Requests: the imperative and why 'prosim' decides everything
The imperative (velelnik) is simpler than it looks: 'you' takes -i (počakaj, pokliči), polite 'you' takes -te (počakajte, pokličite), and — naturally — two people get their own -ta: počakajta. The -te form doubles as an address to a group and as the polite 'you' to one person. For example: “Izpolnite obrazec, prosim” — Fill in the form, please. A rule from the Slovenian course: worked out on examples, not memorized…
How it works
The imperative (velelnik) is simpler than it looks: 'you' takes -i (počakaj, pokliči), polite 'you' takes -te (počakajte, pokličite), and — naturally — two people get their own -ta: počakajta. The -te form doubles as an address to a group and as the polite 'you' to one person.
A bare command sounds harsher in Slovenian than in English. What softens it is not intonation but the word prosim put at the end: Izpolnite obrazec, prosim. Without it the sentence reads as an order; with it, as an ordinary request — and the difference is noticeable.
The politest move is to skip the imperative altogether and ask: Ali lahko razložite še enkrat? ('could you explain once more?') or, softer still, with the particle bi: Bi lahko ponovili?. That is how offices, doctors and landlords talk.
Prohibition is built with ne before the imperative, and the verb then takes the imperfective: Ne dotikajte se, not 'ne dotaknite se'. English uses one 'don't touch' for both; Slovenian separates the ongoing 'touching' from the one-off 'touch'.
Table
| verb | you | you two | you (polite) |
|---|---|---|---|
| počakati — to wait | počakaj | počakajta | počakajte |
| poklicati — to call | pokliči | pokličita | pokličite |
| razložiti — to explain | razloži | razložita | razložite |
| izpolniti — to fill in | izpolni | izpolnita | izpolnite |
| dati — to give | daj | dajta | dajte |
By example
- Izpolnite obrazec, prosimFill in the form, please
- Ali lahko razložite še enkrat?Could you explain once more?
- Počakajta trenutekWait a moment (you two)
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
Requests: how does it work in Slovenian?
The imperative (velelnik) is simpler than it looks: 'you' takes -i (počakaj, pokliči), polite 'you' takes -te (počakajte, pokličite), and — naturally — two people get their own -ta: počakajta. The -te form doubles as an address to a group and as the polite 'you' to one person.
What does it look like in an example sentence Slovenian?
“Izpolnite obrazec, prosim” — Fill in the form, please. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.