Slovak language

Slovak, also known as slovenčina, is a West Slavic language written in Latin script. It belongs to the Indo-European language family and is one of the Slavic languages. About five million people speak Slovak as their native language, mainly ethnic Slovaks. It is the official language of Slovakia and one of the 24 official languages of the European Union.

Slovak is very close to Czech, and people from both countries can usually understand each other easily. It is also related to Polish. Like other Slavic languages, Slovak has a complex system of word changes and flexible word order. Over time, its vocabulary has been influenced by Latin and German, as well as other Slavic languages.

History

Main article: History of the Slovak language

The Slovak language belongs to a group of languages called Czech-Slovak, which developed in the early medieval times. Later, in the 1800s, important changes were made to the Slovak alphabet and writing system by two people, Ľudovít Štúr and Martin Hattala. Some dialects spoken near the border with the Czech Republic, called Moravian, are sometimes considered part of Slovak, even though some of them are closer to the Czech language. These dialects help connect the two languages.

Geographic distribution and status

The Slovak language is mainly spoken in Slovakia. It is the official language of the country, meaning it is used in government and schools. Other languages can also be used in some official places for people from different backgrounds who live in Slovakia.

Slovak has special rules set by the government, and these rules are checked by experts. People who speak Slovak live in many countries around the world, such as the United States, Czech Republic, and Argentina. Slovak is also an official language in a part of Serbia called the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina.

Dialects

Slovak has many dialects, which are grouped into four main types. These include Western Slovak dialects (such as Trenčín, Trnava, Nitra, and Záhorie), Central Slovak dialects (found in areas like Liptov, Orava, and Zvolen), Eastern Slovak dialects (including Spiš and Šariš), and Lowland Slovak dialects spoken outside Slovakia in places like Vojvodina, Hungary, Romania, and Syrmia.

These dialects mainly differ in sounds, words, and tones. Central Slovak is the basis for the standard Slovak language today. People from different dialect areas might find it hard to understand each other. The dialects are spread out across many mountain regions and have existed since the 10th century.

Phonology

Main article: Slovak phonology

Slovak has 15 vowel sounds and 29 consonant sounds. Some vowel sounds can change length but keep the same quality. Slovak also has special rules about how sounds change at the end of words. For example, certain soft sounds become harder when they appear at the end of a word.

The language also has rules about how sounds work together in clusters, changing depending on the last sound in the cluster.

Orthography

Main articles: Slovak orthography and Slovak braille

Slovak uses the Latin script with some special marks placed above letters. These marks help show how each letter is pronounced. For example, letters like á, č, and ť have marks that change their sounds.

In Slovak, most words are spelled the way they sound. This makes reading and writing easier. When words come from other languages, they are changed to fit Slovak spelling rules. For example, "weekend" becomes víkend, and "software" becomes softvér.

Some words look the same but are pronounced differently, like krásne, which can mean "beautiful" or "beautifully" depending on how it is said.

Grammar

Syntax

Slovak verbs match their subject in person and number. For example, "The singer is singing" changes depending on whether the singer is one person or a group, and whether they are male or female.

Adjectives and other words also change to match the noun they describe in gender, number, and case. The order of words can change to show what is most important in the sentence.

Morphology

Articles

Slovak does not use words like "a" or "the" before nouns. Instead, to make things clear, words like "that" can be used.

Nouns, adjectives, pronouns

Slovak nouns change form to show their role in the sentence, like showing if they are the thing doing the action or the thing receiving the action. There are six ways nouns can change form. Nouns also have gender — masculine, feminine, or neuter — and can be singular or plural. Adjectives and pronouns change to match the nouns they describe.

Numerals

Numbers from 0 to 10 have special forms. Numbers 11 to 19 are made by adding "násť" to the end of each number. Larger numbers are formed using words like "dvadsať" for 20 and "sto" for 100.

Verbs

Verbs change form to show tense (past, present, future), mood, and whether the action is completed or ongoing. There are three main ways to conjugate verbs.

Conjugations

There are several patterns for how verbs change their endings.

Adverbs

Adverbs are formed by changing the ending of an adjective. For example, "high" becomes "highly." They can also be made comparative, like "faster" or "most quickly."

Prepositions

Prepositions like "from" or "up to" require the noun they go with to be in a certain form, called a case. For example, "from friends" uses the genitive case.

Vocabulary

Slovak comes from old languages like Proto-Slavic and Proto-Indo-European. It is very similar to other West Slavic languages, especially Czech and Polish. Czech has also influenced Slovak over time. Many old Slovak words came from Latin, German, Czech, Hungarian, Polish, and Greek. Today, English also influences Slovak.

Czech and Slovak can often understand each other, though some eastern Slovak dialects are harder for Czech speakers to understand. Since Czechoslovakia split, Czech can be used in some official places in Slovakia by people who speak it well. Both languages share many writing and technical words from their time together, but they have some differences.

Slovak also shares features with other Slavic languages because of history. Eastern Slovak dialects are most like Polish, then Rusyn. Some words from Russian and Ukrainian can also be understood.

Latin

Some words from Latin are still used in Slovak:

• bakuľa: stick
• kláštor: monastery
• kostol: church
• košeľa: shirt
• machuľa: blot or stain
• škola: school
• skriňa: cupboard
• titul: title

English

Many English words are now part of Slovak, especially in sports, food, and clothing:

• Sports: športovať (to do sports), šport (sport), futbal (football), ofsajd (offside), aut (out in football), hokej (hockey), bodyček (body check in hockey)
• Food: hemendex (ham & eggs), kečup (ketchup)
• Clothing: džínsy (jeans), legíny (leggings), sveter (sweater), tenisky (tennis shoes)
• Exclamations: fajn (fine), super (super), okej (OK)

German

Slovak also uses many words from German:

• Nouns: brak (rubbish), cech (guild), cieľ (goal/target), cín (tin), deka (blanket), drôt (wire), and many more.
• Verbs: študovať (to study), vinšovať (to wish)
• Greetings: Servus is used as a friendly greeting or when saying goodbye.

Hungarian

Hungarians and Slovaks have shared words for a long time, especially about farming and ruling:

• "wicker whip": Slovak korbáč – Hungarian korbács
• "dragon/kite": Slovak šarkan – Hungarian sárkány
• "rumour": Slovak chýr – Hungarian hír
• "camel": Slovak ťava – Hungarian teve
• "ditch": Slovak jarok – Hungarian árok
• "glass": Slovak pohár – Hungarian pohár

Sample text

Here is the first article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights written in Slovak using Latin letters:

Všetci ľudia sa rodia slobodní a rovní v dôstojnosti aj právach. Sú obdarení rozumom a svedomím a majú sa k sebe správať v duchu bratstva.

And here it is in English:

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.