Slovak language guide

Language (Jazyk) ******* Slovak (slovenčina) is one branch in the Slavic language tree, and Slovaks will insist (we agree) that their language is the cleanest of them all. Regardless, it’s a tough language, laced with conjugations and myriad endings, depending on the case being used. Take heart – more and more Slovaks speak English, German or both. We’ve included a small guide for those brave souls who want to wrestle with the language. Vowels (Samohlásky) ****** Vowels can be either short (a, ä, e, i, o, u, y) or long (á, é, í, ó, ú, ý). Long vowels are simply emphasized versions of their short counterparts. a short -a- as in “ah” you say to your dentist, e.g. mapa (mapa) map á long -a- as in prolonged “ah” to dentist, e.g. dáma (daaa-ma) lady ä e- as in bed, e.g. mäso (me-so) meat e short -e- as in bet, e.g. teraz (te-raz) now é long -e- as in there, e.g. prvé (pr-vee) first i short -i- as in graffiti, e.g. pivo (pi-vo) beer í long -i- as in need, e.g. víno (veee-no) wine o -o- as in log, e.g. okno (ok-no) window ó long -o-, like the -a- in talk, e.g. móda (moh-da) fashion ô -uo-, like “whoa!” to a horse, e.g. môžem (mwhoa-zhem) I can u short -u- as in shoot, e.g. ruka (ru-ka) hand ú long -oo- as in school, e.g. údolie (ooo-doh-lye) valley y,ý the same as for i, í Consonants (Spoluhlásky) ************ The consonants b, d, f, g, l, m, n, s, v, and z are pronounced approximately as in English. Meanwhile, k, p, and t are like in English, but without aspiration. The „v“ over some consonants softens them. Example: čo, pronounced choh, which means what. To complicate things, d, n, and t are usually softened when followed by e or i , becoming ď, ň or ť. Examples: deti (dye-tyee) children, neviem (nye-vyem) I don’t know. c -ts- as in oats, e.g. ocot (otsot) vinegar č -ch- as in child, e.g. človek (chlo-vek) man, human being ď -dy- as in duty, e.g. ďakujem (dyak-oo-yem) thank you dz -ds- as in heads, e.g. medzi (me-dsi) between dž -j- as in jam, e.g. džús (juus) juice ch -ch- as in the Scottish loch, e.g. chata (cha-ta) cottage j -y- as in you, e.g. kraj (kray) region ľ -ly- as in lurid, e.g. ľad (lyad) ice ĺ long l (no English equivalent) e.g. stĺp (stlllp) pole ň -ny- as in news, e.g. deň (dyeny) day r rolled like a Spanish r, e.g. ryba (rrri-ba) fish ŕ long rolled r, e.g. mŕtvy (mrrrrrrrtvy) dead š -sh- as in she, e.g. šesť (shesty) six ť -t- as in tune, e.g. dosť (dost) enough w -v- as in van (found only in foreign words), e.g. WC (ve-tse) WC ž like -s- in pleasure, e.g. žena (zhe-na) woman In the next issue: Select glossary (numbers and basic phrases) Source: The Slovak Spectator By Soňa Bellušová, Matthew Evans, Tom Nicholson Photo: iStockPhoto

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