Slovak grammar
Slovak is a highly inflected language with six grammatical cases .
alphabet
Slovak is written with the Latin alphabet and uses diacritical marks to reproduce Slovak sounds and is sorted as follows:
- Lower case:
a, á, ä, b, c, č, d, ď, dz, dž, e, é, f, g, h, ch, i, í, j, k, l, ĺ, ľ, m, n, ň, o, ó, ô, p, q, r, ŕ, s, š, t, ť, u, ú, v, w, x, y, ý, z, ž
- Capitalization:
A, Á, Ä, B, C, Č, D, Ď, Dz, Dž, E, É, F, G, H, Ch, I, Í, J, K, L, Ĺ, Ľ, M, N, Ň, O, Ó, Ô, P, Q, R, Ŕ, S, Š, T, Ť, U, Ú, V, W, X, Y, Ý, Z, Ž
When sorting and in directories (phone book) and dictionaries, all letters marked with a soft sign (see below) and the letter CH are treated as separate and independent letters (the soft letters follow the corresponding "normal" letters, the CH follows the Letter H in the alphabet).
Since the diacritical marks are not always displayed correctly on the web, Slovak names (place and person names) are often written without them, and there are also some Slovak websites that deliberately do without the diacritical marks. In the western press, on the other hand, many characters are often used incorrectly (often the other way around).
phonetics
The sound system of the Slovak language consists of vowels ( vowels ), consonants (sympathetic sounds) and diphthongs (twilights). For pronunciation, see Slovak language .
Vowels
| short | a | Ä | e | i | O | u | y |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| long | á | é | í | O | ú | ý |
Diphthongs
ia, ie, iu, ô
Consonants
b, c, č, ď, dz, dž, f, g, h, ch, j, k, l, ĺ, ľ, m, n, ň, p, (q), r, s, š, t, ť, v, (w), x, z, ž
Classifications
Orthographic division
| hard | d | G | H | ch | k | l | n | t | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| soft | c | č | ď | dz | dž | j | ľ | ň | š | ť | ž | ||||
| ambivalent | b | f | m | p | r | s | v | z |
A hard ending is an ending that follows a hard or ambivalent consonant; a soft ending is used when it is preceded by a soft consonant.
Classification for purposes of assimilation in pronunciation
| voiced | b | d | ď | dz | dž | G | H | j | l | ľ | m | n | ň | r | v | z | ž |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| unvoiced | p | t | ť | c | č | k | ch | f | s | š |
The consonants b / p to v / f, i.e. H. those that have a voiceless / voiced equivalent are also called "paired sounds", the remaining "unpaired sounds" or "sonors".
Syllable function
The consonants l and r can, ĺ and ŕ must be syllable-forming (i.e. act like vowels).
Parts of speech
In Slovak, the following parts of speech are inflected (inflected, i.e. declined or conjugated or increased): nouns , adjectives , pronouns , numerals and verbs . Adverbs are increased, but otherwise remain uninflected. The remaining parts of speech ( prepositions , conjunctions , particles and interjections ) never change their form.
Nouns in the Slovak language as in German are categorized according to gender ( gender ), case ( case ) and number ( number ).
The form of adjectives, pronouns, and numerals depend on the categories of the noun to which they refer. In contrast to German, this reference is not only effective in an attributive position ( pekný dom [one / the pretty house], moja taška [my bag], dve mestá [two cities]), but the adaptation also takes place in predicative use ( dom je pekný [the / one house is pretty], taška je moja [the / one bag is mine], mestá sú dve [the cities are two]).
As in German, there are three grammatical genders ( rody ): male (masculine), female (feminine), neuter (neuter).
There are six cases of declination ( pády ) (in German there are only the first four):
- Nominative ( nominatív ) - answers the question Who / What? - Account / CO?
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Genitive ( genitív ):
- either answers the question Whose? or by whom / by what? - Koho / Čoho?
- or is required by the following prepositions: bez (without), blízko (near), do (in [where?]; up to), doprostred (in the middle of), mimo (outside), namiesto (instead of), okolo ( around), od (from [from]), okrem (except), počas (during), podľa (loud, after, according to), pomimo (past ...), pomocou (with the help of, based on), pozdĺž (along), u (with [someone]), uprostred (in the middle), vedľa (next to), vnútri (inside of), vyše (over [more than, above]), z (out), za (during, at the time of)
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Dative ( datív ):
- either answers the question Whom? / What thing? or to whom / to what? - Komu / Čomu? ,
- or is required by the following prepositions: k (to), kvôli (because of), napriek (despite), naproti (opposite [position]), oproti (opposite [position]; against, compared with), proti (against), voči ( towards [personal relationship])
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Accusative ( akuzatív ):
- either answers the question who / what? - Koho / Čo? ,
- or is required by the following prepositions: cez (through, about), medzi (between [where?]), na (on, an [where?]), nad (about [where?]), o (an [where?]) ; in [time]; at [comparative]), po (to an; during; fetch), pod (under [where?]), pre (for; because of), pred (before [where?]), v (in , an, to [goal, belief]), vzhľadom na (considering), za (behind [where?]; inside; for [price, substitute])
- Locative ( lokál ) - is required by the following prepositions: na (on, an [where?]), O (over, from [topic]), po (after [temporal]; along, on; depending; means), pri ( at, an), v (in [where?]); the locative never occurs without one of these prepositions and is therefore called a prepositional case . It is used exclusively for static, not dynamic localization and is often also used for time information.
-
Instrumental ( inštrumentál ):
- answers either the question with whom (through whom) / with what (through what)? - Kým / Čím? ,
- or is required from the following prepositions: medzi (between, under [where?]), nad (over [where?]), pod (under, below [where?]), pred (before [where?]), s (with ), za (behind [where?])
- There was also a vocative , but this was taken as a nominative due to the fact that it was largely identical in form and is no longer taught in schools. Nevertheless, some relics and special forms have survived , which appear especially in "ancient" (for example in fairy tales) or ironic language: človek → človeče , syn → synku , kmotor → kmotre . The earlier existence of the vocative is also reflected in the designation of the cases: In Slovak, the locative is traditionally counted as the 6th case and the instrumental as the 7th case , since the vocative used to be the 5th case .
With regard to the number, as in German, a distinction is made between two numbers (number forms):
The dual has not existed in Slovak since the 14th century. The only remnants in the written language are some forms of numerals, e.g. B. dvoma at dva .
items
Unlike German, there are no articles in Slovak . The part of speech article does not exist in most Slavic languages. However, in Slovak practice the pronoun ten - tá - to (der - die - das) is often used in the function of a certain article for clarification . Where there is an indefinite article in German, there is usually nothing in Slovak or the pronoun nejaký ((any-) a) is used for clarification .
Nouns
Nouns (nouns) are always written in lower case in Slovak. In Slovak, capital letters are only used at the beginning of sentences and in proper names. In Slovak, nouns are marked by their declination according to gender , number and case . These three properties are expressed together by a suffix and / or often by small changes in the stem.
gender
The genders of Slovak nouns do not always match German. Gender can often be recognized by the ending of the nominative :
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male gender (masculine) are the following nouns:
- male beings: muž (the man), učiteľ (the teacher)
also animals: pes (the dog), vták (the bird) - with hard consonance (h, ch, k, g, d, t, n, l), possibly with hermaphrodite (b, p, m, v, r, s, z) at the end of the trunk : stôl (the table), zošit ( the notebook), kvet (the flower), strom (the tree), dom (the house)
- some with a soft consonance (c, č, š, ž, ť, ď, j, ň) at the end of the trunk : stroj (the machine), nôž (the knife), Paríž ("Paris")
- male beings: muž (the man), učiteľ (the teacher)
-
female gender (feminine) are the following nouns:
- with the ending -a: kniha (the book), taška (the bag), stolička (the chair), ceruzka (the pencil), Bratislava
Attention! There are also masculine nouns with the ending -a, these are mostly nouns that denote masculine persons: hrdina (the hero), sudca (the judge) - with the ending -osť (mostly abstract): mladosť (the youth), radosť (the joy)
- with the ending -áreň: lekáreň (the pharmacy)
- some with a soft consonance at the end: posteľ (the bed), Viedeň ("Vienna")
- with the ending -a: kniha (the book), taška (the bag), stolička (the chair), ceruzka (the pencil), Bratislava
-
neuter gender (neuter) are the following nouns:
- with the endings -o and -e: pero (the pen), okno (the window), slnko (the sun), pole (the field)
Attention! There are also masculine nouns with the ending -o, these are mostly nouns that denote masculine persons: strýko (the uncle), ujo (the uncle) - with the ending: -ie: zdravie (health), šťastie (happiness)
- with the ending -a for young creatures: dievča (the girl), dieťa (the child), mača (the kitten)
- with the endings -o and -e: pero (the pen), okno (the window), slnko (the sun), pole (the field)
declination
To make it easier to learn the language, the declension of the nouns is divided into twelve patterns (according to gender and ending in the nominative).
In particular, there are many exceptions to the sample endings given below and there are often changes in the stem (especially almost always in the genitive of the plural). In the following, these exceptions will only be discussed as an exception.
Male declension
In this declension, a distinction is made between animate and inanimate nouns and between soft and hard ending of the word stem.
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There is a fifth paradigm for foreign words that end in -i , -y , -e , -í , -é , -ě , -ä and for personal names that end in -ü , -ö :
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There are also certain special declinations:
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Female declension
In this declination, a basic distinction is made between soft and hard endings of the word stem. The genitive plural is an exception to the declension .
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As a fifth declination scheme there are the words with the ending -ná or -ovná (for example princezná ), which is based on the declination of the adjectives:
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1 Nouns that end in vowel + iná (e.g. švagriná ) have a vowel lengthening instead (e.g. švagr í n )
There is a sixth scheme for the words that end in -ea (for example idea ):
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The noun pani (woman) has an irregular declension:
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However, the word pani is not declined when it comes before another noun (e.g. za pani Schmidtovú ), unless the other noun is in the genitive (e.g. za paniu domu ).
Neuter declination
In this declension, the ending of the word in the nominative is used for classification. The genitive plural is an exception to the declination .
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There is a fifth paradigm for nouns with the ending vowel + um / on (for example štúdium, ganglion):
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Notwithstanding, there is also the following alternative to the declension on -a in the plural:
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As a special case, the word dieťa - the child (singular like dievča ):
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The nouns oko (the eye) and ucho (the ear) have two plural forms:
- 1. the old dual form (for two organs in a pair), and here these nouns also change their root: oko → oči , ucho → uši , and
- 2. Regular plural forms oká and uchá , but with a different, transferred meaning ( oká → stitches, loops , uchá → handles ).
Footnotes
1 ending -u occurs when the word:
- uncountable or an abstract term : vrh , pozdrav , cukor , piesok , senát , hmyz (also compound words such as vodopád ), with the exception of: chlieb , syr , ovos , národ ; also note: papier - papiera (1 piece) / papieru (material), hrášok - hráška (1 pea) / hrášku (many peas)
- ends in -m (except for some geographical names such as Ostrihom - Ostrihoma )
- is a foreign word (especially endings in -x , -izmus , -consonant + us ), for example: parlament , festival , text , index , komunizmus , cyklus ; sometimes the ending -a as well as -u is possible, for example autobus ( autobusu / autobusa ), trolejbus , Alžír
- a geographical name of the on -z , -hrad , -grad , -horod , -gorod is
- in some other words like: obraz , sad , hrad , vinohrad , diel , druh , vrch , vlak , breh , petržlen , cesnak , prístav , stan , zámotok , vodovod ; sometimes the ending -a as well as -u is possible: kolok , schodok , bok , rok, oštep , tlakomer , teplomer , as well as in the masculine weekday names , whereby in some cases the forms with -u and -a have different meanings (for example : kolok , schodok ) and the word rok (the year) is used in some contexts with -a , in others with -u .
2 Ending -u is used when the word ends in k , g , h , ch or -Vowel + us .
3 The ending -u is used when the word ends in k , g , h , ch , -Vowel + o , -Vowel + um or -Vowel + on .
4 with some nouns
5 ending - í without stem change is used when the word ends in ia , ya , ja , ťa , ďa , dza , dža , ža , ša (except moruša, fľaša, čaša), ča (except hrča, papuča, priča, paprča), ňa (except yňa , iňa ), nca ends, or with some words on ľa (e.g. mandľa, moľa, pištoľa, džungľa, roľa, vôľa, mrľa), and with the words pasca, liace ( pl), večera, rozopra, konopa and dvere
6 endings -ovia , -ia occur in certain words, -ovia especially in personal names
7 endings -i in the locative singular and -e in the nominative plural have, among other things, almost all words that End in ár , iar , ier and most foreign words that end in er , el or or .
8 Ending -u for abstract or substance-related words
Plural tantum
There are some plural forms in Slovak as well as in German , but these mostly differ from the German plural forms.
The Slovak plural forms are in particular:
- some place names:
- Košice (Kosice)
- Piešťany (Pistyan)
- most of the mountain ranges:
- Karpaty (the Carpathian Mountains)
- Tatry (the Tatra Mountains)
- many names of holidays, festivals and periods:
- Vianoce (Christmas)
- Turíce (Pentecost)
- narodeniny (birthday)
- prázdniny (the vacation)
- anatomical organs, v. a. if there are two of them:
- pľúca (the lungs)
- ústa (the mouth)
- prsia (the breast)
- often clothes and their parts:
- nohavice (the pants)
- traky (the suspenders)
- šaty (the dress)
- plavky (the swimsuit)
- some diseases:
- suchoty (consumption)
- osýpky (measles)
- some innumerable items:
- smeti (the garbage)
- pomyje (washing up water)
- many house items and instruments (which appear to be made up of two or many parts):
- hrable (the rake)
- dvere (the door)
- nožnice (the scissors)
- okuliare (the glasses)
- other items:
- hodiny (the clock)
- husle (the violin)
- noviny (the newspaper)
- raňajky (breakfast)
Adjectives
In contrast to Polish or French, adjectives (adjectives) are never after the noun in an attributive function. There are also possessive adjectives in Slovak
Endings and genders
There are adjectives with hard and soft endings of the stem (see phonetics), the following endings are in the nominative:
| hard ending | soft ending | Ending -ov or -in | |
| male | -ý (-y) pekný | -í (-i) cudzí | -ov (-in) otcov |
| Female | -á (-a) pekná | -ia cudzia | -ova (-ina) otcova |
| neutrally | -é (-e) pekné | -ie cudzie | -ovo (-ino) otcovo |
declination
There are also certain patterns for the declination of adjectives (3 in total). But since every single adjective, unlike the nouns, can always have three genders, every pattern has a masculine, feminine and factual version .
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1 ending -ého is in relation to a male animate used noun
2 ending -í is in relation to a male animate used noun
3 ending -ých is in relation to a male animate noun used
4 ending -iého is in relation to a male revitalized Noun used
5 Ending -í is used when referring to an animated masculine noun
6 Ending -ích is used when referring to an animate masculine noun
Forms of increase
As in German, adjectives (and adverbs ) have 3 types of intensification ( stupňovanie ):
The shapes are formed according to the following scheme:
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- The second level is formed by the ending -ší or -ejší .
- The ending -ší is used:
- with the adjectives whose stem ends in a consonance, as long as there is no long self implication in the stem: tichý - tichší
- with the adjectives that end in -ký , -oký , -eký : široký - širší
- The ending -ejší is used:
- if the stem ends in 2 or more concursions : teplý - teplejší
- when the trunk ends with a sibilant: svieži - sviežejší
- Exceptions include the following words:
- dobrý - lepší - najlepší
- zlý - horší - najhorší
- pekný - krajší - najkrajší (based on krásny )
- malý - menší - najmenší
- veľký - väčší - najväčší
- mnoho - viac - najviac (based on veľa )
- málo - menej - najmenej
- The ending -ší is used:
- The 3rd level is formed from the form of the 2nd level by placing the syllable naj- in front .
The adjectives of the comparative and superlative are declined according to the pattern cudzí (soft).
The word ako (as), rarely also než , is used to compare words : On je menší ako / než ja. (He is smaller than me.)
See also comparison
Adjectives indicating possession
In Slovak there is also the form of the possessive adjective, which has no correct equivalent in German and is usually translated using the genitive ( otcov = belonging to the father, the father). This type of adjective is made up of the masculine and feminine nouns that designate a person (but not neuter words like dieťa or dievča ):
- Of the masculine nouns with the ending -ov , -ova , -ovo , -ove , -ovi
- učiteľ → učiteľ ov , učiteľ ova , učiteľ ovo (plural: učiteľ ovi / učiteľ ove ) - the teacher
- otec → otc ov , otc ova , otc ovo - of the father
- Jozef → Jozef ov , Jozef ova , Jozef ovo - of Joseph
- Of the feminine nouns with the ending -in , -ina , -ino , -ini , -ine
- matka → matk in , matk ina , matk ino (plural: matk ini / matk ine ) - the mother
- Viera → four in , four ina , four ino - the Viera
The other shapes are declined according to the following pattern:
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1 Ending -ho is used when referring to an animated masculine noun
2 Ending -i is used when referring to an animate masculine noun
3 Ending -ých is used when referring to an animate masculine noun
Verbs
The infinitive always ends in -ť .
Since there are several verb classes and thus conjugations, and of course also irregular verbs, one should always learn three forms of each verb: the infinitive, the 1st person singular and the 3rd person plural.
The verbs of the following examples correspond to the entries of the verbs in the lessons of Slovake.eu .
present
There are the following endings:
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literature
- Olga Monte: Slovak just in case. Modern textbook for nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, locative and instrumental. omninum, Bad Vöslau 2014, ISBN 978-3-99031-006-9
Web links
- A detailed description of the Slovak declension - in English
- Simplified overview of the Slovak grammar originally for the Peace Corps (Slovak and English)
Individual evidence
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↑ a b Christa Lüdtke, Katarina Savchuk-Augustinova: Contrastive Analysis Slovak-German. In: Hans-Jürgen Krumm (Ed.): German as a foreign and second language: an international handbook. Volume 1, De Gruyter, Berlin 2010, pp. 693-699.
- In it (p. 695): The nominal categories gender, case and number are present in both languages, but Slovakian has 6 cases (in addition to the cases known from German also locative and instrumental) as well as the distinction between animate and inanimate masculine a much greater variety of shapes. ( P. 695 in Google Book search)
- ↑ a b Cases , on slovake.eu (learning Slovak page), accessed on March 23, 2016.
- ↑ Simona Frastikova: The shimmering positional verb "sit": A contrastive corpus-based investigation of the valence potential of verbal lemmas. Logos Verlag, Berlin 2015, p. 32 f., Note 58.