Slovene Language Guide

Official language in
Slovenia
Script
Latin

Where it's spoken

Slovene is the official language of Slovenia. The Constitution states that the official language in Slovenia is Slovene, and that in those municipalities where Italian or Hungarian national communities reside, Italian or Hungarian are also official languages.

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Script & pronunciation

Slovene is written in a Latin alphabet. The Slovene orthography handbook (Slovenski pravopis) says that the Slovene alphabet has 25 Latin letters, and its list includes the three letters with a caron, č, š and ž. It adds that other letters are used in borrowed words, especially in names. This app's Slovene cards give the language only in this ordinary spelling, without a separate romanization field. Examples: "Dobrodošli v Sloveniji" (Welcome to Slovenia) contains š, "Počakajte, prosim" (Please wait) contains č, and "Žal mi je" (I'm sorry) begins with ž.

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Grammar essentials

Slovene nouns are declined in six cases. A scholarly chapter on the dual shows the six cases in its noun tables as nominative, accusative, genitive, locative, dative and instrumental, and notes that recent Slovene linguistics orders them as nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, locative and instrumental.

Slovene also has a dual number alongside the singular and plural. The same chapter says that Slovene has special dual forms on nouns, adjectives, verbs and pronouns, and that traditionally the dual is described as the number used when the subject refers to two people or items. Its example "Včeraj sva bila doma" is translated as "Yesterday, we(-two) were at home", and its table of personal pronouns lists the dual "you" as vidva, next to the singular ti and the plural vi.

Example: this app's card "Za dve osebi" (For two people) notes that exactly two things take the dual, here "dve osebi", and its card "Dobimo se ob 15. uri." (Let's meet at 3 pm.) notes that "dobiva se" is used for two people and "dobimo se" for three or more. Its card "Ena ura" (One hour) notes that two hours is the dual "dve uri".

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Politeness & etiquette

Slovene has the singular "you" ti and the plural "you" vi. The dictionary SSKJ² defines the verb vikati as using the second-person plural form when speaking with someone, and in the orthography handbook, the rule on capital letters treats the plural forms of the second-person pronouns as the ones that are more advisable to write with a capital letter when it is a matter of vikanje, and less so when a group, such as a committee in an official letter, is addressed. Another rule in the same handbook says that such pronouns may also be written with a small letter without that implying disrespect. The language advice service of the Fran Ramovš Institute of the Slovenian Language gives the same default of a small letter and says that the current orthography also permits a capital to stress respect.

The same institute's advice entry on addressing two people says that the normative handbooks do not settle the choice in such cases and that both the dual and the plural occur in use; it also quotes the view that two or more people cannot be addressed with vi in Slovene, and quotes the same author as saying that for two people the normal dual verb form is to be used.

Example: this app's card "Vi" (You (polite)) notes that the same "vi" is also the plural "you", that the verb is always plural (ste, imate), and that "ti" is used with friends and children. Its card "Počakajte, prosim" (Please wait) notes that "Počakajte" is the polite plural imperative and that "počakaj" is said to a friend.

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