plavati
“plavati” — to swim (move in water) in Slovenian. Verb, level A1, topic — verbs. Present: plavam, plavaš, plava. kopati se is being in the water for pleasure; plavati is moving through it. In a live sentence: “Ne znam dobro plavati” — I cannot swim well. You can hear how it sounds right here. One of 111 words in the set “verbs” in the Slovenian course.
In short
| Written in Slovenian | plavati |
| Translation | to swim (move in water) |
| Part of speech | verb |
| Level | A1 |
- plavatito swim (move in water)
Why it looks that way
Present: plavam, plavaš, plava. kopati se is being in the water for pleasure; plavati is moving through it.
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.
- Ne znam dobro plavatiI cannot swim well
Nearby words: verbs
I want, I can, I am going, I know. Twenty verbs cover more everyday sentences than two hundred nouns.
- želimI would likež is the "zh" of "measure": ZHEH-leem
- rad imamI loveLiterally "gladly have". A woman says rada imam — the form follows the speaker.
- itito goš is "sh"
- jestito eatj is "y": YEH-stee
- pitito drinkThe present changes its stem: pijem, piješ, pije. A drink is pijača, from the same root.
- bratito readPresent berem, bereš, bere. On neighboring courses the word looks like "to take"; here taking is vzeti.
- govoritito speakAbout a language you use the adverb, not the name: govorim slovensko, not govorim slovenščino.
- delatito workThe same word does "to do": kaj delaš? is both "what is your job?" and "what are you doing?" — context decides.
- živetito livež is the "zh" of "measure": ZHEH-vee-tee
- imetito have"I have" is imam — no "at me there is" construction anywhere in sight.
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “verbs”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “to swim (move in water)” in Slovenian?
Present: plavam, plavaš, plava. kopati se is being in the water for pleasure; plavati is moving through it.
- How do you say “to speak” in Slovenian?
About a language you use the adverb, not the name: govorim slovensko, not govorim slovenščino.
- How do you say “to go” in Slovenian?
The present tense comes from another root: grem, greš, gre. For two people: greva.
- How do you say “to have” in Slovenian?
"I have" is imam — no "at me there is" construction anywhere in sight.
- How do you say “to read” in Slovenian?
Present berem, bereš, bere. On neighboring courses the word looks like "to take"; here taking is vzeti.
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 “to swim (move in water)” in Slovenian?
«plavati». In a live sentence: “Ne znam dobro plavati” — I cannot swim well. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Verb, level A1, from the set “verbs”.
Why does this word look the way it does?
Present: plavam, plavaš, plava. kopati se is being in the water for pleasure; plavati is moving through it. 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.