Slovak Language Guide

Official language in
Slovakia
Script
Latin

Where it's spoken

Article 6 of the constitution of the Slovak Republic says that on the territory of the Slovak Republic the state language is the Slovak language, and that the use of languages other than the state language in official dealings is to be laid down by law.

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Script & pronunciation

Slovak is written in the Latin alphabet. The alphabet given in the Slovak Spelling Rules includes the letters ä, ô, ĺ, ľ and ŕ as well as č, š, ž, ď, ť and ň, and it lists dz, dž and ch as letters of their own.

The Spelling Rules say that in ordinary standard pronunciation (in a neutral style) the vowel e is pronounced in place of ä, while the spelling keeps ä regardless of the difference in pronunciation, and that ä occurs only after the consonants p, b, m and v. This app's cards "Späť" (Back (go back)) and "Bravčové mäso" (Pork) contain it.

The Spelling Rules write the u-type diphthong with the single letter ô, not with two letters, and give the letter's name as [uo]. This app's card "Pomôžte mi, prosím" (Please help me) contains it.

According to the Spelling Rules, the sounds ď, ť, ň and ľ are written with a háček before the vowels a, o and u, before consonants and at the end of a word, but are written d, t, n and l without it before e, i, í, ia, ie and iu, as in deti, telo, leto, nízky, lístie, liať and lietať. This app's cards show the háček at the end of a word in "Dobrý deň" (Good day / Hello), at the start of a word before a vowel in "Ďakujem" (Thank you), and before a consonant in "Koľko stojí taška?" (How much is a bag?).

This app's Slovak cards carry no separate romanization line.

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Grammar essentials

In an example sentence in the punctuation chapter, the Spelling Rules state that standard Slovak has six cases: nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, locative and instrumental. This app's card "Koľko nocí plánujete zostať?" (How many nights are you planning to stay?) notes that after koľko the noun takes the genitive plural, so noc becomes nocí, and its card "Dobrú noc." (Good night) notes that it uses the accusative.

The Spelling Rules also state that in standard Slovak two long syllables do not tend to occur directly one after another ("nebývajú"). When a stem ends in a long syllable, the endings are shortened, and the rules give the alternations of diphthongs as ia with a, ie with e, iu with u and ô with o. They count syllables with a long vowel, a diphthong, or a long ĺ or ŕ as long.

This app's card "Chcel(a) by som si požičať auto na X dní." (I'd like to rent a car for X days.) notes that men say "chcel by som" and women "chcela by som", written "chcel(a)", and the card "Chcel(a) by som vybrať peniaze." (I'd like to withdraw money.) uses the same form.

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Politeness & etiquette

Addressing a person with vy is called vykanie. A Kultúra slova article based on a Slovak Radio language-advice broadcast says that when a person is addressed with vy, the verb is always in the plural.

The same article says that this does not extend to an adjective or pronoun in the predicate: its examples are "Boli by ste taká dobrá," "Pán kolega, boli ste tam sám?" and "Pani Nováková, prečo ste boli na mňa taká prísna?" This app's card "Ste veľmi láskavý / láskavá" (You are very kind) notes the same pattern, that after the polite "ste" the predicate adjective stays singular and matches the person addressed.

A reply later in that issue, signed Matej Považaj, says that in Slovak the verb forms are always plural under vykanie, giving "vy hovoríte," "vy ste hovorili" and "boli by ste napísali". It contrasts this with the Czech way, in which, it says, the past tense and the conditional use the singular as well as the plural, as in "vy říkáte, vy jste říkal, vy jste říkala", and it says the Slovak rule should be respected rather than imitating the other language.

This app's card "Dobrý deň" (Good day / Hello) is described as the standard daytime greeting for strangers and shops, while "Ahoj" (Hi / Hey) is described as one that friends use for both hello and bye, with a note to use Dobrý deň instead with elders or staff. The note on "Hovoríte po anglicky?" (Do you speak English?) says that to a friend you say "Hovoríš po anglicky?"

The Spelling Rules say that in direct written address to a person the pronouns Vy and Váš are written with a capital letter as a sign of respect, as in "Zasielam Vám svoj príspevok," but that in instructions, notices and advertising they are usually written with a lowercase letter. They also say that the forms "si" and "ste" of the verb byť are written in lowercase, as in "Kedy ste sa vrátili z dovolenky?"

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