Slovak Language Lessons for Beginners - Lesson 22

[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]

umenie = art

umelec, umelkyňa = artist (m, f)

výstava = exhibition

múzeum = museum

galéria = gallery

výtvarné umenie = creative art (meaning largely painting or drawing), visual art

dielo = work of art

majstrovské dielo = masterpiece

sochár, sochárka = sculptor (m, f)

socha = sculpture

maliar = painter

obraz = painting, picture

kresba = drawing

koláž = collage

plátno = canvass

štetec = (paint)brush

vystúpenie = performance (artistic, musical, etc. event)

koncert = concert

opera = opera

orchester = orchestra

filharmónia = philharmonic

dirigent = music conductor

predstavenie = theatrical performance

divadelná hra = theatrical play

literatúra = literature

spisovateľ, spisovateľka = writer (m, f)

beletria = fiction literature

náučná literatúra = non-fiction literature

odborná literatúra = specialized, expert literature

žáner = genre

román = novel

novela = novella

príbeh = story

krátky príbeh = short story

When a preposition is absent, we use the genitive case in Slovak when, in English, we would usually use the 'of' preposition. In the English sentences below, I have underlined parts that would require the use of the genitive case in Slovak:

The cause of the deadly disease remains unknown.

I don't recall the name of the businessmen.

No one likes the color of the new bicycle.

In [Lesson 8], we learned about the possessive forms of names: Michalov román = Michael's novel, Kristínina učebnica = Kristína's textbook. We should now add that you can extend the same rule to all nouns that represent people - not only people's names. A policeman's car would therefore be policajtovo auto, and the wife's favorite book would be manželkina obľúbená kniha.

So where does the genitive case come in here? It turns out that the rule from [Lesson 8] is only appropriate when the 'possessor person' is described by a single, unmodified noun. If we, however, want to further describe the possessor, for instance, by using possessive pronouns or adjectives, we need to use the genitive case:

If we want to say young Michael's novel in Slovak, then, we really need to say the novel of young Michael: román mladého Michala.

My sister Kristína's textbook would really be the textbook of my sister Kristína: učebnica mojej sestry Kristíny.

The polite policeman's car and my wife's favorite book would be, respectively, the car of the polite policeman and the favorite book of my wife:

auto slušného policajta and obľúbená kniha mojej manželky.

Note that, in the examples above, I have underlined the parts that require the use of the genitive case.

Finally, there are several prepositions that require the use of the genitive case. These will be covered in the next lesson.

As with the other cases, how we form the genitive case depends on the gender of the noun that is being modified:

Masculine gender: If the genitive noun is a person or an animal, we need to add the -a suffix. Otherwise, we usually use the -u suffix instead.

nominative case (basic form) genitive case example:

policajt = policeman policajta Uniforma toho policajta je príliš malá. = That policeman's uniform is too small.

strom = tree stromu Auto narazilo do stromu. = The car crashed into a tree.

Feminine gender: We change the final -a into an -y ending if the -a is preceded by a hard or 'dual' consonant (d, t, n, l, h, ch, g, k, b, p, m, v, r, z, s, f). If the final -a is preceded by a soft consonant (ď, ť, ň, ľ, c, dz, j, dž, č, ž, š), we change it into an -e ending.

nominative case (basic form) genitive case example:

spolužiačka = classmate spolužiačky Názor mojej spolužiačky nie je dôležitý. = My classmate's opinion is not important.

práca = work práce Vidíš výsledok jej práce? = Do you see the result of her work?

Neuter gender: The -o ending changes into a -a.

nominative case (basic form) genitive case example:

mydlo = soap mydla Od takého mydla veľa neočakávam. = I am not expecting much from such soap.

lietadlo = airplane lietadla Zlomilo sa krídlo toho veľkého lietadla. = The wing of that big plane has broken.

You can form the genitive case of possessive pronouns in this way:

masculine feminine neuter

nominative genitive nominative genitive nominative genitive

môj = my môjho moja = my mojej moje = my môjho

tvoj = your tvojho tvoja = your tvojej tvoje = your tvojho

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

náš = our nášho naša = our našej naše = our nášho

váš = your vášho vaša = your vašej vaše = your vášho

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

svoj svojho svoja svojej svoje svojho

Netušíš náhodou, ako sa volá pes jeho suseda? = Don't you, by any chance, have any idea what their dog's name is?

Chcel ísť na školu svojho brata, ale nakoniec išiel na školu svojej sestry. = He wanted to go to his brother's school, but in the end went to his sister's school.

GENITIVE CASE: THIS, THAT, THAT OVER THERE

Here is how you form the genitive case of pronouns such as this (tento, táto, toto), that (ten, tá, to) and that over there (tamten, tamtá, tamto):

masculine feminine neuter

nominative genitive nominative genitive nominative genitive

tento = this tohto táto tejto toto tohto

ten = that toho tá tej to toho

tamten tamtoho tamtá tamtej tamto tamtoho

Notebook tamtoho muža nebol drahý, ale počítač tej ženy bol. = That man over there's laptop was not expensive, but that woman's computer was.

Motor tohto nového auta musí byť veľmi silný. = This new car's engine must be very strong.

Masculine gender: We replace the final -ý with -ého:

nominative case (basic form) genitive case example:

mladý = young mladého Obraz toho mladého pána je naozaj nádherný. = That young man's painting is truly beautiful.

žltý = yellow žltého Golier jeho žltého trička sa mi nepáči. = I don't like to collar of his yellow shirt.

Feminine gender: Replace the final -á with -ej:

nominative case (basic form) genitive case example:

vysoká = high, tall vysokej Príčinou vysokej ceny je nízka ponuka. = The cause of the high price is low supply.

vtipná = funny, witty vtipnej Už sa teším na príbehy našej vtipnej babičky. = I am already looking forward to our

witty grandma's stories.

Neuter gender: Here, we will replace the final -é with the suffix -ého (just like with the masculine gender):

nominative case (basic form) genitive case example:

národné = national národného História Národného divadla je dobre známa. = The history of the National Theater is well-known.

bývalé = former bývalého Meno môjho bývalého priateľa si nepamätám. = I don't remember the name of my ex-boyfriend.