Slovak declension

The Masculine Gender

There is also a 5th paradigm for foreign nouns ending in .-i, -y, -e, -í, -é, -ě, -ä (for example pony, kuli, Tököli, Goethe, Krejčí, abbé, Poupě) and foreign personal names ending in -ü, -ö (for example Jenö), which goes as follows:

• Sg: N: pony, G: ponyho, D: ponymu, A: ponyho, L and I: ponym;
• Pl: like hrdina.

Masculine animal nouns are declined like chlap in the singular, but in plural usually like dub (if they end in a hard or neutral consonant) or like stroj (otherwise).

Notes on chlap:

• For the nouns ending in a vowel (for example -o, -u) the vowel is not part of the stem, but the ending in N sg: for example dedo has G / D sg... deda / dedovi etc. (not *dedoa / *dedoovi etc.)
• many nouns lose an e / o / i from the stem in all cases except N sg (for example vrabec – vrabca);
• in some short nouns, the -e- changes its position in all cases except N sg (for example žnec – ženca);
• some nouns ending in -k / -ch change their final /k/ or /ch/ into /c/ and /s/, respectively in N pl (for example žiak – žiaci);
• words ending in -h use the N pl ending for hrdina instead (such as vrah - vrahovia, súdruh - súdruhovia)
• most Latin and Greek nouns ending in -us, -as, -es lose it in all cases except N sg (for example génius – génia; but for example fiškus – fiškusa).

Notes on hrdina:

Notes on dub:

• many nouns lose e / o / i / í / ie / á from the stem in all cases except N sg and A sg (for example výmysel – výmyslu, chrbát – chrbta, ohníček – ohníčka, dnešok – dneška, ocot – octu )
• some Greek and Latin nouns in -us, -es, -os lose the -us / -es / -os in all cases except N sg and A sg (e.g. komunizmus – komunizmu; but e.g. autobus – autobusu, cirkus – cirkusu);
• some Slovak words lose the acute or the i / u from a diphthong in all cases except N sg and A sg (for example mráz – mraza, chlieb – chleba, vietor – vetra (here along with loss of o), stôl – stola; but bôr – bôru);
• in G sg, inanimate masculine nouns declined by the pattern dub have the ending of either -a or -u. There is no quick rule to tell which noun uses which ending.
• in G pl, some nouns change the a / e / i / o / u (without an acute or a preceding i) in the stem to á / ie / í / ô / ú (Krompachy – Krompách, Žabokreky – Žabokriek, Poniky – Poník, sloha – slôh) or in some cases to ia / iu (for example čas – čias, Margecany – Margecian), unless the rhythmical rule prevents it, i.e. the preceding syllable in the stem already contains a vowel with an acute or a diphthong (for example Hájniky – Hájnik);
• in L sg, nouns ending in g / k / h have -u rather than -e.

Notes on stroj:

• many nouns lose the e / o / i / í / ie / á in all cases except N sg and A sg (for example marec – marca, delenec – delenca, veniec – venca, deň – dňa, stupeň – stupňa, lakeť – lakťa);
• some nouns lose the acute or the i/u from a diphthong in all cases except N sg and A sg (for example dážď – dažďa, nôž – noža);
• in G pl, geographical names in pl. (plurale tantum) change the a / e / i / o / u (without an acute or a preceding i) in the stem to á / é / í / ó / ú (for example Tlmače – Tlmáč) or in some cases to ia / ie / iu / ô (for example Ladce – Ladiec) in the G pl, unless the rhythmical rule prevents it, i.e. the preceding syllable in the stem already contains an acute or a diphthong.

The Feminine Gender

There is also a 5th paradigm for feminine nouns ending in -ná or -ovná (for example princezná), where the singular and N pl and A pl are like pekná (see under adjectives) and the remaining plural is like žena. In the G pl, there are changes in the stem: if the noun ends in -vowel + ná, then this vowel receives an acute (for example švagriná – švagrín), but otherwise -ie- is inserted (for example princezná – princezien).

There is also a 6th paradigm for the feminine nouns ending in -ea (idea, Kórea), which goes like žena, except that D sg and L sg are idei, and G pl is ideí without change in the stem.

Notes on žena:

• The following nouns are declined like ulica instead of žena: večera, rozopra, konopa, Hybe and (the plurale tantum) dvere;
• In the G pl of some nouns, an ie / e / o / á / ô is inserted in the last syllable of the stem (for example hra – hier, čipka – čipiek/čipôk, karta – kariet/karát, kvapka – kvapiek/kvapák/kvapôk, vojna – vojen, látka – látok);
• In the G pl of some nouns, in the last syllable of the stem the a / i / y / u / ä / e / o / syllabic r / syllabic l (without an acute or a preceding i) is changed into á (or ia) / í / ý / ú / ia / ie / ô / ŕ / ĺ respectively (sila - síl, skala - skál, chyba – chýb, ruka – rúk, fakulta – fakúlt, päta – piat, slza – sĺz, črta – čŕt, brzda – bŕzd, slza – sĺz).

Notes on ulica:

• In the G pl of some nouns ie is inserted (for example jedľa – jedieľ, sukňa – sukieň);
• In the G pl of some nouns, in the last syllable of the stem the a / i / y / u / e / o / syllabic r (without an acute or a preceding i) is changed into á (or ia) / í / ý / ú / ie / ô / ŕ respectively (for example ulica – ulíc, sudkyňa – sudkýň, Krkonoše – Krkonôš, košeľa – košieľ, guľa – gúľ, hoľa – hôľ, fľaša – fliaš).

Notes on dlaň:

• The following nouns are declined like dlaň, not like kosť: obec, päsť, čeľusť;
• The following feminine nouns are not declined like dlaň, but like kosť: jar, zver, chuť, ortuť, pamäť, smrť, pleť, sneť, rukoväť, smeť, púť, spleť, svojeť, reč, seč, meď, soľ, hluš, myš, voš, lož, bel, Sereď, Sibír, Budapešť, Bukurešť, Lešť and a few other nouns. The words myseľ, chuť, raž, tvár, hneď can be declined like dlaň or like kosť in the singular, but only like dlaň in the plural. The word hrsť is declined like dlaň in the singular, but like kosť in the plural. The word pamäť is declined like kosť when it refers to human memory, but like dlaň when it refers to computer memory;
• most nouns in -eň lose -e- in all cases except N sg and A sg (for example úroveň – úrovne).

Notes on kosť:

• see the first two notes under dlaň;
• some nouns lose -e-/-o- in all cases except N sg and A sg (for example ves – vsi, lož – lži, cirkev – cirkvi).

The Neuter Gender

For (any) neuter nouns ending in -vowel+um/on (for example štúdium, ganglion) there is actually a 5th paradigm (štúdium), which is declined like mesto except that the -um- / -on- is omitted in all cases except N sg and A sg., L sg ends in -u (štúdiu), and G pl in -í (štúdií).

Notes on mesto:

• Latin and Greek neuter nouns ending in consonant + -um/-on (for example fórum, epiteton) are declined like mesto, except that the -um/-on is omitted in all cases except N sg and A sg (for example, N sg and A sg: publikum, G sg: publika, D sg: publiku etc.);
• in the G pl of some nouns, an ie / e / o / á / (rarely é) is inserted in the last syllable of the stem (for example clo – ciel, mydlo –mydiel, zvieratko – zvieratiek, jedlo – jedál, vrecko – vrecák/vreciek, vlákno – vláken/vlákien, číslo – čísel / čísiel, lajno – lajen, lýtko – lýtok, teliesko – teliesok;
• in the G pl of some nouns, in the last syllable of the stem, the a / i / y / u / ä / e / o / syllabic r / syllabic l (without an acute or a preceding i) is changed into á / í / ý / ú / ia / ie / ô / ŕ / ĺ respectively (kladivo – kladív, zrno – zŕn).

Notes on srdce:

• In the G pl of some nouns, an ie/e is inserted in the last syllable of the stem (for example citoslovce – citosloviec, okience – okienec, vajce – vajec);
• In the G pl of some nouns, in the last syllable of the stem the a / i / y / u / ä / e / o / syllabic r / syllabic l (without an acute or a preceding i) is changed into á / í / ý / ú / ia / ie / ô / ŕ / ĺ respectively (plece – pliec, srdce – sŕdc, slnce – sĺnc).

Notes on vysvedčenie:

Notes on dievča:

• The -a- at the beginning of all endings is replaced by ä after a labial consonant, i.e. p/b/m/f/v (for example žriebä – žriebäťa – žriebäťu...);
• Most nouns can take both the -at- endings and the -enc- endings in the plural (for example dievča, húsa, bábä), some nouns however take only the -at- endings (for example knieža, zviera, mláďa) and some nouns only the -enc- endings (for example kura). The following nouns do not take the -en- in the alternative plural endings: prasa (N pl prasatá/prasce, G pl prasiat/prasiec), teľa, šteňa.

Paradigms

The Comparative and Superlative

The comparative is formed by replacing the adjective ending -ý/y/i/í by -ejší or -ší. There are exact rules for the choice between these two endings and there are several irregular comparatives. Examples:

Regular: hrozný – hroznejší, bohatý – bohatší…

Irregular: veľký – väčší, malý – menší, dobrý – lepší, zlý – horší, pekný – krajší, čierny – černejší, blízky – bližší, ďaleký – ďaľší, hlboký – hlbší…

The comparative forms are declined like cudzí.

The superlative is formed as follows: naj+comparative. Examples: pekný – krajší – najkrajší, hrozný – hroznejší – najhroznejší...

The comparative and superlative of adverbs (which, by the way, end in -o, -e or -y in the basic form) is formed by simply replacing the -(ej)ší from the adjective by -(ej)šie (for example: pekne – krajšie – najkrajšie, hrozne – hroznejšie – najhroznejšie, teplo – teplejšie – najteplejšie, pomaly – pomalšie – najpomalšie).

Personal pronouns

There is also the reflexive pronoun sa, which is declined as follows: N: –, G: seba, D: sebe / si, A: seba/sa, L: sebe, I: sebou

Notes:

• the long forms mňa, teba, seba, mne, tebe, sebe in G, D and A are used after prepositions (for example pre mňa) or when emphasized, especially always at the beginning of the sentence (for example Vidíš len seba., Teba vidím.);
• the forms jeho, jemu in G, D and A are used when emphasized, especially always at the beginning of the sentence (for example Vidím jeho. Jeho vidím = It is him that I see);
• the forms in n- (i.e. neho, nemu, nej, ňu, nich, nim, ne) are used after prepositions (for example pre neho (masc.)); the forms -ňho (or -ň), -ňmu, -ň can be used alternatively after the prepositions do, pre, na, za, o, po, do, u (for example pre neho (masc.) = preňho = preň); the special form -eň can be used alternatively (for neuter nouns obligatorily) after the prepositions nad, ponad, cez, pod, popod, pred, popred (for example nad neho (masc.) = nadeň).

Demonstrative Pronouns

like ten (that, the) are declined: tamten (that one), henten (that one), tento (this one), tenže (the same)...

like adjectives are declined: for example istý (certain, same), každý (each), iný (other), taký / onaký (such), všetok (all), sám (-self), onen (that one), and žiaden = žiadny (no one)...

Interrogative (and Relative) and Indefinite pronouns

who: N: kto - G: koho – D: komu – A: koho – L: kom – I: kým [always masculine animate],

what: N: čo – G: čoho – D: čomu – A: čo – L: čom – I: čím [always neuter];

like kto/čo are declined: nikto (nobody), niekto / dakto (someone), niečo / dačo (something), hocikto (who ever), nič (nothing), ktosi (someone), čosi (something)...

like adjectives are declined: čí (whose), niečí / dačí / hocičí (someone's), ničí (no one's), ktorý (which), aký (what, which), nejaký / dajaký / (some), nijaký / niktorý (no), čísi (someone's), číkoľvek (whose ever). akýsi (some), ktorýsi (some), ktorýkoľvek (which ever)...

Possessive pronouns

The following are the first person pronouns.

like môj (my) are declined:

• tvoj (your (sg.)) and svoj (one's own), except that the o never changes in ô (for example tvoj – tvojho...);
• náš (our) and váš (your (plural)), except that the -ô- in môj corresponds to an -á-, and an -o- in môj corresponds to an -a- here (for example náš – G: nášho – L: našom).

not declined are:

• jeho (his), jej (her), ich (their).

Cardinal Numerals

Ordinal Numerals

They are declined like adjectives (paradigms pekný and cudzí).

Note: Ordinal numerals are formed by adding adjective endings to the (slightly modified) cardinal numbers, for example:

5: päť – 5th: piaty,

20: dvadsať – 20th: dvadsiaty.