semafor
“semafor” — traffic light in Slovenian. Noun, level A1, topic — the city and its places. Stress the last syllable: semafór. rdeča luč is the red light, zelena luč the green. In a live sentence: “Počakaj na semaforju” — Wait at the traffic light. You can hear how it sounds right here. One of 84 words in the set “the city and its places” in the Slovenian course.
In short
| Written in Slovenian | semafor |
| Translation | traffic light |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | A1 |
- semafortraffic light
Why it looks that way
Stress the last syllable: semafór. rdeča luč is the red light, zelena luč the green.
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.
- Počakaj na semaforjuWait at the traffic light
Nearby words: the city and its places
Street, square, pharmacy, bank. An address is built out of these, and an address is something you have to both say and understand.
- mestocityIt only looks like it might mean "place" — that job belongs to kraj.
- ulicastreetc is "ts": oo-LEE-tsah
- trgsquareno written vowel before r; a faint "uh" glides in: tuhrg
- lekarnapharmacyFrom lek, "medicine". The word apoteka is not used here.
- bankabankPlainly the financial kind — no other meaning is attached to it.
- množicacrowdž is the "zh" of "measure", c is "ts", stress the first syllable: MNOH-zhi-tsah
- kolobicycleLiterally "the wheel" — the bicycle is called a wheel. You ride s kolesom, and the rider is kolesar.
- avtobusna postajabus stop (postaja)v before t sounds like "u", j is "y"
- mesečna vozovnicatransit passč is "ch", c is "ts"
- progaroute (transit)The transit route, the bus line number. A walking route is still pot, the road.
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “the city and its places”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “traffic light” in Slovenian?
Stress the last syllable: semafór. rdeča luč is the red light, zelena luč the green.
- How do you say “bicycle” in Slovenian?
Literally "the wheel" — the bicycle is called a wheel. You ride s kolesom, and the rider is kolesar.
- How do you say “square” in Slovenian?
It has almost no vowel at all: before r a faint "uh" glides in. Prešernov trg is the heart of Ljubljana.
- How do you say “route (transit)” in Slovenian?
The transit route, the bus line number. A walking route is still pot, the road.
- How do you say “crowd” in Slovenian?
From mnogo, "much". In school mathematics the same word means "set".
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 “traffic light” in Slovenian?
«semafor». In a live sentence: “Počakaj na semaforju” — Wait at the traffic light. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Noun, level A1, from the set “the city and its places”.
Why does this word look the way it does?
Stress the last syllable: semafór. rdeča luč is the red light, zelena luč the green. 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.