Montenegrin phrases: thank you, hello, sorry and more
The Montenegrin phrases worth learning first are the polite basics — dobar dan (good day), hvala (thank you), molim (please) — plus a handful for coffee, ordering and directions. Montenegrin spelling maps letters to sounds quite regularly, so the guide below gets you close; natural stress, vowel length and pitch still come from listening. Start with five, not thirty, and attach each to a moment in your day.
Learn 30 useful Montenegrin phrases for greetings, cafés, restaurants and directions, with audio and a quick practice exercise.
Published 2 July 2026 · Updated 1 October 2026
Trying even a few local words is a simple way to show courtesy. Montenegrin spelling has regular letter-to-sound correspondences, so this quick key gets you close: c = “ts”, č and ć = “ch” (with ć softer), š = “sh”, ž = the “s” in measure, and j = “y”. Natural stress, vowel length and pitch still need listening practice.
Greetings and polite basics
Start here. These ten do most of the social work of a trip:
Zdravo — hi / hello (casual, all-purpose)
Dobar dan — good day (the safe, polite default)
Dobro jutro — good morning
Dobro veče — good evening
Doviđenja — goodbye
Molim — please (also “you’re welcome”, and “pardon?”)
Hvala — thank you; hvala lijepo — thank you very much
Izvinite — excuse me / sorry (getting attention or squeezing past)
Da / Ne — yes / no
Kako ste? — how are you? (polite); reply dobro, hvala
Coffee, drinks and cafés
These phrases cover a straightforward café order:
Jednu kafu, molim — one coffee, please
Domaća kafa — “home-style” (Turkish-style) coffee
Sa mlijekom / bez mlijeka — with milk / without milk
Jedno pivo, molim — one beer, please
Vodu, molim — water, please
Račun, molim — the bill, please
Eating out
A few words help you ask for a table, read a menu and order:
Sto za dvoje — a table for two
Meni, molim — the menu, please
Šta preporučujete? — what do you recommend?
Ovo, molim — this one, please (and point — always allowed)
Bez mesa — without meat (handy for vegetarians)
Bilo je odlično — it was excellent
Getting around
Old-town Kotor is a friendly maze, so “where is…?” is your most valuable question:
Gdje je…? — where is…? (e.g. gdje je stari grad? — where is the old town?)
Lijevo / desno / pravo — left / right / straight on
Koliko košta? — how much does it cost?
Gdje je toalet? — where is the toilet?
Ne razumijem — I don’t understand
Govorite li engleski? — do you speak English?
One phrase is especially useful: Izvinite, ne govorim dobro crnogorski — “Sorry, I don’t speak Montenegrin well.” It explains the situation clearly and can make switching languages smoother.
Quick exercise: choose the phrase
You want to thank someone. What do you say?Check answer
Hvala. Add lijepo for “thank you very much”.
You need the bill in a café. What do you say?Check answer
Račun, molim.
You did not understand. What do you say?Check answer
Ne razumijem.
Make them stick
Reading a list is not the same as remembering it. Pick five phrases for tomorrow — not thirty — and say each one out loud a few times until your mouth knows the shape. Attach them to moments: dobar dan as you walk into anywhere, hvala as you leave, jednu kafu, molim at your first café. Repeated use makes a phrase easier to retrieve than rereading it in a list.
If you want the sounds to feel automatic before you land, it helps to hear and repeat them rather than just read. That’s exactly how learning Montenegrin works in Gora — short spoken lines you say back to a patient AI fox, so the greetings and coffee orders above come out without hesitation. And if the letters still look intimidating, our Montenegrin alphabet guide clears that up in one sitting.
Three quick questions travellers ask
Do people speak English? You can often use English in Montenegro's tourist areas, and the National Tourism Organisation notes that many locals speak foreign languages. A few Montenegrin phrases are still useful and courteous.
Will Serbian or Croatian phrases work too? Generally, yes. Montenegrin, Serbian, Croatian and Bosnian are closely related standard varieties with high mutual intelligibility, so these everyday phrases are widely understood across the region.
Is the pronunciation really that regular? The spelling-to-sound relationship is regular, so the letter key gets you close. But natural pronunciation also depends on word stress, vowel length and pitch, which spelling does not fully mark; listen and imitate when you can.