Slovak Language Lessons for Beginners - Lesson 20

[Lesson Overview] [Personal Website]

[Lesson 1] [Lesson 2] [Lesson 3] [Lesson 4] [Lesson 5] [Lesson 6] [Lesson 7] [Lesson 8] [Lesson 9] [Lesson 10]

[Lesson 11] [Lesson 12] [Lesson 13] [Lesson 14] [Lesson 15] [Lesson 16] [Lesson 17] [Lesson 18] [Lesson 19] [Lesson 20]

[Lesson 21] [Lesson 22] [Lesson 23]

zločin (or, in legalese, trestný čin) = crime, felony

priestupok = misdemeanor, offence (less serious than a crime)

trest = punishment

bezpečnosť = safety, security

zákon = law

droga = illegal drug

drogový díler = drug dealer

zločinec (or kriminálnik) = criminal

obeť (fem.) = victim

svedok = witness

očitý svedok = eye witness

vražda = murder

zabitie or usmrtenie (both neut.) = manslaughter

znásilnenie (neut.) = rape

napadnutie (neut.) = assault

krádež = theft

podvod = fraud

vrah = murderer

zlodej = thief

násilník = violent person, abuser

násilie (neut.) = violence

násilný = violent

mafia (or podsvetie, neut.) = maifa, 'underworld'

mafián = mafia member

väzeň = prisoner, inmate

väzenie (neut.) = jail

sudca = judge

prokurátor = prosecutor, like 'district attorney' in the US

žalobca = plaintiff, the accuser

obžalovaný = defendant, the accused

právnik = lawyer

obhajca = defense lawyer

obhajoba = legal defence

vinný = guilty

nevinný = innocent (literally, 'non-guilty')

obvinený = accused

odsúdený = convicted

zbraň = weapon

strelná zbraň = fire arm

nôž = knife

pištoľ = pistol

brokovnica = shotgun

samopal = machine gun

spravodlivosť = justice

nespravodlivosť = injustice

rozsudok (or verdikt) = verdict, sentence

podmienka = probation (literally: 'condition')

In [Lesson 19], you were introduced to the dative case. Here is how you can form the dative case of possessive pronouns:

masculine feminine neuter

nominative dative nominative dative nominative dative

môj = my môjmu moja = my mojej moje = my môjmu

tvoj = your tvojmu tvoja = your tvojej tvoje = your tvojmu

jeho = his jeho jej = her jej jeho = its jeho

náš = our nášmu naša = our našej naše = our nášmu

váš = your vášmu vaša = your vašej vaše = your vášmu

ich = their ich ich = their ich ich = their ich

svoj svojmu svoja svojej svoje svojmu

Ich synovi som ukázal, ako by našej krave mal dať jesť. = I showed their son, how he should give something to eat to our cow.

Čo ste potom povedali ich právnikovi? = What did you tell their lawyer, then?

For pronouns such as this (tento, táto, toto), that (ten, tá, to) and that over there (tamten, tamtá, tamto):

masculine feminine neuter

nominative dative nominative dative nominative dative

tento = this tomuto táto tejto toto tomuto

ten = that tomu tá tej to tomu

tamten tamtomu tamtá tamtej tamto tamtomu

See the following examples:

Tamtomu sudcovi ani trochu neverím, ale čo mám robiť? = I don't trust that judge over there a bit, but what am I supposed to do?

Dal som tej žene nejaké peniaze, ale tejto nechcem dať nič. = I gave that woman some money, but I don't want to give anything to this one.

The dative case is associated with one commonly used preposition: k or ku, which roughly translated as the English 'to' or 'towards' (usually when used as an indication of direction). Whether we use k or ku depends largely on pronounciation: In most cases, k should be the default. Occasionally, however, ku might be easier to pronounce (and is therefore preferred) - for example, when the following word begins with the letter 'k' or 'g.'

When a personal pronoun in the dative case follows a preposition, such as k/ku, we use the following forms:

nominative case (subject) dative case after preposition

ja = I mne

ty = you (sg. informal) tebe

on = he nemu

ona = she nej

ono = for neuter (rare) nemu

my = we nám

vy = you (pl., sg. formal) vám

oni, ony= they nim

Dnes večer pôjdem na návštevu k mojej tete. = Tonight I will go for a visit to my aunt.

Prečo sa tak pekne správaš k nemu, ale napríklad nie k nej? = Why do you behave so nicely to him, but not - for example - to her?

Išiel som ku oknu, ale musel som zastaviť. = I went to(wards) the window, but had to stop.

Feminine gender: Here, we replace the final -á with -ej:

nominative case (basic form) dative case example:

milá = nice (personality trait) milej Tej milej pani som nič nepovedala. = I didn't tell that nice lady anything.

národná = national národnej Ľavicový poslanec národnej rade predstavil svoj návrh. = A left-wing representative presented

his proposal to the National Council.

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT IN THE SLOVAK MEDIA

If you would like to check your understanding of some of the crime and punishment-related vocabulary in this lesson, you may wish to watch this - needless to say, very exciting - press conference at the Slovak Ministry of the Interior:

Here is some additonal vocabulary from the video that you may wish to learn:

rozpočet = budget

pozemok = land property

majetok = property

téma = topic

návrh = proposal

kauza = political or economic scandal

týkať sa (stem: týka- sa) = to be relevant/related to, to touch upon (thematically)

šetriť (stem: šetrí-) = to save (money)

začínať (stem: začína-) = to begin