medtem ko
“medtem ko” — while in Slovenian. Phrase, level B1, topic — time, days and hours. a conjunction of two words, written apart, comma before it: Bral sem, medtem ko je ona kuhala; the clitic comes after ko; without ko it stays the adverb medtem, meanwhile, opening its own sentence. In a live sentence: “Jaz sem pakiral, medtem ko je ona iskala dokumente” — I was packing while she was looking for the documents. You can hear how it sounds right here.
In short
| Written in Slovenian | medtem ko |
| Translation | while |
| Part of speech | phrase |
| Level | B1 |
- medtem kowhile
Why it looks that way
a conjunction of two words, written apart, comma before it: Bral sem, medtem ko je ona kuhala; the clitic comes after ko; without ko it stays the adverb medtem, meanwhile, opening its own sentence
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.
- Jaz sem pakiral, medtem ko je ona iskala dokumenteI was packing while she was looking for the documents
Nearby words: time, days and hours
Today, tomorrow, in the morning, at six. You cannot arrange to meet without these — let alone understand the answer.
- urahourThe time unit and the watch at once — the clock on the wall is also ura. koliko je ura? asks the time of day.
- dandayCovers both the day and the full twenty-four hours — there is no separate word for the day-and-night round. Two days take the dual: dva dneva.
- danestodaydan plus -es: literally "on this day".
- jutritomorrowj is "y": YOO-tree
- včerajyesterdayv before a consonant sounds like "u", č is "ch": oo-CHEH-righ
- jutromorningj is "y": YOO-troh
- večereveningč is "ch": VEH-cher
- nočnightč is "ch": nohch
- letoyearThe grand trap of the course: leto is a year. Summer is poletje.
- dvakrat na dantwice a dayThe suffix -krat is the "times": enkrat, dvakrat, trikrat. There is no separate word for "time(s)".
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “time, days and hours”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “while” in Slovenian?
a conjunction of two words, written apart, comma before it: Bral sem, medtem ko je ona kuhala; the clitic comes after ko; without ko it stays the adverb medtem, meanwhile, opening its own sentence
- How do you say “evening” in Slovenian?
Keep it apart from več, "more". In the evening is zvečer, one word with a prefix.
- How do you say “today” in Slovenian?
dan plus -es: literally "on this day".
- How do you say “twice a day” in Slovenian?
The suffix -krat is the "times": enkrat, dvakrat, trikrat. There is no separate word for "time(s)".
- How do you say “morning” in Slovenian?
A trap inside the language itself: jutro is morning, jutri is tomorrow — one letter apart.
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 “while” in Slovenian?
«medtem ko». In a live sentence: “Jaz sem pakiral, medtem ko je ona iskala dokumente” — I was packing while she was looking for the documents. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Phrase, level B1, from the set “time, days and hours”.
Why does this word look the way it does?
a conjunction of two words, written apart, comma before it: Bral sem, medtem ko je ona kuhala; the clitic comes after ko; without ko it stays the adverb medtem, meanwhile, opening its own sentence. 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.