LingoflySlovenian grammar
Slovenian grammar explained in plain words. No articles, and a flexible word order. What is harder: six cases, three genders and the dual number — a third form beside singular and plural.
Notes
- 📐The dual number: two gets its own grammarSlovenian is almost the only living language of its family that kept the dual (dvojina). Two of something is not spoken…
- 📐False friends: 'leto' means yearSome Slovenian words look like English ones, and that is where the trouble starts. The word you feel sure about usually…
- 📐To be: sem, si, je — and where they standThe verb 'to be' is never dropped. English shortens 'I am' to 'I'm'; Slovenian says the little word in full: Sem Ana…
- 📐I speak, we two speak, we all speak: who is acting nowTo say what you are doing now, change the end of the word: govorim — I speak, govoriš — you speak. Delam means I work…
- 📐Negation fuses onto the verbOrdinary negation is the little word ne in front of the verb: ne razumem, ne grem.
- 📐A question starts with 'ali' — or just with 'a'A yes-or-no question starts with the little word ali: Ali govorite angleško?, Ali je daleč?
- 📐More expensive, cheaper, better: the comparativeThe rule looks familiar: an adjective takes -ejši or -ši and means 'more so'. star → starejši, nov → novejši, težek →…
- 📐Two chairs: the dual with thingsCounting in pairs comes up every day: two chairs, two rooms, both windows. After dva the thing you count takes its own…
- 📐Where at: the shape with -u and -iTo say 'I am at the pharmacy' you need the 'where at' shape of the word — mestnik. It never stands alone: only after v…
- 📐Past tense: the -l participle plus sem, si, jeThe past has two pieces: the -l form of the verb plus the present of biti. Delal sem — I worked. The little helper is…
- 📐Requests: the imperative and why 'prosim' decides everythingA request starts from the command form (velelnik). For 'you' the ending is -i (počakaj, pokliči), for polite 'you' -te…
- 📐The future: bom + the -l participleThe future is two pieces. A special form of biti — bom, boš, bo — plus the same -l form you already use for the past.…
- 📐Me, te, ga, ji: short words that sit secondPersonal pronouns come in two shapes. The long one is stressed, for emphasis: mene, tebe, njega. The short one is…
- 📐Definiteness: how Slovenian gets by without 'the'There is no article in Slovenian, and the difference between 'a sweater' and 'the sweater' is still there. The…
- 📐Two keeps changing: naju, nama, dvemaDva kovčka and midva sva are the starting shape. But two is a full number here, and it has as many shapes of the word…
- 📐Must, can, may: morati, moči, smeti, treba jeChoose by the reason: something is necessary, impossible, or forbidden. Moram iti — I have to go. This is a form of…
- 📐Ta, tisti, oni: this, that, and 'the one we talked about'Slovenian points with three words. Ta — this one, right here. Tisti — that one, further off or already known. Oni…
- 📐Moj, tvoj, njegov, njen — and svoj, which you can't do withoutPossessives work like adjectives and follow the thing, not the owner: moj brat, moja sestra, moje darilo, pri mojem…
- 📐Zelo, precej, preveč — and the hedges: morda, seveda, žalDegree runs on a short ruler: malo — a little, kar and precej — quite, zelo — very, preveč — too. They stand right in…
- 📐Without a subject: mrzlo je, treba je, se reče, zdi se miA great many everyday sentences have nobody acting in them. The verb stands in the neuter and no doer shows up. Mrzlo…
- 📐Da, ker, če, ko: two thoughts in one sentenceFour joining words sew short sentences into speech: da — that, ker — because, če — if, ko — when. That set covers…
- 📐Ki and kateri: how to say 'the one who'A thing can be described with an adjective: zahteven izpit. But 'the teacher who taught history' needs a second half of…
- 📐Veliko denarja, malo časa: the word after a quantityTo say how much money or time you have, join a quantity word to the thing you are counting. Denar — money, but veliko…
- 📐Bi + the -l participle: politeness, wishes and 'if only'The conditional comes from two pieces: the little word bi plus the -l form from the past. Rad bi govoril z zdravnikom…
- 📐Naj-: the superlative and how to boost itYou already build the comparative: drag → dražji, dober → boljši. The top degree comes from it in one move: glue on the…
- 📐Prevelik, enako drag, dvakrat večji: the adjective phrase in fullThe prefix pre- means 'too' and sticks fast: prevelik, predrag, premajhen. That is not zelo: zelo velik is simply big…
- 📐Aspect: delati or narediti, and why the border is not where you expectSlovenian sorts verbs into pairs: delati and narediti, pisati and napisati, kupovati and kupiti. One half of the pair…
- 📐Reported speech: the tense does not shiftIn reported speech the tense does not move. Whatever the person said stays in that tense: Rekel je: Sem utrujen becomes…
- Trpnik: the se-passive, “je bil sprejet”, and the language of institutions📐Trpnik: the se-passive, “je bil sprejet”, and the language of institutionsPaperwork talks without naming who acts. A decision from the office and a police report are written that way from end…
- 📐Complex sentences in full: cause, purpose, time, concessionCause. Ker answers 'why': Nisem prišel, ker sem bil bolan. Zaradi is a preposition, and the word after it changes…
- 📐An introductory word and the second place: where je, sem, se goA short unstressed word (sem, je, bom, bi, se, me, mu) never stands first. It squeezes in right after the first…
- 📐Caring, curly, chatty: recognizing words about a personTo describe a person, use words about character and appearance: skromen — modest, kodrast — curly. A short ending can…
- 📐Se and si: reflexive, reciprocal and “for oneself”Many verbs end in se, and that is not decoration: without the particle the verb means something else, or nothing. The…
- 📐Kumarica, bučka, prtiček: diminutives and why there are so manySlovenian kitchens talk in diminutives, and it is not baby talk. Half of them are separate objects, not pet forms…
- 📐Iz, z/s, od: what it is made of, what it is made with, and from whom'Made of what', 'made with what' and 'from whom' often collapse into one English 'from'. Slovenian keeps them apart…
- 📐Verb prefixes: pri-, od-, pre-, po- and where the meaning goesOne root gives half a dozen verbs, and only the prefix tells them apart. Viti is to wind; priviti — to screw on, odviti…
- 📐Weather without a subject: dežuje, oblačno je, toča padaSlovenian talks about the weather in three ways, and the borders are not where English puts them. In Slovenia almost…
- 📐Where to and where at: the case after the preposition decides everythingHalf the road prepositions are double. With one shape of the word the preposition means 'where to', with another 'where…
- 📐Mi gre, uspelo mi je, jasno mi je: 'to me' instead of 'I'Where English says 'I', Slovenian often says 'to me': uspelo mi je, gre mi dobro, jasno mi je. Such a sentence has no…
- 📐Sem delal, delam, bom delal: three tenses and one helperThere are three tenses, and two of them are built with the same verb, biti.
- 📐Bi, naj, ali: how Slovenian softens a request and a refusalPoliteness rests on three short words. Learning them pays better than learning twenty ready-made phrases: with the…
- 📐What you do for a living: -ec, -ar, -nik, -alec and the obligatory feminineA profession name is almost always derived from a verb or from an object. Take the four pieces apart and you will start…
- 📐The 'of what' form at work: no money, a lot of people, whoseThe 'of what' form is the busiest one in Slovenian. It turns up in every second sentence about money. English marks…
- 📐Ljudje, otroci, ljudstvo: the plurals that break the ruleWords about crowds of people are exactly where the Slovenian plural stops being predictable. What you learn here is not…
- 📐From a verb — a noun: -nje, -tev, -ba and why there are so manySlovenian turns verbs into nouns readily, and it keeps several tails for the job. Each one carries its own shade.
- 📐Igrati, ukvarjati se, trenirati: what you do and with which caseEnglish 'do sport', 'play tennis' and 'go to yoga' split into different patterns in Slovenian. Each takes its own shape…
- 📐Dva metra, trije metri, pet metrov: the number and the case after itThe shape of the word after a number changes three times in Slovenian, not once. That is the main difference from…
- 📐Proti, kljub, zahvaljujoč: three prepositions that ask for 'to whom'English 'against' needs no special form, but Slovenian proti asks for the 'to whom' shape: cepljenje proti gripi…
- 📐Za novo leto, ob praznikih, na rojstni dan: time and occasion through prepositionsSlovenian spreads time and occasion across prepositions. What you learn is not a rule but a habit: which preposition…
- 📐Naj bi, baje, pravijo: how to mark words as someone else’sEnglish marks other people's words with 'allegedly' and 'they say'. Slovenian does it with a verb form, and that form…
- 📐Bolje, not boljši: degree in the adverb and the čim + comparative patternAn adjective answers 'what kind', an adverb answers 'how' — and English says 'better' for both. That is where the…
- 📐Zgoraj or gor, notri or noter: place adverbs have two formsEnglish 'upstairs' and 'up' differ; 'inside' and 'into' almost do not. Slovenian keeps that difference hard, and…
- 📐Zmečkan, obrabljen, zbledel: the participle that works as an adjectiveAlmost all words about the state of a thing are not 'real' adjectives but forms made from verbs. Once you see the seam…
- 📐Orodnik: the “with what” case and why it always carries z or sThe 'with what' form almost never goes without a preposition. English cuts bread 'with a knife'; Slovenian says režem z…
- 📐Delati and narediti: aspect, and why the prefix changes more than the meaningVerbs about how things go stand in pairs: kuhati and skuhati, prati and oprati. These are not synonyms — one is the…
- 📐Polovica, tretjina, dvojno: fractions, multiples — and the dual when two are comparedA fraction, a multiple and a difference are three different tools, and mixing them up is expensive.
- 📐Hiša se gradi, hiša je zgrajena: the two passive voicesWhen it does not matter who acts, Slovenian hides the doer. Waste is sorted, a product is checked, a house is pulled…
- 📐Poštenost, natančnost, dobrota: naming a qualityTo name a quality, Slovenian often adds -ost: pošten — honest, poštenost — honesty. Natančen — precise, natančnost…
- 📐Ko, medtem ko, dokler, preden: time through a subordinate clauseJoining two events in one sentence is the job of the time words, and each of them has its own task.
- 📐Se me je dotaknilo: when the short words pile upA phrase memorized whole falls apart inside a live sentence. The short unstressed words move to second place, while the…
- 📐Vprašala je, kje: someone else’s speech with no tense shiftSlovenian puts other people's words into a frame, and there are several frames. The tense does not shift a step.
- 📐Živjo and dober dan: your own people and strangersŽivjo is 'hi' between people who know each other, and it works at any hour. The same word says goodbye, so one word…
- 📐Prosim and oprostite: one word for three jobsProsim literally means 'I ask' and does three jobs. It is 'please' in a request: Tišje, prosim. It is 'not at all' in…
What works differently from what you know
Slovene has a separate number for exactly two: midva greva — “the two of us go”, not just “we go”. Of the living Slavic languages only Slovene and the Lusatian ones kept the dual; everywhere else it faded in the Middle Ages — Old East Slavic, for one, had lost it by the 13th–14th centuries.
Marc Greenberg, «A Short Reference Grammar of Standard Slovene», 2008
What is hard about Slovenian and what comes for free
Hard: six cases, three genders and the dual number — a third form beside singular and plural.
Easy: no articles, and a flexible word order.
This is not a verdict on the language but a hint on where to spend effort. The hard parts are best taken a little at a time and often; the easy parts — left alone while they work by themselves.
Frequently asked
Is the grammar of Slovenian complicated?
Six cases, three genders and the dual number — a third form beside singular and plural is the main difficulty. In return, no articles, and a flexible word order.
Should grammar be learned separately?
Not as a separate course. A rule learned before you need it is forgotten before you meet it. It is more useful to work it out at the moment you stumble over it.