LingoflySem delal, delam, bom delal: three tenses and one helper
There are three tenses, and two of them are built with the same verb, biti. For example: “V otroštvu sem živel na vasi, zdaj živim v mestu” — As a child I lived in the village, now I live in town. A rule from the Slovenian course: worked out on examples, not memorized as a wording.
How it works
There are three tenses, and two of them are built with the same verb, biti.
The present is just the changed verb: delam, delaš, dela, delava, delamo. It often works as a future when a time word is there: jutri pokličem nazaj — I'll call back tomorrow.
The past is the -l form plus the present of biti: sem delal, si delal, je delal. The -l form moves by gender and number, biti by person: sem delala, sva delala, sva delali. The piece people forget is sem.
The future is the same -l form plus bom: bom delal, bova delala, bomo delali. In the past, negation fuses: not ne sem delal but nisem delal. In the future it stays apart: ne bom delal.
Table
| tense | scheme | masculine | feminine | two |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| present | conjugation | delam | delam | delava |
| past | sem + -l | sem delal | sem delala | sva delala |
| past, negation | nisem + -l | nisem delal | nisem delala | nisva delala |
| future | bom + -l | bom delal | bom delala | bova delala |
| future, negation | ne bom + -l | ne bom delal | ne bom delala | ne bova delala |
By example
- As a child I lived in the village, now I live in town
- Čez leto dni bova končala in se preselilaIn a year the two of us will finish and move
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
Sem delal, delam, bom delal: how does it work in Slovenian?
There are three tenses, and two of them are built with the same verb, biti.
What does it look like in a Slovenian example sentence?
“V otroštvu sem živel na vasi, zdaj živim v mestu” — As a child I lived in the village, now I live in town. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.