Dobrota, poštenost, izročilo: from an adjective and a verb — a noun
The character unit is thirty nouns, and almost all of them are made from words you already know. One pass — and you can build them yourself, and understand unfamiliar ones as a bonus. For example: “Njegova poštenost in potrpljenje sta bila znana vsem” — His honesty and patience were known to everyone. A rule from the Slovenian course: worked out on examples, not memorized as a wording.
How it works
The character unit is thirty nouns, and almost all of them are made from words you already know. One pass — and you can build them yourself, and understand unfamiliar ones as a bonus.
-ost — the most prolific suffix, from an adjective: pošten → poštenost, radoveden → radovednost, iznajdljiv → iznajdljivost, natančen → natančnost, stabilen → stabilnost, raznolik → raznolikost. All feminine on a consonant and declining like ljubezen: brez poštenosti, z natančnostjo. English runs the same line with '-ness', so the meaning never surprises.
-ota — an older and rarer suffix: dober → dobrota, lep → lepota, teman → temota. Feminine on -a, ordinary declension.
-je and -nje — from verbs, neuter: opazovati → opazovanje, shranjevati → shranjevanje, označevati → označevanje, izročiti → izročilo (here -lo), zaupati → zaupanje, potrpeti → potrpljenje. This is that same verbal noun you met in wave 5, and in the production units it supplies half the vocabulary.
-stvo — a property or a collective, neuter: varstvo, ljudstvo, gospodarstvo, prijateljstvo. Do not confuse varstvo (protection, supervision) with varnost (safety): the suffix difference is a meaning difference, and two distinct terms hang on it — varnost pri delu and varstvo pri delu.
Why this in the character unit. Trait names in Slovenian are almost always derived: know the adjective and the noun follows: len → lenoba, trmast → trma (here the other way round — the adjective from the noun), sebičen → sebičnost, brezskrben → brezskrbnost. The reverse works too: hearing zamerljivost, you will spot zameriti inside.
And one small but important detail: these words have almost no plural. Poštenost, zavist, usmiljenje — singular only. The plural dobrote exists, but it means not kindness but treats on the table.
Table
| suffix | built from | example | gender |
|---|---|---|---|
| -ost | from an adjective | poštenost | feminine on a consonant |
| -ost | from an adjective | radovednost | feminine on a consonant |
| -ota | from an adjective | dobrota | feminine on -a |
| -nje | from a verb | opazovanje | neuter |
| -nje | from a verb | zaupanje | neuter |
| -lo | from a verb | izročilo | neuter |
| -tev | from a verb | ozelenitev | feminine on a consonant |
| -stvo | a property, a collective | varstvo | neuter |
By example
- Njegova poštenost in potrpljenje sta bila znana vsemHis honesty and patience were known to everyone
- Označevanje izdelkov zahteva veliko natančnostiProduct labeling requires great precision
- Varstvo pri delu ni isto kot varnost na cestiOccupational safety is not the same as road safety
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
Dobrota, poštenost, izročilo: how does it work in Slovenian?
The character unit is thirty nouns, and almost all of them are made from words you already know. One pass — and you can build them yourself, and understand unfamiliar ones as a bonus.
What does it look like in an example sentence Slovenian?
“Njegova poštenost in potrpljenje sta bila znana vsem” — His honesty and patience were known to everyone. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.