Dva metra, trije metri, pet metrov: the number and the case after it
Before this unit the course had no measures at all, and a number rarely stood next to a word. Now it stands in every second phrase — and this is where Slovenian diverges from English hardest: the case after the number changes three times, not once. For example: “Soba je dolga štiri metre in široka dva metra in pol” — The room is four meters long and two and a half meters wide. A rule from the Slovenian course…
How it works
Before this unit the course had no measures at all, and a number rarely stood next to a word. Now it stands in every second phrase — and this is where Slovenian diverges from English hardest: the case after the number changes three times, not once.
En — as if there were no number: en meter, ena minuta, eno leto. En itself declines like an adjective and agrees in gender.
Dva — the dual. dva metra, dve minuti, dve leti. This is the same dvojina you know from 'two chairs': with measures it works the same, and the verb is dual too — Dva metra sta dovolj.
Trije, štirje — the ordinary plural in the nominative: trije metri, štirje litri, tri minute, štiri leta. The masculine has a special numeral form — trije, štirje, not tri, štiri: štirje kilometri, but štiri ure.
Pet and above — the genitive plural: pet metrov, deset litrov, dvajset minut, sto let. And the verb slips into the neuter singular: Pet metrov je bilo premalo. You saw the genitive after five in the note on the genitive; what matters here is that below five there are three full cases.
Naming a size. Not through 'has' but through an adjective with the accusative: Miza je dolga dva metra, Otrok je visok meter in deset, Paket je težak pet kilogramov. The question is built the same way: Kako dolga je miza?, Koliko tehta?
Fractions and approximations. pol — half, with the genitive: pol litra, pol ure. četrt ure — a quarter of an hour, and a fraction in general is četrtina. One and a half is meter in pol, literally 'a meter and a half'. The decimal comma is the decimal comma: 1,5 kg reads ena cela pet.
Table
| number | masculine | feminine | which case it is |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | en meter | ena minuta | nominative singular |
| 2 | dva metra | dve minuti | the dual |
| 3 | trije metri | tri minute | nominative plural |
| 4 | štirje metri | štiri minute | nominative plural |
| 5 | pet metrov | pet minut | genitive plural |
| 20 | dvajset metrov | dvajset minut | genitive plural |
| half | pol metra | pol ure | genitive singular |
| size | dolg dva metra | težka dve kili | accusative with the adjective |
By example
- Soba je dolga štiri metre in široka dva metra in polThe room is four meters long and two and a half meters wide
- Za torto potrebujem pol litra mleka in dvesto gramov maslaFor the cake I need half a liter of milk and two hundred grams of butter
- Pet kilometrov je bilo preveč, trije kilometri bi bili ravno pravFive kilometers was too much, three would have been just right
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
Dva metra, trije metri, pet metrov: how does it work in Slovenian?
Before this unit the course had no measures at all, and a number rarely stood next to a word. Now it stands in every second phrase — and this is where Slovenian diverges from English hardest: the case after the number changes three times, not once.
What does it look like in an example sentence Slovenian?
“Soba je dolga štiri metre in široka dva metra in pol” — The room is four meters long and two and a half meters wide. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.