravopis chapters on numbers and word division were not consulted. Operator decision (no paid sources, pick and pin): ship empty. The Pravopis 2010 itself was not read (paid); every statement is the edition of 2010 as Klikovac reports it. The PDF has no text layer and was read as page images. Retrieved 2026-10-24.