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 doer at all, and the person stands in the 'to whom' word. For example: “Po tretjem poskusu mi je končno uspelo” — On the third try it finally worked out for me. A rule from the Slovenian course: worked out on examples, not memorized as a wording.
How it works
Where English says 'I', Slovenian often says 'to me': uspelo mi je, gre mi dobro, jasno mi je. Such a sentence has no doer at all, and the person stands in the 'to whom' word.
The first group is success and failure: uspelo mi je, ni mi uspelo, posrečilo se mi je. The verb does not change for person; only the pronoun does: mi, ti, mu, ji, nam, vam.
The second is how things are going: gre mi dobro, težko mi gre, slabo mu gre. The verb iti has nothing to do with movement here. From the same shelf: kako ti gre? — how are you doing.
The trap is word order. The short mi takes second place: Danes mi gre dobro, not Danes gre mi dobro. If the sentence opens with the pronoun itself, use the long form: Meni pa ni jasno.
Table
| phrase | literally | the English | example |
|---|---|---|---|
| uspelo mi je | succeeded to-me | it worked out for me | uspelo mi je |
| ni mi uspelo | not succeeded to-me | it did not work out | ni mi uspelo |
| gre mi dobro | goes me well | things are going well | gre mi dobro |
| težko mi gre | goes me hard | I am struggling | težko mi gre |
| jasno mi je | clear to-me is | it is clear to me | zdaj mi je jasno |
| všeč mi je | pleasing to-me is | I like it | všeč mi je |
| žal mi je | sorry to-me is | I am sorry | žal mi je |
| nerodno mi je | awkward to-me is | I feel awkward | nerodno mi je prositi |
By example
- Po tretjem poskusu mi je končno uspeloOn the third try it finally worked out for me
- Slovnica mi gre težko, izgovorjava pa lahkoGrammar comes hard to me, pronunciation easily
- Meni pa še vedno ni jasno, kaj naj naredimAnd it is still not clear to me what I should do
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
Mi gre, uspelo mi je, jasno mi je: how does it work in Slovenian?
Where English says 'I', Slovenian often says 'to me': uspelo mi je, gre mi dobro, jasno mi je. Such a sentence has no doer at all, and the person stands in the 'to whom' word.
What does it look like in an example sentence Slovenian?
“Po tretjem poskusu mi je končno uspelo” — On the third try it finally worked out for me. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.