Slovak Language Lessons for Beginners - Lesson 2

Vitaj! = Welcome! (informal)

Vitajte! = Welcome! (formal, or plural you)

Prepáč! = I'm sorry! Excuse me! (informal)

Prepáčte! = I'm sorry! Excuse me! (formal)

S dovolením! = Excuse me! (when asking someone to get out of your way/make space) (literally: "with [your] permission")

V poriadku! = Alright! (literally: "in order")

Na zdravie! = Cheers! (when drinking/toasting), Bless you! (after someone sneezes) (literally: "To [your] health!")

Note: You should always look the other person in the eye when you toast.

Ako sa po slovensky povie _____ ? = How does one say ____ in Slovak?

Ako sa po anglicky povie _____ ? = How does one say ____ in English?

Mohli by ste to zopakovať, prosím? = Could you repeat that, please?

Hovorte pomalšie, prosím. = Speak more slowly, please.

Výborne! = Excellent!

Poďme! = Let's go!

USEFUL WORDS

a = and

ja a ty = me and you

alebo = or

Áno alebo nie? = Yes or no?

ale = but (usually preceded by a comma)

Ja som Karol, ale on je Michal. = I am Charles but he is Michael.

THIS IS..., THAT IS..., THAT OVER THERE IS...

Čo je to? = What is it? What is that?

Kto je ____? = Who is?

Kto ste vy? = Who are you?

Toto je ____ = This is _____

To je ____ = It is _____ / That is _____

Tamto je ____ = That over there is _____

Toto je stôl = This is a table.

Toto je stolička = This is a chair.

Tamto je okno. = That over there is a window.

Each Slovak noun has a grammatical gender: Each noun can be either masculine, feminine, or neuter.

Gender is just a grammatical category, and does not necessarily reflect any actual male or female properties of the nouns.

Whereas in English, things are always it, in Slovak, they can be a he, a she, or an it.

Here is a simple rule of thumb for identifying the gender:

- Masculine nouns tend to end in a consonant. Examples: stôl (table), pes (dog), kôň (horse)

- Feminine nouns usually end in -a. For example: stena (wall), stolička (chair), mačka (cat)

- Neuter nouns typically end in -o. Examples: okno (window), pivo (beer), víno (wine)

Note: These are only rough guidelines. Many Slovak nouns, sadly, do not follow these rules.

Knowing the gender is important, because it determines what forms pronouns and adjectives take on, when they refer to a particular word.

gender: masculine feminine neuter

my môj moja moje

your tvoj tvoja tvoje (singular, informal)

his jeho jeho jeho

her jej jej jej

our náš naša naše

your váš vaša vaše (singular, formal; or plural)

their ich ich ich

Remember to use the appropriate form of the possessive pronoun, based on the noun's gender.

Examples:

môj stôl (my table), moja stolička (my chair), moje okno (my window)

tvoj pes (your dog), moja mačka (my cat), tvoje víno (your wine)

jeho telefón (his telephone), jeho stena (his wall), jeho pivo (his beer)

jej televízor (her TV set), jej matka (her mother), jej mesto (her city)

náš fotoaparát (our photo camera), naša ceruzka (our pencil), naše divadlo (our theater)

váš koberec (your carpet), vaša voda (your water), vaše zlato (your gold)

ich list (their letter), ich slivovica (their plum brandy), ich euro (their euro)

Rejoice: We can now form quite complex sentences!

Toto je ich pero a tamto je ich auto. = This is their pen and that over there is their car.

Je tamto vaša mačka alebo naša? = Is that over there your cat or ours?

To nie je moja fľaša, ale tamto je môj mobil. = That is not my bottle, but that over there is my cell phone.

rodičia = parents

otec = father (formal)

ocinko, oco, oci, tatinko, tato, tati = father, dad, daddy (colloquial)

matka = mother (formal)

mamička, maminka, mama, mami = mother, mom, mommy (colloquial)

súrodenci = siblings

brat = brother

sestra = sestra

dieťa = child (note: neuter gender)

syn = son

dcéra = daughter

stará mama, babka, babička = grandmother

starý otec, dedko, deduško = grandfather

vnuk = grandson

vnučka = granddaughter

You can add pra- to the beginning of these words to come up with great-grandmother, great-grandson, etc.

teta = aunt (mother's sister)

ujo = uncle (mother's brother)

stryná = aunt (father's sister)

strýko = uncle (father's brother)

That's the theory at least. In practice, each family has its own conventions: In my family, for instance, everyone is either a teta or an ujo, regardless of whether they are from my father's or from my mother's side. No one really cares if you say ujo instead of strýko, or vice versa.

bratranec = male cousin

sesternica = female cousin

synovec = nephew

neter = niece

manžel = husband

manželka = wife

muž = man, also colloquial for 'husband'

žena = woman, also colloquial for 'wife'

snúbenec = fiancé (male)

snúbenica = fiancée (female)

zať = son-in-law

nevesta = daughter-in-law (also means 'bride')

svokra = mother-in-law (the butt of many Slovak jokes)

svokor = father-in-law

švagor = brother-in-law

švagriná = sister-in-law

krstný otec = godfather

krstná mama = godmother

priateľ = good male friend, or boyfriend

priateľka = good female friend, or girlfriend

frajer = boyfriend (colloquial, and always romantic)

frajerka = girlfriend (colloquial, and always romantic)

kamarát = male friend

kamarátka = female friend

Slovakia (Slovensko), or officially the Slovak Republic (Slovenská republika), is a country in Central Europe with a population of about 5.4 million. (Important: Do not make the embarrassing mistake of saying Slovakia is in Eastern Europe. You will incur the wrath of whoever you are speaking to, including myself.)

It gained independence in 1993, after the split-up of Czechoslovakia. It has been a member of the European Union (Európska únia, or EÚ) since 2004: This means all Slovak can freely travel and work in any other EU country. Since 2009, our currency has been the euro. Before that, we used the koruna (literally: the crown): A lot of people still find it easier to think and talk about money amounts in korunas.

Our capital is Bratislava, a city of about 470,000 that is located close to the Austrian border and on the river Danube (Dunaj). The second largest city is Košice (population: 240,000) in the eastern part of the country. My hometown Liptovský Mikuláš (population: 33,000) is the north of the country, quite close to the famous Tatry mountains. You should visit. In general, Slovakia has a very mountainous north, and very flat plains in the south.

We have borders with five countries: The Czech Republic (Česká republika, or simply Česko) to the west, Poland (Poľsko) to the north, Ukraine (Ukraina) to the east, Hungary (Maďarsko) to the south, and Austria (Rakúsko) to the south-west.

The Slovak flag (above) consists of three parallel stripes: white, blue and red (biela, modrá, červená) - traditional Slavic colors. On the stripes is the Slovak national symbol, which consists of three mountains (Tatra, Matra, Fatra), and a double cross to symbolize Christianity.