prosto mesto
“prosto mesto” — free seat in Slovenian. Noun, level A1, topic — transport. prosto delovno mesto is the job vacancy; without delovno it is a seat in the carriage. And mind: mesto is also a city. In a live sentence: “Ali je to prosto mesto?” — Is this seat free? You can hear how it sounds right here. One of 14 words in the set “transport” in the Slovenian course.
In short
| Written in Slovenian | prosto mesto |
| Translation | free seat |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | A1 |
- prosto mestofree seat
Why it looks that way
prosto delovno mesto is the job vacancy; without delovno it is a seat in the carriage. And mind: mesto is also a city.
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.
- Ali je to prosto mesto?Is this seat free?
Nearby words: transport
Bus, metro, taxi, stop, station. These are words you need to recognize in writing — off a departure board and off a sign.
- avtobusbusv before a consonant sounds like "u": OW-toh-boos
- vlaktrainv before a consonant sounds like "u": vlak with an initial "u" glide
- postajastationOne word for the station and the stop: železniška postaja is the train station, avtobusna postaja the bus stop.
- taksitaxiYou do not hail one in the street: you phone or use an app. A rank is taksi postajališče.
- postajališčebus stopš is "sh", č is "ch"
- potnikpassengerFrom pot, "the way" — the same word names the traveler. Feminine potnica.
- sedežseatž is the "zh" of "measure"
- držalohandrailž is the "zh" of "measure"
- kontrolorticket inspectorsprevodnik walks the train and helps passengers; kontrolor comes to check tickets.
- vozninafarež is the "zh" of "measure"
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “transport”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “free seat” in Slovenian?
prosto delovno mesto is the job vacancy; without delovno it is a seat in the carriage. And mind: mesto is also a city.
- How do you say “seat” in Slovenian?
Known from sedež ob oknu; on its own masculine, genitive sedeža, plural sedeži.
- How do you say “station” in Slovenian?
One word for the station and the stop: železniška postaja is the train station, avtobusna postaja the bus stop.
- How do you say “fare” in Slovenian?
One word instead of three, on the model of najemnina; from voziti.
- How do you say “passenger” in Slovenian?
From pot, "the way" — the same word names the traveler. Feminine potnica.
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 “free seat” in Slovenian?
«prosto mesto». In a live sentence: “Ali je to prosto mesto?” — Is this seat free? You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Noun, level A1, from the set “transport”.
Why does this word look the way it does?
prosto delovno mesto is the job vacancy; without delovno it is a seat in the carriage. And mind: mesto is also a city. 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.