Lingoflytukaj
- tukajhere
“tukaj” — here in Slovenian. Adverb, level A1, topic — asking the way. J is "y": TOO-kigh. In a live sentence: “Tukaj je zelo mirno” — It is very quiet here. You can hear how it sounds right here. One of 18 words in the set “asking the way” in the Slovenian course.
In short
| Written in Slovenian | tukaj |
| Translation | here |
| Part of speech | adverb |
| Level | A1 |
How to pronounce it
j is "y": TOO-kigh
Why it looks that way
In speech it shrinks to tu: tu sem — I am here. And sem on its own means "to here", a direction already.
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.
Nearby words: asking the way
Right, left, straight on, how far. You ask the way rarely — and always at the moment when there is no time to work it out.
- kje je?where is?kje asks where, kam asks where to — Slovenian keeps the two strictly apart.
- tamthereThe partner of tukaj. Direction is a separate word: pojdi tja, "go over there". Place and direction are kept strictly apart.
- desnoto the rightFrom desnica, the right hand. On the spot is na desni, into motion is na desno.
- levoto the leftThe partner of desno. na levi is "on the left", na levo is "to the left" — place and direction again wear different shapes.
- naravnoststraight aheadLiterally "to evenness". "Straight" in the sense of correct is a different word: prav.
- blizucloseIt demands the "of what" form: blizu postaje, "near the station". Very close is čisto blizu.
- dalečfarč is "ch": DAH-lech
- kako pridem dohow do I get toLiterally "how do I come up to": the question is asked with a first-person verb, and do demands the "of what" form — do postaje.
- prispetito arrivepriti is simply to come; prispeti is to reach the destination, and where to is v/na with the object form.
- na drugi stranion the other sidestran is side and page; here the "where at" form na strani, while crossing the road is čez cesto.
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “asking the way”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “here” in Slovenian?
In speech it shrinks to tu: tu sem — I am here. And sem on its own means "to here", a direction already.
- How do you say “far” in Slovenian?
The comparative is irregular: dlje, "farther". kako daleč je? — "how far is it?"
- How do you say “to the right” in Slovenian?
From desnica, the right hand. On the spot is na desni, into motion is na desno.
- How do you say “on the other side” in Slovenian?
stran is side and page; here the "where at" form na strani, while crossing the road is čez cesto.
- How do you say “close” in Slovenian?
It demands the "of what" form: blizu postaje, "near the station". Very close is čisto blizu.
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 “here” in Slovenian?
«tukaj». J is "y": TOO-kigh. In a live sentence: “Tukaj je zelo mirno” — It is very quiet here. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Adverb, level A1, from the set “asking the way”.
Why does this word look the way it does?
In speech it shrinks to tu: tu sem — I am here. And sem on its own means "to here", a direction already. 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 this 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.