S s — es
«es» is a consonant of Slovenian, the “Gajica” script, read as “voiceless s as in sun”. Always the voiceless s. Between vowels it does not buzz into z. For example, in the word “sir” — cheese. The Slovenian alphabet has 25 letters in total, and this character can be played right here. It appears, for example, in the word “prosim” — please (when asking).
In short
| Character | S s |
| Name | es |
| Sound | voiceless s as in sun |
| What it is | a consonant |
In our course the character comes 19th of 25, its neighbours in the course are r and š, appears in roughly every fifth word on this site.
How it sounds
Always the voiceless s. Between vowels it does not buzz into z
The character in a word
A lone character is hard to remember: memory holds on to meaning, and a letter has none. The word it stands in provides that anchor.
- sircheese
The character in the “read exactly as they look” group
Fifteen letters with nothing to learn: the sound is exactly what you expect.
Words with this character
How to remember this character
A single letter is the hardest thing to remember: memory has nothing to hold on to — a character has no meaning. A three-step loop works: see the character, try to recall the sound (for «es» it is “voiceless s as in sun”, as in the word “sir”), see the right answer.
And come back to it the next day, not in an hour: a check a day or two later beats a check the same day. Nobody holds the whole alphabet — 25 letters — at once.
- It is better to test yourself the next day than at the end of the same session. That is why a word comes back to you tomorrow.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · g = 0.82 when tested a day or two later, against 0.56 on the same day.
- Studying a little every day gets more into your head than spending the same total time in one sitting.checked many timesDonovan & Radosevich, 1999, Journal of Applied Psychology 84(5) · 63 studies compared, difference d = 0.46 — a sizeable figure for a learning effect.
Frequently asked
How does the Slovenian character s read?
As “voiceless s as in sun” — it is a consonant of the “Gajica” script. Always the voiceless s. Between vowels it does not buzz into z. For example, in the word “sir” — cheese.
What is the letter s called?
Es. A character's name and its sound are different things in the Slovenian script: it is called “es” and reads as “voiceless s as in sun”. Learn the second one: the name only helps when the alphabet is recited aloud.