rabljen
“rabljen” — second-hand in Slovenian. Adjective, level B1, topic — shopping and money. from rabiti, to use and to need; in ads: rabljeno kolo; people also say iz druge roke, from the second hand. In a live sentence: “Kupila sva rabljen avto” — The two of us bought a second-hand car. You can hear how it sounds right here. One of 82 words in the set “shopping and money” in the Slovenian course.
In short
| Written in Slovenian | rabljen |
| Translation | second-hand |
| Part of speech | adjective |
| Level | B1 |
- rabljensecond-hand
Why it looks that way
from rabiti, to use and to need; in ads: rabljeno kolo; people also say iz druge roke, from the second hand
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.
- Kupila sva rabljen avtoThe two of us bought a second-hand car
Nearby words: shopping and money
How much it costs, whether there is a smaller one, whether cards are accepted. A shop forgives mistakes: miss a word and they will show you the thing with their hands anyway.
- koliko stane?how much does it cost?One thing: koliko stane. Several: koliko stanejo. In a shop a bare koliko? is enough.
- evroeurov before a consonant sounds like "u": EH-oo-roh
- trgovinashopFrom trg, the square where trade happened. It is the shop itself, not "trade".
- tržnicamarketž is "zh"; no written vowel before r: tuhrzh-NEE-tsah
- pultcounterš is "sh"
- prodajalecsellerj is "y", c is "ts": pro-DAH-yah-lets
- kupecbuyerc is "ts": KOO-pets
- tehtnicascalethe h sounds, c is "ts": TEHHT-nee-tsah
- kilogramkilogram (unit)At the market people say the short kila: dve kili jabolk. Two kilograms take the dual: dva kilograma.
- svežfreshfinal ž devoices: svesh
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “shopping and money”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “second-hand” in Slovenian?
from rabiti, to use and to need; in ads: rabljeno kolo; people also say iz druge roke, from the second hand
- How do you say “buyer” in Slovenian?
One root, two sides of the counter: prodajalec sells, kupec buys.
- How do you say “shop” in Slovenian?
From trg, the square where trade happened. It is the shop itself, not "trade".
- How do you say “fresh” in Slovenian?
Feminine sveža, neuter sveže. The comparative is svežji, "fresher".
- How do you say “seller” in Slovenian?
From prodajati, "to sell". A woman is prodajalka — and at the market that is her nine times out of ten.
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 “second-hand” in Slovenian?
«rabljen». In a live sentence: “Kupila sva rabljen avto” — The two of us bought a second-hand car. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Adjective, level B1, from the set “shopping and money”.
Why does this word look the way it does?
from rabiti, to use and to need; in ads: rabljeno kolo; people also say iz druge roke, from the second hand. 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.