Slovene grammar
The following is an overview of the grammar of
Slovene.
Grammatical Number (Slovnično število)
\nThe future tense shall be used to demonstrate the usage of the grammatical number in Slovene.
The future tense is formed with the verb to be in the future tense plus the 'l' participle of the full lexical verb.
For example: the English table of I will see (Jaz bom videl), including gender for he (= on) and she (= ona) without it (= ono) can be transformed from:
\n\n| Singular | \nDual (Semi) | \nPlural | \n
\n\n| I will see | \nWe (both) will see | \nWe (all) will see | \n
\n\n| You will see | \nYou (both) will see | \nYou (all) will see | \n
\n\n| He will see/She will see | \nThey (both) will see | \nThey (all) will see | \n
\n
into:
\n\n| Singular +M/F gender | \nDual +M/F gender | \nPlural +M/F gender | \n
\n\n| Jaz bom videl/Jaz bom videla | \nMidva bova videla/Midve bova videli | \nMi bomo videli/Me bomo videle | \n
\n\n| Ti boš videl/Ti boš videla | \nVidva bosta videla/Vidve bosta videli | \nVi boste videli/Ve boste videle | \n
\n\n| On bo videl/Ona bo videla | \nOna (or onadva) bosta videla/Oni (or onidve) bosta videli | \nOni bodo videli/One bodo videle | \n
\n
Not only does the language have singular and plural, it also has
dual, which is rendered in English using the word
both.
Dual was a feature of the
Church Slavonic language. From it, it has been transferred to Slovenian. It is a grammatical number like singular and plural, however used only for two subjects and objects. Thus:
- Ona sta (Both of them are -- two objects or subjects) [masculine gender]\n: Oni sta (Both of them are -- two objects or subjects) [feminine gender]
- Oni so (All of them are -- more than two objects or subjects) [masculine gender]\n: One so (All of them are -- more than two objects or subjects) [feminine gender]
Dual is also preserved in gender, as the above example clearly demonstrates.
The dual number is rather difficult to understand for a foreigner; however, it allows for a very specific style. Compare the following:
- Bil je lep jesenski dan. Odšli smo v park. Usedli smo se na klopco in se pogovarjali. Lepo nam je bilo.\n::It was a nice autumn day. We went to the park. We sat down on a bench and talked. We had a nice time.
- Bil je lep jesenski dan. Odšla sva v park. Usedla sva se na klopco in se pogovarjala. Lepo nama je bilo.\n::It was a nice autumn day. The two of us went to the park. We (the two of us still) sat down on a bench and talked. It was nice.
The second text, to the average Slovene, sounds much more romantic and intimate, a characteristic of style that is impossible to be transferred into English with its lack of dual.
\n
Noun (Samostalnik)
\nCases (Skloni)
\nA noun can serve in terms of syntax as the subject or the object of a sentence. In Slovene, this is shown by cases. There are 6 cases in Slovene:\n# the
Nominative case (imenovalnik (nominativ))\n# the
Genitive case (rodilnik (genitiv))\n# the
Dative case (dajalnik (dativ))\n# the
Accusative case (tožilnik (akuzativ))\n# the
Locative case (mestnik (lokativ))\n# the
Instrumental case (orodnik (instrumental))
The nominative case defines a subject of a sentence; all other cases define an object, either direct or indirect.
In Slovene, the following are question words for cases:\n# Kdo ali kaj? (Who or what?)\n# Koga ali česa?\n# Komu ali čemu?\n# Koga ali kaj?\n# Pri kom ali pri čem? (or another preposition binding with the locative)\n# S kom ali s čim? (or another preposition binding with the instrumental)
Example sentences of basic case uses:\n* Nominative:
Moj stol je v sobi. (
My chair is in the room.)\n* Genitive:\n**
Mojega stola ni v sobi. (
My chair is not in the room.)\n** Košček
papirja mi je ostal v dlani. (A piece
of paper remained in my palm.) (partitive genitive; the subject of the sentence is still the nominative 'Košček papirja', however)\n** Tipkovnica
računalnika je vhodna enota. (A
computer's keyboard is an input device.) (possessive genitive; the subject of the sentence is still the nominative 'Tipkovnica računalnika', however)\n* Dative:
Beraču je dal denar. (He gave money
to a beggar.)\n* Accusative: Vidim
zvezde. (I see
the stars.)\n* Locative: Mnogo je rečenega
o novem sodniku. (A lot is being said
about the new judge.)\n* Instrumental: Na sprehod grem
s svojim psom. (I am going for a walk
with my dog.)
A noun's gender can differ from other languages in many cases. For instance:\n*
miza (
a table) - feminine (
стол - masculine) (
der Tisch - masculine),\n*
stol (
a chair) - masculine (
стул - masculine) (
der Stuhl - masculine),\n*
vrata (
a door) (plural noun) - neuter (
дверь - feminine + plural noun) (
die Tür - feminine),\n*
neurje (
a very windy storm) - neuter (
der Windsturm - masculine).
There are 10 distinct
declensions in Slovene. These are the following, with their model noun inflected. Please note that there are many exceptions for each of the declensions, not all of which are noted.
Endings in the following tables are marked
bold.
Feminine Declensions (Ženske sklanjatve)
\nFirst (Prva)
\nThe model of this declension is lipa, lime (or linden) tree.
\n\n| CASE | \nSingular | \nDual | \nPlural | \n
\n\n| 1 | \nlipa
\n | \nlipi
\n | \nlipe
\n | \n
\n\n| 2 | \nlipe
\n | \nlip
\n | \nlip
\n | \n
\n\n| 3 | \nlipi
\n | \nlipama
\n | \nlipam
\n | \n
\n\n| 4 | \nlipo
\n | \nlipi
\n | \nlipe
\n | \n
\n\n| 5 (pri/o) | \nlipi
\n | \nlipah
\n | \nlipah
\n | \n
\n\n| 6 (z) | \nlipo
\n | \nlipama
\n | \nlipami
\n | \n
\n
The notable exceptions to this model are nouns ending in -ev instead of -a in nominative singular (breskev (peach), lestev (ladder), žetev (harvest)), and the nouns
gospa (lady, madam),
hči (daughter) and
mati (mother), which have a very peculiar inflexion.
Some nouns, in addition to those ending in
-ev, change their stem in the genitive of dual and plural. Namely, the schwa (-
e-) (or -
i- in front of -
j-) is inserted. For example:
vožnja (fare) -
voženj,
igra (game) -
iger,
ladja (ship) -
ladij.
The main difference between the feminine declension in Slovene and in
Russian is in the 2
nd and 3
rd case, for they are swapped. For instance, an incautious Russian, otherwise with a high command of Slovene, might say "dal sem mam
e" (correct "mam
i" (I gave to mum.)) and "ni bilo mam
i" (correct "mam
e" (Mum wasn't there);
mami in this case can be correct if referring to
mummy (see Third Feminine Declension below)). The fourth feminine declension is similarly affected by this.
Second (Druga)
\nThe model of this declension is perut, wing (of a bird).
\n\n| CASE | \nSingular | \nDual | \nPlural | \n
\n\n| 1 | \nperut
\n | \nperuti | \nperuti | \n
\n\n| 2 | \nperuti | \nperuti | \nperuti | \n
\n\n| 3 | \nperuti | \nperutma | \nperutim | \n
\n\n| 4 | \nperut | \nperuti | \nperuti | \n
\n\n| 5 (pri/o) | \nperuti | \nperutih | \nperutih | \n
\n\n| 6 (s) | \nperutjo | \nperutma | \nperutmi | \n
\n
Some nouns of the second feminine declension have special endings in instrumental of singular and dative of dual and plural, such as
pesem (song) (s pesmijo; pesmima; pesmim).
Some one
syllable nouns of this declension have special endings in dative and locative of dual and plural, such as
stvar (thing) (Dative: stvarema, stvarem; Locative: pri stvareh, pri stvareh).
Some nouns have peculiarities in the stem upon
inflexion, by omitting the schwa sound (e). Bolezen (illness, nominative singular) - bolezni (genitive singular).
The noun
kri (blood) has in all cases but nominative and dative singular a different stem (krv-). Thus: kri - krvi - krvi - kri - pri krvi - s krvjo.
Third (Tretja)
\nThe model of this declension is mami, mummy (an alias for 'mother').
\n\n| CASE | \nSingular | \nDual | \nPlural | \n
\n\n| 1 | \nmami
\n | \nmami | \nmami | \n
\n\n| 2 | \nmami | \nmami | \nmami | \n
\n\n| 3 | \nmami | \nmami | \nmami | \n
\n\n| 4 | \nmami | \nmami | \nmami | \n
\n\n| 5 (pri/o) | \nmami | \nmami | \nmami | \n
\n\n| 6 (z) | \nmami | \nmami | \nmami | \n
\n
Fourth (Četrta)
\nThe model of this declension is dežurna, a person on-duty (this is an adjectival noun (posamostaljeni pridevnik), and also the pattern for declension of adjectives).
\n\n| CASE | \nSingular | \nDual | \nPlural | \n
\n\n| 1 | \ndežurna
\n | \ndežurni
\n | \ndežurne
\n | \n
\n\n| 2 | \ndežurne
\n | \ndežurnih
\n | \ndežurnih
\n | \n
\n\n| 3 | \ndežurni
\n | \ndežurnima
\n | \ndežurnim
\n | \n
\n\n| 4 | \ndežurno
\n | \ndežurni
\n | \ndežurne
\n | \n
\n\n| 5 (pri/o) | \ndežurni
\n | \ndežurnih
\n | \ndežurnih
\n | \n
\n\n| 6 (z) | \ndežurno
\n | \ndežurnima
\n | \ndežurnimi'
\n | \n
\n
The forms given here are used in the declension of all adjectives standing next to feminine nouns (of any declension), as well as for all adjectives acting as nouns. Province names also abide by this declension.
For example:\n# lepa pisava (nice handwriting)\n# dolga nit (long thread)\n# gobčna Ines (garrulous Ines)\n# Kranjska (= kranjska dežela, 'land of
Kranj' - '
Carniola')\n# ženska (female; this stands for
ženska oseba, female person)
\n
Masculine Declensions (Moške sklanjatve)
\nFirst (Prva)
\nThe model of this declension is korak, step.
\n\n| CASE | \nSingular | \nDual | \nPlural | \n
\n\n| 1 | \nkorak
\n | \nkoraka | \nkoraki | \n
\n\n| 2 | \nkoraka | \nkorakov | \nkorakov | \n
\n\n| 3 | \nkoraku | \nkorakoma | \nkorakom | \n
\n\n| 4 | \nkorak | \nkoraka | \nkorake | \n
\n\n| 5 (pri/o) | \nkoraku | \nkorakih | \nkorakih | \n
\n\n| 6 (s) | \nkorakom | \nkorakoma | \nkoraki | \n
\n
Animate nouns (nouns that represent living beings) have a different ending in accusative singular (-a: fant (boy) - fanta). Some other, inanimate, nouns also adhere to this rule, and using this rule for all first masculine declension nouns is typical in language used by small children.
Nouns ending in C, Č, Ž, Š, J (to help with remembering:
Cene
češnje
že
še
je. = Literally: Cene cherries already still eats.) are subject to the so called
preglas. The letter -o- in endings is replaced by -e-. Thus: stric (uncle) - s stricem, and not 's stricom'.
Some one
syllable nouns may have the ending -u instead of -a in genitive singular (grad (castle) - gradu).
Nouns taken from other languages may have the ending -o or -e in nominative singular. For example,
avto (car) or
finale (finale).
The nouns mož (husband, also man), zob (tooth) and las (hair) have the ending -je in nominative plural instead of -i: možje, zobje, lasje. Some other nouns allow for either: fant (boy), gost (guest), škof (bishop).
\nIn inflexion of some nouns of the first masculine declension, the schwa in the stem is omitted: vrelec ((thermal) spring) - vrelca.
Some nouns add to their stem -j- (if ending in -r), -t- (names ending in -e) or -n- (if ending in -lj) from genitive singular on. Thus: redar (security guard at a public event) - redar
ja; Zvone - Zvoneta; nagelj (carnation) - nageljna.
One
syllable nouns normally get an extension in their stem with -ov- in dual and plural. zid (wall) - zidova - zidovi
A peculiar irregularity is the noun
otrok (child). In nominative plural and locative dual, -k is replaced with -c. (otroci, otrocih)
The noun človek (human) has a different stem in the plural and in genitive and locative of dual: ljud-. Thus: ljudje - ljudi - ljudem - ljudi - pri ljudeh - z ljudmi (plural); človeka - ljudi - človekoma - človeka - pri ljudeh - s človekoma (dual).
Second (Druga)
\nThe model of this declension is vojvoda, duke.
\n\n| CASE | \nSingular | \nDual | \nPlural | \n
\n\n| 1 | \nvojvoda
\n | \nvojvodi
\n | \nvojvode
\n | \n
\n\n| 2 | \nvojvode
\n | \nvojvod
\n | \nvojvod
\n | \n
\n\n| 3 | \nvojvodi
\n | \nvojvodama
\n | \nvojvodam
\n | \n
\n\n| 4 | \nvojvodo
\n | \nvojvodi
\n | \nvojvode
\n | \n
\n\n| 5 (pri/o) | \nvojvodi
\n | \nvojvodah
\n | \nvojvodah
\n | \n
\n\n| 6 (z) | \nvojvodo
\n | \nvojvodama
\n | \nvojvodami
\n | \n
\n
You will have noticed that the second masculine declension shares its endings with the first feminine declension. All nouns belonging to this declension may also be inflected as per the first masculine declension.
Thus, for the noun
Luka (Luka, a name):\n# Luka\n# Luke
or Luka\n# Luki
or Luku\n# Luko
or Luka\n# pri Luki
or pri Luku\n# z Luko
or z Lukom
Third (Tretja)
\nThe model of this declension is H2O, or any other acronym and symbol.
\n\n| CASE | \nSingular | \nDual | \nPlural | \n
\n\n| 1 | \nH2O
\n | \nH2O | \nH2O | \n
\n\n| 2 | \nH2O | \nH2O | \nH2O | \n
\n\n| 3 | \nH2O | \nH2O | \nH2O | \n
\n\n| 4 | \nH2O | \nH2O | \nH2O | \n
\n\n| 5 (pri/o) | \nH2O | \nH2O | \nH2O | \n
\n\n| 6 (s) | \nH2O | \nH2O | \nH2O | \n
\n
All acronyms and symbols belong to this declension, but they may also be declined as per the first masculine declension, with an obligatory hyphen (-).
Thus, for the noun
ATP (meaning adenozin trifosfat, adenosine triphosphate):\n# ATP\n# ATP
or ATP-ja\n# ATP
or ATP-ju\n# ATP
or ATP\n# pri ATP
or pri ATP-ju\n# z ATP
or z ATP-jem
Fourth (Četrta)
\nThe model of this declension is dežurni, a person on-duty (this is an adjectival noun (posamostaljeni pridevnik), and also the pattern for declension of adjectives).
\n\n| CASE | \nSingular | \nDual | \nPlural | \n
\n\n| 1 | \ndežurni
\n | \ndežurna
\n | \ndežurni
\n | \n
\n\n| 2 | \ndežurnega
\n | \ndežurnih
\n | \ndežurnih
\n | \n
\n\n| 3 | \ndežurnemu
\n | \ndežurnima
\n | \ndežurnim
\n | \n
\n\n| 4 | \ndežurnega
\n | \ndežurna
\n | \ndežurne
\n | \n
\n\n| 5 (pri/o) | \ndežurnem
\n | \ndežurnih
\n | \ndežurnih
\n | \n
\n\n| 6 (z) | \ndežurnim
\n | \ndežurnima
\n | \ndežurnimi'
\n | \n
\n
The forms given here are used in the declension of all adjectives standing next to masculine nouns (of any declension), as well as for all adjectives acting as nouns. However, in accusative singular, adjectives only have the ending
-ega if the noun is animate or omitted; otherwise they get the ending
-i or no ending at all.
See also the section on
adjectives for usage of definite and indefinite forms for property adjectives.
For example:\n* koristen napotek (a useful direction)\n* vladajoči vojvoda (the ruling duke)\n* čist O
2 (pure O
2)\n* moški (male; this stands for
moški človek, male human)
Neuter Declensions (Srednje sklanjatve)
\nFirst (Prva)
\nThe model of this declension is mesto, city.
\n\n| CASE | \nSingular | \nDual | \nPlural | \n
\n\n| 1 | \nmesto
\n | \nmesti
\n | \nmesta
\n | \n
\n\n| 2 | \nmesta
\n | \nmest | \nmest
\n | \n
\n\n| 3 | \nmestu
\n | \nmestoma
\n | \nmestom
\n | \n
\n\n| 4 | \nmesto
\n | \nmesti
\n | \nmesta
\n | \n
\n\n| 5 (pri/o) | \nmestu
\n | \nmestih
\n | \nmestih
\n | \n
\n\n| 6 (z) | \nmestom
\n | \nmestoma
\n | \nmesti'
\n | \n
\n
Nouns of which the stem ends in C, Č, Ž, Š or J are subject to the so called
preglas. The letter -o- is replaced by -e- in endings in nominative, accusative and instrumental singular, dative and instrumental dual and dative plural. Examples:
polje (field),
sonce (sun).
Some nouns have no ending in nominative singular, such as
kolo (bicycle),
ime (name),
telo (body), and
dekle (girl). These nouns extend their stem by
-n-,
-s- or
-t- from genitive singular onwards (ime - imena, kolo - kolesa, dekle - dekleta).
Some nouns change their stem in the genitive of dual and plural. Namely, the schwa (-
e-) (or -
i- in front of -
j-) is inserted. For example:
okno (window) -
oken,
veselje (gaiety) -
veselij.
Fourth (Četrta)
\nThe model of this declension is dežurno, a thing on-duty (this is an adjectival noun (posamostaljeni pridevnik), and also the pattern for declension of adjectives).
\n\n| CASE | \nSingular | \nDual | \nPlural | \n
\n\n| 1 | \ndežurno
\n | \ndežurni
\n | \ndežurna
\n | \n
\n\n| 2 | \ndežurnega
\n | \ndežurnih
\n | \ndežurnih
\n | \n
\n\n| 3 | \ndežurnemu
\n | \ndežurnima
\n | \ndežurnim
\n | \n
\n\n| 4 | \ndežurno
\n | \ndežurni
\n | \ndežurna
\n | \n
\n\n| 5 (pri/o) | \ndežurnem
\n | \ndežurnih
\n | \ndežurnih
\n | \n
\n\n| 6 (z) | \ndežurnim
\n | \ndežurnima
\n | \ndežurnimi'
\n | \n
\n
In nominative and accusative singular, the ending is
-e instead of
-o for adjectives ending in
c,
č,
ž,
š and
j (
"preglas").
The forms given here are used in the declension of all adjectives standing next to neuter nouns, as well as for all adjectives acting as nouns. An important example here are certain town names, such as Krško or Grosuplje (although this latter may also be declined using the first neuter declension).
Mass Noun (Množinski samostalnik)
\nIn Slovene, mass nouns are either singular or plural.
Uncountable nouns used in the singular only can be split into three groups, denoting the following:\n* matter (voda (water) (though plural when talking about rivers, lakes and seas), kri (blood), pesek (sand))\n* groups (drevje (trees), mladina (youth), pohištvo (furniture))\n* concepts (ljubezen (love), zdravje (health), mir (peace), znanje (knowledge))
Plural nouns are, for example, the following: pljuča (lungs), sani (sleigh), norice (smallpox), možgani (brain). In addition, normally the plural is used instead of the dual for body parts (roke (arms), ušesa (ears)), clothes (nogavice (socks)), devices (rolerji (rollerblades), and for biological pairs (starši (parents)), except when stressing that there are only two (or one).
It is permissible to use plural or dual forms for uncountable singular nouns when stressing the diversity or the number. (Obstaja več ljubezni. (Literally: 'There are more loves.') -- but this is better said "Obstaja več vrst ljubezni. (There are more types of love.))
Verb (Glagol)
\nTransitivity (Glagolska prehodnost)
\nAs in English, Slovene features transitive and
intransitive verbs, or, in other words, verbs that require a direct object to function properly and those that have exact meaning in themselves already. For example:\n* Imam avto. (I have a car.) (transitive)\n* Hodim. (I am walking.) (intransitive)\n* Dežuje. (It is raining.) (intransitive, although some might say this is a valence 0 verb)\n* Sodelavcu je podal kladivo. (He passed the hammer to his co-worker.) (transitive + two obejcts; this is sometimes known as
ditransitive in English)
Verbal transitivity (or intransitivity) is a characteristic of all verbs in Slovene, but a given verb may be transitive in some and intransitive in other meanings it conveys.
Verbal Aspect (Glagolski vid)
\nVerbs have, as in many languages, two main continuance forms. In English, however, the perfective (dovršni) and imperfective (nedovršni) verb forms are rather expressed by different tense aspectss (simple versus continuous).
- skakati (to jump (habitually or continuously) (to be jumping)) [imperfective verb (infinitive)]\n: skočiti (to jump (once)) [perfective verb (infinitive)]
Continuance is preserved in almost all 'tenses':\n:
(Jaz) skačem (
I am jumping) [imperfective verb in the present (continuous) tense]\n:
(Jaz) skočim (
I jump (once)) [perfective verb in the present (simple) tense]
- skakal sem (I was jumping) [imperfective verb in the past (simple) tense, masculine]\n: skakala sem (I was jumping) [imperfective verb in the past (continuous) tense, feminine]
- skočil sem (I jumped) [perfective verb in the past (simple) tense, masculine]\n: skočila sem (I jumped) [perfective verb in the past (continuous) tense, feminine]
Note: Gender is expressed by verb endings.
- skakal bom (I will be jumping) [imperfective verb of future (continuous) tense, masculine]\n: skakala bom (I will be jumping) [imperfective verb of future (continuous) tense, feminine]
- skočil bom (I will jump) [perfective verb of future (simple) tense, masculine]\n: skočila bom (I will jump) [perfective verb of future (simple) tense, feminine]
Active and Passive Voice (Tvornik in trpnik)
\nSlovene mostly uses the active voice. Hence, a typical English sentence, such as He was elected as a fellow of the Royal Society (Izvoljen je bil za člana Kraljeve družbe), would more likely be seen in Slovenian in the form They elected him a fellow of the Royal Society (Izvolili so ga za člana Kraljeve družbe).
The passive in Slovene is formed by using the verb biti (to be) in the appropriate form, depending on the person, gender, tense and number, and adding to it the full lexical verb with the ending -en, or, in another form, by using the word se and the appropriate form of the full lexical verb.
For example:\n* Trgovina je zaprta. (The shop is closed.) (state passive cannot be transformed into the active) – German: Das Geschäft ist geschlossen.\n* Trgovina se zapira. (The shop is being closed.) (in the active: Trgovino zapirajo.) – German: Das Geschäft wird geschlossen.\n* Tu se plava. (Here, one may swim.) (there is no English passive suitable in this translation, and also no active form in Slovene to directly correspond to it) – German: Hier wird geschwommen.\n* Vržen je bil iz službe. (He was sacked.) (in the active: Vrgli so ga iz službe.)
Verb Tense (Glagolski čas)
\nIn Slovene, there are four tenses:\n# the
pluperfect (past perfect) tense (predpreteklik)\n# the
preterite (past simple) tense (preteklik)\n# the
present tense (sedanjik)\n# the
future tense (prihodnjik)
Unlike in English, choosing the correct tense is trivial.
The Pluperfect (Predpreteklik)
\nThe pluperfect tense is formed the following way:\nauxiliary verb biti (to be) in the present tense + 'l' participle of the auxiliary verb biti (to be) + 'l' participle of the full lexical verb
For example:\n* sem bil videl (I had seen)\n* je bila odšla (she had gone)\n* so bili odkrili (they had discovered)
The pluperfect tense is not used in modern language. It should be confined to literature.
It describes an action taking place before another action in the past.
The Preterite (Preteklik)
\nThe preterite tense is formed in the following way:\nauxiliary verb biti (to be) in the present tense + 'l' participle of the full lexical verb
For example:\n* sem videl (I saw)\n* je odšla (she went)\n* so odkrili (they discovered)
The preterite tense is used to describe an action or state in the past.
The Present Tense (Sedanjik)
\nThe present tense is formed in the following way:\nthe present tense of the full lexical verb
For example:\n* vidim (I see)\n* odhaja (she is going)\n* odkrivajo (they are discovering)
The present tense is used to describe actions and states happening at this moment or generally. Progressiveness is denoted by using perfective and imperfective verbs.
For verb formation, see verb conjugations below.
The Future Tense (Prihodnjik)
\nThe future tense is formed in the following way:\nauxiliary verb biti (to be) in the future tense + 'l' participle of the full lexical verb
For example:\n* videl bom (I shall see)\n* odšla bo (she will go)\n* bodo odkrili (they will discover)
The future tense describes future actions or states.
Verb Conjugations (Glagolske spregatve)
\nThere are various types of conjugation existent in Slovene, videlicet:\n*the present conjugation,\n*the conjugation of the infinitive for the second person of singular, dual and plural, and the first person of dual and plural (see
the section on the imperative),\n*a future tense conjugation (existing only for the verb
to be (biti), see
below), and\n*the conditional conjugation, which is not expressed by voiced or written endings, but rather by the
subjunctive mood.
Slovene has both
thematic and
athematic conjugations of verbs in the present tense.
Athematic conjugations differ from
thematic ones in that they add
S to the stem in some cases. For comparison, let us take the verbs
imeti (to have) and
dati (to give), both of which belong to the first (-a-) conjugation, as described below. It is considered grammatically incorrect, although common in certain dialects, to inflect verbs of either conjugation by the rules of the other.
\n\n| Singular | \nDual | \nPlural | \n
\n\n| imam – dam | \nimava – dava | \nimamo – damo | \n
\n\n| imaš – daš | \nimata – daSta | \nimate – daSte | \n
\n\n| ima – da | \nimata – daSta | \nimajo – dajo | \n
\n
\nImperative: Imej!, Imejmo!; Daj!, Dajmo!
There are 5 discrete thematic and athematic present tense conjugations, as follows, plus irregular verbs:\n# First conjugation in -
a- (eg, oddati (to let, rent))\n# Second conjugation in -
i- (eg, hoditi (to walk))\n# Third conjugation in -
je- (eg, biti (to beat))\n# Fourth conjugation in -
e- (eg, risati (to draw))\n# Fifth conjugation in -
-- (eg, žreti (to gourmandise) (?))
First conjugation example:\n
\n\n| Singular | \nDual | \nPlural | \n
\n\n| oddam | \noddava | \nhodamo | \n
\n\n| oddaš | \noddata | \noddate | \n
\n\n| odda | \noddata | \noddajo | \n
\n
\nImperative:
Oddaj!,
Oddajte!
Second conjugation example:\n
\n\n| Singular | \nDual | \nPlural | \n
\n\n| hodim | \nhodiva | \nhodimo | \n
\n\n| hodiš | \nhodita | \nhodite | \n
\n\n| hodi | \nhodita | \nhodijo | \n
\n
\nImperative:
Hodi!,
Hodite!
Third conjugation example:\n
\n\n| Singular | \nDual | \nPlural | \n
\n\n| bijem | \nbijeva | \nbijemo | \n
\n\n| biješ | \nbijeta | \nbijete | \n
\n\n| bije | \nbijeta | \nbijejo | \n
\n
\nImperative:
Bij!,
Bijte!
Fourth conjugation example:\n
\n\n| Singular | \nDual | \nPlural | \n
\n\n| rišem | \nriševa | \nrišemo | \n
\n\n| rišeš | \nrišeta | \nrišete | \n
\n\n| riše | \nrišeta | \nrišejo | \n
\n
\nImperative:
Riši!,
Rišite!
The third person plural often has more variants, such as
dajo and
dado (from
dati, to give),
jedo and
jejo (from
jesti, to eat), but more often than not, one of these is not stylistically neutral.
The Irregular Verb to be (Nepravilni glagol biti)
\nThe verb biti (to be) is irregular, and is formed thus:
Present tense:\n
\n\n| Singular | \nDual | \nPlural | \n
\n\n| sem | \nsva | \nsmo | \n
\n\n| si | \nsta | \nste | \n
\n\n| je | \nsta | \nso | \n
\n
Future tense:\n
\n\n| Singular | \nDual | \nPlural | \n
\n\n| bom | \nbova | \nbomo | \n
\n\n| boš | \nbosta | \nboste | \n
\n\n| bo | \nbosta | \nbodo | \n
\n
An alternative, but stylised, affected or literary way of forming the future tense of the verb
biti is by inserting -de-: eg,
boDEm. A more colloquial alternative to
bodo is
bojo (and a rather peculiar version thereof is
bodejo).
Past tense (solidi mark gender: masculine/feminine/neuter):\n
\n\n| Singular | \nDual | \nPlural | \n
\n\n| bil/-a/-o | \nbila/-i/-i | \nbili/-e/-a | \n
\n\n| bil/-a/-o | \nbila/-i/-i | \nbili/-e/-a | \n
\n\n| bil/-a/-o | \nbila/-i/-i | \nbili/-e/-a | \n
\n
The imperative of
to be is
Bodi!,
Bodite!.
The negative conjugation of the verb
to be in the present:\n
\n\n| Singular | \nDual | \nPlural | \n
\n\n| nisem | \nnisva | \nnismo | \n
\n\n| nisi | \nnista | \nniste | \n
\n\n| ni | \nnista | \nniso | \n
\n
Participle (Deležnik)
\nIn Slovene, there are many forms of the participle. The most common are the following:
- -č: This participle denotes active doing of the described noun, and corresponds to Partizip I (Partizip Präsens) in German, and to present participle in English.\n** Otrok, ki joka, je jokajoč otrok. (A child that cries is a crying child.)\n** V sobo je vstopil glasno pojoč. (He entered the room singing loudly.)
A similar meaning is the
-e participle:
Sede se je pretegnil. ([While]
sitting, he stretched.) Also, the
-aje participle expresses a similar meaning:
Sedaje se je pretegnil. (While
sitting down, he stretched.)
- -ši: This historically used participle denotes action occurring before another. It is considered archaic, and should not be used in modern language. It corresponds to a perfect present participle in English. Note the use of the comma – this participle acts as a predicate.\n** Stopivši iz hiše, se je napotil v krčmo. (Having stepped out of the house, he headed to the pub.)
- -l: This is the participle used to form verbs in the past tense; it also expresses states or state changes.\n** Videl sem. (I saw.)\n** Ob tej novici je prebledela. (Upon [hearing] the news, she became wan.)\n** Bleda je. (She is wan.)
- -n/-t: This participle denotes passive state of the described noun, and corresponds to Partizip II (Partizip Perfekt) in German, and to past participle in English.\n** Parkiran avto je bil ukraden. (The parked car was stolen.) (perhaps better in the active voice, "Parkiran avto so ukradli.")\n** Sodišče je sodilo obtoženemu roparju. (The court tried the accused robber.)\n** Spočit konj je čakal na dvorišču. (A rested horse was waiting on the yard.)
Note that when used as an
adjective, participles are declined as per the adjectival declension.
Imperative (Velelnik)
\nThe imperative mood is formed using a different ending to verbs for each person, but more often than not, there is a change in the base as well (for instance: plesati (to dance) - pleši (Dance!), or peti (to sing) - poj (Sing!)).
The following table lists forms for the verbs
to be (
biti),
to go (
iti), and a regular verb,
to walk (
hoditi).
\n\n| Singular | \nPlural | \nDual | \n
\n\n| -- | \nbodimo - pojdimo - hodimo | \nbodiva - pojdiva - hodiva | \n
\n\n| bodi - pojdi - hodi | \nbodite - pojdite - hodite | \nbodita - pojdita - hodita | \n
\n
The idea expressed by the Imperative, this is, a command, may also be expressed by the modal verb should (
naj). For instance: "naj bom" (Let me be.), "naj gredo" (or even "naj pojdejo") (They must go; I order them that they should go.), "naj bo (luč)" (Let there be (light).).
When the imperative
is in fact used for the first person singular or for the third person, it is not stylistically neutral. Thus: Pa bodi po tvoje. (Let it be your way. Po tvojem gre svet tako: Jaz delaj, ti pa lenari. (Per you, the world goes like so: I work (but in imperative for 2nd person singular), you be lazy.)
Current grammar no longer knows the
optative mood (želelnik).
Subjunctive and Conditionals (Pogojnik)
\nThe subjunctive is formed by the word
bi (roughly,
would) in front of the verb.
- Če bi mi postalo slabo, mi, prosim, podajte tiste tablete. (Literally: If it became sick to me, to me, I kindly ask, pass those pills.; If I should become sick, kindly pass me those pills.)\n* V primeru, da bi prišlo do požara, bomo umrli. (In the case that there should be a fire, we shall die.)\n* Če bi (bili) končali prej, bi bili zdaj prosti. (If we had finished earlier, we would be free now.)\n* Želi si, da bi bil maneken, vendar s svojimi obraznimi nečistočami nima možnosti. (He wishes that he were a model, but with his facial impurities, he has no chance.)\n* O, da bi bila jesen! (O, if only it was autumn!) (somewhat literary language)\n* O, ko bi le bila jesen! (O, if only it was autumn!)
Conditional sentences expressing probable or very possible events need not use the subjunctive
bi. For example: Če vam pomaham, odprite okno. (If I wave to you, open the window.)
Supine and Infinitive (Namenilnik in nedoločnik)
\nThe supine and the infinitive are ordinarily used as verbal nouns, with the latter far more common than the former.
The infinitive is the basic verb form ending in -ti (postati, biti, hladiti – to become, to be, to cool), or, with a few verbs, -či (peči, teči, sleči – to bake, to run, to undress).
For example:\n* Postati slaven je težko. (To become famous is difficult.)\n* Seveda je res, da stalno nekaj blebeče, vendar govoričiti brez smisla zahteva veliko vaje. (Of course it is true that he/she (3rd person, but unstated) is forever blethering, but to babble meaninglessly demands much practice.)
The supine is used following verbs designating movement. Its form is the same as that of the infinitive, bar the omitted -i at the end; thus, for the example verbs given above: postat, bit, hladit, peč, teč, sleč.
Examples of the supine:\n* V novi svet so odšli iskat bogastvo. (They went to the New World to seek fortune.)\n* Pojdi se solit. (Literally, Go salt yourself; it expresses annoyance, refusal)\n* Stekli smo pogasit ogenj. (We ran to put out the fire.)
Gerund (Glagolnik)
\nA gerund is a noun directly inflected from a verb, designating an action or a state. The standard gerund in Slovene ends in
-anje or
-enje:
- usklajevati -> usklajevanje (to harmonise -> harmonising)\n* pisati -> pisanje (to write -> writing)\n* goreti -> gorenje (to burn -> burning)\n* saditi -> sajenje (to plant (into soil, as in potatoes (krompir), maize (koruza) or flowers (rože)) -> planting)\n* sejati -> sejanje (to plant (by throwing seeds into the air, as in most any corn (žito), such as buckwheat (ajda), wheat (pšenica), rice (riž) (but also 'saditi riž'), millet (proso), etc) -> planting)
For example:\n* Pisanje ni naravno: potrebno se ga je priučiti. (Writing is not natural: it must be learnt.)\n* Ob visokih temperaturah gašenje ognja ni enostavno. (At high temperatures, putting out a fire is not trivial.)\n* Brenčanje mrčesa me spravlja ob živce! (The buzzing of insects is driving me crazy!)
Adjective (Pridevnik)
\nThe adjective expresses three main ideas: quality (
qualitative adjectives,
kakovostni pridevniki), relation (
relational adjectives,
vrstni pridevniki) and possession (
possesssive adjectives,
svojilni pridevniki).
Adjectives in Slovene can serve in three syntactical functions: left attributes (levi prilastek), predicate articles (povedkovo določilo) and predicate attributes (povedkov prilastek).\n* Left attribute:
Kakšno pričesko želiš? (
What kind of haircut would you like?)\n: – Želim
modno pričesko. (I would like a
modish haircut.)\n* Predicate article:
Kakšna je pričeska? (
What is the haircut
like?\n: – Pričeska
je modna. (The haircut
is modish.)\n* Predicate attribute:
Kakšna se je naredila pričeska? (
What kind of haircut
has been made?)\n: – Pričeska
se je naredila lepa. (The haircut
has been made beautiful.)
The majority of adjectives are of the first kind. These express any qualities and properties of personal and impersonal nouns. Such adjectives are gradable either in the two- or three-step comparison, depending if they are relative to another, opposite adjective (three-step) or not (two-step or three-step). (
lep - grd (beautiful - ugly) vs
bolan (ill)).
Relational adjectives express type, class or numerical sequence of a noun. For instance:
kemijska in fizikalna sprememba (chemical and physical change),
fotografski aparat (photographic device (=camera)).
Possessive pronouns define possession, ownership or belonging. For example:
barvin sijaj (the colour's shine),
Karmenina torbica (Karmen's handbag),
delavska halja (workers' overall).
Some adjectives expressing
properties next to masculine nouns imply definiteness ('relation') or indefiniteness ('quality') of nouns.
\nFor an exactly defined noun or a specific type thereof:\n* the adjective in nominative singular has the ending
-ni or
-i\n* the question word is
Kateri? (
Which? (in German
Welcher?))\nFor nouns which are not exactly defined, either being mentioned for the first time or generic:\n* the adjective in nominative singular has the ending
-en or
- (no ending)\n* the question word is
Kakšen? (
What sort of? (in German
Was für ein?))\nAdjectives ending in
-i and all possessive pronouns do not have special indefinite forms. There are two special adjectives which have special definite and indefinite forms for all genders and all cases, namely
majhen (small) and
velik (big) (the definite forms are
mali and
veliki respectively).
Example:\n* Stari učitelj je to dejal. (The old teacher said this.) – the implication here is that there is at least one other teacher who is not old\n* Star učitelj je to dejal. (An old teacher said this.)
The adjective matches the subject or the predicate article to which it is ascribed. If it describes two singular nouns or one dual noun, the adjective should be in the dual. If it describes a plural or one singular and one non-singular noun, the adjective should be in the plural. Although gender should match the group, sometimes the gender of the adjacent noun is used with the appropriate grammatical number. For declension patterns of adjectives, see the section on
nouns (the fourth declension is always adjectival). Some adjectives, however, are never declined, for example
bež (beige),
poceni (cheap),
roza (pink),
super (super),
seksi (sexy), and some other loanwords.\n* Mesto in vas
sta bila proti predlogu občine. (The city and the village were against the suggestion of the municipality.)\n* Mesto in vas
sta bili proti predlogu občine. (the same, but somewhat unusual and seldom heard)\n* Ti in tvoji sestri boste precej odšli! (You (masculine, since the verb is in masculine) and your two sisters shall leave forthwith.)
Possessive adjectives for masculine and neuter possessed nouns add
-ov (or
-ev if the possessive noun ends in
c,
č,
ž,
š and
j (
"preglas")) to the possessive noun. Feminine possessed nouns always take
-in. Possessive nouns can include proper names, in which case they are written capitalised.
Negative adjectives are formed by prefixing the negative
ne-, which is
almost always a proper form, even though sometimes a Latin prefix is an alternative.\n* lep -> nelep (beautiful, not beautiful (but not ugly (grd))\n* reverzibilen -> ireverzibilen, sometimes also nereverzibilen (reversible, irreversible)\n* moralen -> nemoralen, amoralen, imoralen (moral, immoral) (note that 'amoral' in English has a different meaning)\n* legitimen -> nelegitimen, ilegitimen (legitimate, illegitimate)
Comparative (Primernik)
\nThe comparative is formed by adding the ending -ši (-ša, -še), -ejši (-ejša, -ejše) or -ji (-ja, -je) to an adjective, or using the word bolj (more) in front of an adjective in case of stressing, and also when the adjective in question cannot be formed by adding an ending, such as when dealing with colours, or when the adjective ends in such a sound that it would be difficult to add the appropriate ending.
For instance:\n* lep - lepši (beautiful - more beautiful)\n* trd - trši (hard - harder) (-d- falls out)\n* zelen - bolj zelen (green - greener)\n* zanimiv - zanimivejši (interesting - more interesting)\n* transparenten - transparentnejši (transparent - more transparent) (-e- falls out)\n* globok - globlji (deep - deeper) (notice the added -l-, -o- and -k- fall out)\n* otročji - bolj otročji (childish - more childish)
Superlative (Presežnik)
\nThe superlative is formed by prepending the word naj directly in front of the comparative, regardless of its comprising of one or two words.
- lep - lepši - najlepši\n* trd - trši - najtrši\n* zelen - bolj zelen - najbolj zelen\n* zanimiv - zanimivejši - najzanimivejši (but najbolj zanimiv is more common)\n* transparenten - transparentnejši - najtransparentnejši\n* globok - globlji - najgloblji\n* otročji - bolj otročji - najbolj otročji
Numeral (Števnik)
\nCardinal Numeral (Glavni števnik)
\n* ena, dva, tri, štiri, pet (one, two, three, four, five) – used to express amount
- Po pošti smo vam poslali tri pakete. (We posted three packages to you.)\n** Ko dopolniš sedemindvajseto leto, dobiš denar. (When you reach your twenty-seventh year, you will get the money.)\n** Ekvator je dolg okrog štirideset tisoč sedemdeset kilometrov. (The equator is about forty thousand and seventy kilometres long.)
The numbers up to ten are as follows: nič (0), ena, dva (or dve), tri, štiri, pet, šest, sedem, osem, devet, deset.
From 10 to 20, numbers are suffixed by -najst (-teen): enajst, dvanajst, trinajst, štirinajst, petnajst, šestnajst, sedemnajst, osemnajst, devetnajst, dvajset.
From 20 to 100, the unit comes first, then the ten, joined together by in (and), much like in German. For tens, they are unit numbers appended by deset (ten), except for 20, which is dvajset.\n* dvajset (20), enaindvajset (21), dvaindvajset (22), triindvajset (23), štiriindvajset (24) ... trideset (30), enaintrideset (31) ... petdeset (50) ... devetindevetdeset (99).
Hundreds are formed with the word sto, similar to tens.\n* sto (100), sto ena (101), sto dva (102) ... sto deset (110) ... sto devetindevetdeset (199), dvesto (200) ... tristo (300) ... devetsto devetindevetdeset (999)
Thousands follow the same style, but are separated by spaces.\n* tisoč (1000), tisoč ena (1001) ... tisoč sto (1100) ... dva tisoč (2000) ... pet tisoč petsto petinpetdeset (5555) ... deset tisoč (10,000) ... sto tisoč (100,000) ... devetsto devetindevetdeset tisoč devetsto devetindevetdeset (999,999).
Millions and further on (milliards, billions, billiards, trillions, trilliards ...) are declined.\n* milijon (1,000,000) ... dva milijona (2 million), dva milijona ena (2,000,001) ... sedem milijonov petnajst tisoč sedemindvajset (7,015,027) ... devetsto devetindevetdeset milijonov devetsto devetindevetdeset tisoč devetsto devetindevetdeset (999,999,999), milijarda (1,000,000,000) ... dve milijardi (2,000,000,000) ... bilijon (1,000,000,000,000) ...
Ordinal Numeral (Vrstilni števnik)
\n* prvi, drugi, tretji, četrti, peti (first, second, third, fourth, fifth) – used to express the position in a numbered order (when written with a number, the number is followed by a full-stop (1. (1st)).
- Zasedli so prvo mesto. (They took first place.)\n**Stoprvi gost je prispel. (The hundred and first guest has arrived.)\n**Stodruga noga jo boli. (The hundred and second leg hurts her.)\n**Sedemnajsttisočtristoenainosemdeseti kovanec je bil rahlo umazan. (The seventeen thousand three hundred and eighty-first coin was slightly dirty.)\n**Ob osmi uri zjutraj. (At 8 o'clock in the morning.) – normally written "Ob 8. uri zjutraj." or "Ob 8h zjutraj." (Ob osmih zjutraj.)
Collective Numeral (Ločilni števnik)
\n* dvoje, troje, četvero, petero – used for plural mass nouns, as well as to emphasise diversity of what is counted (dvoje oči, dvoje vrat, troje ljudi (two eyes, two doors, three people))
Multiplicative Numeral (Množilni števnik)
\n* enojno, dvojno, trojno, četvorno, petorno (single, double, triple, quadraple, fivefold/quintuple) – used to name the amount of parts (dvojni ulomek (double fraction))\n* enkraten, dvakraten, trikraten, štirikraten, petkraten (essentially the same meaning, but less often used)
Indefinite Numeral (Nedoločni števnik)
\nIndefinite numerals do not exactly define the number of the noun in question. These words are not inflected.\n* dosti (quite a lot)\n* mnogo (much)\n* več (more)\n* veliko (a lot)\n* malo (little, a little)\n* nekaj (a little)\n* koliko (how much)\n* toliko (this much)
- Dosti dela je šlo v nič, saj smo prepozno spoznali, da pisalni stroj ni imel papirja. (Quite a bit of work was futile, for we realised too late that the typewriter had not had paper.)
Adverbial Numeral (Prislovni števnik)
\nThese numerals include enkrat, dvakrat (once, twice) and so forth, and prvič (or prvikrat), drugič (or drugikrat) (the first time, the second time) and so forth.
- Osel gre samo enkrat na led. (A donkey goes onto ice only once.) (a Slovene proverb)\n* Ko drugič poskusiš, uvidiš, da že kar znaš. (When you try it the second time round, you realise that you already know it quite well.)
Adverb (Prislov)
\nThe adverb in Slovene is always the same as the singular neuter form of any given adjective if derived from an adjective.\n# "Dan je bil lep." (The day was nice.) - masculine adjective\n# "Bilo je
lepo." (It was nice.) - neuter adjective
--> "Imeli smo se
lepo." (literally, "We had ourselves nicely.", the meaning is 'We had a nice time.')
--> "Govorili so
lepo." (They spoke nicely.)
Other types of adverb are derived from nouns (doma (at home), jeseni (in autumn)), prepositional constructions (naglas (aloud), pozimi (in winter), potem (then)), verbs (nevede (unknowingly), skrivoma (secretly), mimogrede (by the way)) or numerals (see
adverbial numeral).
In essence, there are four main types of adverb:
adverbs of time (danes (today), večno (perpetually)),
adverbs of place (domov (towards home, homewards)),
adverbs of manner (grdo (uglily), povsem (entirely)) and
adverbs of cause and reason (nalašč (on purpose)).
Adverbs are, much like adjectives, normally gradable.
- To je storil natančno. (This he did carefully.)\n** Naslednjič pa še natančneje. (The next time, however, more carefully still.)
Pronoun (Zaimek)
\nSubstantival Pronoun (Samostalniški zaimek)
\nSubstantival pronouns can replace a noun in a sentence; this is, as opposed to, say, an adjective or an adverb.
Personal Pronoun (Osebni zaimek)
\nA personal pronoun denotes the speaker (I), the addressee (you) or a third person (it). Personal pronouns in Slovene are inflected in a somewhat unusual way, for there are many different forms for each of the pronouns, as indicated below. Solidi (/) separate the masculine, feminine and neuter forms if applicable.
The first person (I, the two of us, we):\n\n \n | \n | Singular | \n Dual | \n Plural | \n
\n \n | 1 | \n jaz | \n midva / midve | medve / midve | medve | \n mi / me / me | \n
\n \n | 2 | \n mene | me | \n naju (dveh) | nas dveh | \n nas | \n
\n \n | 3 | \n meni | mi | \n nama (dvema) | \n nam | \n
\n \n | 4 | \n mene | me | -me | \n naju (dva / dve / dve) | nas (dva / dve / dve) | \n nas | \n
\n \n | 5 | \n pri meni | \n pri naju (dveh) | pri nas dveh | pri nama (dvema) | \n pri nas | \n
\n \n | 6 | \n z menoj | z mano | \n z nama (dvema) | \n z nami | \n
\n
The second person:\n
\n \n | \n | Singular | \n Dual | \n Plural | \n
\n \n | 1 | \n ti | \n vidva / vidve | vedve / vidve | vedve | \n vi / ve / ve | \n
\n \n | 2 | \n tebe | te | \n vaju (dveh) | vas (dveh) | \n vas | \n
\n \n | 3 | \n tebi | ti | \n vama (dvema) | \n vam | \n
\n \n | 4 | \n tebe | te | -te | \n vaju (dva / dve / dve) | vas (dva / dve / dve) | \n vas | \n
\n \n | 5 | \n pri tebi | \n pri vaju (dveh) | pri vas dveh | pri vama (dvema) | \n pri vas | \n
\n \n | 6 | \n s teboj | s tabo | \n z vama (dvema) | \n z vami | \n
\n
The third person (masculine) (he, they (2), they):\n
\n \n | \n | Singular | \n Dual | \n Plural | \n
\n \n | 1 | \n on | \n onadva | ona | \n oni | \n
\n \n | 2 | \n njega | ga | \n njiju | ju | jih | njih (dveh) | nju | -nju | \n njih | jih | \n
\n \n | 3 | \n njemu | mu | \n njima (dvema) | jima | \n njim | jim | \n
\n \n | 4 | \n njega | ga | -nj, -enj | \n njiju | ju | jih | njih (dva) | nju | -nju | \n njih | nje | jih | -nje | \n
\n \n | 5 | \n pri njem | \n pri njiju | pri njih (dveh) | pri njima (dvema) | \n pri njih | \n
\n \n | 6 | \n z njim | \n z njima (dvema) | \n z njimi | \n
\n
The third person (feminine) (she, they (2), they):\n
\n \n | \n | Singular | \n Dual | \n Plural | \n
\n \n | 1 | \n ona | \n onidve | onedve | \n one | \n
\n \n | 2 | \n nje | je | \n njiju | ju | jih | njih (dveh) | nju | -nju | \n njih | jih | \n
\n \n | 3 | \n njej | nji | ji | \n njima (dvema) | jima | \n njim | jim | \n
\n \n | 4 | \n njo | jo | -njo | \n njiju | ju | jih | njih (dve) | nju | -nju | \n njih | nje | jih | -nje | \n
\n \n | 5 | \n pri njej | pri nji | \n pri njiju | pri njih (dveh) | pri njima (dvema) | \n pri njih | \n
\n \n | 6 | \n z njo | \n z njima (dvema) | \n z njimi | \n
\n
The third person (neuter) (it, they (2), they):\n
\n \n | \n | Singular | \n Dual | \n Plural | \n
\n \n | 1 | \n ono | \n onidve | onedve | \n ona | \n
\n \n | 2 | \n njega | ga | \n njiju | ju | jih | njih (dveh) | nju | -nju | \n njih | jih | \n
\n \n | 3 | \n njemu | mu | \n njima (dvema) | jima | \n njim | jim | \n
\n \n | 4 | \n ono | njega | ga | -nj | -enj | \n njiju | ju | jih | njih (dve) | nju | -nju | \n njih | nje | jih | -nje | \n
\n \n | 5 | \n pri njem | \n pri njiju | pri njih (dveh) | pri njima (dvema) | \n pri njih | \n
\n \n | 6 | \n z njim | \n z njima (dvema) | \n z njimi | \n
\n
It should be noted that forms of the accusative starting with
- only appear in compound words. For example:\n* Zanj mi je dal denar. (He (person 1) gave me the money for him (person 2).) (if the 'he' was referring to the same person, the reflexive personal pronoun would be used (Zase mi je dal denar. (He gave me the money for himself.))\n* Za njega mi je dal denar. (same, except that person 2 is emphasised)\n* Sledili smo jim. (We followed them.)\n* Jaz mislim drugače. (
I think otherwise.)\n* Spodbudili smo jih, da naj se pokažejo vredne našega zaupanja, a so nas nesramno zavrnili. (We encouraged them to prove themselves worthy of our trust, but they rejected us rudely.)\n* Nanjo se je zgrnila ena nesreča za drugo. (She was struck by one misfortune after another.)\n* Da bi le njim to lahko dopovedali! (If only we could make
them understand this!) (the dative pronoun is stressed, though the translation uses the accusative)\n* Zame ni več rešitve: pugubljena sem. (For me there is no solution any more: I (feminine) am doomed.)\n* Pogledal ga je s kancem ironije v očeh. (He (person 1) looked at him (person 2) with a drop of irony in the eyes.)\n* Pogledal je njega. (He (person 1) looked at
him (person 2).) (the stress is on person 2)
Note: The nominative forms of personal pronouns are not used in neutral sentences, but rather only when stressing the subject, especially so for the first person singular (
I (
Jaz)). While regular forms, they are so seldom used, peculiarly in spoken language, that their use strikes one as odd. This is likely because, unlike in English, the form of the verb gives all applicable information such as the gender, grammatical number and person by itself.
Reflexive Personal Pronoun (Povratni osebni zaimek)
\nThe reflexive pronoun in Slovene is se or sebe. The reflexive personal pronoun is special in that it does not have the nominative form. It is, however, the same for all persons and grammatical numbers; that it, it is dependent solely on case.\nSe (sebe) is the accusative form of the reflexive pronoun.
For example:\n* Dative: umivam si roke (I am washing my hands. (in German, Ich wasche mir die Hände))\n* Accusative: umivam se (I am washing myself. (in German, Ich wasche mich.))\n* Dative: umivate si roke (You are washing your hands. (in German, Sie waschen sich die Hände))\n* Accusative: umivate se (You are washing yourselves. (in German, Sie waschen sich.))
Similarly as in German and English, the reflexive pronoun can sometimes be replaced by the reciprocal phrase drug drugega (each other, one another; in German, einander). Thus: "Drug drugemu umivata roke." (The two of them are washing each other's hands; or in German, Sie waschen einander die Hände) or "Umivata drug drugega." (The two of them are washing each other, or in German, Sie waschen einander).
The accusative se can bind with prepositional words just like other personal pronouns; it is, namely, an enclitic:\n* Na
se je nanesla lepotilno kremo. (She put beautifying cream on herself.)\n* Ampak ko dela za
se, dela učinkovito. (But when he/she works for him-/herself, he/she works efficiently.)
Other cases and examples:\n*
Sebi gradi grobnico. (He/She is building a tomb for
him-/herself.)\n* Gradi
si grobnico. (the same, but the emphasis is not so much on for whom the tomb is, but rather the tomb or the building itself)\n*
S sabo/seboj ni zadovoljna. (She is not happy
with herself.) (instrumental case)\n* Najprej počisti
pri sebi, potlej šele kritiziraj druge! (First clean up
at yourself, only then criticise others!) (locative case)\n* Ko je videl odsev
sebe v ogledalu, mu je ta pogled povsem pokvaril dan. (When he saw the reflexion
of himself in the mirror, this sight completely ruined the day for him.) (genitive case, but a clumsy and not widely used construction at that, since genitive possession is much better expressed with an adjectival possessive pronoun: 'Ko je videl
svoj odsev v ogledalu ...')
Interrogative Pronoun (Vprašalni zaimek)
\nThe substantival interrogative pronouns introduce direct and indirect questions. There are two nominative forms: kdo (who) and kaj (what). They are declined as shown at cases above.
- Kaj je ta stvar, ki se premika? (What is this thing that is moving?)\n* Vprašal sem ga, o kom je bil govoril. (I asked him about whom he had been talking.)\n* Komu naj dam to? (Whom ought I to give this?)\n* Česa ne smem storiti? (What mayn't I do?)
Relative Pronoun (Oziralni zaimek)
\nThe substantival relative pronoun ends in
-r: kdor (someone who), kar (something that).
- kdor | kar\n# kogar | česar\n# komur | čemur\n# kogar | kar\n# pri komer | pri čemer\n# s komer | s čimer
- Kdor krade, ni pošten. (Someone who steals is not honest.)\n* Kar poveš, tega ne moreš več obvladovati. (Something that you say, that you cannot control any more.)\n* Odrekli so ji možnost do izbire odvetnika, s čimer je bila kršena njena ustavna pravica. (They refused her the option of choosing a solicitor, with which her constitutional right was violated.)
Negative Pronoun (Nikalni zaimek)
\nThe negative pronoun, a substantival pronoun at that, starts with ni-: nihče (nobody), nič (nothing) (similar are also the adverbs nikjer (nowhere), nikoli (never), nikdar (never), however they are not true pronouns, since they are not inflected).
A negative pronoun demands a negative predicate, resulting in the so-called double negation, a characteristic of Slovene that is purportedly responsible for the high number of suicides.
- Nihče me nikoli ni maral. (Nobody ever liked me.) (literally: Nobody never did not like me.)\n* Nikjer ni nikogar. (There is no one anywhere.) (literally: Nowhere isn't no one.)\n* Nič ni resnično. (Nothing is real.) (literally: Nothing isn't real.)\n* Od nikogar ne želim ničesar. (I want nothing from no one. / I don't want anything from anyone.) (literally: From no one I don't want nothing.)\n* Nikogaršnja (adjectival negative (possessive) pronoun) neolikanost ni nikdar in nikjer in na nikakršen način nikomur pridobila ''nič drugega kot neodobravanje. (No one's impropriety gained ever anyone anywhere and in whatever way anything else than disapproval.) (literally: No one's impropriety did not never and nowhere and in no way gain nothing else than disapproval.)
Total Pronoun (Celostni zaimek)
\nThe substantival total pronouns are vsakdo (everyone) and vse (everything). Vsak (everyone) is an adjectival pronoun that can function as a substantival one, and is thus declined as per the adjectival declension. Also in this category are vsakateri (-e, -a) (everyone) and vsakteri (-e, -a) (everyone, but also used in other, adjectival senses), both of which are old-fashioned and not used in modern language.
Inflexion:\n#vsakdo | vse\n#vsakogar | vsega\n#vsakomur | vsemu\n#vsakogar | vse\n#pri vsakomer | pri vsem\n#z vsakomer | z vsem
- Vsemu so namenjali pozornost. (They dedicated attention to everything.)\n* Vsakogar bodo vrgli iz službe, če ne bo izpolnjeval zahtev. (They will sack everyone who will not fulfil requirements.)
Indefinite Pronoun (Nedoločni zaimek)
\nThe substantival indefinite pronoun is a pronoun starting with ne-: nekdo (someone), nekaj (something). The indefinite pronoun refers to an unknown or deliberately untold person or object. The inflexion follows the pattern of kdo and kaj.
- Nekoga so videli stati ob oknu, a niso mogli ugotoviti, kdo bi to lahko bil. (They saw someone standing near the window, but they could not figure out who could have been that.)\n* Zgodilo se je nekaj strašnega! (Something horrible has happened!)\n* Zataknilo se jima je pri nečem, a nikakor se ne morem spomniti, pri čem. (They faltered at something, but I cannot in any way remember at what.)\n* Nekdo prihaja. Skrijmo se. (Someone is coming. Let us hide.)
Unspecified Pronoun (Poljubnostni zaimek)
\nThe substantival unspecified pronouns are kdo (someone, anyone) and kaj (something, anything), referring to any unspecified person or object, or one that can be chosen at will. They are inflected in the same way as kdo and kaj in the interrogative sense.
- Sporoči mi, prosim, če se bo kaj spremenilo. (Please let me know if anything changes.)\n* Seveda dvomim o čem: kaj to ni normalno? (Naturally I doubt about something: is this not normal?)\n* Česa podobnega še nisem videl! (I have never seen anything like that!)\n* Uporabi klorovodikovo kislino ali kaj drugega, da nevtraliziraš to bazo. (Use hydrochloric acid or something else to neutralise this base.)\n* Denar, ki si ga kdo sposodi, seveda ni njegov, pač pa z njim le upravlja. (Money that someone borrows is obviously not his; he merely manages it.)\n* Naj stopi kdo vendar do tega DJ-ja in ga nekajkrat lopne po glavi. (May someone go to this DJ and smack him on the head a few times.)\n* Ojej, kakšne lepe govorice! O tem se res moram s kom pogovoriti. (Oh dear, what beautiful gossip! I really must talk to someone about this.)
In some cases, the indefinite and unspecified pronouns can stand in the place of one another, but not always, especially not in literary language.
Relative Unspecified Pronoun (Oziralni poljubnostni zaimek)
\nThe substantival relative unspecified pronouns are kdorkoli or kdor koli (whoever) and karkoli or kar koli (whatever). The meaning conveyed is very similar to the unspecified pronoun. The inflexion follows the pattern of the relative pronoun with -koli or koli appended. The space, as shown, is optional, but for sake of consistency, once one method has been adopted, one should not use the other.
- Kdorkoli pokliče 112, mora znati povedati, kaj je narobe. (Whoever rings 112 must know how to say what is wrong.)\n* Kogarkoli poslušam od teh politikov, vsi govorijo iste neumnosti. (To whichever of these politicians I listen, they all speak the same stupidities.)\n* Karkoli stori, stori to dobro. (Whatever he/she does, he/she does it well.)
Manifold Pronoun (Mnogostni zaimek)
\nThe substantival manifold pronouns are marsikdo (many [persons]) and marsikaj (many [things]). The inflexion follows the basic pattern of kdo and kaj. These pronouns refer to many people and many things, however they are singular in nature in Slovene. In addition to marsi-, other prefixes are possible, such as redko- (redkokdo: rarely anyone), mnogo- (mnogokdo = marsikdo, although perhaps somewhat less usual) and malo- (malokdo: few [persons]).
- Marsikdo pravi, da je lepše živeti na deželi, a jaz jim seveda ne verjamem. (Many people say that it is nicer to live in the countryside, but I of course do not believe them.)\n* Res je, da marsičesa ne vem, pa vendar veš ti še mnogo manj. (It is true that I do not know many things, but you know far less still.)\n* Z marsičim je že bila obdarjena, a česa takšnega, kar ji je prinesel egiptovski odposlanec, ni bila nikdar poprej še videla. (Many things she had been gifted, but something like that that the Egyptian emissary brought she had never before seen.)\n* Redkokdo bi priznal, da je storil takšno napako. (Rarely anyone would admit that he has made such a mistake.)\n* Mnogokaj mi je šlo po glavi, a bolje je, da ne povem, kaj. (Many things went though my mind, but it is better that I do not say which.)\n* Maločesa se loti, če ve, da se popolnosti pri stvari ne da doseči. (He attempts to do few things if he knows that perfection cannot be achieved at them.)
Adjectival Pronoun (Pridevniški zaimek)
\n
Personal Possessive Pronoun (Osebni svojilni zaimek)
\nThe adjectival possessive pronoun denotes, obviously, possession of someone or something. Solidi separate the masculine, feminine and neuter forms of the adjectival pronoun respectively if applicable.
An example for the first person singular (I):\n
\n \n | \n | Singular | \n Dual | \n Plural | \n
\n \n | 1 | \n moj / moja / moje | \n moja / moji / moji | \n moji / moje / moja | \n
\n \n | 2 | \n mojega / moje / mojega | \n mojih | \n mojih | \n
\n \n | 3 | \n mojemu / moji / mojemu | \n mojima | \n mojim | \n
\n \n | 4 | \n mojega / mojo / moje | \n moja / moji / moji | \n moje / moje / moja | \n
\n \n | 5 | \n pri mojemu / pri moji / pri mojemu | \n pri mojih | \n pri mojih | \n
\n \n | 6 | \n z mojim / z mojo / z mojim | \n z mojima | \n z mojimi | \n
\n
\nTo obtain other possessive pronouns,
moj- should be replaced with:\n*
najin- for the first person dual\n*
naš- for the first person plural\n*
tvoj- for the second person singular\n*
vajin- for the second person dual\n*
vaš- for the second person plural\n*
njegov- for the third person singular for masculine and neuter nouns\n*
njen- for the third person singular for feminine nouns\n*
njun- for the third person dual\n*
njihov- for the third person plural
The endings remain the same.
Example sentences:\n*
Moj bog pravi drugače! (
My god says otherwise!)\n*
Njegove oči so kot kupi koruze na polju. (
His eyes are like heaps of maize on a field.)\n* Letalo je bilo last vojske in
njene države. (The aeroplane was the property of the military and
her (the military's or another person's, depending on the context) country.)\n* Vaše kraljevo veličanstvo, klanjam se pred Vami. (
Your royal highness, I bow before You.)\n* Cerkev je
njen grob na pokopališču prodala, kajti
njeni potomci niso imeli dovolj denarja, da bi plačali pristojbino. (The church has sold
her grave at the graveyard, since
her descendants did not have enough money to pay the fee.)\n*
S tvojim avtom smo šli: saj ne zameriš, kajne? (We went
with your car: you do not resent [us], do you?)
Reflexive Possessive Pronoun (Povratni svojilni zaimek)
\nWhen the possessive pronoun refers to the subject of the sentence in question, it is of a special kind, namely the so-called reflexive possessive pronoun, svoj (in the appropriate form, as above).
- Stopam v svojo sobo. (I am walking into my room.) – to say 'Stopam v mojo sobo.' is considered incorrect\n* Kupili so jim lepo darilo; vso svojo domiselnost so vložili v njegovo izbiranje. (They (person 1) bought them (person 2) a beautiful gift; all their (person 1) ingenuity have they (person 1) invested into its (the gift's) choosing.\n* Svojega leva je pustila na dežju. (She left her lion in the rain.)
It should be noted that the reflexive possessive and 'normal' possessive pronouns make some ambiguous English sentences perfectly clear in Slovene. The sentence "She has taken her towel into the bathroom." can be translated into the following two ways:\n* Njeno brisačo je vzela v kopalnico. (the towel she has taken is of some other feminine person)\n* Svojo brisačo je vzela v kopalnico. (the towel she has taken belongs to her)
Non-Personal Adjectival Pronouns (Neosebni pridevniški zaimki)
\n \n | \n | Qualitative (Kakovostni) | \n Relational (Vrstni) | \n Possessive (Svojilni) | \n Quantitative (Količinski) | \n
\n \n | Interrogative (Vprašalni) | \n kakšen, kolikšen (what kind of, to what extent) | \n kateri (which, what) | \n čigav (whose) | \n koliko (how much) | \n
\n \n | Relative (Oziralni) | \n kakršen (the kind that) | \n kateri, ki (which, that) | \n čigar, katerega (whose) | \n kolikor (as much) | \n
\n \n | Negative (Nikalni) | \n nikakršen (of no kind) | \n noben, nobeden (no one) | \n nikogar, ničesar (of no one, of nothing) | \n nič, noben (nothing, none) | \n
\n \n | Total (Celostni) | \n vsakršen (of every kind) | \n vsak (everyone) | \n vsakogar, vsega (of everyone, of everything) | \n ves, oba (all, both) | \n
\n \n | Indefinite (Nedoločni) | \n nekak(šen) (some kind of) | \n neki (some(one)) | \n nekoga, nečesa (someone's, something's) | \n nekoliko (somewhat) | \n
\n \n | Unspecified (Poljubnostni) | \n kak(šen) | \n kateri | \n čigav | \n koliko | \n
\n \n | Relative Unspecified (Oziralni poljubnostni) | \n kakršenkoli (whatever kind) | \n katerikoli (whichever) | \n čigarkoli (whosever) | \n kolikorkoli (however much) | \n
\n \n | Mnogostni (Manifold) | \n marsikak(šen) (of many kinds) | \n marsikateri | \n marsičigav | \n dokaj, precej (quite a bit, quite a lot) | \n
\n \n | Differential (Drugostni) | \n drugačen (different) | \n drug (someone else) | \n drugega (of someone else) | \n ne toliko (not that/as much) | \n
\n \n | Equal (Istostni) | \n enak (of the same kind) | \n isti (the same) | \n istega (of the same one) | \n enako (the same [amount]) | \n
\n \n | Demonstrative (Kazalni) | \n tak(šen) (of this kind) | \n ta, tisti, oni (that one) | \n tega (of that one) | \n toliko (this much) | \n
\n
Quantitative adverbial pronouns are non-inflected at all times. All other pronouns are normally inflected.
Examples:\n* Čeprav mi je
tisti avtobus bolj všeč, moram na
tega, kajti
tisti drugi vozi v drugo smer. (Even though I like
that bus more, I have to board
this one, for
that other one is driving in another direction.)\n*
Mnogokakšna želja se mi je že uresničila, vendar mi je
marsikatera prinesla tudi
kakšne stranske neprijetnosti. (
Many a wish has come true for me, however
many have (singular in Slovene) brought me
some side inconveniences.)\n* Vlak,
ki smo ga videli, je pravzaprav
tisti,
na katerega bi se bili morali usesti. (The train
that\ we have seen is actually
the one onto which we should have boarded. (literally: sat on))\n*
čigav svinčnik je
to? (
Whose pencil is
this?)\n*
Nekakšna radirka je bila nameščena na
drugem koncu. (
Some kind of rubber was mounted on
the other end.)\n*
Enak kalkulator imam kot ti. (I have
the same type of calculator as you.)\n* Vzemi mnenje,
katerega ne odobravaš, in ga poskusi spremeniti. (Take an opinion
that you do not approve of and try to change it.)\n*
Nekoliko pozni ste, a nič ne de. (You are
somewhat late, but that is all right.)\n* Zaradi
nekega bedaka mi je
vsako letalo ušlo. (Because of
some fool
every aeroplane got away from me.) (=I missed every plane because of some fool; in the sense that this person has taught me to get to an airport too late or similar, not that all planes have left without me.)\n*
Toliko truda
za nič učinka. (
So much effort
to no avail.)
Interjection (Medmet)
\nAn interjection is ordinarily an
uninflected word expressing mental states, encouragement towards actions, greetings or mocking of sounds and voices.
- Uf, končno smo na vrhu. (Phew, we're finally at the top.)\n* Uf, povsem mi je ušlo iz spomina. (Gosh, that has slipped my mind completely.)\n* Petelin zapoje kikiriki. (A cock sings cock-a-doodle-doo.)\n* Mojbog, kaj še vedno klamfaš neumnosti? (My god, are you still talking rubbish?)\n* Hokus pokus, in zajec bo izginil. (Hocus-pocus, and the rabbit will disappear.)\n* Torej, kaj porečeš na to? (So, what do you say to this?)\n* Brr, kako mraz je. (Brr, it is so cold.)\n* Oj (or Hej), ti človek tam zadaj: kako ti je ime? (Hey, you person back there: what is your name?)\n* O ne, tako pa se ne govori z menoj. (Oh no, this is not how one speaks to me.)\n* No, pa adijo! (Well, then goodbye!)\n* Ne bev ne mev niso rekli. (They didn't say anything.)\n* Šššš: bo že bolje. (Shhh: it will get better.)
Interjections may be inflected; however, in spite of the words' being the same, such use calls for a different word class (part of speech), this oftenest being nouns. \n* "Ufov in ojojev se izogibajte, kajti bolnik je zelo ubog revež s to obrazno hibo." (Streer clear of 'uf's and 'ojoj's, for the patient is very poor what with this facial encumbrance.)
Sentence (Poved)
\nConstituents (Stavčni členi)
\nIn a sentence, there can only be four types of constituent, the order of which is seldom crucial:\n:
subject (osebek) +
predicate (povedek) +
object (predmet) +
adverbial phrase (prislovno določilo).
By changing the order, the stressed part changes. It may also serve to create poetic sentiment, for inversion is common in
poetry.
Free Sentence (Prosti stavek)
\n: Včeraj sem šel domov. (I went home last night.) (or: Last night (I) went home.) \n: Danes prihajam domov. (I am coming home today.)\n: Jutri bom šel od doma. (I shall leave home tomorrow.)
Compound Sentence (Zložena poved)
\n: Res me veseli, da si prišel. (I am really glad you came.)\n: Da – tako je bilo, kakor praviš! (Yes – it was as you say!)
Incomplete Sentence (Nepopolna poved)
\nThis is a sentence which does not have a predicate.
- Rana ura, zlata ura. (Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise; The early bird catches the worm (literally Early hour, golden hour))
Inserted Sentence (Vloženi stavek)
\n: V tistih časih – bil sem še mlad in sem od sveta veliko pričakoval – sem lepega večera srečal starega berača in ... (In those times – I was still young and I expected a lot from the world – I met an old beggar one fair evening and ...)
Accompanying Sentence and Direct Speech (Spremni stavek in dobesedni govor)
\n: "Dobro jutro," je rekla Lojza. ("Good morning," said Aloysine.)\n: Lojza je rekla: "Dobro jutro." (Aloysine said, "Good morning.")\n: – Dobro jutro. ("Good morning.")
See also the section on inverted commas.
Punctuation (Ločila)
\nPunctuation marks are one or two part graphical marks used in writing, denoting tonal progress, pauses, sentence type (
syntactic use),
abbreviations, et cetera.
Marks used in Slovene include full stops (.), question marks (?), exclamation marks (!),
commas (,), semicolons (;),
colons (:), dashes (–), hyphens (-),
ellipses (...), different types of inverted commas and
quotation marks ("", '', ‚‘, „“, »«),
brackets ((), [], {}) (which are in syntactical use), as well as
apostrophes (',’),
solidi (/), equal signs (=), and so forth.
Full Stop (Pika)
\nSyntactical Use
A full stop (
.) is a left-leaning punctuation mark. This means that it 'touches' the preceding word, but is followed by a space.
It is ordinarily used at the end of a neutral declaratory sentence, be it a real sentence with a predicate or a non-sentence.\n* To je bilo včeraj. (This was yesterday.)\n* Včeraj. (Yesterday.)
When a statement is articulated, the pitch is cadent, thus
decreased towards the end of such a sentence.
In an
indicative compound sentence with the last part an independent
clause that does not end in a full stop, the full stop is omitted.\n* Rekli so mi, naj grem, a kam? (They told me to go, but where?)\n** (and not "Rekli so mi, naj grem, a kam?.")
The final punctuation mark of a quoted sentence (with or without inverted commas) within a declaratory sentence is omitted if the quoted sentence is not preceded by a colon.\n* Ko smo hodili po travi, smo opazili prepoved Ne hodi po travi. (When walking on the grass, we noticed the restriction Do not walk on the grass.)\n* Ko smo hodili po travi, smo opazili prepoved: Ne hodi po travi!
A full stop is replaced by a comma in direct speech before the accompanying sentence.\n* "Oh, mar bi bile ostale doma," je zamrmrala Marjeta. ("Oh, they/we might as well have stayed home," muttered Marjeta (Daisy).)
\n
Non-Syntactical Use
Abbreviations are, unlike in
British English, always followed by a full stop.\n* dr. (doktor; Dr,
doctor); npr. (na primer; eg, for example, exempli gratia); tj. (to je; this is); l. (leto; year); t.i. (tako imenovani; so-called); itn., itd. (in tako naprej, in tako dalje; etc, et cetera, and so on).
However, symbols are never followed by a full stop.\n* ZDA (Združene države Amerike; USA,
United States of America)\n* km (kilometer; km,
kilometre)\n* Fe (železo; Fe,
iron)
Ordinal numerals are followed by a full stop.
Numbers may be separated by leaning full stops in the following cases:\n* for time of the day\n** Ob 22.15 ('dvaindvajset petnajst' or 'dvaindvajsetih in petnajst minut') se film konča. (At 22.15 (10.15pm) the film ends.)\n*** 22.15 can also be written as 22
15\n* to separate thousands from the rest\n** 1.000.000 (en milijon; one million, 1,000,000) (but more usual is 1 000 000)\n* to show multiplication\n** 3 · 9 (tri krat devet; three times nine)\n*** note that in this case, the full stop is raised to the line centre and is non-leaning
Dates are written with full stops separating the day, month and year. Note that the English dates below are British English; American English switches the month and the day. It is important to realise that the full stop is left-leaning; the space is intentional (yet only few are aware of that).\n* 1. 10. 2003 (prvi deseti dva tisoč tri, prvi oktober dva tisoč tri; the first of October, two thousand and three, 1/10/2003)\n* 25. 6. 1991 (petindvajseti šesti (junij) tisoč devetsto dvaindevetdeset; the twenty-fifth of June, nineteen ninety-one, 25/6/1991)\n* 30. maj (trideseti maj; the 30
th of May)
If a non-syntactical full stop is at the end of a sentence, it is not usual to append another full stop to it; however, doing so is not incorrect.\n* Prodajam časopise, avtobusne žetone, zobne ščetke itd. (I sell newspapers, bus tokens, toothbrushes, etc.)\n* Prodajam časopise, avtobusne žetone, zobne ščetke itd..
Ellipsis (Tri pike)
\nSyntactical Use
An ellipsis (in Slovene, literally 'three full stops') (
...) is a non-leaning punctuation mark. It expresses omission of words.\n* Nekaj sem govorila ... (I was saying something ...)\n* ... kaj to ni res? (... is this not true?)\n* Heh ... česa vsega ne pove. (Heh ... whatever he/she says.)\n* Ja ... in? (Yes ... so?)\n* Saj bi šel, pa ... (I/He would go, but ...) (an alternative is to write this thus: "Saj bi šel, pa –)
Any other punctuation may or may not be appended; a full stop is usually (but not always) omitted, but other punctuation normally remains:\n* Da ...
or Da ...
. (Yes ...)\n* O, a tako je bilo ...? (Oh, it was so ...?)
When emphasising that whatever has been left out is a subsequent omission not performed by the original author, the ellipsis is enclosed in round or square brackets ((), []), or, more often, in solidi (//).\n* The original sentence in full: "Nekaj mi šepeta, nekaj točno določenega, skoraj čutiti bi se dalo, da gre ta šolska ura h koncu." (Something is whispering to me, something exactly defined, it can almost be felt, that this period is nearing completion.)\n** Nekaj mi šepeta /.../ da gre ta šolska ura h koncu. (Something is whispering to me /.../ that this period is nearing completion.)
An ellipsis may indicate an inserted sentence, though a dash is more often used in such cases:\n* Lepo je bilo ... kako tudi ne? ..., saj je dež nežno padal, mi pa smo tesno drug ob drugem ležali ob kaminu. (It was nice ... how wouldn't it be? ... for the rain was gently falling, and we were lying closely to one another near the fireplace.)\n** Lepo je bilo – kako tudi ne? –, saj je dež nežno padal, mi pa smo tesno drug ob drugem ležali ob kaminu.
An ellipsis usually indicates pausing or abrupt interruption. When used as a sentence closing punctuation mark, the pitch is cadent, thus
decreased towards the end of such a sentence, or semi-cadent, indicating a half-finished thought, or there is no change in pitch.
\n
Non-Syntactical Use
A non-syntactical ellipsis is left-leaning, and expresses omission of a word part.
- Otorinola... – ne vem naprej. (Otorhinola... – I don't know further.) (probably otorinolaringolog; otorhinolaryngologist)\n* Tristo kosmatih med... (Three hundred hairy be...) ("Tristo kosmatih medvedov" (Three hundred hairy bears) is a traditional – and one of the only ones present in Slovene – profanity, though rather innocent and extremely seldom used.)
Exclamation Mark (Klicaj)
\nSyntactical Use
An exclamation mark (
!) is a left-leaning punctuation mark. It is used as a closing punctuation mark of emphatic sentences and clauses, and as a non-closing punctuation mark finishing inserted sentences. They are typical of
imperative mood, but only if emotionally charged.
- Gregor, utihni! (Gregor, shut up!)\n* Mojbog! (My god!)\n* Na pomoč! (Help!)\n* Pleši, pleši, dokler ti petke dopuste! (Dance, dance, as long as your shoe heels allow for that!)\n* To se mi je zdela odlična ideja! (That I thought a marvellous idea!)\n* Spoštovani! (Respected! (at the beginning of a letter, though more usual is "Spoštovani,"))\n* Ubil te bom! (I shall kill you!)\n* Če mi še kdaj izustiš kaj takega ...! (If you ever say something like that again ...!)\n* Mnogo let nazaj – joj, da bi le že pozabila na to! – sem živela na kmetiji. (Many years ago – oh, if only I should forget this already! – I lived on a farm.)\n* Reci mu vendar, naj pride domov! (Tell him to come home! – the exclamation mark is likely bound to 'come home', however, and not 'tell')\n* Zrecitiraj Kons V! (Recite Kons V!) (But: "Zrecitiraj: Kons V.")\n* "Gremo!" je vzkliknila Janja. ("Let's go!" exclaimed Janja.)
See the note on the use of the combination with a question mark below under
question mark. One may use the combination
!! (or even more exclamation marks) to express further exclamatory mood.
- Kaj?! (What?!)\n* Izgini!! (Get lost!!)
\n
Non-Syntactical Use
An exclamation mark may be used for emphasis of a certain point in a text.\n* Morda je to res, a emancipacijo (!) testov smo pričakovali. (Perhaphs that is true, but the emancipation (!) of tests has been expected. – used to emphasise a word used, which should probably be
evalvacijo (evaluation))\n* Nuna (!) je strastno govorila o umetnosti ljubljenja. (The nun (!) passionately talked about the art of making love.)
Question Mark (Vprašaj)
\nSyntactical Use
A question mark (
?) is a left-leaning punctuation mark. It is used in single clause sentences and in compound sentences in which the independent
clause expresses enquiries.
- Imaš čik? (colloquial, Have you got a fag?) (proper Slovene is Imaš cigareto? (Have you got a cigarette?)\n* Si res želiš, Ana, dobiti enojko? (Do you, Ana, really wish to get a one (the worst grade at school)?)\n* Tukaj? (Here?)\n* Oh, kaj res? (Oh, really? (in a bored tone))\n* Rok, kam greš? (Rok, whither are you going? (normally, the English would say 'Where', but it is important to distinguish between whither (kam) and where (kje) in Slovene))\n* Pogovarjali smo se, bilo je zelo zanimivo, potem pa je Luka nenadoma rekel – uganeš kaj? (We had been talking, it had been very interesting, but then Luka suddenly said – guess what?)\n* "Je to res, Urša?" je zavpil profesor. ("Is this true, Urša?" shouted the professor.)
When a question without a question word or with
ali, or with
?? or
?! is articulated, the pitch is anticadent, thus
increased towards the end of such a sentence. Otherwise, the pitch is cadent, thus
decreased towards the end of such a sentence.
It should be noted that in a compound sentence in which the independent clause is not interrogative, the sentence ends with a full stop or an exclamation mark. This is similar to reported speech in English.\n* Vprašali so me, če grem peš ali s taksijem. (They asked me if I should walk or go by taxi.)\n* O čem se gre predstava, tega pač ne vem. (What the performance is about, that I just don't know. (with the implied meaning that the original question is stupid, for how am I to know?))
After a colon, the clause keeps its own punctuation mark.\n* Čigav je že izrek: Užij dan. (Whose is, again, the saying, Seize the day?)\n** This sentence can also be written as "Čigav je že izrek Užij dan?" or "Čigav je že izrek 'Užij dan'?".
A question mark need not be a sentence terminating punctuation mark; it may be used in inserted sentences.\n* Govorim o hibridizaciji sp² – to veš, kaj je? – ogljikovega atoma v tej organski molekuli. (I am talking about the sp² hybridisation – do you know what this is? – of the carbon atom in this organic molecule.)
In certain cases, the question mark may be doubled (for emphasis of a repeated question), or it may be combined with an exclamation mark in emphatic and emotional contexts.\n* Kako narediš to? Kako?? (How do you do this? How??)\n* Le kako si lahko dovoliš kaj takega?! (However can you allow yourself something like that?!)
\n
Non-Syntactical Use
A question mark can be used non-syntactically if it denotes doubt.\n* Dejali so, da se je nafta (?) razlila. (They have said that oil (?) has spilt.) (the speaker is not certain whether it was oil or something else, or perhaps if this is indeed how the word is spelt)
\n
Colon (Dvopičje)
\nSyntactical Use
A colon (
:) is a left-leaning punctuation mark. It is used in various ways as described below.
1. to introduce direct speech after an accompanying sentence\n* Zadregetala je od same jeze: "Kaj? Tako drago?" (She shivered with pure anger: "What? So expensive?")\n* Kot v zboru so dejali: Seveda. (As though in a choir they said: Naturally.)\n* Kot v zboru so dejali: "Seveda."\n* Estragon: Pejva. (Estragon: Let's go.) (from
Samuel Beckett's
Waiting for Godot (Čakajoč Godota