umivati
“umivati” — to wash (hands, face) in Slovenian. Verb, level A1, topic — food and drink. Dishes take pomivati, hands umivati si roke, laundry prati — three verbs where one might do. In a live sentence: “Roke umivaj pred jedjo” — Wash your hands before eating. You can hear how it sounds right here. One of 190 words in the set “food and drink” in the Slovenian course.
In short
| Written in Slovenian | umivati |
| Translation | to wash (hands, face) |
| Part of speech | verb |
| Level | A1 |
- umivatito wash (hands, face)
Why it looks that way
Dishes take pomivati, hands umivati si roke, laundry prati — three verbs where one might do.
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.
- Roke umivaj pred jedjoWash your hands before eating
Nearby words: food and drink
A menu, a market, a shop sign, the question “what is this?”. Food is the most frequent subject of the first weeks and the safest excuse to start talking.
- kavacoffeeFeminine gender: ta kava je dobra — "this coffee is good".
- čajteač is "ch": chigh
- vodawaterIn Slovenian cafes tap water comes free if you ask for it.
- kruhbreadfinal h is sounded: krooh
- mlekomilkTake the ml- cluster straight on, no vowel in between: MLEH-koh.
- pivobeerBeer is measured in volume: veliko is the large half-liter, malo the small one. Two beers take the dual: dve pivi.
- vinowineSlovenia is a wine country: people ask for cviček or teran by name, not by color.
- hranafoodShort, stress on the first syllable; the verb hraniti means "to feed, to nourish".
- sircheeseSpelled like the English "sir" but said with a long "ee": seer. One of the easiest words in the course.
- mesomeatStress the second syllable: meh-SOH. One letter away from mesto, which is "city".
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “food and drink”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “to wash (hands, face)” in Slovenian?
Dishes take pomivati, hands umivati si roke, laundry prati — three verbs where one might do.
- How do you say “wine” in Slovenian?
Slovenia is a wine country: people ask for cviček or teran by name, not by color.
- How do you say “water” in Slovenian?
In Slovenian cafes tap water comes free if you ask for it.
- How do you say “meat” in Slovenian?
Stress the second syllable: meh-SOH. One letter away from mesto, which is "city".
- How do you say “beer” in Slovenian?
Beer is measured in volume: veliko is the large half-liter, malo the small one. Two beers take the dual: dve pivi.
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 wash (hands, face)” in Slovenian?
«umivati». In a live sentence: “Roke umivaj pred jedjo” — Wash your hands before eating. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Verb, level A1, from the set “food and drink”.
Why does this word look the way it does?
Dishes take pomivati, hands umivati si roke, laundry prati — three verbs where one might do. 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.