Language/Slovak/Grammar/Nouns

Slovak Grammar - Nouns

Hi Slovak learners! 😊
In this lesson, we will discuss Slovak nouns, which are an integral part of the language. Nouns are used to name people, places, things, and ideas. They can be singular or plural, masculine, feminine, or neutral. Learning the gender of a noun is important, as it determines how the noun declinates. Let's get started!

Consider broadening your understanding by checking out these related lessons: Slovak Grammar, Plurals, The Present Tense of Regular Verbs & The Locative Case.

Gender

In Slovak, there are three genders: masculine, feminine, and neutral. Unlike some other languages, gender in Slovak is not tied to biological gender. For example, the word "muž" (man) is obviously masculine, but "dievča" (girl) is neutral. There are some patterns to help determine the gender of a noun, but many times, it simply must be memorized. For example, most words that end in "-a" are feminine, most words that end in a consonant are masculine, and most words that end in "-o" are neutral.

Declination

Nouns in Slovak decline, which means they change their form depending on their role in the sentence. There are seven cases: nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, locative, instrumental, and vocative. The endings for each case vary depending on the gender, and can be somewhat tricky to remember. However, practicing with examples is a great way to get the hang of it!

Here are the endings for singular masculine, feminine, and neutral nouns:

	Masculine	Feminine	Neutral
Nominative	-o/-e	-a	-o/-e
Genitive	-a	-y/-i	-a
Dative	-ovi	-e/-i	-u
Accusative	-a	-u/-e	-o/-e
Locative	-o/-e	-e/-i	-e/-i
Instrumental	-om/-em	-ou/-ou	-om/-em
Vocative	-e	-a	-o/-e

For example, let's learn how to decline the word "škola," which means "school." It is a feminine noun:

Slovak	Pronunciation	English
škola	shko-lah	school
školy	shko-li	of the school
škole	shko-le	to the school
školu	shko-lu	the school (accusative case)
škole	shko-le	in/at the school
školou	shko-lou	with the school
školo	shko-lo	oh school! (vocative case)

As you can see from the above table, the word "škola" has different endings depending on its grammatical case.

Plural Nouns

In addition to singular nouns, there are also plural nouns in Slovak. To form the plural, there are different rules depending on the gender and the ending of the noun. Here are a few examples:

• Masculine nouns ending in "c": change "c" to "ťe"
  • lekár (doctor) -> lekári (doctors)
• Masculine nouns ending in a consonant: add "i"
  • krát (time) -> kráty (times)
• Feminine nouns ending in "a": change "a" to "y"
  • mama (mom) -> mamy (moms)
• Neutral nouns ending in "o": add "á"
  • oko (eye) -> oči (eyes)

Dialogue

Person 1: Pozdravím susedu! ("I will greet the neighbor!") Person 2: Ahoj, ako sa máš? ("Hi, how are you?") Person 1: Mám sa dobre, ďakujem. A ty? ("I'm doing well, thank you. And you?") Person 2: Tiež dobre. Pôjdeme si na obe? ("Also good. Shall we go get lunch?") Person 1: Jasné, ideme do reštaurácie. ("Sure, let's go to the restaurant.")

Tips

- To improve your Slovak Grammar, you can also use the Polyglot Club website. Find native speakers and ask them any questions! - Don't be afraid to make mistakes - practice makes perfect! - Listen to Slovak music, podcasts or watch Slovak movies and TV shows to immerse yourself in the language.

Sources

• Slovak declension - Wikipedia
• Slovak Nouns

Other Lessons

• Plurals
• How to Use Be
• Adjectives
• How to Use Have
• Future Tense
• Questions
• Conditional Mood
• Give your Opinion
• Negation