Lenguia | A1 Slovenian Grammar: 73 Topics & Examples

Every Slovene noun has one of three grammatical genders: masculine, feminine, or neuter. For most nouns you can guess the gender from the nominative (dictionary) ending. Masculine nouns usually end in a consonant (avto, fant, stol). Feminine nouns usually end in -a (hiša, miza, mama). Neuter nouns usually end in -o or -e (okno, mesto, polje). Gender is not about real-world sex — a table (miza) is feminine, a window (okno) is neuter. You must learn the gender because adjectives, the verb in the past, and pronouns all change to match it.

Key rule

Recognise gender from the nominative ending: consonant = masculine, -a = feminine, -o/-e = neuter, with a learnable set of exceptions.

Examples

To je nov avto.
To je nova avto.
Avto ends in a vowel but is masculine, so the adjective is nov, not nova.
To je velika hiša.
To je velik hiša.
Hiša ends in -a, so it is feminine and takes velika.
To je majhno okno.
To je majhna okno.
Okno ends in -o, so it is neuter and takes majhno.

Common mistakes

Treating -a nouns as feminine even when they are masculine
Moja oče dela.
Moj oče dela.
Oče ends in -e/-a but is masculine; the possessive must be moj, not moja. A handful of -a nouns are masculine and must be learned.
Croatian-style assumption that consonant-final = always masculine
To je dober noč.
To je dobra noč.
Noč ends in a consonant yet is feminine (i-declension). Consonant ending is a clue, not a rule; learn the feminine consonant nouns.

A1Agreement

Adjective–Noun Agreement — Nominative

ujemanje pridevnika – imenovalnik

A Slovene adjective changes its ending to match the noun it describes in gender and number. In the nominative singular the masculine form ends in a consonant (velik), the feminine in -a (velika), and the neuter in -o (veliko). So you say velik avto, velika hiša, veliko okno. The adjective comes before the noun, and it also matches when it stands after the verb biti: avto je velik, hiša je velika, okno je veliko. Getting the ending right is the most basic agreement skill in Slovene.

Key rule

In the nominative singular the adjective takes a consonant for masculine, -a for feminine, and -o/-e for neuter, matching its noun.

Examples

velik avto
velika avto
Avto is masculine, so the adjective is velik.
velika hiša
velik hiša
Hiša is feminine, so the adjective is velika.
veliko okno
velika okno
Okno is neuter, so the adjective is veliko.

Common mistakes

Using -a (feminine) on a neuter noun
To je velika okno.
To je veliko okno.
Neuter nouns in -o take the adjective ending -o, not -a. Learners confuse neuter with feminine because both differ from the bare masculine.
Leaving the masculine bare form before a feminine noun
Imam star miza.
Imam staro mizo.
Here the adjective must be feminine, and in the accusative object it is staro mizo; the bare star is masculine only.

A1Agreement

Adjective Agreement in the Dual

ujemanje pridevnika v dvojini

When you talk about exactly two of something, Slovene uses the dual, and the adjective takes special dual endings. Masculine: dva velika fanta (the adjective ends in -a, like the noun). Feminine: dve veliki mizi (the adjective ends in -i). Neuter: dve veliki okni (also -i). So the masculine adjective copies -a, while feminine and neuter share -i. The numeral itself is dva for masculine and dve for feminine and neuter. This is unique to Slovene: where English and most Slavic languages would use the plural, Slovene marks 'exactly two' on the numeral, the noun and the adjective together.

Key rule

In the dual nominative the adjective ends in -a for masculine (dva velika fanta) and in -i for feminine and neuter (dve veliki mizi, dve veliki okni).

Examples

dva velika fanta
dva veliki fanta
Masculine dual adjective ends in -a, not -i: velika.
dve veliki mizi
dve velike mize
Feminine dual is dve veliki mizi, not the plural velike mize.
dve veliki okni
dve velika okna
Neuter dual takes -i adjective and -i noun: veliki okni.

Common mistakes

Using the plural adjective for two
dve velike hiše
dve veliki hiši
For exactly two, Slovene requires the dual veliki hiši, not the plural velike hiše.
Giving the masculine dual adjective the -i ending
dva mlada -> dva mladi fanta
dva mlada fanta
The masculine dual adjective copies the -a ending of the noun (mlada), unlike the feminine/neuter -i.

A1Dual

biti in the Dual — sva/sta

glagol biti – dvojina

When the subject is exactly two people or things, the verb biti (to be) has its own dual forms: sva for 'the two of us', sta for 'the two of you' and 'the two of them'. So midva sva (we two are), vidva sta (you two are), onadva sta (they two are). This is your first dual on a verb. Note that the second and third person share the same form, sta. Slovene never drops the copula in the present, so you always say the form of biti, just as in the singular (sem, si, je) and plural (smo, ste, so).

Key rule

The dual present of biti is sva (1st), sta (2nd) and sta (3rd); the copula is always present and never dropped.

Examples

Midva sva študenta.
Midva smo študenta.
Two people take the dual sva, not the plural smo.
Vidva sta prijatelja.
Vidva ste prijatelja.
Second-person dual is sta, not the plural ste.
Onadva sta brata.
Onadva so brata.
Third-person dual is sta, not the plural so.

Common mistakes

Using the plural for two people
Midva smo doma.
Midva sva doma.
Exactly two requires the dual sva; smo is the plural for three or more.
Dropping the copula
Midva utrujena.
Midva sva utrujena.
Slovene keeps biti in the present; the verb sva cannot be omitted.

A1Dual

dva / dve + Noun (dual numeral)

števnik dva/dve + samostalnik

The number 'two' has two forms in Slovene: dva for masculine nouns and dve for feminine and neuter nouns. After it the noun goes into the dual, not the plural. So you say dva fanta (two boys), dve hiši (two houses), dve jabolki (two apples). The masculine dual noun ends in -a, the feminine in -i, and the neuter in -i. This is different from English, which just adds -s, and from many Slavic languages, which would use the plural. In Slovene 'exactly two' triggers the whole dual machinery, starting with the numeral.

Key rule

Use dva for masculine and dve for feminine and neuter nouns, and put the counted noun in the dual (masc -a, fem/neut -i).

Examples

dva fanta
dve fanta
Fant is masculine, so the numeral is dva.
dve hiši
dva hiši
Hiša is feminine, so the numeral is dve.
dve jabolki
dve jabolka
Neuter jabolko takes dve plus the dual -i: jabolki, not the plural jabolka.

Common mistakes

Using dva for a feminine noun
dva hiši
dve hiši
Feminine and neuter nouns take dve; dva is masculine only.
Putting the noun in the plural after dva/dve
dve hiše
dve hiši
Exactly two triggers the dual hiši, not the plural hiše.

A1Dual

Present Dual Verbs (-va / -ta)

sedanjik – dvojina

When exactly two people do something, the present-tense verb takes dual endings: -va for 'we two' and -ta for 'you two' and 'they two'. So midva delava (we two work), vidva delata (you two work), onadva delata (they two work). The ending attaches to the same stem as the plural, just with -va/-ta instead of -mo/-te/-jo. Like with biti, the second and third person dual share one form (-ta). These endings work across all conjugation classes: delava/delata (a-class), govoriva/govorita (i-class), pijeva/pijeta (e-class).

Key rule

The present dual endings are -va (1st), -ta (2nd) and -ta (3rd), attached to the same stem as the plural across all conjugation classes.

Examples

Midva delava.
Midva delamo.
Two people take the dual delava, not the plural delamo.
Vidva govorita slovensko.
Vidva govorite slovensko.
Second-person dual is govorita, not the plural govorite.
Onadva pijeta kavo.
Onadva pijejo kavo.
Third-person dual is pijeta, not the plural pijejo.

Common mistakes

Using the plural verb for two people
Midva delamo.
Midva delava.
Exactly two requires the dual -va; delamo is the plural for three or more.
Confusing 2nd/3rd dual with the plural
Onadva govorite.
Onadva govorita.
The dual ending is -ta (govorita); govorite is the plural.

A1Dual

Dual Noun Endings — Nominative (basic)

dvojina samostalnikov – imenovalnik

When you talk about exactly two of a thing, the noun takes a dual ending in the nominative. Masculine nouns add -a: fant → dva fanta, avto → dva avta. Feminine nouns add -i: miza → dve mizi, hiša → dve hiši. Neuter nouns add -i: okno → dve okni, mesto → dve mesti. Notice that the masculine dual -a happens to look like a feminine singular, and the feminine and neuter duals look the same (-i), so you tell them apart by the numeral dva or dve and by the noun's base gender. This is the core noun half of the dual.

Key rule

In the nominative dual a masculine noun ends in -a, a feminine noun in -i, and a neuter noun in -i.

Examples

dva fanta
dva fantje
The masculine dual is fanta (-a); fantje is the plural.
dve mizi
dve mize
The feminine dual is mizi (-i); mize is the plural.
dve okni
dve okna
The neuter dual is okni (-i); okna is the plural.

Common mistakes

Using the masculine plural for two
dva fantje
dva fanta
The masculine dual ends in -a (fanta); fantje is the nominative plural.
Using the feminine plural for two
dve mize
dve mizi
The feminine dual is mizi; mize is the plural for three or more.

A1Dual

Dual Personal Pronouns (midva, vidva, onadva)

osebni zaimki – dvojina

Slovene has special subject pronouns for exactly two people. 'We two' is midva (masculine or mixed) or midve (two females). 'You two' is vidva (masculine/mixed) or vidve (two females). 'They two' is onadva (two males/mixed), onidve (two females), and a rare onedve. So a man and a woman together say midva, two women say midve. These pronouns are often dropped because the dual verb ending already shows 'two', but you use them to make the subject clear or for emphasis. They are the pronoun half of the dual, matching the dual verb (midva sva, vidva sta).

Key rule

Use midva/midve for 'we two', vidva/vidve for 'you two', and onadva/onidve for 'they two', choosing -dva for masculine/mixed and -dve for two females.

Examples

Midva greva v kino.
Mi greva v kino.
For two people the dual pronoun is midva, not the plural mi.
Midve sva sestri.
Midva sva sestri.
Two females use midve, not midva.
Vidva sta prijatelja.
Vi sta prijatelja.
Two people 'you' is vidva, not the plural vi.

Common mistakes

Using a plural pronoun for two
Mi greva v kino.
Midva greva v kino.
Exactly two requires the dual midva; mi is the plural for three or more, even though the verb is correctly dual.
Ignoring gender (midva for two women)
Midva sva sestri.
Midve sva sestri.
Two females take midve; midva is masculine or mixed.

A1Dual

Dual Possessives (najin, vajin, njun)

svojilni zaimki – dvojina

When something belongs to exactly two owners, Slovene uses special dual possessives: najin means 'belonging to us two', vajin 'belonging to you two', and njun 'belonging to them two'. These behave like adjectives, so they agree with the thing owned, not with the owners: najin avto (our-two car), najina hiša (our-two house), najino okno (our-two window). So you change the ending to match the gender of the possessed noun, exactly as with an ordinary adjective. They are the dual counterparts of plural naš (our), vaš (your), njihov (their).

Key rule

Two owners use najin (us two), vajin (you two) and njun (them two); these agree like adjectives with the possessed noun, not with the owners.

Examples

najin avto
naš avto (o dveh lastnikih)
Two owners take the dual najin; naš is the plural for three or more.
najina hiša
najin hiša
The possessive agrees with the feminine noun: najina.
najino okno
najina okno
Neuter okno takes najino, agreeing with the noun's gender.

Common mistakes

Using the plural possessive for two owners
naš avto (o dveh)
najin avto
Two owners take the dual najin; naš is for three or more.
Not agreeing the possessive with the possessed noun
najin hiša
najina hiša
Najin agrees like an adjective; a feminine noun needs najina.

A1Cases

The Six-Case System — Overview

pregled šestih sklonov

Slovene marks the role of a noun by changing its ending, not by word order alone. There are six cases: imenovalnik (nominative, the subject), rodilnik (genitive, possession and absence), dajalnik (dative, the recipient), tožilnik (accusative, the direct object), mestnik (locative, place — always with a preposition), and orodnik (instrumental, the means or company). Unlike Croatian and Serbian, Slovene has NO vocative: you call someone with the plain nominative (Ivan!, mama!). Each case answers a question word, so learning the question (kdo? kaj? koga? komu?) is the fastest way to pick the right ending.

Key rule

Slovene has six cases (nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, locative, instrumental) and no vocative — address uses the nominative; each case answers its own question word.

Examples

Imenovalnik je osnovna oblika: pes spi.
Imenovalnik je osnovna oblika: psa spi.
The subject (the one doing the action) stands in the nominative — pes, not the genitive psa.
Slovenščina ima šest sklonov in nima zvalnika.
Slovenščina ima šest sklonov in zvalnik.
Slovene has no vocative; address is done with the nominative, unlike Croatian/Serbian.
Maja, pridi sem!
Majo, pridi sem!
Direct address uses the nominative Maja, never a special vocative form.

Common mistakes

Using a Croatian/Serbian-style vocative for address
Ivane, kje si?
Ivan, kje si?
Slovene has no vocative; the nominative Ivan is used for calling and addressing someone.
Confusing the genitive and dative question words
Komu kruha ni? Komu časa ni?
Česa ni? Kruha ni, časa ni.
Absence/negated existence is genitive (česa? kruha, časa), not dative (komu?).

A1Cases

Nominative Case — Subject & Citation

imenovalnik – osebek

The imenovalnik (nominative) is the base, dictionary form of a noun and the case of the subject — the person or thing doing the action. It answers the questions kdo? (who?) for people and animals and kaj? (what?) for things. It is also the form you use to name something and to address someone, because Slovene has no vocative (Maja!, mama!). After the linking verb biti, the predicate noun also stays in the nominative: To je hiša. Moj brat je študent. When you look a noun up in the dictionary, you see its nominative singular.

Key rule

The nominative is the dictionary form and the case of the subject (and of predicate nouns after biti); it answers kdo?/kaj? and also serves for address, since Slovene has no vocative.

Examples

Brat dela v tovarni.
Brata dela v tovarni.
The subject of dela is the nominative brat; brata would be genitive or accusative.
To je hiša.
To je hišo.
A predicate noun after biti stays in the nominative — hiša, not the accusative hišo.
Kdo govori? Učiteljica govori.
Koga govori? Učiteljico govori.
The subject question is kdo? and the answer is the nominative učiteljica.

Common mistakes

Putting the subject in an oblique case
Učiteljico razlaga novo snov.
Učiteljica razlaga novo snov.
The doer of the action must be nominative (učiteljica), not accusative (učiteljico).
Inflecting the predicate noun after biti
Moja sestra je zdravnico.
Moja sestra je zdravnica.
A predicate noun after the copula biti stays in the nominative.

A1Cases

No Articles (definiteness from context)

slovenščina brez členov

Standard Slovene has no articles — neither 'a/an' nor 'the'. A bare noun like hiša can mean 'a house' or 'the house' depending on context. Slovene shows definiteness in other ways: from the situation, from word order (known information tends to come first), and grammatically through the definite vs indefinite adjective (nov avto 'a new car' vs novi avto 'the new car'). In casual speech people sometimes add ta (ta velik), but in writing and standard speech you simply leave the noun bare and let context decide.

Key rule

Slovene has no articles; a bare noun is both 'a' and 'the', and definiteness is shown by context, word order, and the definite vs indefinite adjective (nov avto vs novi avto).

Examples

Na mizi je knjiga.
Na mizi je ena knjiga. (mišljeno: 'a book')
Slovene needs no article; ena would mean the number 'one', not the English article 'a'.
Hišo sem že videl.
Tu hišo sem že videl. (mišljeno: 'the house')
There is no word for 'the'; definiteness comes from context (already mentioned).
Kupil sem nov avto.
Kupil sem en nov avto.
'A new car' needs no article; the indefinite adjective nov already carries the indefinite reading.

Common mistakes

Using ena/en as an English-style indefinite article
Imam eno vprašanje. (mišljeno: 'a question')
Imam vprašanje.
Ena/en means the number 'one'; for a plain 'a/an' use the bare noun.
Inserting ta as a translation of 'the' in writing
Ta knjiga je na mizi. (mišljeno splošno: 'the book')
Knjiga je na mizi.
Ta is a demonstrative ('this'), not an article; standard Slovene leaves the noun bare.

A1Cases

Singular Case Endings — Overview by Gender

sklanjatve ednine – pregled

Before drilling each case, it helps to see the singular endings at a glance. Most masculine nouns end in a consonant (brat, dom) and take -a in the genitive, -u in the dative, the accusative equal to the nominative for things or to the genitive for living beings, -u in the locative and -om in the instrumental. Most feminine nouns end in -a (hiša) with genitive -e, dative/locative -i, accusative -o and instrumental -o. Neuter nouns end in -o/-e (mesto) with genitive -a, dative -u, accusative like the nominative, locative -u and instrumental -om. Learn this grid as a map, then study one case at a time.

Key rule

Singular endings cluster by gender: masc -∅/-a/-u/(=nom or gen)/-u/-om, fem-a -a/-e/-i/-o/-i/-o, neut -o/-a/-u/(=nom)/-u/-om — learn the grid before drilling cases.

Examples

rodilnik: brata, hiše, mesta
rodilnik: brate, hišo, mesto
Genitive singular is masc -a (brata), fem -e (hiše), neut -a (mesta).
dajalnik: bratu, hiši, mestu
dajalnik: brata, hišu, mesta
Dative singular is masc -u, fem -i, neut -u.
tožilnik: dom (neživo), brata (živo), hišo, mesto
tožilnik: doma, brat, hiša, mesta
Accusative = nominative for inanimates/neuters; for masculine animates it equals the genitive (brata).

Common mistakes

Giving feminine nouns the masculine genitive -a
Nimam hiša.
Nimam hiše.
Feminine -a nouns form the genitive in -e (hiše), not -a.
Using -o accusative on a masculine animate
Vidim brato.
Vidim brata.
Masculine animates take the accusative = genitive (brata); -o is the feminine accusative.

A1Cases

Accusative Case — Direct Object (basic)

tožilnik – osnovno

The tožilnik (accusative) marks the direct object — the thing directly affected by the verb. It answers koga? (whom?) for living beings and kaj? (what?) for things. The most visible change is on feminine -a nouns, which switch -a to -o: vidim mizo, pijem kavo, berem knjigo. Masculine inanimate nouns and neuter nouns look the same as the nominative (vidim dom, vidim mesto). Masculine living beings are special — their accusative equals the genitive (vidim brata, vidim psa), but that animacy rule is treated in its own tag. Here, focus on the basic feminine -o ending.

Key rule

The accusative marks the direct object (koga?/kaj?); feminine -a nouns change -a to -o (vidim mizo), masculine inanimates and neuters look like the nominative, and masculine animates equal the genitive.

Examples

Vidim mizo.
Vidim miza.
A feminine -a noun changes to -o in the accusative: miza → mizo.
Pijem kavo.
Pijem kava.
The direct object of pijem takes the accusative -o: kava → kavo.
Berem knjigo.
Berem knjiga.
Feminine knjiga becomes knjigo as the object of berem.

Common mistakes

Leaving the feminine object in -a
Pijem kava.
Pijem kavo.
Feminine -a objects must change to -o in the accusative.
Failing to make the adjective agree with the feminine object
Berem dobra knjigo.
Berem dobro knjigo.
The adjective agrees with the noun, so it also takes the feminine accusative -o.

A1Cases

Genitive for Possession

rodilnik za svojino

Slovene has no word like English 'of' and no apostrophe-s. To say whose something is, you put the POSSESSOR into the genitive case and place it after the thing owned: knjiga sestre means 'sister's book' (literally 'book of-the-sister'). The owned thing keeps the case its own role in the sentence requires; only the owner moves to the genitive. Masculine and neuter owners usually end in -a (avto očeta, streha mesta) and feminine owners in -e (torba mame). Word order is normally owned-thing first, owner-in-genitive second.

Key rule

Put the possessor in the genitive and place it after the thing owned: knjiga sestre, avto očeta.

Examples

To je knjiga moje sestre.
To je knjiga moja sestra.
The owner (sestra) and its adjective (moja) must be genitive: moje sestre, not nominative moja sestra.
Avto očeta je zelo star.
Avto oče je zelo star.
The masculine owner oče takes the genitive -a: očeta. Nominative oče cannot mark possession.
Vidim torbo mame.
Vidim torbo od mame.
Slovene uses the bare genitive (mame). A Croatian-style 'od mame' for plain possession is non-standard here.

Common mistakes

Leaving the possessor in the nominative
To je avto brat.
To je avto brata.
The owner must be in the genitive (brata), not the nominative (brat).
Adding 'od' for plain possession (Croatian/Serbian interference)
knjiga od sestre
knjiga sestre
Standard Slovene marks possession with the bare genitive; 'od' here is non-standard and feels colloquial/foreign.

A1Cases

Case Questions (kdo / kaj per case)

vprašalnice po sklonih

Each Slovene case answers a specific question word. For people Slovene uses the kdo-series, for things the kaj-series. Nominative: kdo? / kaj? (who/what is doing it). Genitive: koga? / česa? (of whom/what). Dative: komu? / čemu? (to whom/what). Accusative: koga? / kaj? (whom/what — the object). These question words are your fastest tool for finding the right case: ask the question, see which form answers it, and use the matching noun ending. The locative and instrumental questions add a preposition (o kom? s čim?).

Key rule

Match the case to its question word: nom kdo/kaj, gen koga/česa, dat komu/čemu, acc koga/kaj, loc o kom/o čem, ins s kom/s čim.

Examples

Kdo dela na vrtu? Oče.
Tko dela na vrtu? Oče.
Slovene 'who' is kdo, not the Croatian tko. The answer is the nominative subject.
Česa ni v hladilniku? Mleka.
Kaj ni v hladilniku? Mleko.
Negated existence asks česa? and answers with the genitive (mleka).
Komu pišeš pismo? Mami.
Koga pišeš pismo? Mama.
The recipient is the dative; its question is komu?, and the answer is mami.

Common mistakes

Using Croatian 'tko' for 'who'
Tko je to?
Kdo je to?
Slovene 'who' is kdo; tko is Croatian/Serbian.
Asking kaj? where negated existence needs česa?
Kaj ni doma? Oče.
Koga ni doma? Očeta.
Negated presence of a person asks koga? and answers with the genitive (očeta).

A1Cases

Accusative + Masculine Animacy (acc = gen)

tožilnik in podspol živosti

Slovene masculine nouns split by 'animacy'. The accusative (direct object) of an ANIMATE masculine — a person or animal — looks exactly like the genitive, ending in -a: Vidim brata, Vidim psa. The accusative of an INANIMATE masculine — a thing — looks like the nominative, with no ending change: Vidim avto, Vidim kruh. Feminine and neuter nouns are not affected by animacy in the singular. So before forming a masculine object, ask: is it alive? If yes, use the -a (genitive-like) form; if no, leave it as the nominative.

Key rule

Animate masculine accusative = genitive (-a): Vidim brata; inanimate masculine accusative = nominative: Vidim avto.

Examples

Vidim brata.
Vidim brat.
Brat is an animate masculine, so its accusative equals the genitive: brata.
Vidim avto.
Vidim avta.
Avto is an inanimate masculine, so its accusative equals the nominative: avto.
Poznam učitelja.
Poznam učitelj.
Učitelj denotes a person (animate), so the accusative is učitelja.

Common mistakes

Leaving an animate masculine object in the nominative
Vidim brat.
Vidim brata.
Animate masculines take the genitive-like -a in the accusative.
Adding -a to an inanimate masculine object
Kupujem kruha.
Kupujem kruh.
Inanimate masculines keep the nominative shape in the accusative.

A1Cases

Genitive Case — Introduction & Formation

rodilnik – uvod in tvorba

The genitive (rodilnik) is the second of Slovene's six cases. It answers koga? (of whom) for people and česa? (of what) for things. In the singular its endings are: masculine and neuter -a (brat → brata, mesto → mesta), feminine -e (mama → mame, hiša → hiše). The genitive is the workhorse case: it shows possession, follows quantity words and many prepositions (od, do, iz, brez), and is obligatory after negation of existence (ni denarja). Learn the three endings (-a, -a, -e) and the question koga/česa first.

Key rule

Genitive singular endings are -a (m), -a (n), -e (f); it answers koga?/česa? and is obligatory after negated existence (ni denarja).

Examples

Ni denarja.
Ni denar.
Negated existence requires the genitive: denarja, not the nominative denar.
To je knjiga sestre.
To je knjiga sestra.
Possession puts the feminine owner into the genitive sestre.
Pijem kozarec vode.
Pijem kozarec voda.
After a quantity word the noun goes genitive: vode (feminine -e).

Common mistakes

Keeping the nominative after negated existence
Ni denar.
Ni denarja.
The genitive of negation is obligatory: ni + genitive (denarja).
Using the masculine -a on a feminine noun
kozarec voda
kozarec vode
Feminine genitive singular is -e: vode.

A1Cases

Dative Case — Introduction & Recipient

dajalnik – uvod in prejemnik

The dative (dajalnik) is the case of the recipient — the person you give, send, write, say or show something to. It answers komu? (to whom) and čemu? (to what). Its singular endings are: masculine and neuter -u (brat → bratu, mesto → mestu), feminine -i (mama → mami, sestra → sestri). With verbs like dati, pisati, povedati, pomagati the recipient goes into the dative while the thing given stays accusative: Dam knjigo bratu ('I give the book to my brother'). No preposition is needed for the recipient — the dative ending does the work.

Key rule

The recipient goes in the dative (komu?): -u (m/n), -i (f), with no preposition — Dam knjigo bratu, Pišem mami.

Examples

Dam knjigo bratu.
Dam knjigo brat.
The recipient brat must be dative bratu; the gift knjigo stays accusative.
Pišem pismo mami.
Pišem pismo mama.
Feminine recipient mama → dative mami.
Pomagam sestri.
Pomagam sestro.
Pomagati governs the dative, so the object is sestri, not the accusative sestro.

Common mistakes

Leaving the recipient in the nominative
Dam knjigo brat.
Dam knjigo bratu.
The recipient must be dative: bratu.
Using the accusative after pomagati
Pomagam mamo.
Pomagam mami.
Pomagati governs the dative (mami), not the accusative.

A1Orthography

The Slovene Alphabet (25 letters; č š ž)

slovenska abeceda

The Slovene alphabet has 25 letters. It is the Latin (Gaj) alphabet with three special letters: č, š and ž. The order is a b c č d e f g h i j k l m n o p r s š t u v z ž. There is no special letter for the sound /j/ written as part of a vowel, and the letters q, w, x and y do NOT belong to native Slovene words — you only meet them in foreign names and symbols. Crucially, Slovene does NOT have the Croatian/Serbian letters ć or đ, and it never uses Cyrillic. Once you learn the three hatted letters and where they sit in the order, you can read and alphabetise any Slovene word.

Key rule

Slovene uses the 25-letter Latin (Gaj) alphabet whose only special letters are č, š and ž; there is no ć, no đ, no Cyrillic, and q/w/x/y occur only in foreign words.

Examples

Slovenska abeceda ima petindvajset črk.
Slovenska abeceda ima trideset črk.
The Slovene alphabet has exactly 25 letters, not thirty.
Posebne črke so č, š in ž.
Posebne črke so č, ć, š in ž.
Slovene has only č, š, ž; ć is a Croatian/Serbian letter and never appears in Slovene.
Črka č stoji v abecedi takoj za c.
Črka č stoji v abecedi na koncu, za ž.
č is sorted immediately after c, just as š follows s and ž follows z.

Common mistakes

Adding the Croatian/Serbian letter ć to the alphabet
Slovenska abeceda ima črke č, ć, š, ž.
Slovenska abeceda ima črke č, š, ž.
Slovene has no ć; only č, š and ž carry a diacritic.
Using đ instead of the digraph dž
Pijem sok iz đezve.
Pijem sok iz džezve.
The sound /dʒ/ in loanwords is written dž; the single letter đ is Croatian/Serbian.

A1Orthography

The Letters č, š, ž — Sound & Spelling

črke č, š, ž

Three Slovene letters wear a háček (strešica): č, š and ž. Each is a single letter for a single sound: č sounds like English 'ch' in church, š like 'sh' in ship, and ž like the 's' in pleasure (or French 'j'). You write one letter, never a two-letter combination like 'ch' or 'sh'. Slovene does NOT have the Croatian/Serbian soft 'ć' or the crossed 'đ' — there is only č, š, ž. These letters appear in everyday words: čaj (tea), šola (school), žena (woman/wife). Getting them right is essential, because č/c, š/s and ž/z are different letters that change the meaning of a word.

Key rule

Č = 'ch', š = 'sh', ž = 'zh/pleasure'; each is a single letter (never a two-letter combination), and Slovene has none of the Croatian/Serbian ć or đ.

Examples

Pijem čaj in jem juho.
Pijem chaj in jem juho.
The 'ch' sound is written with the single letter č, not the English digraph 'ch'.
Otroci hodijo v šolo.
Otroci hodijo v sholo.
The 'sh' sound is the single letter š, never 'sh'.
Moja žena kuha kosilo.
Moja zena kuha kosilo.
Žena needs ž; plain z gives a non-word.

Common mistakes

Writing English digraphs for the hatted sounds
Grem v sholo na chaj.
Grem v šolo na čaj.
Slovene writes /ʃ/ and /tʃ/ as single letters š and č, not 'sh' and 'ch'.
Dropping the háček and using the plain letter
Moja zena pije caj.
Moja žena pije čaj.
ž and č are distinct letters from z and c; without the háček the words are wrong.

A1Orthography

The Soft Digraphs lj, nj

mehka soglasnika lj, nj

Slovene writes two soft consonants with two-letter combinations: lj and nj. lj is a soft 'l' (like 'lli' in million) and nj is a soft 'n' (like 'ñ' in Spanish or 'ni' in onion). They appear in many common words: ključ (key), ljubezen (love), konj (horse), njiva (field). Unlike some other Slavic languages, Slovene has no single letter for these sounds — you always write two letters, l+j and n+j. In careful Slovene speech the softness is gentle and sometimes barely audible, but in writing you must keep both letters. They count as one consonant for spelling and stay together inside a word.

Key rule

Soft /ʎ/ and /ɲ/ are always written as the two-letter digraphs lj and nj — keep both letters in spelling even when the softness is barely audible in speech.

Examples

Kje je ključ od vrat?
Kje je kluč od vrat?
The soft 'l' is written lj; without the j the spelling is wrong.
Na travniku stoji konj.
Na travniku stoji kon.
Konj (horse) keeps the nj digraph; kon is not a word.
Berem zanimivo knjigo.
Berem zanimivo knigo.
Knjiga (book) is written with nj.

Common mistakes

Dropping the j from the soft digraph
Imam nov kluč.
Imam nov ključ.
The soft 'l' is spelled lj; the j must stay even if barely heard.
Writing plain n for the soft n
Pred hišo je velik kon.
Pred hišo je velik konj.
Konj (horse) keeps the nj digraph throughout its forms.

A1Orthography

Capitalization (lower-case days, months, adjectives)

raba velike začetnice

Slovene uses far fewer capital letters than English. You write a capital letter only at the start of a sentence and for proper names — people (Maja, Novak), cities and countries (Ljubljana, Slovenija). Everything else stays lower-case: days of the week (ponedeljek, torek), months (januar, februar), names of languages (slovenščina, angleščina) and adjectives made from place names or nationalities (slovenski, angleški). So you write 'Govorim slovensko' with a small s, and 'V ponedeljek grem v Ljubljano' with a small p but capital L. This is one of the easiest Slovene rules to get wrong if your first language capitalises days, months and languages.

Key rule

Capitalise only sentence starts and proper nouns (names, places); keep days, months, language names and place/nationality adjectives lower-case.

Examples

V ponedeljek grem v Ljubljano.
V Ponedeljek grem v ljubljano.
Days are lower-case (ponedeljek); city names are capitalised (Ljubljana).
Govorim slovensko in se učim angleško.
Govorim Slovensko in se učim Angleško.
Language names and language adverbs are lower-case in Slovene.
Rojen sem decembra.
Rojen sem Decembra.
Months are written with a small letter (december).

Common mistakes

Capitalising days of the week (English habit)
Vidimo se v Petek.
Vidimo se v petek.
Slovene writes days of the week with a small letter.
Capitalising months
Dopust imam v Juliju.
Dopust imam v juliju.
Month names are lower-case in Slovene.

A1Orthography

The Schwa Written e (pes / psa)

polglasnik, zapisan z e

Slovene has a short, neutral vowel called the schwa (polglasnik), the 'uh' sound in English 'sofa'. It is written with the letter e, the same letter as the full vowel. Often this schwa is 'moveable': it appears in the basic form but disappears when an ending is added. The classic example is pes (dog), where the e is a schwa; when you add a case ending, the schwa drops: pes → psa (of the dog), psu, psa. Other examples: pevec → pevca (singer), megla stays but oče is different. At A1 you only need to NOTICE this: the e in some short words is a quiet schwa that may disappear in inflection. Listen and copy the patterns.

Key rule

The Slovene schwa /ə/ is written with the letter e and is often moveable — present in the bare form (pes) but dropped before a vowel ending (psa, psu).

Examples

Imam psa.
Imam pesa.
The schwa in pes drops in the accusative: pes → psa, not pesa.
To je hiša mojega psa.
To je hiša mojega pesa.
In the genitive the moveable schwa disappears: psa.
Pevec lepo poje; poslušam pevca.
Pevec lepo poje; poslušam peveca.
The schwa drops in the oblique form: pevec → pevca, not peveca.

Common mistakes

Keeping the schwa-e when the ending should drop it
Sprehajam pesa.
Sprehajam psa.
The moveable schwa in pes disappears before the ending: psa.
Inserting the schwa-e into the oblique stem
Glas pevca → glas peveca.
Glas pevca.
Pevec loses the schwa in inflection: pevca, not peveca.

A1Orthography

Word-final / pre-consonant l → /w/

izgovor črke l kot /w/

In Slovene the letter l is often pronounced like English 'w' (a /u/-like sound) at the end of a word or before another consonant. You still WRITE l, but you SAY /w/. The most important case is the past participle: delal 'worked' is pronounced 'delau', bral 'read' as 'brau'. The same happens in words like volk 'wolf' (sounds like 'vouk') and pol 'half' ('pou'). When a vowel follows, the l is a normal /l/: delala 'she worked' keeps the /l/ sound. At A1 the rule is simple: keep writing l everywhere, but be ready to pronounce it as /w/ at word end or before a consonant — this is very common in the past tense.

Key rule

Word-final and pre-consonant l is pronounced /w/ but always WRITTEN l (delal sounds like 'delau'); before a vowel it is a normal /l/.

Examples

Včeraj sem delal.
Včeraj sem delau.
The past participle is pronounced 'delau' but written delal with l.
Knjigo sem bral.
Knjigo sem brau.
Bral is said 'brau' but spelled with l.
Ona je delala ves dan.
Ona je delaa ves dan.
Before the vowel ending the l is a clear /l/: delala.

Common mistakes

Writing the participle the way it sounds (with u/w)
Včeraj sem delau in brau.
Včeraj sem delal in bral.
The /w/ sound is still written l in the masculine past participle.
Writing word-final l as u in nouns
V gozdu živi vouk.
V gozdu živi volk.
Volk keeps its written l even though it is pronounced /w/.

A1Register

Greetings (Dober dan, Živjo, Nasvidenje)

pozdravi

Slovene has neutral, formal and informal greetings. The all-purpose polite greeting is Dober dan (good day); in the morning you can say Dobro jutro, in the evening Dober večer. The neutral goodbye is Nasvidenje (until we see each other). With friends, family and young people you use the informal Živjo or Zdravo to say hi, and Adijo or Čav to say bye. There is also Lahko noč (good night) before sleeping. The key skill is matching the greeting to the situation: use Dober dan and Nasvidenje with strangers, older people and in shops; use Živjo and Adijo with friends. Greetings go with the ti/vi choice you make in the rest of the conversation.

Key rule

Use formal Dober dan / Nasvidenje with strangers and elders, and informal Živjo / Adijo with friends; any added name stays in the nominative.

Examples

Dober dan, gospod Novak!
Dober dan, gospod Novače!
The name stays nominative (Novak); Slovene has no vocative form.
Živjo, Maja, kako si?
Živjo, Majo, kako si?
Address uses the nominative Maja, not an oblique/vocative form.
Nasvidenje in lep dan!
Nasvidenja in lep dan!
The farewell is Nasvidenje, an invariable greeting word.

Common mistakes

Using a vocative-style address (Croatian/Serbian habit)
Dober dan, gospod Novače!
Dober dan, gospod Novak!
Slovene has no vocative; the name stays in the nominative.
Mismatching the gender in Dobro jutro
Dober jutro vsem!
Dobro jutro vsem!
Jutro is neuter, so the adjective is dobro.

A1Register

Politeness Words (prosim, hvala, oprostite)

vljudnostne besede

A few core courtesy words make your Slovene polite. Prosim means 'please' and also 'you're welcome' and 'pardon?' (when you did not hear). Hvala means 'thank you'; you can strengthen it to Najlepša hvala or Hvala lepa. To apologise or excuse yourself you say Oprostite (formal) or Oprosti (informal). Izvolite (formal) / Izvoli (informal) means 'here you are / go ahead', used when handing something over or inviting someone to act. The reply to hvala is Ni za kaj or Prosim ('don't mention it'). These words pair with the ti/vi choice: oprostite/izvolite are the vi-forms, oprosti/izvoli the ti-forms.

Key rule

prosim = please/you're welcome/pardon; hvala = thanks; oprostite/oprosti = excuse me; izvolite/izvoli = here you are — choose the vi- or ti-form to match your address.

Examples

Kavo, prosim.
Kavo, prosi.
The polite particle is prosim (1sg of prositi used as 'please'), not prosi.
Najlepša hvala za pomoč!
Najlepša hvale za pomoč!
Hvala stays in the nominative as a fixed thanks word.
Oprostite, kje je postaja?
Oprosti me, kje je postaja? (to a stranger)
To a stranger use the polite vi-form oprostite, without 'me'.

Common mistakes

Using the Croatian/Serbian reply to thanks
Hvala. — Nije za što.
Hvala. — Ni za kaj.
The Slovene 'don't mention it' is Ni za kaj; što is not a Slovene word.
Mixing the ti- and vi-form of the courtesy imperative
Oprosti, kje je postaja? (to a stranger)
Oprostite, kje je postaja?
Address strangers with the polite oprostite, not the informal oprosti.

A1Register

ti vs vi (informal vs formal address)

tikanje in vikanje

Slovene has two ways to say 'you' to one person: ti (informal) and vi (formal/polite). You use ti (tikanje) with family, friends, children and peers; you use vi (vikanje) with strangers, older people, officials and anyone you want to show respect to. With vi the verb takes the 2nd-person PLURAL form even for one person: Kako ste? 'How are you?' (polite) versus Kako si? (informal). Slovene has no vocative, so when you add a name or title you keep it in the nominative: Gospod Novak!, Maja! When unsure, start with vi — it is safer to be polite. Choosing ti or vi sets the tone of the whole conversation.

Key rule

Use ti (singular) with intimates and vi (2nd-person plural, even for one person) for politeness; any attached name stays in the nominative because Slovene has no vocative.

Examples

Gospod Novak, kako ste?
Gospod Novak, kako si?
A respectful address takes vi, so the verb is the plural ste, not the informal si.
Maja, kako si?
Maja, kako ste? (to a close friend)
With a friend you ti, so the verb is the singular si.
Gospa Kovač, ste že jedli?
Gospa Kovač, si že jedel?
Polite vi uses the plural participle jedli and the plural ste.

Common mistakes

Using the informal ti-verb with a respectful address
Gospod Novak, kako si?
Gospod Novak, kako ste?
Polite vikanje requires the 2nd-person plural ste, even for one person.
Putting an addressed name in a vocative-like form
Gospod Novače, kako ste?
Gospod Novak, kako ste?
Slovene has no vocative; the name stays in the nominative.

A1Prepositions

o + Locative (about)

predlog o + mestnik

The preposition o means 'about' and always takes the locative case (mestnik). You use it for the topic of speaking, thinking, writing or reading: govorim o filmu (I am talking about the film), mislim o tebi (I am thinking about you). The noun after o must change its ending: film → o filmu, knjiga → o knjigi, mesto → o mestu. Like every Slovene locative, o can never stand on its own — it lives only with a preposition. Remember that Slovene keeps the copula biti in the present, so a full sentence is To je knjiga o psu (This is a book about a dog).

Key rule

o always takes the locative (mestnik) and marks the topic of speaking/thinking: o filmu, o tebi.

Examples

Govorimo o filmu.
Govorimo o film.
o requires the locative; masculine film becomes o filmu, not the bare nominative.
Mislim o tebi.
Mislim o ti.
The pronoun must take the locative form o tebi, not the nominative ti.
Berem knjigo o Sloveniji.
Berem knjigo o Slovenija.
Feminine Slovenija takes locative -i: o Sloveniji.

Common mistakes

Leaving the noun in the nominative after o
Govorim o film.
Govorim o filmu.
o always governs the locative; the noun must take its locative ending (-u/-i).
Using the accusative instead of the locative
Mislim o sestro.
Mislim o sestri.
Mental-activity 'about' is locative, not accusative; sestra → o sestri.

A1Prepositions

za + Accusative (for)

predlog za + tožilnik

The preposition za with the accusative case (tožilnik) means 'for' — a beneficiary, a purpose, or something given in exchange. Darilo za mamo means 'a present for mum', and Plačam za kavo means 'I pay for the coffee'. The noun after za takes its accusative ending: mama → za mamo, kava → za kavo. Watch masculine animacy: for a living masculine being the accusative looks like the genitive, so 'for the friend' is za prijatelja. Pronouns become accusative too: za mene/zame, za tebe/zate, za njega, za njo. Keep the copula biti: To je darilo za očeta (This is a present for dad).

Key rule

za + accusative means 'for/in exchange for'; mind masculine animacy (za prijatelja) — za + instrumental instead means 'behind'.

Examples

Kupil sem darilo za mamo.
Kupil sem darilo za mama.
Feminine mama takes the accusative -o after za: za mamo.
To je darilo za prijatelja.
To je darilo za prijatel.
Animate masculine prijatelj has accusative = genitive: za prijatelja.
Plačam za kavo.
Plačam za kava.
za + accusative requires kava → za kavo.

Common mistakes

Leaving a feminine noun in the nominative after za
Darilo za mama.
Darilo za mamo.
za governs the accusative; feminine -a becomes -o (za mamo).
Ignoring masculine animacy
To je za pes.
To je za psa.
Animate masculine pes has accusative = genitive: za psa.

A1Prepositions

v / na — Accusative (motion) vs Locative (place)

predloga v / na – tožilnik in mestnik

v ('in/into') and na ('on/onto') are two-case prepositions. With motion — answering Kam? (Where to?) — they take the accusative: Grem v mesto (I go into town), Grem na pošto (I go to the post office). With location — answering Kje? (Where?) — they take the locative: Sem v mestu (I am in town), Sem na pošti (I am at the post office). So the same preposition changes the noun's ending depending on whether you move or stay. v is used for enclosed spaces and countries (v Slovenijo / v Sloveniji), na for surfaces, open places, events and some institutions (na mizo / na mizi).

Key rule

v/na + accusative for motion (Kam? Grem v mesto); v/na + locative for location (Kje? Sem v mestu).

Examples

Grem v mesto.
Grem v mestu.
Motion (Kam?) needs the accusative v mesto, not the locative.
Sem v mestu.
Sem v mesto.
Location (Kje?) needs the locative v mestu, not the accusative.
Knjigo dam na mizo.
Knjigo dam na mizi.
Putting the book onto the table is motion → accusative na mizo.

Common mistakes

Using the locative for motion
Grem v mestu.
Grem v mesto.
Direction answers Kam? and takes the accusative.
Using the accusative for static location
Sem v mesto.
Sem v mestu.
Location answers Kje? and takes the locative.

A1Prepositions

z / s + Instrumental (with)

predloga z / s + orodnik

z and s are the same preposition meaning 'with' — accompaniment (s prijateljem = with a friend) or means/instrument (z avtom = by car). They take the instrumental case (orodnik). The spelling depends on the next sound: write z before a vowel or a voiced consonant (z avtom, z mamo, z gobo) and s before a voiceless consonant (s prijateljem, s sestro, s tabo). The instrumental ending is usually -om for masculine/neuter (z avtom, z mestom) and -o for feminine (z mamo). Note that 'without' is brez + genitive, not the instrumental. Keep biti present: Sem s prijateljem (I am with a friend).

Key rule

z (before voiced/vowel) and s (before voiceless) both mean 'with' and take the instrumental: z avtom, s prijateljem.

Examples

Grem s prijateljem.
Grem z prijateljem.
prijatelj starts with voiceless p, so the form is s, not z.
Potujem z avtom.
Potujem s avtom.
avto starts with a vowel, so the form is z; instrumental avtom.
Pijem kavo z mamo.
Pijem kavo z mama.
z governs the instrumental; feminine mama becomes z mamo.

Common mistakes

Wrong z/s choice for the following sound
Grem z prijateljem.
Grem s prijateljem.
Before voiceless p the form is s, not z.
Leaving the noun in the nominative after z/s
Pijem kavo z mama.
Pijem kavo z mamo.
z/s governs the instrumental; feminine mama becomes mamo.

A1Prepositions

od / do / iz + Genitive (from / to / out of)

predlogi od / do / iz + rodilnik

od ('from'), do ('to/until') and iz ('out of, from inside') all take the genitive case (rodilnik). od marks the starting point (od hiše = from the house), do marks the goal or limit (do mesta = to the city, do petih = until five), and iz marks coming out of an enclosed space (iz šole = out of school, iz Slovenije = from Slovenia). The genitive ending is usually -a for masculine/neuter (od doma → od doma, do mesta) and -e for feminine -a nouns (od hiše, iz šole). These three appear together a lot: Od doma do šole hodim peš (I walk from home to school). Keep biti present where needed.

Key rule

od (from), do (to/until) and iz (out of) all take the genitive: od hiše, do mesta, iz šole.

Examples

Prihajam iz šole.
Prihajam iz šolo.
iz governs the genitive; feminine šola becomes iz šole, not the accusative šolo.
Hodim od doma do službe.
Hodim od dom do služba.
Both od and do take the genitive: od doma, do službe.
Vlak pelje do Ljubljane.
Vlak pelje do Ljubljano.
do requires the genitive Ljubljane, not the accusative Ljubljano.

Common mistakes

Using the accusative after iz
Prihajam iz šolo.
Prihajam iz šole.
iz governs the genitive; feminine šola → šole.
Leaving a masculine noun unchanged after od/do
Hodim od dom do mesto.
Hodim od doma do mesta.
Both prepositions take the genitive -a: od doma, do mesta.

A1Prepositions

k / h + Dative (towards a person/place)

predloga k / h + dajalnik

k means 'to/towards' (a person or place) and takes the dative case (dajalnik): grem k zdravniku (I go to the doctor), grem k mami (I go to mum). Before words beginning with k or g it is vocalised to h to make it easier to say: h kosilu (to lunch), h gospodu (to the gentleman). The dative ending is usually -u for masculine/neuter (k zdravniku, k oknu) and -i for feminine -a nouns (k mami, k sestri). Use k/h for going toward someone's place or person; for entering an enclosed space you use v + accusative instead. Pronouns: k meni, k tebi, k njemu, k njej.

Key rule

k + dative means 'to/towards (a person/place)'; it becomes h before k or g: k mami, h kosilu.

Examples

Grem k zdravniku.
Grem k zdravnik.
k governs the dative; masculine zdravnik becomes k zdravniku.
Pridi h kosilu!
Pridi k kosilu!
Before k- the preposition vocalises to h: h kosilu.
Grem k mami.
Grem k mama.
Feminine mama takes the dative -i: k mami.

Common mistakes

Leaving the noun in the nominative after k
Grem k zdravnik.
Grem k zdravniku.
k governs the dative; masculine adds -u (k zdravniku).
Not vocalising k to h before k/g
Pridi k kosilu.
Pridi h kosilu.
Before k- or g- the preposition becomes h for ease of pronunciation.

A1Clitics

Second-Position Clitics — Introduction

naslonke na drugem mestu – uvod

Slovene has unstressed little words called clitics (naslonke): the reflexive se/si, the present forms of biti (sem, si, je, smo, ste, so), and the short pronouns me, te, ga, jo. They cannot stand alone or be stressed, and they like the second position in the clause — right after the first stressed word. So you say Janez se smeji (Janez laughs), Učim se slovensko (I learn Slovene), Vidim ga (I see him). At A1 you just need to notice them and keep them in second slot, not first: never start a sentence with se, ga or je. Their full ordering inside a cluster comes later.

Key rule

Unstressed clitics (se/si, sem/si/je…, me/te/ga/jo) sit in second position and never start a clause.

Examples

Janez se uči.
Janez uči se.
The clitic se goes to second position, right after the first word Janez.
Učim se slovensko.
Se učim slovensko.
A clitic cannot open a clause; front the verb so se sits in second position.
Vidim ga.
Ga vidim.
The clitic ga cannot be clause-initial; it follows the first word vidim.

Common mistakes

Putting the clitic after the verb instead of second position
Janez uči se.
Janez se uči.
Clitics seek the second slot, right after the first stressed word.
Starting a clause with a clitic
Se učim slovensko.
Učim se slovensko.
A clitic cannot be clause-initial; front a stressed word so the clitic is second.

A1Pronouns

Personal Pronouns — Nominative (sg/pl)

osebni zaimki – imenovalnik

Slovene subject pronouns are jaz (I), ti (you, informal), on/ona/ono (he/she/it) in the singular, and mi (we), vi (you, plural or formal), oni/one/ona (they) in the plural. Because the verb ending already shows who acts, the pronoun is usually dropped: "Delam." already means "I work." You add the pronoun only for emphasis or contrast ("Jaz delam, ti pa spiš."). Note that ono (neuter "it") is rare in speech and that vi doubles as the polite singular form for one person you address formally.

Key rule

Slovene subject pronouns (jaz, ti, on/ona/ono, mi, vi, oni/one) are usually dropped because the verb ending shows the subject; add them only for emphasis or contrast.

Examples

Berem zanimivo knjigo.
Jaz berem jaz zanimivo knjigo.
The verb ending -m already means "I", so the pronoun is normally dropped; repeating jaz is wrong.
Jaz delam, ti pa počivaš.
Delam, počivaš.
When you contrast two subjects, you keep both pronouns (jaz … ti) to make the contrast clear.
Ona je učiteljica, on je zdravnik.
Ono je učiteljica, ono je zdravnik.
Use ona for a woman and on for a man; ono (neuter "it") is not used for people.

Common mistakes

Inserting a subject pronoun in every clause (English influence)
Jaz hodim v šolo in jaz se učim slovensko.
Hodim v šolo in se učim slovensko.
Slovene is pro-drop; the verb ending carries the subject, so jaz is dropped unless it is emphatic.
Using a neuter pronoun for a person
Kje je Maja? Ono je zunaj.
Kje je Maja? Ona je zunaj.
People are masculine or feminine; ona refers to a woman, while ono is reserved for neuter things.

A1Pronouns

Interrogatives kdo (who) vs kaj (what)

vprašalna zaimka kdo / kaj

Slovene asks about people with kdo (who) and about things with kaj (what). Kdo expects a person as the answer ("Kdo je to? Moj brat."), while kaj expects an object or idea ("Kaj je to? Knjiga."). Slovene uses kdo and kaj — not the Croatian/Serbian tko/ko or što/šta. Both words decline: kdo becomes koga (genitive/accusative), komu (dative); kaj becomes česa (genitive), čemu (dative). At A1 you mainly need the nominative kdo and kaj plus the accusative koga ("Koga vidiš?").

Key rule

Ask about people with kdo (who) and about things with kaj (what); both decline (koga, komu; česa, čemu) — and Slovene never uses tko/ko or što/šta.

Examples

Kdo je prišel na zabavo?
Tko je prišel na zabavo?
Slovene "who" is kdo; tko is the Croatian form and is not used.
Kaj imaš v torbi?
Što imaš v torbi?
Slovene "what" is kaj; što is Croatian/Serbian and does not belong here.
Koga vidiš na sliki?
Kdo vidiš na sliki?
As a direct object referring to a person, kdo takes its accusative/animate form koga.

Common mistakes

Using the Croatian/Serbian form tko/ko for "who"
Tko te je poklical?
Kdo te je poklical?
Standard Slovene "who" is kdo; tko/ko are Croatian/Serbian and count as interference.
Using the Croatian/Serbian form što/šta for "what"
Što delaš zdaj?
Kaj delaš zdaj?
Standard Slovene "what" is kaj; što/šta do not exist in Slovene.

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A1Pronouns

Possessive Pronouns (moj, tvoj, naš…)

svojilni zaimki

Slovene possessives are moj (my), tvoj (your, informal), njegov (his), njen/njegova (her), naš (our), vaš (your, plural/formal) and njihov (their). They behave like adjectives: they agree with the GENDER and number of the thing owned, not with the owner. So you say moj brat (m), moja sestra (f), moje mesto (n) — the ending changes with the noun. Njegov (his) and njen (her) refer to a male or female owner respectively. At A1 you use the nominative forms, agreeing with masculine, feminine and neuter nouns.

Key rule

Possessives (moj, tvoj, njegov, njen, naš, vaš, njihov) take adjective endings that agree with the gender and number of the thing owned, not with the owner.

Examples

To je moj brat.
To je moja brat.
Brat is masculine, so the possessive is moj, not the feminine moja.
To je moja sestra.
To je moj sestra.
Sestra is feminine, so the possessive takes the feminine ending moja.
To je naše mesto.
To je naš mesto.
Mesto is neuter, so the possessive ends in -e: naše.

Common mistakes

Agreeing the possessive with the owner instead of the noun
Njegova brat je doma.
Njegov brat je doma.
Agreement is with the possessed noun (brat, masculine), not with the male owner.
Wrong gender ending on the possessive
To je moja avto.
To je moj avto.
Avto is masculine, so the possessive is moj, not the feminine moja.

A1Pronouns

Demonstratives ta / tisti (this / that)

kazalni zaimki ta / tisti

Slovene points at things with ta (this, near the speaker) and tisti (that, farther away). Both behave like adjectives and agree with the noun: ta fant / ta hiša / to mesto for "this", and tisti fant / tista hiša / tisto mesto for "that". Use ta for something close ("ta knjiga tukaj") and tisti for something more distant ("tisti avto tam"). The neuter "to" is also the all-purpose pointing word "this/that is" in "To je miza.". At A1, focus on the nominative forms agreeing with the three genders.

Key rule

Use ta for something near (this) and tisti for something far (that); both decline like adjectives and agree with the noun, and presentational "To je …" stays neuter to.

Examples

Ta hiša je nova.
Ta hiša je tam daleč.
Ta marks something near; for something far away you would use tista hiša tam.
Tisti fant tam je moj brat.
Ta fant tam je moj brat.
For someone at a distance (tam) you use tisti, not the near ta.
To mesto je majhno.
Ta mesto je majhno.
Mesto is neuter, so the near demonstrative is to, not ta.

Common mistakes

Using ta for the neuter noun instead of to
Ta mesto je lepo.
To mesto je lepo.
Neuter nouns take to (this) / tisto (that); ta is masculine/feminine.
Mixing up near and far demonstratives
Ta avto tam je drag.
Tisti avto tam je drag.
For something distant (tam) use tisti; ta marks something near (tukaj).

A1Pronouns

Question Words (kje, kam, kdaj, zakaj, kako)

vprašalni prislovi

Slovene has separate question words for place, direction, time, reason and manner: kje (where, at a location), kam (where to, direction), kdaj (when), zakaj (why) and kako (how). The key trap for English speakers is that English "where" splits into two words: kje for being somewhere ("Kje si?") and kam for movement towards somewhere ("Kam greš?"). Kje pairs with location verbs and the locative case; kam pairs with motion verbs and the accusative. Zakaj is answered with ker (because) and kako asks about manner.

Key rule

Match the question word to the circumstance: kje = location (where at), kam = direction (where to), kdaj = when, zakaj = why, kako = how — and never use kje for movement.

Examples

Kje stanuješ?
Kam stanuješ?
Stanovati is a location verb, so it asks kje (where), not kam (where to).
Kam greš?
Kje greš?
Iti is a motion verb, so the question is kam (where to), not kje (where at).
Kdaj se začne pouk?
Kako se začne pouk?
Asking about time uses kdaj; kako would ask about manner.

Common mistakes

Using kje (where) for movement instead of kam
Kje greš nocoj?
Kam greš nocoj?
Movement to a goal is asked with kam; kje is only for a static location.
Using kam (where to) for a static location
Kam živiš?
Kje živiš?
Living somewhere is a location, so the question word is kje.

A1Pronouns

Clitic vs Full Personal Pronouns — Intro

naslonske in naglašene oblike – uvod

Slovene object pronouns come in two shapes. The short, unstressed clitic (naslonka) is the everyday form: me (me), te (you), ga (him/it), jo (her), mi (to me), ti (to you), mu (to him). The long, stressed full form (mene, tebe, njega, njo; meni, tebi, njemu) is used for emphasis, contrast, after a preposition, or when the pronoun stands alone. So normally "Vidim ga." (I see him), but for emphasis "Vidim njega, ne nje." The clitics cannot start a sentence and usually sit right after the first word; the full forms can stand anywhere, including alone.

Key rule

Use the short clitic (me, te, ga, jo; mi, ti, mu) as the default; switch to the stressed full form (mene, tebe, njega; meni, tebi) for emphasis, after a preposition, alone, or at the start of a clause.

Examples

Vidim ga vsak dan.
Vidim njega vsak dan.
The neutral object is the clitic ga; the full njega would force an emphatic reading.
Tebe iščem, ne njega.
Te iščem, ne ga.
Contrast/emphasis requires the stressed full forms tebe … njega, not the clitics.
Darilo je za mene.
Darilo je za me.
After a preposition you must use the full form mene; the clitic me cannot follow za.

Common mistakes

Starting a sentence with a clitic pronoun
Me kliče mama.
Mama me kliče.
Clitics cannot be sentence-initial; the clitic me follows the first stressed element.
Using a clitic after a preposition
To je za te.
To je za tebe.
Prepositions require the stressed full form (za tebe), never the clitic te.

A1Pronouns

Indefinite & Negative Series — Intro

nedoločni in nikalni zaimki – uvod

Slovene builds indefinite pronouns with nek- (someone/something) and negative ones with ni- (no one/nothing): nekdo (someone) vs nihče (no one), nekaj (something) vs nič (nothing). The big rule is double negation: a negative pronoun ALWAYS goes with the negated verb ne. So "I see nothing" is "Nič ne vidim", literally "nothing not I-see", and "No one is here" is "Nikogar ni tukaj." You cannot drop the ne. The indefinite forms (nekdo, nekaj) just go with a normal positive verb: "Nekdo trka." (Someone is knocking.)

Key rule

Indefinite nek- forms (nekdo, nekaj) take an affirmative verb, but every negative ni- form (nihče, nič, nikoli) requires the negated verb ne with it — double negation is obligatory.

Examples

Nič ne vidim.
Nič vidim.
A negative pronoun needs the negated verb too: nič … ne vidim (double negation).
Nihče ne ve odgovora.
Nihče ve odgovora.
Nihče requires ne on the verb; without ne the sentence is ungrammatical.
Nekdo trka na vrata.
Nekdo ne trka na vrata.
The indefinite nekdo takes an affirmative verb; adding ne would make it negative.

Common mistakes

Dropping ne with a negative pronoun (English single negation)
Nič razumem.
Nič ne razumem.
Slovene needs double negation: the negative pronoun nič plus the negated verb ne razumem.
Using the indefinite form where a negative is meant
Nekdo ni prišel — bila je prazna soba.
Nihče ni prišel — bila je prazna soba.
"No one came" requires the negative nihče, not the indefinite nekdo.

A1Syntax

Basic Word Order (SVO)

osnovni besedni red (SVO)

The neutral, unmarked word order in Slovene is Subject–Verb–Object, just like in English: 'Ana bere knjigo' (Ana reads a book). At A1 you can rely on SVO for plain statements. But Slovene case endings, not position, show who does what, so the order is flexible: you can move a word to the front to highlight it. The verb is normally kept (Slovene does not drop the copula 'biti'), and short clitic words like 'se', 'me', 'mi' want to sit in second position rather than at the very start. Start by mastering plain SVO; the flexibility comes later.

Key rule

Default to Subject–Verb–Object for plain statements, but remember that case endings (not position) mark grammatical roles, so order can shift for emphasis.

Examples

Ana bere knjigo.
Ana knjigo bere danes vedno.
Neutral SVO: subject (Ana) – verb (bere) – object (knjigo, accusative). The 'incorrect' version stacks words in an unnatural, marked order for a plain statement.
Oče kuha kosilo.
Oče kosilo.
A statement needs a verb; Slovene does not drop it. 'kosilo' (lunch) is the accusative object of 'kuha' (cooks).
Ana je učiteljica.
Ana učiteljica.
The copula 'biti' (je) is obligatory in the present; you cannot leave it out as some languages do.

Common mistakes

Dropping the verb in a statement
On študent.
On je študent.
Slovene keeps the copula 'biti' in the present tense; an English-style verbless sentence is ungrammatical.
Rigidly forcing English order and ignoring case
Vidim Ana.
Vidim Ano.
The object must take the accusative ending ('Ano'), not appear in its citation (nominative) form just because it follows the verb.

A1Syntax

Yes/No Questions (Ali…? / rising intonation)

odločevalna vprašanja

To ask a yes/no question in Slovene you have three options. The most common in everyday speech is to put 'Ali' at the front of the statement and keep the normal word order: 'Ali greš domov?' In neutral or slightly more formal style you can attach the particle '-li' right after the verb: 'Greš li domov?' Or, very simply, you can keep the statement as it is and just raise your intonation at the end: 'Greš domov?' You answer with 'Da' (yes) or 'Ne' (no). Unlike English, you do not add a helper verb like 'do' and you do not invert the subject and verb in any special way — the word order of the statement stays the same.

Key rule

Form a yes/no question with front 'Ali' + statement order, or enclitic '-li' on the verb, or plain statement word order with rising intonation — never with a 'do'-auxiliary.

Examples

Ali greš domov?
Delaš ti vprašanje domov greš?
Front 'Ali' + unchanged statement order is the standard way. No auxiliary and no scrambling are needed.
Greš domov?
Greš domov.
Identical to the statement but with rising intonation — the question mark signals it. The difference from the statement is meaning/intonation, not word order.
Piješ li kavo?
Li piješ kavo?
The particle '-li' is enclitic: it follows the verb and cannot stand at the front of the clause.

Common mistakes

Inventing a 'do'-auxiliary from English
Ali delaš ti piti kavo?
Ali piješ kavo?
Slovene has no 'do'-support; the lexical verb is simply conjugated. Adding an extra verb produces nonsense.
Putting '-li' at the front
Li greš domov?
Greš li domov?
'-li' is enclitic and must follow the finite verb; it can never open the clause.

A1Syntax

Wh-Questions (Kdo? Kaj? Kje? Kdaj?)

vprašanja z vprašalnico

Open questions in Slovene begin with a question word and are followed directly by the verb: 'Kdo je to?' (Who is this?), 'Kaj delaš?' (What are you doing?), 'Kje si?' (Where are you?), 'Kdaj prideš?' (When are you coming?). The basic set is 'kdo' (who), 'kaj' (what), 'kje' (where, at a place), 'kam' (where to), 'kdaj' (when), 'zakaj' (why) and 'kako' (how). Some question words change their ending to match the case: after a preposition or as an object you may need 'koga' (whom) or 'česa'. As with other questions, there is no 'do'-auxiliary and the copula 'biti' is kept: 'Kdo je tukaj?'.

Key rule

Begin an open question with a fronted question word (kdo, kaj, kje, kam, kdaj, zakaj, kako) directly followed by the verb, declining 'kdo/kaj' to match the case and keeping the copula 'biti'.

Examples

Kdo je to?
Kdo to?
The copula 'je' is obligatory; the question word alone is not enough.
Kaj delaš?
Kaj ti delaš naredi?
Question word 'kaj' + verb 'delaš'. No 'do'-auxiliary and no doubled verb are needed.
Kam greš?
Kje greš?
Motion to a goal uses 'kam' (where to); 'kje' is only for a static location, as in 'Kje si?'.

Common mistakes

Confusing 'kje' (place) and 'kam' (goal)
Kje greš?
Kam greš?
Slovene distinguishes static location ('kje') from direction toward a goal ('kam'); a motion verb needs 'kam'.
Not declining 'kdo' for the object
Kdo iščeš?
Koga iščeš?
As a direct object 'who' must be in the accusative 'koga'.

A1Syntax

Basic Sentence Negation (ne, double negation)

osnovno zanikanje

To make a sentence negative, put 'ne' directly before the verb: 'Ne grem.' (I am not going), 'Ne pijem kave.' (I do not drink coffee). The verb 'biti' has special fused forms: 'nisem, nisi, ni, nismo, niste, niso' — say 'Nisem utrujen', not '*ne sem'. A key rule: Slovene uses double (concord) negation. When a negative word like 'nič' (nothing), 'nikoli' (never) or 'nihče' (nobody) appears, you still keep 'ne' before the verb: 'Nič ne vem.' (I know nothing), 'Nikoli ne grem.' (I never go). This double negative is required, not wrong. With a negated existence, the object often switches to the genitive ('Ni kruha' = There is no bread).

Key rule

Negate by placing 'ne' right before the verb (use fused 'nisem…'/'nimam…' for biti/imeti), and always keep 'ne' even when a negative word like nič/nikoli/nihče is present — double negation is obligatory.

Examples

Ne grem domov.
Grem ne domov.
'ne' stands immediately before the verb 'grem'; it cannot follow it.
Nisem utrujen.
Ne sem utrujen.
'biti' has fused negative forms; you must say 'nisem', never '*ne sem'.
Nič ne vem.
Nič vem.
Negative concord: with 'nič' you still keep 'ne' before the verb. Dropping 'ne' is wrong.

Common mistakes

Writing '*ne sem' instead of the fused form
Ne sem doma.
Nisem doma.
The copula 'biti' has special negative forms ('nisem, nisi, ni…') that fuse 'ne' with the verb.
Dropping 'ne' with a negative word (English-style single negation)
Nič vidim.
Nič ne vidim.
Slovene requires negative concord: the verb still carries 'ne' even when 'nič' is present.

A1Connectors

Coordinating Conjunctions (in, a, ali, pa)

priredni vezniki

Coordinating conjunctions join words, phrases or whole clauses of equal weight. The basic four are: 'in' (and) for simple addition; 'a' (but) for contrast; 'ali' (or) for alternatives; and 'pa' (and / and on the other hand), a flexible link that adds or lightly contrasts. Examples: 'kruh in mleko' (bread and milk), 'Berem, a ne pišem' (I read, but I don't write), 'Čaj ali kava?' (Tea or coffee?), 'Jaz delam, ti pa počivaš' (I work, and you rest). With 'in', 'a' and 'ali' you normally do not put a comma before them when they simply join; with 'pa' a comma usually comes before it. Each clause keeps its own normal word order.

Key rule

Use 'in' (and), 'a' (but), 'ali' (or) and 'pa' (and/while) to join equal elements; no comma before a simple joining 'in'/'ali', but a comma before contrastive 'a'/'pa', and each clause keeps its own word order.

Examples

Kupim kruh in mleko.
Kupim kruh, in mleko.
A simple additive 'in' joining two objects takes no comma before it.
Berem, a ne pišem.
Berem a ne pišem.
Contrastive 'a' (but) takes a comma before it when it links two clauses.
Boš čaj ali kavo?
Boš čaj a kavo?
Alternatives use 'ali' (or); 'a' means 'but' and would be wrong here.

Common mistakes

Confusing 'a' (but) with 'ali' (or)
Čaj a kava?
Čaj ali kava?
Alternatives require 'ali' (or); 'a' is the adversative 'but'.
Putting a comma before a simple additive 'in'
kruh, in mleko
kruh in mleko
A plain joining 'in' between two elements is not preceded by a comma.

A1Connectors

Basic Subordinators (da, ker)

podredna veznika da, ker

Subordinating conjunctions begin a dependent clause that completes or explains the main one. Two basic ones: 'da' (that) introduces a content clause after verbs of saying, thinking and knowing — 'Vem, da prideš' (I know that you are coming) — and 'ker' (because) gives a reason — 'Ostanem doma, ker sem bolan' (I stay home because I am ill). A comma always goes before the subordinator. Inside the subordinate clause the verb is conjugated normally and the order is the usual one; Slovene does NOT send the verb to the end as German does. Unlike English, you can never leave 'da' out — say 'Mislim, da je res', not '*Mislim je res'.

Key rule

Use 'da' (that) for content clauses and 'ker' (because) for reasons, always writing a comma before them; 'da' is obligatory (never omitted), and the subordinate verb keeps normal order, not verb-final.

Examples

Vem, da prideš.
Vem prideš.
Slovene 'da' is obligatory and cannot be omitted as English 'that' can; a comma precedes it.
Ostanem doma, ker sem bolan.
Ostanem doma ker sem bolan.
A comma is always written before the subordinator 'ker'.
Mislim, da je res.
Mislim, da res je.
The subordinate clause keeps normal order with the copula 'je'; the verb is not pushed around or to the end.

Common mistakes

Omitting 'da' like English optional 'that'
Mislim je res.
Mislim, da je res.
Slovene 'da' is obligatory; the content clause cannot stand without it, and a comma precedes it.
Leaving out the comma before the subordinator
Ostanem doma ker sem bolan.
Ostanem doma, ker sem bolan.
A comma is always written before a subordinate clause introduced by 'da' or 'ker'.

A1Verb usage

Present for Near-Future & Habitual

sedanjik za prihodnost in navado

Slovenian has a present tense but uses it for more than 'right now'. With an imperfective verb the present can mean a habit that repeats — Vsak dan delam ('I work every day') — or a scheduled, near-certain future event — Jutri grem domov ('Tomorrow I go home'). A time word such as jutri, danes, zvečer, vsak dan tells the listener which reading is meant. There is also a real future (bom delal), but in everyday A1 speech a present plus a future time word is the most natural way to talk about tomorrow's plans. Learn to pair the present with a time expression so the meaning is clear.

Key rule

The imperfective present expresses current action, habit (with a frequency word), and scheduled near-future (with a future time word like jutri).

Examples

Jutri grem domov.
Jutri bom šel domov, ko hočem reči navaden načrt.
For a fixed plan, A1 Slovenian uses the simple present with a future time word; the bom-future is reserved for emphasised or less certain predictions.
Vsak dan delam v pisarni.
Vsak dan sem delal v pisarni.
A current, ongoing habit takes the present tense; the past form sem delal describes a finished habit, not a present routine.
Zvečer kuham večerjo.
Zvečer kuhati večerjo.
A finite present form (kuham) is needed; the bare infinitive kuhati cannot stand as the main verb of a sentence.

Common mistakes

Using the bom-future for every plan
Jutri bom šel v trgovino. (kot edina možnost za navaden načrt)
Jutri grem v trgovino.
For fixed, scheduled plans Slovenian normally uses the simple present with a time word; over-using bom sounds heavy at A1.
Adding a past auxiliary to a present habit
Vsak dan sem berem časopis.
Vsak dan berem časopis.
The present tense needs no auxiliary; sem belongs only to the perfect past (sem bral).

A1Verb usage

biti as Copula + Predicate Noun/Adjective

biti kot vezni glagol

The verb biti ('to be') links a subject to what is said about it — a predicate noun or adjective. To je miza ('That is a table') links the subject to a noun; Ana je utrujena ('Ana is tired') links it to an adjective. Unlike Russian, Slovenian keeps biti in the present: sem, si, je, smo, ste, so, plus the dual sva, sta, sta. A predicate adjective agrees with the subject in gender and number: Ana je utrujena, but Marko je utrujen. A predicate noun usually stands in the nominative (To je študent). Always keep the present-tense form of biti — never drop it.

Key rule

Keep biti (sem/si/je/sva/sta/smo/ste/so) in the present as the link; a predicate adjective agrees in gender and number, a predicate noun stays nominative.

Examples

To je miza.
To miza.
Slovenian never drops the present copula; je must link the subject to the predicate noun.
Ana je utrujena.
Ana je utrujen.
A predicate adjective agrees with the feminine subject Ana, so it must be utrujena, not the masculine utrujen.
Midva sva študenta.
Midva smo študentje.
Two people take the dual copula sva and the dual noun študenta, not the plural smo … študentje.

Common mistakes

Dropping the present copula
Ana učiteljica.
Ana je učiteljica.
Slovenian, unlike Russian, keeps biti in the present; the copula je is obligatory.
Predicate adjective not agreeing in gender
Hiša je velik.
Hiša je velika.
A predicate adjective agrees with the subject's gender; feminine hiša needs velika.

A1Verb usage

iti (to go) — Present

glagol iti – sedanjik

Iti ('to go') is the most common motion verb and is irregular. Its present forms are: grem (I go), greš (you go), gre (he/she/it goes); dual greva (we two go), gresta (you two / they two go); plural gremo (we go), greste (you go), gredo (they go). It means going on foot or generally setting off somewhere, and it usually points to one specific trip happening now or soon: Grem domov, Greva v kino. Direction is shown with v/na + accusative (v šolo, na trg) or k/h + dative for a person (h zdravniku, k babici). Iti also combines with the supine: Grem spat ('I'm going to sleep').

Key rule

iti is irregular — grem, greš, gre / greva, gresta, gresta / gremo, greste, gredo — and marks one specific trip; direction uses v/na+accusative or k/h+dative.

Examples

Grem v šolo.
Grem v šoli.
Direction of motion takes v + accusative (šolo); the locative šoli would mean static location, not going.
Greva v kino.
Gremo v kino, ko sva samo dva.
Two people use the dual greva, not the plural gremo, which is for three or more.
Otroci gredo domov.
Otroci grejo domov.
The 3rd-person plural of iti is the irregular gredo, not a regularised grejo.

Common mistakes

Locative instead of accusative after v for motion
Grem v trgovini.
Grem v trgovino.
Motion toward a place takes v + accusative; the locative marks where you already are.
Plural form for two people
Midva gremo v mesto.
Midva greva v mesto.
Two subjects require the dual greva, not the plural gremo.

A1Verb usage

Reflexive se — Introduction

povratni se – uvod

Many common Slovenian verbs carry the little word se. With some verbs se is part of the verb's meaning — imenovati se ('to be called'), počutiti se ('to feel'), učiti se ('to study'). Se is a clitic: a small unstressed word that goes to second position in the sentence, not stuck onto the verb. So: Imenujem se Ana ('My name is Ana'), Kako se počutiš? ('How do you feel?'), Učim se slovensko. When the sentence starts with another word, se follows it: Danes se učim. With these inherently reflexive verbs, you must not drop se — it is part of the verb.

Key rule

Inherently reflexive verbs keep the clitic se, which goes to second position (Imenujem se Ana; Danes se učim), never dropped and never glued to the verb end.

Examples

Imenujem se Ana.
Imenujem Ana.
Imenovati se is inherently reflexive; dropping se removes the required clitic and breaks the verb.
Kako se počutiš?
Kako počutiš se?
The clitic se takes second position after kako, not the end of the clause.
Danes se učim slovensko.
Danes učim se slovensko.
When danes is first, se follows it in second position, before the verb.

Common mistakes

Dropping the obligatory se
Imenujem Marko.
Imenujem se Marko.
Imenovati se is inherently reflexive; se is part of the verb and cannot be omitted.
se at the end instead of second position
Kako imenuješ se?
Kako se imenuješ?
The clitic se must follow the first element (kako), taking second position.

A1Verb usage

Dative Experiencer — všeč mi je

dajalniški doživljavec

To say you like something, Slovenian does not use a verb like English 'I like X'. Instead it says, literally, 'X is pleasing to me': Všeč mi je ta knjiga ('I like this book'). The thing you like is the grammatical subject (ta knjiga), the verb is biti (je/so), and the person who likes it is in the dative (mi, ti, mu, ji, nam …). If the liked thing is plural, the verb agrees with it: Všeč so mi te knjige. The dative clitic mi sits in second position. This pattern feels backwards to English speakers but is essential from the start.

Key rule

To express liking, the liked thing is the subject and biti agrees with it; the experiencer is a dative clitic (mi/ti/mu/ji…) in second position: Všeč mi je …

Examples

Všeč mi je ta knjiga.
Jaz všečim to knjigo.
Slovenian has no transitive verb 'to like'; the liked thing is the subject and the experiencer is dative mi.
Všeč so mi te slike.
Všeč mi je te slike.
The verb biti agrees with the plural subject slike, so it must be so, not the singular je.
Ali ti je všeč film?
Ali te je všeč film?
The experiencer is dative (ti), not the accusative clitic te.

Common mistakes

Inventing a transitive verb 'to like'
Jaz všečim pico.
Všeč mi je pica.
Slovenian expresses liking with the dative-experiencer pattern, not a verb 'všečiti'.
Verb not agreeing with the liked thing
Všeč mi je te pesmi.
Všeč so mi te pesmi.
Biti agrees with the plural subject pesmi, so so is required.

A1Aspect

Aspect Awareness — Perfective ↔ Imperfective

uvod v glagolski vid

Slovenian verbs come in pairs that share a meaning but differ in aspect (vid). The imperfective verb (nedovršni) views an action as ongoing, repeated or unfinished — delati ('to be working / to work generally'), brati ('to read'). The perfective verb (dovršni) views it as a single whole, completed action — narediti ('to get done / finish'), prebrati ('to read through'). At A1 you only need to notice that such pairs exist: delati / narediti, brati / prebrati, pisati / napisati, kupovati / kupiti. The perfective often has a prefix (na-, pre-) or a different suffix. You will learn when to use which later; for now, recognise the two members of a pair.

Key rule

Most Slovenian verbs come in an imperfective/perfective pair (delati/narediti); imperfective = process or habit, perfective = a single completed whole.

Examples

Zdaj delam nalogo.
Zdaj naredim nalogo.
A current ongoing action takes the imperfective delam; the perfective naredim cannot mean 'now I am doing', it points to completion/future.
Vsak dan berem časopis.
Vsak dan preberem časopis ravno zdaj.
A repeated habit uses the imperfective berem; the perfective preberem marks a single completed reading, clashing with 'every day … right now'.
Rad pišem pisma.
Rad napišem pisma vsak dan kot navado.
A general habit uses the imperfective pišem; the perfective napišem views one completed letter, not a recurring activity.

Common mistakes

Using a perfective for an action happening now
Zdaj naredim domačo nalogo.
Zdaj delam domačo nalogo.
An action in progress requires the imperfective; the perfective present does not describe a current process.
Perfective for a habit
Vsak dan preberem časopis kot navado opisano zdaj.
Vsak dan berem časopis.
Repeated, habitual actions take the imperfective.

A1Aspect

Motion: iti vs hoditi (go once vs habitually)

premikanje – iti proti hoditi

Slovenian has two verbs for 'to go (on foot)'. Iti (grem, greš, gre…) is determinate: it describes one specific trip happening now or planned soon — Zdaj grem v šolo, Jutri gremo na izlet. Hoditi (hodim, hodiš, hodi…) is indeterminate: it describes repeated or habitual going, or going in general — Vsak dan hodim v šolo, Rad hodim v hribe. So the difference is one trip versus a habit. A frequency word like vsak dan or pogosto signals hoditi; jutri, zdaj or a single destination signals iti. Choosing the wrong one is a common and noticeable A1 mistake.

Key rule

iti (grem) = one specific/planned trip; hoditi (hodim) = repeated, habitual or general going — a frequency word (vsak dan) selects hoditi.

Examples

Vsak dan hodim v službo.
Vsak dan grem v službo.
A daily habit takes the indeterminate hodim; determinate grem marks a single specific trip, clashing with 'every day'.
Zdaj grem v trgovino.
Zdaj hodim v trgovino, mislim en sam pohod.
One trip happening now takes the determinate grem; hodim would imply a repeated or general going.
Pogosto hodimo v hribe.
Pogosto gremo v hribe.
The frequency word pogosto requires the habitual hodimo, not the single-trip gremo.

Common mistakes

Determinate iti for a habit
Vsak teden grem k babici.
Vsak teden hodim k babici.
A repeated weekly trip is habitual and takes hoditi.
Indeterminate hoditi for a single planned trip
Jutri hodim v Ljubljano.
Jutri grem v Ljubljano.
One specific scheduled trip takes the determinate iti.

A1Verb tenses

The Verb biti (to be) — Present

glagol biti – sedanjik

biti is the verb 'to be' and the first verb you need in Slovenian. Its present forms are irregular and must be learned by heart: sem (I am), si (you are), je (he/she/it is) in the singular, and smo (we are), ste (you are), so (they are) in the plural. Unlike English, you usually drop the subject pronoun, because the ending already shows the person: Sem doma means 'I am at home.' biti works both as a linking verb (Janez je učitelj) and to say that something exists (Tu je trgovina).

Key rule

Learn biti by heart — sem/si/je (sg), smo/ste/so (pl) — keep it in present-tense sentences, and normally drop the subject pronoun.

Examples

Sem doma.
Jaz biti doma.
Use the conjugated form sem; the bare infinitive biti is never a finite verb, and the pronoun jaz is normally dropped.
Maja je učiteljica.
Maja učiteljica.
Slovenian keeps the copula in the present, so je cannot be omitted before a predicate noun.
Smo iz Slovenije.
So iz Slovenije.
'We are' is smo (1st person plural); so is 'they are' (3rd person plural).

Common mistakes

Dropping the copula before a predicate noun (Croatian/colloquial influence)
Ana študentka.
Ana je študentka.
Slovenian, unlike some neighbouring usage, never omits biti in the present; je is obligatory.
Using the infinitive instead of a finite form
Jaz biti utrujen.
Utrujen sem.
biti is the dictionary form; you must conjugate it (sem) and you normally drop jaz.

A1Verb tenses

Verb Negation with ne

zanikanje z ne

To negate a verb in Slovenian you put the particle ne directly in front of it and write it as a separate word: ne delam (I do not work), ne govori (he does not speak), ne razumem (I do not understand). There is no equivalent of English 'do/does' — ne attaches straight to the main verb. The particle is unstressed and leans on the verb after it. With the verb biti the negation fuses into one word (nisem, ni…), which is handled separately; with all other present-tense verbs you simply place ne before the verb.

Key rule

Negate any verb (except biti) by writing the separate particle ne directly before the conjugated verb: ne delam, ne govorim.

Examples

Ne delam danes.
Nedelam danes.
ne is a separate word; it is never written together with an ordinary verb.
Ne razumem vprašanja.
Razumem ne vprašanja.
ne stands directly before the verb, not after it.
Ona ne govori angleško.
Ona govori ne angleško.
The particle negates the verb and must precede it.

Common mistakes

Writing ne together with the verb
Negovorim slovensko.
Ne govorim slovensko.
Unlike biti's fused forms, ordinary verbs keep ne as a separate word.
Inserting a 'do/does' auxiliary by analogy with English
Ne dela ne razumem.
Ne razumem.
Slovenian has no dummy auxiliary; ne attaches straight to the lexical verb.

A1Verb tenses

Negation of biti (nisem, nisi, ni…)

zanikanje glagola biti

The verb biti is the one verb whose negation is NOT formed with a separate ne. Instead, ne fuses with the verb into a single word: nisem (I am not), nisi (you are not), ni (he/she/it is not) in the singular, and nismo (we are not), niste (you are not), niso (they are not) in the plural. Notice the special 3rd-person form ni, not 'neje'. With negated existence, the noun goes into the genitive: Ni denarja (There is no money), Ni časa (There is no time). Learn these fused forms together with the positive sem/si/je set.

Key rule

Negate biti with the fused forms nisem/nisi/ni (sg) and nismo/niste/niso (pl) — never ne sem — and put negated existence in the genitive (ni denarja).

Examples

Nisem utrujen.
Ne sem utrujen.
biti's negation is fused into one word; ne sem is never correct.
Janez ni doma.
Janez neje doma.
The 3rd-person singular negative is the irregular ni, not a regular ne-form.
Ni denarja.
Ni denar.
Negated existence takes the genitive of negation: denar → denarja.

Common mistakes

Negating biti with a separate ne
Ne sem doma.
Nisem doma.
biti uses fused negatives; ne sem does not exist in Slovenian.
Regularising the 3sg form
Hiša neje velika.
Hiša ni velika.
The 3rd-person singular negative of biti is the irregular ni.

A1Verb tenses

Present Tense — a-Conjugation (-am)

sedanjik – glagoli na -am

Most regular Slovenian verbs whose infinitive ends in -ati follow the a-conjugation. Take the stem (delati → del-) and add the endings -am, -aš, -a in the singular and -amo, -ate, -ajo in the plural: delam, delaš, dela, delamo, delate, delajo. This is the easiest and most productive class — verbs like delati (to work), igrati (to play), gledati (to watch) and kuhati (to cook) all behave this way. As usual the subject pronoun is dropped, because the ending already shows the person.

Key rule

For -ati verbs, drop -ti and add -am, -aš, -a (sg) and -amo, -ate, -ajo (pl): delam, delaš, dela, delamo, delate, delajo.

Examples

Delam v pisarni.
Delaš v pisarni.
For 'I work' use the 1st-person delam; delaš is 'you work'.
Ona gleda film.
Ona gledam film.
3rd-person singular is gleda; gledam is 1st-person.
Otroci se igrajo zunaj.
Otroci se igrate zunaj.
3rd-person plural is igrajo (-ajo); igrate is 2nd-person plural.

Common mistakes

Wrong 3rd-person plural ending
Otroci se igrejo.
Otroci se igrajo.
The a-conjugation 3pl ends in -ajo (igrajo), not -ejo.
Mixing person endings
Jaz dela doma.
Delam doma.
1st-person singular is delam; dela is 3rd-person, and the pronoun is dropped.

A1Verb tenses

Present Tense — i-Conjugation (-im)

sedanjik – glagoli na -im

Many verbs whose infinitive ends in -iti or -eti follow the i-conjugation. From the stem you add -im, -iš, -i in the singular and -imo, -ite, -ijo in the plural: govorim, govoriš, govori, govorimo, govorite, govorijo. Typical members are govoriti (to speak), misliti (to think), prositi (to ask), nositi (to carry) and videti (to see). The 3rd-person plural ends in -ijo (govorijo). As always, the subject pronoun is normally dropped because the ending already marks the person.

Key rule

For -iti/-eti verbs, add -im, -iš, -i (sg) and -imo, -ite, -ijo (pl): govorim, govoriš, govori, govorimo, govorite, govorijo.

Examples

Govorim slovensko.
Govoram slovensko.
i-class takes -im (govorim); -am belongs to the a-class.
Ona misli na dopust.
Ona mislim na dopust.
3rd-person singular is misli; mislim is 1st-person.
Sosedje govorijo glasno.
Sosedje govorite glasno.
3rd-person plural is govorijo (-ijo); govorite is 2nd-person plural.

Common mistakes

Using a-class endings on an i-class verb
Govoram angleško.
Govorim angleško.
govoriti is i-class, so the 1sg is govorim, not govoram.
Wrong 3rd-person plural ending
Ljudje govorajo prehitro.
Ljudje govorijo prehitro.
The i-conjugation 3pl ends in -ijo (govorijo).

A1Verb tenses

imeti (to have) — Present & Negation

glagol imeti – sedanjik

imeti means 'to have'. Its present forms are imam, imaš, ima (singular), imava, imata, imata (dual), and imamo, imate, imajo (plural). Slovene keeps the verb in every person — you cannot drop it the way English drops the auxiliary. The negative is fused: ne + imam becomes nimam, and you say nimam, nimaš, nima, nimava, nimata, nimata, nimamo, nimate, nimajo. You never write *ne imam*. imeti expresses possession (imam psa = 'I have a dog'), and the thing possessed stands in the accusative. With the negative, an indefinite or quantified object very often shifts to the genitive (nimam časa).

Key rule

Conjugate imam/imaš/ima…imajo; negate with the fused forms nimam/nimaš/nima (never *ne imam*), and put a negated object into the genitive (nimam časa).

Examples

Imam mlajšega brata.
Imam mlajšega brat.
The possessed masculine animate object takes the accusative (= genitive for animates): brata, with the adjective agreeing (mlajšega).
Nimam časa za kavo.
Ne imam čas za kavo.
Negative possession fuses to nimam (not *ne imam*) and the negated object goes into the genitive of negation: časa, not the accusative čas.
Ali imaš sestro?
Ali imaš sestra?
imaš governs the accusative; feminine sestra becomes sestro in the accusative singular.

Common mistakes

Writing the negative as two words
Ne imam denarja.
Nimam denarja.
ne and imeti fuse into a single negative verb (nimam, nimaš, nima…); they are never written separately.
Keeping the accusative after a negated verb
Nimam čas.
Nimam časa.
Negated possession triggers the genitive of negation: čas → časa.

A1Verb tenses

Present Tense — e-Conjugation (-em)

sedanjik – glagoli na -em

The e-conjugation takes the endings -em, -eš, -e (singular), -eva, -eta, -eta (dual), -emo, -ete, -ejo (plural). The tricky part is the stem: it often differs from the infinitive. pisati ('to write') gives pišem, pišeš, piše, not *pisam*. Other common verbs of this class are brati → berem ('read'), iti → grem ('go'), and piti → pijem ('drink'). Always learn the 1st-person form together with the infinitive, because the stem change is not predictable from the ending alone. The endings themselves are regular; the stem is what you memorise.

Key rule

Add -em/-eš/-e/-eva/-eta/-eta/-emo/-ete/-ejo to the present stem, which is often different from the infinitive (pisati → pišem), so learn the infinitive and pišem as a pair.

Examples

Pišem pismo babici.
Pisam pismo babici.
The present stem of pisati is piš-, so the 1st-person singular is pišem, not *pisam*.
Kaj bereš?
Kaj bratiš?
brati has the present stem ber-: bereš. Keeping the infinitive stem (*bratiš*) is wrong.
Otroci pijejo vodo.
Otroci pijajo vodo.
The e-class 3rd-person plural ends in -ejo: pijejo, not the a-class -ajo.

Common mistakes

Conjugating from the infinitive stem
Pisam domačo nalogo.
Pišem domačo nalogo.
The e-class uses the present stem (piš-), which differs from the infinitive pisati.
Using the a-class 3rd-person plural ending
Otroci pijajo sok.
Otroci pijejo sok.
The e-conjugation 3rd-person plural is -ejo (pijejo), not -ajo.

A1Verb tenses

hoteti (to want) — Present

glagol hoteti – sedanjik

hoteti means 'to want'. Its present forms are hočem, hočeš, hoče (singular), hočeva, hočeta, hočeta (dual), and hočemo, hočete, hočejo (plural). The negative is fused: nočem, nočeš, noče, nočeva, nočeta, nočeta, nočemo, nočete, nočejo — never *ne hočem*. hoteti is followed either by a noun in the accusative (hočem kavo) or directly by an infinitive (hočem spati). Slovene does NOT use a 'da + present' construction here: 'I want to sleep' is hočem spati, not *hočem da spim*. The infinitive after the modal is the standard pattern.

Key rule

Conjugate hočem/hočeš/hoče…hočejo and the fused negative nočem/nočeš/noče…nočejo; follow hoteti with an accusative noun or a bare infinitive (hočem spati), never 'da + present'.

Examples

Hočem iti domov.
Hočem da grem domov.
After hoteti Slovene uses the bare infinitive (iti), not a 'da + present' clause.
Nočem juhe.
Ne hočem juho.
The negative fuses to nočem (not *ne hočem*), and the negated object goes into the genitive: juhe.
Kaj hočeš za večerjo?
Kaj hočiš za večerjo?
The 2nd-person singular is hočeš (e-type ending), not *hočiš*.

Common mistakes

Using 'da + present' instead of the infinitive
Hočem da pijem vodo.
Hočem piti vodo.
Standard Slovene complements hoteti with a bare infinitive; the 'da + present' substitute is a Croatian/Serbian pattern.
Writing the negative as two words
Ne hočem kave.
Nočem kave.
ne and hoteti fuse into nočem, nočeš, noče…; *ne hočem* is wrong.

A1Verb tenses

moči (can / be able) — Present

glagol moči – sedanjik

moči means 'can / to be able'. Its present forms are morem, moreš, more (singular), moreva, moreta, moreta (dual), and moremo, morete, morejo (plural). In everyday speech, however, Slovenes usually express ability and permission with lahko + a normal present-tense verb: lahko grem ('I can go'), lahko pomagaš ('you can help'). lahko does not conjugate — it stays the same and the main verb carries the person. The conjugated morem is used mainly in negative or emphatic statements: ne morem ('I can't / I'm unable'). For beginners: use lahko + present for 'can', and ne morem for 'I can't'.

Key rule

Express affirmative ability/permission with invariable lahko + a finite present verb (lahko grem); use the conjugated morem mainly in the negative ne morem (two words) + infinitive.

Examples

Lahko ti pomagam.
Morem ti pomagam.
Affirmative ability normally uses invariable lahko + finite verb (pomagam), not the conjugated morem with a finite verb.
Ne morem priti danes.
Ne lahko priti danes.
Inability uses ne morem + infinitive; lahko cannot be negated with ne in this way.
Lahko greva skupaj.
Lahko greMO skupaj. (za dve osebi)
lahko stays invariable, but the main verb carries the dual: greva for two people, not the plural gremo.

Common mistakes

Using conjugated morem with another finite verb
Morem pridem jutri.
Lahko pridem jutri.
Affirmative ability uses invariable lahko + finite verb, not morem followed by a second finite verb.
Negating lahko with ne
Ne lahko ti pomagam.
Ne morem ti pomagati.
lahko has no negative; inability is ne morem + infinitive.

A1Verb tenses

morati (must / have to) — Present

glagol morati – sedanjik

morati means 'must / to have to'. Its present forms follow the a-conjugation: moram, moraš, mora (singular), morava, morata, morata (dual), and moramo, morate, morajo (plural). morati is always followed by an infinitive: moram delati ('I have to work'), moramo iti ('we have to go'). The negative is written as two words: ne moram ('I don't have to'), ne smem if you mean 'I must not' — but for A1, ne moram + infinitive expresses lack of obligation. Do not confuse morati (must, morajo) with moči (can, morejo): the vowel before the ending differs (mora-jo vs more-jo).

Key rule

Conjugate moram/moraš/mora…morajo (a-type) and always follow with an infinitive (moram iti); the negative ne moram is two words and means 'don't have to' — distinguish morajo (morati) from morejo (moči).

Examples

Moram zgodaj vstati.
Moram da vstanem zgodaj.
morati is completed by an infinitive (vstati); the 'da + present' substitute is not standard Slovene.
Otroci morajo spati.
Otroci morejo spati.
morati (must) has the 3rd-person plural morajo; morejo belongs to moči (can).
Ne moram delati v nedeljo.
Nemoram delati v nedeljo.
The negative of morati is two words: ne moram (no obligation). nedelja is 'Sunday' in Slovene.

Common mistakes

Confusing morati with moči
Otroci morejo v posteljo.
Otroci morajo v posteljo.
morati (must) has morajo; morejo belongs to moči (can). The vowel before the ending distinguishes them.
Using 'da + present' after morati
Moram da grem.
Moram iti.
morati takes a bare infinitive (iti); 'da + present' is a Croatian/Serbian pattern.

A1Vocabulary usage

Time Words: teden, leto, ura

časovne besede: teden, leto, ura

Three everyday time words trip up speakers of related languages because the Slovene forms look familiar but are different. Week is teden (masculine), not anything like the Croatian tjedan or Serbian nedelja — and beware that in Slovene nedelja means Sunday, never week. Year is leto (neuter), not godina; note that leto can also mean summer, which you tell apart from context. Hour and clock are both ura (feminine): Ura je tri means it is three o'clock. Learn these as your basic calendar and clock vocabulary, with their gender, so the verb and adjective that agree with them come out right.

Key rule

Use teden for week (masc.), leto for year (neut.), ura for hour/clock (fem.) — and remember nedelja means Sunday, not week.

Examples

Ta teden imam veliko dela.
Ovaj tjedan imam veliko dela.
Week is teden; the Croatian tjedan does not exist in Slovene.
Letos je bilo lepo leto.
Letos je bila lepa godina.
Year is leto, a neuter noun; the Serbo-Croatian godina is not Slovene.
Ura je tri.
Sat je tri.
Clock and hour are ura; the Croatian sat is not used in standard Slovene.

Common mistakes

Using the Croatian word for week
Naslednji tjedan imam izpit.
Naslednji teden imam izpit.
Slovene for week is teden; tjedan is Croatian. Watch the gender too: teden is masculine.
Confusing nedelja with week
Cela nedelja sem delal.
Cel teden sem delal.
Nedelja means Sunday in Slovene, not week. For week use teden, which is masculine (cel teden).

A1Numbers dates time

Cardinal Numbers 1–100

glavni števniki 1–100

Slovene cardinal numbers from 1 to 100 are something you simply learn by heart, but the system is regular once you see it. One has three gender forms: en, ena, eno. Two also has two forms: dva (masc.) and dve (fem./neut.). From three up the basic word does not change for gender in this range. The tens are deset, dvajset, trideset and so on. The biggest surprise for learners is that the units come before the tens, joined by in (and): so 21 is ena in dvajset, literally one-and-twenty, and 47 is sedem in štirideset. Sto is one hundred.

Key rule

Compound numbers 21–99 put the unit before the ten, joined by in: 21 = enaindvajset (one-and-twenty), 47 = sedeminštirideset.

Examples

Imam enaindvajset let.
Imam dvajset ena let.
21 is enaindvajset — unit first, joined by in to the ten, not the English order.
V razredu je petintrideset otrok.
V razredu je trideset pet otrok.
35 is petintrideset; the unit pet comes before trideset.
Ena, dve, tri, štiri, pet.
En, dva, tri, štiri, pet.
When counting abstractly the citation forms are ena and dve, not the masculine en/dva.

Common mistakes

Using English-style ten-then-unit order
Stara je dvajset ena let.
Stara je enaindvajset let.
Slovene reverses the parts and glues them with in: enaindvajset, not dvajset ena.
Forgetting the linking in
Tu je pet dvajset stopnic.
Tu je petindvajset stopnic.
The unit and the ten must be joined by in to make a single compound number: petindvajset.

A1Numbers dates time

Days & Months (lower-case)

dnevi in meseci

The Slovene days of the week are ponedeljek, torek, sreda, četrtek, petek, sobota and nedelja. The months are januar, februar, marec, april, maj, junij, julij, avgust, september, oktober, november, december. Unlike in English, days and months are written with a small letter, even inside a sentence. Watch one false friend: nedelja means Sunday, not week — week is teden. The week starts with ponedeljek (Monday). To say on a day you use v plus the accusative: v ponedeljek, v sredo, v nedeljo.

Key rule

Days and months are written lower-case; nedelja means Sunday, not week; to say on a day use v + accusative (v ponedeljek, v sredo).

Examples

V ponedeljek grem v službo.
V Ponedeljek grem v službo.
Day names are lower-case in Slovene, so ponedeljek is not capitalised.
Rojen sem bil decembra.
Rojen sem bil Decembra.
Month names are common nouns and stay lower-case.
V nedeljo počivamo.
V teden počivamo.
Nedelja is Sunday, the right day word; teden would mean week.

Common mistakes

Capitalising days and months like in English
Vidimo se v Petek.
Vidimo se v petek.
Slovene writes day and month names in lower case unless they begin a sentence.
Using nedelja to mean week
To nedeljo imam veliko dela.
Ta teden imam veliko dela.
Nedelja is Sunday; the week is teden. To nedeljo would mean this Sunday.

A1Numbers dates time

dva/dve → Dual Government

dva/dve uravnava dvojino

Slovene has a special grammatical number for exactly two: the dual. The number two itself triggers it. When you say dva or dve plus a noun, the noun goes into its dual form, not the plural: dva avta (two cars), dve knjigi (two books), dve okni (two windows). This is different from three and four, which take the ordinary nominative plural (trije avti), and from five and up, which take the genitive plural (pet avtov). So the pattern by quantity is: 1 → singular, 2 → dual, 3–4 → plural, 5+ → genitive plural. Getting dva/dve to govern the dual is the heart of Slovene counting.

Key rule

The numeral dva/dve forces the counted noun into the dual: dva avta, dve knjigi — not the plural (3–4) or genitive plural (5+).

Examples

Imam dva avta.
Imam dva avti.
Dva governs the masculine dual avta, not the plural avti.
Na mizi sta dve knjigi.
Na mizi so dve knjige.
Dve takes the feminine dual knjigi; the plural knjige is wrong, and the verb is dual sta.
V sobi sta dve okni.
V sobi so dve okna.
Dve + neuter noun gives the dual okni, not the plural okna.

Common mistakes

Using the plural after dva/dve
Imam dva avti.
Imam dva avta.
Two triggers the dual, so the masculine noun ends in -a (avta), not the plural -i.
Treating two like Croatian (no dual)
Na polici so dve knjige.
Na polici sta dve knjigi.
Slovene has the dual that Croatian lacks: dve knjigi with the dual verb sta.

A1Numbers dates time

Telling Time — Basic (Koliko je ura?)

ura – osnovno

To ask the time in Slovene you say Koliko je ura? — literally how much is the hour? To answer with a full hour you say Ura je plus the number: Ura je tri (it is three o'clock), Ura je ena (one o'clock), Ura je dvanajst (twelve). To say at what time something happens, use the preposition ob plus the locative form of the number: ob treh (at three), ob enih (at one), ob petih (at five). So the question uses ura, the answer states the number, and ob marks at. This is your starting kit for clock talk before you add minutes and pol (half).

Key rule

Ask Koliko je ura?; answer Ura je + number; say at a time with ob + the locative numeral (ob treh, ob petih).

Examples

Koliko je ura?
Koliko je sat?
The clock is ura in Slovene; sat is a Croatian word and is wrong here.
Ura je tri.
Je tri ura.
The set answer is Ura je + number; the noun ura comes first with je.
Ob treh grem domov.
Ob tri grem domov.
At three needs the locative numeral treh after ob, not the bare cardinal tri.

Common mistakes

Using sat instead of ura for the clock
Koliko je sati?
Koliko je ura?
Slovene says ura for both the clock and an hour; sat is a Croatian borrowing.
Using the bare cardinal after ob
Pridem ob tri.
Pridem ob treh.
Ob takes the locative, so at three is ob treh, not ob tri.

A1Numbers dates time

Collective dvoje/troje + Pluralia Tantum

zbirni števnik dvoje/troje

Some Slovene nouns exist only in the plural — pluralia tantum — like vrata (door), hlače (trousers) and očala (glasses). You cannot count them with dva/dve, because that would force a dual that does not fit. Instead Slovene uses collective numerals: dvoje, troje, četvero, plus the genitive plural of the noun. So two doors is dvoje vrat (not dve vrati), two pairs of trousers is dvoje hlač, three pairs of glasses is troje očal. The collective dvoje/troje is also used for mixed groups (dvoje otrok = two children of mixed or unspecified sex). The key rule: pairs and plural-only nouns take dvoje/troje + genitive plural, never the ordinary dual.

Key rule

Plural-only nouns (vrata, hlače, očala) and mixed groups take collective numerals dvoje/troje + genitive plural — dvoje vrat, not the dual dve vrati.

Examples

V hodniku je dvoje vrat.
V hodniku sta dve vrati.
Vrata is pluralia tantum, so it takes dvoje + genitive plural vrat, with a neuter-singular verb je, not the dual.
Kupil sem dvoje hlač.
Kupil sem dve hlači.
Hlače is plural-only; two pairs is dvoje hlač, never the dual hlači.
Imam troje očal.
Imam tri očala.
Glasses (očala) take the collective troje očal, not the plain cardinal.

Common mistakes

Forcing the dual on a pluralia-tantum noun
V sobi sta dve vrati.
V sobi je dvoje vrat.
Vrata has no usable dual; two doors is dvoje vrat with the collective numeral, the genitive plural, and a neuter-singular verb je.
Using a cardinal with trousers or glasses
Kupila sem dve hlače.
Kupila sem dvoje hlač.
Hlače is plural-only and takes dvoje hlač, not the cardinal dve.

A1Numbers dates time

Counting & Noun Government (1 / 2 / 3–4 / 5+)

števniki in sklon štetega

In Slovene the number you use decides the form of the noun you count. One (en/ena/eno) is followed by the singular: en fant, ena hiša. Two (dva/dve) triggers the dual: dva fanta, dve hiši. Three and four (trije/tri, štirje/štiri) take the nominative plural: trije fantje, štiri hiše. From five upwards (pet, šest, deset, sto…) the noun goes into the genitive plural: pet fantov, deset hiš, sto evrov. So as the number grows, the noun's form changes in four steps: 1 → singular, 2 → dual, 3–4 → plural, 5+ → genitive plural. This is the single most important pattern in Slovene counting.

Key rule

Number form of the noun follows the count: 1 → singular, 2 → dual, 3–4 → nominative plural, 5 and up → genitive plural (pet fantov).

Examples

En fant stoji pred hišo.
Eni fantje stojijo pred hišo.
One takes the singular: en fant, not the plural fantje.
Dva fanta igrata nogomet.
Dva fantje igrajo nogomet.
Two triggers the dual fanta and a dual verb igrata, not the plural.
Trije fantje igrajo nogomet.
Trije fanta igrata nogomet.
Three takes the nominative plural fantje and a plural verb igrajo.

Common mistakes

Using the nominative plural after five
Imam pet evri.
Imam pet evrov.
Five and higher govern the genitive plural, so evrov, not the nominative evri.
Using the dual after three or four
Trije fanta igrata.
Trije fantje igrajo.
Three and four take the nominative plural and a plural verb, not the dual.

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A1 Slovenian Grammar — 73 Topics & Common Mistakes

Three Genders & How to Recognise Them

Adjective–Noun Agreement — Nominative

Adjective Agreement in the Dual

biti in the Dual — sva/sta

dva / dve + Noun (dual numeral)

Present Dual Verbs (-va / -ta)

Dual Noun Endings — Nominative (basic)

Dual Personal Pronouns (midva, vidva, onadva)

Dual Possessives (najin, vajin, njun)

The Six-Case System — Overview

Nominative Case — Subject & Citation

No Articles (definiteness from context)

Singular Case Endings — Overview by Gender

Accusative Case — Direct Object (basic)

Genitive for Possession

Case Questions (kdo / kaj per case)

Accusative + Masculine Animacy (acc = gen)

Genitive Case — Introduction & Formation

Dative Case — Introduction & Recipient

The Slovene Alphabet (25 letters; č š ž)

The Letters č, š, ž — Sound & Spelling

The Soft Digraphs lj, nj

Capitalization (lower-case days, months, adjectives)

The Schwa Written e (pes / psa)

Word-final / pre-consonant l → /w/

Greetings (Dober dan, Živjo, Nasvidenje)

Politeness Words (prosim, hvala, oprostite)

ti vs vi (informal vs formal address)

o + Locative (about)

za + Accusative (for)

v / na — Accusative (motion) vs Locative (place)

z / s + Instrumental (with)

od / do / iz + Genitive (from / to / out of)

k / h + Dative (towards a person/place)

Second-Position Clitics — Introduction

Personal Pronouns — Nominative (sg/pl)

Interrogatives kdo (who) vs kaj (what)

Possessive Pronouns (moj, tvoj, naš…)

Demonstratives ta / tisti (this / that)

Question Words (kje, kam, kdaj, zakaj, kako)

Clitic vs Full Personal Pronouns — Intro

Indefinite & Negative Series — Intro

Basic Word Order (SVO)

Yes/No Questions (Ali…? / rising intonation)

Wh-Questions (Kdo? Kaj? Kje? Kdaj?)

Basic Sentence Negation (ne, double negation)

Coordinating Conjunctions (in, a, ali, pa)

Basic Subordinators (da, ker)

Present for Near-Future & Habitual

biti as Copula + Predicate Noun/Adjective

iti (to go) — Present

Modal Verb + Infinitive

Reflexive se — Introduction

Dative Experiencer — všeč mi je

Aspect Awareness — Perfective ↔ Imperfective

Motion: iti vs hoditi (go once vs habitually)

The Verb biti (to be) — Present

Verb Negation with ne

Negation of biti (nisem, nisi, ni…)

Present Tense — a-Conjugation (-am)

Present Tense — i-Conjugation (-im)

imeti (to have) — Present & Negation

Present Tense — e-Conjugation (-em)

hoteti (to want) — Present

moči (can / be able) — Present

morati (must / have to) — Present

Time Words: teden, leto, ura

Cardinal Numbers 1–100

Days & Months (lower-case)

dva/dve → Dual Government

Telling Time — Basic (Koliko je ura?)

Collective dvoje/troje + Pluralia Tantum

Counting & Noun Government (1 / 2 / 3–4 / 5+)