Sem delal, delam, bom delal: three tenses and one helper
The life unit forces you to speak of the past and of plans in one breath, and without a clear map of the tenses it does not work. The good news: Slovenian has only three tenses, and two of them are built with the same helper, 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…
How it works
The life unit forces you to speak of the past and of plans in one breath, and without a clear map of the tenses it does not work. The good news: Slovenian has only three tenses, and two of them are built with the same helper, biti.
The present is simply the conjugated form: delam, delaš, dela, delava, delata, delamo. It often doubles as the future when a time word is present: jutri pokličem nazaj — I'll call back tomorrow; English does the same with 'I'm calling back tomorrow'.
The past is the -l participle plus the present of biti: sem delal, si delal, je delal. The participle agrees in gender and number, the helper in person: a woman says sem delala, two people sva delala, two women sva delali. That is the main difference from English: 'worked' hides person and gender completely, and the learner keeps forgetting sem.
The future is the -l participle plus the future of biti: bom delal, boš delal, bo delal, bova delala, bomo delali. The participle is the same one from the past; only the helper changes. From here come bom točen, bom premislil, nikoli ne bom pozabil.
Negation swallows the helper in the past: not ne sem delal but nisem delal; nisi, ni, nisva, nismo. In the future it stays separate: ne bom delal. And the order: the helper is a clitic, so it never opens the sentence. Delal sem is fine; Sem delal is only a question.
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
- V otroštvu sem živel na vasi, zdaj živim v mestuAs 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
- Tega večera nisem pozabil in ga nikoli ne bomI have not forgotten that evening and I never will
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?
The life unit forces you to speak of the past and of plans in one breath, and without a clear map of the tenses it does not work. The good news: Slovenian has only three tenses, and two of them are built with the same helper, biti.
What does it look like in an example sentence Slovenian?
“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.