LingoflySlovenian
Slovenian — Indo-European family, about 2.5 million speakers (estimate, Ethnologue). Script: the Gajevica Latin alphabet with č, š, ž. This site has 4051 words and 25 letters with audio.
Try one phrase
Demo language: Slovenian
Read the card and choose an answer. No sound or sign-up needed.
dober dan
good afternoon
Without JavaScript: read the card, choose an answer in your head and open the explanation.
1 / 2 · Choose an answer
dober dan
- yes
- good afternoon
- bye
- hi
Show the answer
dober dan
good afternoon
2 / 2 · Choose an answer
___, želim eno kavo
Good afternoon, I would like one coffee
- Dober dan
- prosim
- živjo
- adijo
Show the answer
dober dan
good afternoon
Two checks complete
dober dan
good afternoon
This is a choice based on text. Conversation and remembering over time still need practice and checking.
How answers are counted
Answers stay on this page. Statistics include the demo stage, overall result, interface language and saved counter consent choice, without answer text or a profile.
Where to start
- →Slovenian alphabetAll letters with sound
- →Slovenian wordsBy topic and alphabetically
- →PhrasebookPhrases ready to use
- →GrammarRules without jargon
- →Reading textsShort texts with translation
- →How to readThe writing course from zero
- →PronunciationWhat you hear and what is hard
- →From scratchWhere to start, and in what order
- →How long to studyAn honest estimate, with caveats
First words
Every conversation starts with them — and so does the first impression: one greeting in the local language and you stop being a stranger within a second.
- živjohiž sounds like "zh" in "vision"; before j the v sounds like "u": ZHEEW-yoh
- dober dangood afternoonNeutral and polite. With strangers, start here rather than with the casual živjo.
- dobro jutrogood morningj is "y"; an unstressed o stays a clear "o": DOH-broh YOO-troh
- dober večergood eveningUntil dinner it is still dan, after about six in the evening it is večer.
- hvalathank youthe h really is pronounced: HVAH-lah
- prosimplease (when asking)Literally "I ask", and the most versatile word in the language: it also answers hvala ("not at all") and means "pardon?" when you missed something.
- na svidenjegoodbyeLiterally "until we see each other" — the seeing is right there in the word.
- adijobyeA casual farewell borrowed from Italian addio; in Ljubljana you hear it more than the formal na svidenje.
How it sounds
Five words spoken aloud: click the speaker and pick the translation. The sound works on any phone, and nothing needs to be installed.
- What is this word?
It is živjo — hi.
- What is this word?
It is ne — no.
- What is this word?
It is odlično — excellent.
- What is this word?
It is midva — the two of us.
- What is this word?
It is hvala — thank you.
Curiosities in Slovenian
Two million speakers are spread across some forty-eight dialects in seven groups — one of the most fragmented languages in Europe. The reason is the mountains: the valleys lived apart for centuries, and speech diverged faster than it converged.
Fran Ramovš, «Dialektološka karta slovenskega jezika», 1931; Tine Logar, Jakob Rigler, «Karta slovenskih narečij», 1983
About the language
| Native name | Slovenščina · Slovenščina |
| Official in | Slovenia |
| Also spoken in | Italy, Austria and Hungary |
| How many speakers | about 2.5 million speakers (estimate, Ethnologue) |
| Family | Indo-European family, Slavic group |
| Script | the Gajevica Latin alphabet with č, š, ž |
| Writing direction | left to right |
Hard: the dual number — a third form beside singular and plural.
Easy: spelled by the rules, compact grammar, no articles.
What people most often take it up for: moving to the EU, study, work, residence permits.
How lessons work
A lesson is up to half an hour a day, split into three to five short sessions. A word comes back not on the course's schedule but at the moment you are about to forget it: the interval is computed by an algorithm from your own answers.
- The longer you want to keep a word, the longer the gap before reviewing it can be. To hold it for a week, review it after a day or two; to hold it for a year, after about three or four weeks.checked many timesCepeda et al., 2008, Psychological Science 19(11) · Over 1,350 participants, tested after delays of up to a year. The best gap is about 20–40% of the target interval when you need to remember for a week, and 5–10% when for a year.
- Recalling beats re-reading. Covering the translation and trying to remember it does more than reading it ten more times.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · 188 experiments, 272 comparisons. g = 0.61; against plain re-reading 0.51, against passive review 0.93.
- A material reward promised for doing a task lowers the wish to take it up of your own accord once the reward is gone. Praise for what was done, on the contrary, keeps that wish alive.checked many timesDeci, Koestner & Ryan, 1999, Psychological Bulletin 125(6) · 128 experiments. A material reward promised in advance and the time later spent on the task by free choice: d = −0.44 for finishing, −0.40 for taking part, −0.28 for performance; a reward unrelated to the task, −0.14, not significant. Praise: +0.33.
Frequently asked
Where to start learning Slovenian?
With the sounds and the first hundred words: you know the script, but it has its own reading rules.
How many people speak Slovenian?
About 2.5 million speakers — an estimate; source: Ethnologue. Nobody runs an exact census of languages, and sources disagree by noticeable amounts.
Is Slovenian hard?
The dual number — a third form beside singular and plural. At the same time, spelled by the rules, compact grammar, no articles.
Where is Slovenian spoken?
An official language in: Slovenia. Noticeable communities: Italy, Austria and Hungary.
Is Slovenian in Duolingo?
No. As of September 18, 2026, Duolingo’s catalogue has no such course at all, from any language. We have Slovenian in full: 4051 words, with audio, the script explained, a phrasebook and grammar in plain words.