čemu
“čemu” — what for? in Slovenian. Adverb, level A1, topic — basic words. č is "ch", stress the u: cheh-MOO. In a live sentence: “Čemu vse to?” — What is all this for? You can hear how it sounds right here. One of 309 words in the set “basic words” in the Slovenian course.
In short
| Written in Slovenian | čemu |
| Translation | what for? |
| Part of speech | adverb |
| Level | A1 |
- čemuwhat for?
How to pronounce it
č is "ch", stress the u: cheh-MOO
Why it looks that way
The dative of kaj — literally "to what". zakaj asks for the cause, čemu for the purpose.
A word with a story stays in memory longer than one learned as a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
In a live sentence
A single word almost never appears alone in conversation. A sentence shows where it fits and what stands next to it.
- Čemu vse to?What is all this for?
Nearby words: basic words
Yes, no, good, bad, very. The small change of a language — and no sentence assembles without it.
- jayeslike "yah"
- nenoThe same word negates verbs: ne razumem, "I do not understand". It fuses with "be" and "have" into nisem and nimam.
- dobrofineThe standard full reply is Dobro sem, hvala — "I am fine, thank you".
- slabobadlyFrom slab, "weak". Say it about yourself when you feel under the weather.
- odličnoexcellentč is "ch" as in "church": od-LEECH-noh
- inandNot the short "i" of the neighboring languages — in is a small giveaway of Slovenian.
- ampakbutThe conversational but. The bookish, sharper one is toda, and pa always lands as the second word: jaz pa ne.
- lahkomay (permission)Literally "easily". It does the job of "be able to": lahko grem, "I can go".
- kilogramkilogram (unit)At the market people say the short kila: dve kili jabolk. Two kilograms take the dual: dva kilograma.
- polovicahalfc is "ts": poh-LOH-vee-tsah
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “basic words”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “what for?” in Slovenian?
The dative of kaj — literally "to what". zakaj asks for the cause, čemu for the purpose.
- How do you say “but” in Slovenian?
The conversational but. The bookish, sharper one is toda, and pa always lands as the second word: jaz pa ne.
- How do you say “fine” in Slovenian?
The standard full reply is Dobro sem, hvala — "I am fine, thank you".
- How do you say “half” in Slovenian?
The everyday "half". Half a kilo is pol kile.
- How do you say “and” in Slovenian?
Not the short "i" of the neighboring languages — in is a small giveaway of Slovenian.
How not to forget this word
Reading a word and remembering it are different jobs. A day later, little survives of a single reading — and that is not bad memory, that is how memory works.
- This has been tested on foreign words too. The difference shows up most when you test yourself a few days later rather than straight away.checked many timesKim & Webb, 2022, Language Learning 72(2) · 48 experiments, 3,411 participants, 98 comparisons.
- Recalling beats re-reading. Covering the translation and trying to remember it does more than reading it ten more times.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · 188 experiments, 272 comparisons. g = 0.61; against plain re-reading 0.51, against passive review 0.93.
- An answer you worked out yourself sticks better than one handed to you.checked many timesBertsch et al., 2007, Memory & Cognition 35(2) · 86 studies, 445 comparisons, d = 0.40.
Frequently asked
How do you say “what for?” in Slovenian?
«čemu». č is "ch", stress the u: cheh-MOO. In a live sentence: “Čemu vse to?” — What is all this for? You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Adverb, level A1, from the set “basic words”.
Why does this word look the way it does?
The dative of kaj — literally "to what". zakaj asks for the cause, čemu for the purpose. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
Can I hear how it sounds?
Yes, right on this page: click the word and it will play. The sound works on any phone, and nothing needs to be installed.