Slovak Grammar

Welcome to the 8th lesson about Slovak grammar. We will first learn about prepositions, negation, questions, adverbs, and pronouns including: personal, object and possessive pronouns.

We will start with prepositions. In general, they are used to link words to other words. For example: I speak Slovak and English the preposition is [and] because it connects both words Slovak and English. The following is a list of the most used prepositions in Slovak.

Prepositions - Slovak
and a
above nad
under pod
before pred
after po
in front of pred
behind za
far from ďaleko od
near pri
in v
inside vnútri
outside mimo
with s
without bez
about o
between medzi
but ale
for pre
from od
to k

Preposition Grammar Rules

The following examples use prepositions in different ways and places to demonstrate how they behave in a sentence.

Prepositions + Rules - Slovak
I eat without a knife [preposition + noun] jem bez noža
she lives near the church [verb + preposition] býva pri kostole
he is taller than her [adjective + preposition] je vyšší než ona
he came with his small dog [preposition + pronoun] prišiel so svojím malým psom
can you come with me? [preposition + pronoun] môžete ísť so mnou?

Negation in Slovak

Now let's learn how to make a negative sentence (negation). For example: Saying no, I can't, I don't ... The following examples use negation in different ways and places to demonstrate how they behave in a sentence.

Negation + Rules - Slovak
I understand you [affirmative form] ja vám rozumiem
I don't understand you [negation + verb] ja vám nerozumiem
this is not the correct word [negation + adjective] nie je to správne slovo
don't leave me [imperative negation] neopúšťaj ma
no problem [negation + noun] nie je problém

Negative Sentences - Slovak
I don't speak French [negation + present tense] nehovorím francúzsky
she didn't visit Germany [negation + past tense] nenavštívila nemecko
he cannot see us [negative modal verb] nevidí nás
can't she play chess? [interrogative negation] nevie hrať šach?
we will not come late [negation + future tense] neprídeme neskoro

Questions in Slovak

Now let's learn how to ask questions (interrogative). Such as: what, why, can you ...? Here are some common examples:

English - Slovak
how? ako?
what? čo?
who? kto?
why? prečo?
where? kde?

More of the interrogative form, now in a sentence:

Questions + Rules - Slovak
where do you live? [interrogative + verb] kde bývaš?
does she speak Chinese? [interrogative verb] hovorí ona čínsky?
how much is this? [interrogative preposition] koľko to stojí?
can I help you? [interrogative modal verb] môžem vám pomôcť?
what is your name? [interrogative preposition] aké je vaše meno?

Adverbs in Slovak

It's time to learn the adverbs in Slovak. But what is an adverb? In general, adverbs modify verbs and adjectives. For example: You speak fast. The adverb is [fast] because it describes the verb and answers the question how do you speak?. Here is a list of the most common ones:

Adverbs - Slovak
now teraz
yesterday včera
today dnes
tonight dnes večer
tomorrow zajtra
soon čoskoro
quickly rýchlo
slowly pomaly
together spoločne
very veľmi
almost takmer
always vždy
usually zvyčajne
sometimes niekedy
rarely zriedka
never nikdy

The following examples use the adverbs in different ways and places to demonstrate how it behaves in a sentence.

Adverbs + Rules - Slovak
do you understand me now? [pronoun + adverb] chápete ma už?
I need help immediately [noun + adverb] potrebujem pomoc okamžite
she is very intelligent [adverb + adjective] je veľmi inteligentná
I will always love you [verb + adverb] ja ťa budem vždy milovať
can we learn German together? [adverb in a question] môžeme sa učiť spolu nemecky?

Pronouns in Slovak

We're almost done! This time we will learn the pronouns in Slovak. In general, a pronoun can be used instead of a noun. For example instead of saying my teacher speaks 3 languages, you can use the pronoun he, and say he speaks 3 languages. Here is a list of the most common ones:

Personal Pronouns - Slovak
I ja
you ty/vy
he on
she ona
we my
they oni

Object Pronouns - Slovak
me mňa/mne
you teba/vás/tebe/vám
him jeho/jemu
her ju/jej
us nás/nám
them ich/im

Possessive Pronouns - Slovak
my môj
your tvoj
his jeho
her jej
our náš
their ich

I think it's better to put the above example in a sentence to better assist you. The following examples use pronouns in different ways and places to demonstrate how they behave in a sentence. We will start with the personal pronouns.

Personal Pronouns - Slovak
I am your friend [1st pronoun + verb] som tvoj priateľ
you speak very fast [2nd pronoun + adverb] hovoríte veľmi rýchlo
he has three dogs [3rd pronoun + verb] má tri psy
she can speak German [3rd pronoun + verb] vie hovoriť nemecky
we will not come late [1st plural pronoun] neprídeme neskoro
they bought milk and bread [3rd plural pronoun] kúpili mlieko a chlieb

The object pronoun is used as a target by a verb, and usually come after that verb. For example: I gave him my book. The object pronoun here is him. Here are more examples:

Object Pronouns - Slovak
can you tell me your name? [1st object pronoun] môžete mi povedať svoje meno?
I will give you money [2nd object pronoun] dám vám peniaze
she wrote him a letter [3rd object pronoun] napísala mu list
they visited her yesterday [3rd object pronoun] oni ju navštívili včera
can she help us? [1st pl. object pronoun] môže nám pomôcť?
he gave them food [3rd pl. object pronoun] dal im jedlo

Possessive Pronouns - Slovak
my name is Maya [1st possessive pronoun] volám sa maya
your brother lives here [2nd possessive pronoun] tvoj brat žije tu
her mother cooks for us [3rd possessive pronoun] jej matka nám varí
his hobby is reading books [3rd possessive pronoun] jeho koníčkom je čítanie kníh
our dream is to visit Paris [1st pl. possessive pronoun] naším snom je navštíviť paríž
their house is not far [3rd pl. possessive pronoun] ich dom je neďaleko

One more thing you need to know is the demonstrative pronouns. They're very easy to learn.

Demonstrative Pronouns - Slovak
this is my house to je môj dom
that restaurant is far tá reštaurácia je ďaleko
these apples are delicious tieto jablká sú výborné
those stars are shiny tie hviezdy sú žiarivé

I hope you learned a lot about the Slovak grammar in this lesson. Please check out our main menu here for more lessons: homepage. The next lesson is below, have fun!