LingoflyMe, te, ga, ji: short words that sit second
Personal pronouns come in two shapes. The long one is stressed, for emphasis: mene, tebe, njega. The short one is unstressed, and it is what ordinary speech sounds like: me, te, ga, jo, mu, ji, nam. For example: “Zakaj si jezen name?” — Why are you angry with me? A rule from the Slovenian course: worked out on examples, not memorized as a wording.
How it works
Personal pronouns come in two shapes. The long one is stressed, for emphasis: mene, tebe, njega. The short one is unstressed, and it is what ordinary speech sounds like: me, te, ga, jo, mu, ji, nam.
Vidim tebe is possible, but it means 'I see YOU'. The neutral sentence is Vidim te. A short unstressed word never opens a sentence; it squeezes in right after the first stressed word. Boli me glava, but Glava me boli.
When several of them gather, the helper's place is oddly split. sem, si, smo come at the front, before se, 'to whom' and 'whom'. The future — bom, boš, bo, bomo — does the opposite and comes last, after them: Jutri ti ga bom pokazal — tomorrow I'll show it to you. 'To whom' goes before 'whom', the reverse of English.
Table
| who | whom (acc.) | to whom (dat.) | stressed form |
|---|---|---|---|
| I | me | mi | mene / meni |
| you | te | ti | tebe / tebi |
| he | ga | mu | njega / njemu |
| she | jo | ji | njo / njej |
| we | nas | nam | nas / nam |
| they | jih | jim | njih / njim |
By example
How the rule settles in your head
A rule is not memorized from an explanation. It is memorized from an attempt to use it and a mistake — that is why the app delivers it mixed in with words, not as a separate lesson: it resurfaces exactly where you forgot it.
Frequently asked
Why me, te and ga stand second in Slovenian?
Personal pronouns come in two shapes. The long one is stressed, for emphasis: mene, tebe, njega. The short one is unstressed, and it is what ordinary speech sounds like: me, te, ga, jo, mu, ji, nam.
The order of the short unstressed words in a Slovenian sentence?
Vidim tebe is possible, but it means 'I see YOU'. The neutral sentence is Vidim te. A short unstressed word never opens a sentence; it squeezes in right after the first stressed word. Boli me glava, but Glava me boli.
Boli me glava vs glava me boli?
Vidim tebe is possible, but it means 'I see YOU'. The neutral sentence is Vidim te. A short unstressed word never opens a sentence; it squeezes in right after the first stressed word. Boli me glava, but Glava me boli.
Ti ga bom: why 'to whom' comes first?
When several of them gather, the helper's place is oddly split. sem, si, smo come at the front, before se, 'to whom' and 'whom'. The future — bom, boš, bo, bomo — does the opposite and comes last, after them: Jutri ti ga bom pokazal — tomorrow I'll show it to you. 'To whom' goes before 'whom', the…
What does it look like in a Slovenian example sentence?
“Zakaj si jezen name?” — Why are you angry with me? A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.