Lesson 3 Grammar: Using Numbers
Let’s learn numbers in Slovak. After all, it’s not much good asking how much something costs, if you don’t know what the answer means. You will find the full list (with audio) of Slovak numbers in the vocabulary section. But here are few of them:
jeden (1)
dva (2)
tri (3)
štyri (4)
päť (5)
päťnásť (15)
dvadsať (20)
Let’s use these in some sentences. Let’s go back to the sentence from the dialog, koľko stojí káva? (how much for coffee?):
You: Koľko stojí káva?
Cheap restaurant: Káva stojí jedno euro
Less cheap restaurant: Káva stojí dve eurá
Not a cheap restaurant: Káva stojí tri eurá
Definitely not a cheap restaurant: Káva stojí štyri eurá
Expensive restaurant: Káva stojí päť eur
Really really expensive restaurant: Káva stojí dvädsať eur
Alright, what’s going on here?! I just told you that one and two are jeden and dva, respectively, but I used jedno and dve in the example. Typo? Nope, these two numbers change their form based on the gender of the noun they refer to. The forms for one are jeden, jedna, and jedno for masculine, feminine and neuter nouns, respectively. Since the word euro is neuter, we use jedno. For two you have dvaja for living masculine nouns and dve otherwise. Ok, what about dva? This form is used only as the numeral, when counting. In all practical sentences you will use one of the other two forms.
The word dollar, dolár, is masculine. On the other hand, Libra, the British pound, and koruna (crown), the currency in the Czech republic and formerly also in Slovakia, are feminine. Here are few examples for you to practice numbers with:
Hranolky stoja dva doláre (French fries cost two dollars)
Hamburger stojí päť dolárov (Hamburger costs five dollars)
Polievka stojí štyri libri (Soup costs four dollars)
Coca-cola stojí pätnáť českých korún (Coke costs 15 Czech crowns)
Any questions or something not clear? Just leave a comment and I’ll get back to you in a day or two.
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Lesson 2 Grammar: Adjectives and Genders
You just learned how to order a meal in a Slovak restaurant. You also learned how to describe nouns with adjectives. Let’s go over this new grammar in more details. With couple adjectives, the verb to be, and some pronouns under your belt, you will be ready to make a ton of new sentences!
Slovak word for hungry is hladný. The underlined part is the fixed root, while the -ý at the end forms the stem. This stem changes based on both the gender and the case of the subject. We’ll go over cases in more detail in the future. For now, you just need to know that cases indicate what role a noun plays in a sentence. There are seven cases in Slovak. So far, you have encountered mainly the basic one called nominative. This is the case which is used when the noun you are referring to is the subject of the sentence. A noun is in the nominative case if you can use it to answer a who? or a what? question. For instance: The girl is pretty. Who is pretty? The girl. See, English has cases just like Slovak! It’s just that in English the word endings do not change with the cases. This is also why when Lucia orders her dinner, she says dám si kapustnicu a Kofolu instead of dám si kapustnica a Kofola. In this sentence, the soup and the drink are no longer in the nominative case (the omitted ja is the subject) and hence the endings changed. We’ll go over this particular case in another lesson.
Enough rambling, let’s get back to the adjectives. Here is an example of how the endings change:
on je hladný (he is hungry)
ona je hladná (she is hungry)
ono je hladné (it is hungry)
Now what about the other forms such as I or you? Well, these also depend on the gender of the person you are referring to and follow the rules from above. Ja som hladný but my sister says ja som hladná. Similarly, when addressing somebody using the familiar you, you say ty si hladný to your guy friend, but ty si hladná to your girl friend. In the plural form, the ending is -í if you are dealing with living masculine subjects. Otherwise, it is -é.
Let’s review, this time with the word pretty:
ja som pekný (I am pretty, masculine), ja som pekná (feminine)
ty si pekný (you are pretty, masculine), ty si pekná (feminine)
on je pekný (he is pretty)
ona je pekná (she is pretty)
ono je pekné (it is pretty)
my sme pekní (we guys are pretty), my sme pekné (we girls are pretty)
vy ste pekní (you guys are pretty), vy ste pekné (you girls are pretty)
oni sú pekní (those guys are pretty), ony sú pekné (those girls are pretty)
The word pekný is one of the “model” words used to describe how the stems change. Adjectives that end with ý (the hard i) follow this model. Adjectives that end in the soft í are inflected according to the word cudzí (foreign). The endings are:
on je cudzí
ona je cudzia
ono je cudzie
my sme cudzí (living masculine)
my sme cudzie (others)
Here are few more examples. Don’t forget to check back in few days for the vocabulary section which will give you couple more new adjectives to play with.
ja som smädný (I am thirsty, masc.)
ty si smädná (you are thirsty, fem.)
ona je pekná (she is pretty)
ja som starý (I am old, masc.)
ona je teplá (she (the soup) is warm)
ono je studené (it (the beer) is cold)
my sme cudzí (we are foreign, masc.)
vy ste hladné (you are hungry, fem.)
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Lesson 1: I am …
In the previous dialog, I introduced few simple sentence constructs. Let’s go over these in bit more detail. Slovak, just like English, has six categories of pronouns. There are the three singular ones (I, you, he/she/it) and the three plural ones (we, you, they). In Slovak, these are: (singular) ja, ty and on/ona/ono. The plural pronouns are: my, vy and oni/ony. What’s going on with those two forms of they, oni/ony? This is one of the many peculiarities of Slovak language. The first form, oni, is used only when referring to living, masculine nouns, such as “men”. In all other cases, you use ony.
Now that you learned the pronouns, let’s add the verb to be:
ja som (i am)
ty si (you are)
on/ona/ono je (he/she/it is)
my sme (we are)
vy ste (you are)
oni/ony sú (they are)
You can now make simple sentences:
ja som Slovák (I am Slovak)
ty si Američan (you are an American)
ty si Američan? (are you an American?)
ona je Američanka (she is an American)
my sme Slováci (we are Slovaks)
vy ste Američania (you are Americans)
ony sú hladný (they are hungry)
So what about those word endings, you may ask. Slovak is a conjugated language, and the word endings change based on factors such as the gender of the noun. This gender may not correspond to the physical gender (a lamp is female in Slovak, but a girl is neuter). But in this example, they do, since we are referring to people directly. An American guy is Američan, but an American girl is Američanka. If I were to introduce myself, I would say “ja som Američan“. But my mom would introduce herself with “ja som Američanka“. Similarly, the plural form is Američania or Američanky. The masculine form is always used, unless the group consists solely of females (sorry ladies!). So a group of 4 girls and one guy will introduce themselves as “my sme Američania“. If the guy were to leave, the group would say “my sme Američanky“.
If you compare this lesson with the previous dialog, you may notice that Mišo was referring to Michael using the plural you form, vy ste Američan?. This is the polite, formal way of addressing someone you just met, or somebody who is older than you. It’s just like the Sie form used in German. You would use this form if you for instance met a nice lady in a bar. After a bit of chit chat, and perhaps few drinks, you may ask potykáme si? (shall we “ty” each other?). Hopefully she says yes!
Go ahead and practice these basic sentences. Ask your friends if they are American. Here are few more vocabulary words for you to play with:
Nemec (male German), Nemka (female German)
Nemci (Germans), Nemky (female Germans)
Poliak (male Pole), Poľka (female Pole)
Poliaci (Poles), Poľky (female Poles)
hladný (hungry male), hladná (hungry female)
smädný (thirsty male), smädná (thirsty female)
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