Slovianski / Slovijanski / Словиянски

Version: December 2009



WELCOME
to the pages of Slovianski!




VITAME VAS
do stronic Slovianskogo jazika!




ВИТАМЕ ВАС
до строниц Словианского язика!



Slovianski is a Slavic interlanguage created in 2006 as the collaborative effort of a group of people from several countries, gathered in the Slovianski Forum. It can be a great help for travellers and a very useful tool for anyone who is interested in addressing the entire Slavic world via websites, fora, mailing lists, etc., without having to translate a text into several languages. Knowledge of the language will enable a person to make himself reasonably understandable to any Slavic speaker and to understand more than just the basics of a text in any Slavic language. Slovianski is also an excellent method for those who want to start learning their first Slavic language.

Slovianski je slovjanski medžujazik iztvoreni v gode 2006 kak sotrudnične usilje grupi ljudjov iz rozličnih krajov, sobiranih v Slovianski Forum. On može bit' velika pomoč dlja putujučih i mnogo upotrebime orudje dlja libo-kogo, ktori bi hotel adresovat' celi slovjanski svet posredstvom vebsajtov, forov, spisov e-majlskih i.t.d., bez potrebovanja prevodit' tekst v rozne jaziki. Znanje togo jazika umožlivi človeku bit' rozumemi dlja libo-ktorogo govoritelja slovjanskogo jazika i rozumet' vjačej než tol'ko osnovu teksta v libo-ktorom slovjanskom jazike. Slovianski tož je mnogo dobra metoda dlja tih, ktore hočut načat' učit' sja svoj pervi slovjanski jazik.

Словиански йе словянски меджуязик изтворени в годе 2006 как сотрудничне усилье групи людьов из розличних крайов, собираних в Словиански Форум. Он може бить велика помоч для путуючих и много употребиме орудье для либо-кого, ктори би хотел адресовать цели словянски свет посредством вебсайтов, форов, списов е-майлских и.т.д., без потребованя преводить текст в розне язики. Знанье того язика уможливи чловеку бить розумеми для либо-кторого говорителя словянского язика и розуметь вячей неж только основу текста в либо-ктором словянском язике. Словиански тож йе много добра метода для тих, кторе хочут начать учить ся свой перви словянски язик.

On these pages you will find the basics of Slovianski: a short grammar, a dictionary, text samples, various tools, links and more. In the nearest future, there will be a language course as well. If you like to see Slovianski in action, you are invited to visit our wiki.

Na tuttih stronicah vi naidete osnovi slovianskogo jazika: krotku gramatiku, slovnik, prikladne teksti, rozlične orudja, linki i inu informaciju. V najblizkoj budučnosti tož bude kurs jazika. Jesli vi hočete uvidet' slovianski v akcii, zoveme vas posetit' našu viki.

На туттих строницах ви наидете основи словианского язика: кротку граматику, словник, прикладне тексти, розличне орудя, линки и ину информацию. В найблизкой будучности тож буде курс язика. Йесли ви хочете увидеть словиански в акции, зовеме вас посетить нашу вики.

We wish you a pleasant and, hopefully, useful stay!

Mi želame vam prijemnogo i, imajme nadeju, upotrebimogo pobitja!

Ми желаме вам приемного и, имайме надею, употребимого побитя!


Sdržanje ~ Сдржанје ~ Contents

3. Phonology & orthography

4. Grammar

5. Word formation

6. Sample texts

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3. PHONOLOGY & ORTHOGRAPHY

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3.1. Phonology

Slovianski has a simple phonology, primarily based on sounds that occur in all Slavic languages. Therefore, it does not make a distinction between, for example, i and y.

All consonants can be palatalised as well. In that case, they are followed by e, i, j or . This pronunciation, however, is not mandatory.

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3.2. Orthography

3.2.1. Alphabet

Slovianski can be written using in the Latin alphabet and the Cyrillic alphabet. One basic design principle is that it can be written on any keyboard. Therefore, it is inevitable to allow for alternate spellings, especially if we want to keep it natural:

Thus we have:

Latin
(Polish)
(ASCII)
A B C Č
CZ
D E F G H I J / ’ K L M N O P R S Š
SZ
T U V Z Ž
Ż
ZS
Cyrillic
(alt.)
(Serbian)
А Б Ц Ч Д Е Ф Г Х И Й / Ь

Ј
К Л М Н О П Р С Ш Т У В З Ж

In addition, we have the following digraphs:

Latin JU JA DJ / D’ LJ / L’ NJ / N’ TJ / T’
Cyrillic
(alt.)
(Serbian)
Ю
ЙУ / ЬУ
ЈУ
Я
ЙА / ЬА
ЈА
ДЬ

Ђ
ЛЬ

Љ
НЬ

Њ
ТЬ

Ћ

The Slovianski Transliterator makes it possible to transliterate any of these six versions into any of the other five.

3.2.2. The letter „j”

In both orthographies, the letter j is somewhat problematic. In general, it can fulfill two roles: when preceded by a consonant, j can modify its pronunciation and thus serves as a palataliser, even though it depends on the speaker whether the consonant is indeed palatalised or simply followed by a j-like sound; and, in all other cases, it serves as a semivowel, and is pronounced like English y. There is no need to distinguish between these two, as they are fully complementary to each other. And this would be the end of the story, if it hadn't been for one problem: ideally, every character should be transcribable between the Latin and the Cyrillic alphabets on a 1:1 basis, but unfortunately, this cannot be achieved without raping Cyrillics, something which should of course be avoided. Therefore:

In other words, all j, ', й, ь, and Serbian j are essentially the same letter; я, ю, ћ, ђ, њ and љ are digraphs, based on the contraction of j with a preceding consonant or a following vowel.

One last note: the sequence *ji (Cyrillic *йи/*ьи/*ји) is never used in Slovianski. Instead, we simply write i/и.

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3.3. Pronunciation

Pronunciation in Slovianski is fairly free. That is to say, Slovianski pronounced "the Russian way" is by no means considered better or worse than Slovianski pronounced the Polish or the Serbian way. Therefore, the following list is not more than an approximation:

Aa — [ɑ] / [a]
Bb — [b]
Cc — [ʦ]
Čč — [ʧ]
Dd — [d]
Ee — [ɛ]
Ff — [f]
Gg — [g] / [ɦ]
Hh — [x]
Ii — [ɪ] / [i] / [ɨ]
Jj — [j]
Ll — [l]
Mm — [m]
Nn — [n]
Oo — [o] / [ɔ]
Pp — [p]
Rr — [r]
Ss — [s]
Šš — [ʂ] / [ʃ]
Tt — [t]
Uu — [u]
Vv — [v] / [ʋ]
Zz — [z]
Žž — [ʐ] / [ʒ]

3.3.1. Palatalisation

Consonants can be palatalised as well, when they are followed by e, i, or j ('). This pronunciation, however, is not mandatory. Thus:

p' — [pj], [pʲ]
t' — [tj], [tʲ], [c]
d' — [dj], [dʲ], [ɟ]
n' — [nj], [nʲ], [ɲ]
r' — [rj], [rʲ], [r̝] (raised alveolar trill)
l' — [lj], [lʲ], [ʎ]

3.3.2. Stress

Accentuation is free. However, if you want to stay on the safe side, it would deserve recommendation to follow as guidelines:

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4. GRAMMAR

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4.1. Nouns

As in all natural Slavic languages, nouns in Slovianski have three grammatical genders (masculine, feminine, neuter) and two numbers (singular, plural). All Slavic languages, except Bulgarian and Macedonian, have six or seven cases. These cases are fairly consistent with one another. Therefore, Slovianski-N has six cases: nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, instrumental, locative. The vocative, used in some Slavic language, is absent in Slovianski. Slovianski-P, on the other hand, has no declension at all: all grammatical cases are replaced by prepositions or word order.

Long and complicated paradigms are to be avoided, but we cannot escape distinguishing between a few different word classes.

These are the basic endings in Slovianski-N:

masc.sg. neut.sg. fem.sg.
Nom -o (-e)2 -a -'
Acc -Ø / -a1 -u
Gen -a -i
Dat -u -e -i
Ins -om (-em)2 -u
Loc -e (-u) -e -i
masc.pl. neut.pl. fem.pl.
Nom -i -a -i
Acc -i / -ov (-ev)1
Gen -ov (-ev)2 -i
Dat -am
Ins -ami
Loc -ah

1 When a masculine noun is inanimate, the accusative has the same form as the nominative; when it is animate, the genitive is used instead.
2 It is recommended that after j the endings -o, -om and -ov are changed to -e, -em and -ev.

Below follow a few examples of each declension:

4.1.1. Masculine declension

One declension will do here. Of course, ' becomes j before a vowel, and *ji becomes i. After j, the endings -om and -ov are preferably changed to -em/-ev. Also keep in mind that for animals and male persons the accusative is identical to the genitive, while in the case of inanimate objects the accusative is identical to the nominative.
Three examples: muž „man”, p(e)s „dog”, put' „journey”.

singular plural
Nom muž, pes, put' muži, psi, puti
Acc muža, psa, put' mužov, psov, puti
Gen muža, psa, putja mužov, psov, putjev
Dat mužu, psu, putju mužam, psam, putjam
Ins mužom, psom, putjem mužami, psami, putjami
Loc muže, pse, putje mužah, psah, putjah

4.1.2. Feminine declension

Here we can't escape introducing two different declensions: one for words on -a, one for words ending in a consonant. Note that the declensions of nouns on -a and nouns on -ja are identical, but that the j disappears when followed by -i. Examples: žena „woman”, zemlja „earth”, jednost' „unit(y)”.

singular plural
Nom žena, zemlja, jednost' ženi, zemli, jednosti
Acc ženu, zemlju, jednost'
Gen ženi, zemli, jednosti žen, zeml', jednosti
Dat žene, zemlje, jednosti ženam, zemljam, jednostjam
Ins ženu, zemlju, jednostju ženami, zemljami, jednostjami
Loc žene, zemlje, jednosti ženah, zemljah, jednostjah

4.1.3. Neuter declension

Neuter nouns can end in -o or -e, but this difference does hardly affect declension. Like in the case of masculine nouns, the ending -om can best be changed to -em after j. Also, when the noun ends in -e, use -u in the locative singular instead of -e. Again, three examples: slovo „word”, imeno „name”, and morje „sea”.

singular plural
Nom slovo, imeno, morje slova, imena, morja
Acc
Gen slova, imena, morja slov, imen, mor'
Dat slovu, imenu, morju slovam, imenam, morjam
Ins slovom, imenom, morjem slovami, imenami, morjami
Loc slove, imene, morju slovah, imenah, morjah

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4.2. Adjectives

Adjectives match with the noun they modify in gender, case and number. Declension is regular. Example: dobri „good”.

singular plural
masculine feminine neuter
Nom dobri dobra dobre dobre
Acc dobru
Gen dobrogo dobroj dobrogo dobrih
Dat dobromu dobroj dobromu dobrim
Ins dobrim dobroju dobrim dobrimi
Loc dobrom dobroj dobrom dobrih

4.2.1. Adverbs

An adjective can be made into an adverb by using the ending -o: dobro „well”.

4.2.2. Comparison

Adjectives are compared by means of the words više (more), mene (less), najviše (most) and najmene (least). These words may or may not be connected to the adjective with a hyphen.

There is also another superlative with the prefix pre-, meaning „very” or „too”. An adjective can be turned into the opposite by by prefix ne-.

Examples:

In natural Slavic languages, adjectives are usually compared by means of inflectional endings, but these differ so much from one another that we felt better to use auxiliary words instead. Slavic languages don't even agree on a common word for „more”, but više (which literally means „higher”) should be understood by all.

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4.3. Pronouns

4.3.1. Personal pronouns

In Slovianski-N, personal pronouns have the same six cases as the nouns. Because even the Slavic languages that got rid of most declension kept dative and accussative forms of personal pronouns besides the nominative ones, Slovianski-P has got them, too.

1st person 2nd person 3rd person
masc. (neut.) fem.
Singular
Nom ja ti on (ono) ona
Acc mene (me) tebe (te) jego ju
Gen mene tebe jego jej
Dat mne (mi) tobe (ti) jemu jej
Ins mnoju toboju im ju
Loc mne tebe im jej
Plural
Nom mi vi oni
Acc nas vas ih
Gen
Dat nam vam im
Ins nami vami imi
Loc nas vas ih

Notes:

  1. After a preposition, all pronouns of the third person are preceded by n-: jego > do njego; im > pri nim, etc.
  2. Slovianski-P uses the short forms in the accusative singular and the long forms in the dative (preceded by n-).

And a few notes regarding usage:

4.3.2. Reflexive and reciprocal pronouns

The reflexive pronoun is sebe. It is inflected like ti, tebe, ..., the only difference being that it does not have a nominative.

There is also a shorter form, almost always used in reflexive verbs: sja. For example: ja mijem sja „I'm washing myself”.

The reflexive pronoun can also be used as a reciprocal pronoun: oni bijut sja can mean „They are hitting themselves”, but would rather have the meaning: „They are hitting each other”. To be more explicit about the meaning „each other ”, you can add the formula jedin drugogo: Oni bijut sja jedin drugogo.

4.3.3. Possessive pronouns

The possessive pronouns are inflected like adjectives, except that they have a zero ending in the masculine singular and the ending -e in the neuter singular. The forms are:

There is no possessive pronoun of the third person. If the possessor is also the subject of the sentence, the reflexive svoj is used. Otherwise, the genitive form of the corresponding personal pronoun is used: jego, jej, ih. These do not change their form.

There are also interrogative and indefinite possessive pronouns: čij „whose”, ničij „nobody's”, etc. They are inflected like moj. For more forms, see section 4.3.7.

Just like adjectives, possessive pronouns correspond with the noun they modify in gender, number and case. Here is an example of their declension:

singular plural
masculine feminine neuter
Nom moj, naš moja, naša moje, naše moje, naše
Acc moju, našu
Gen mojego, našego mojej, našej mojego, našego moih, naših
Dat mojemu, našemu mojej, našej mojemu, našemu moim, našim
Ins moim, našim mojeju, našeju moim, našim moimi, našimi
Loc mojem, našem mojej, našej mojem, našem moih, naših

4.3.4. Demonstrative pronouns

The demonstrative pronoun in Slovianski is toj „this, that”. When it is necessary to make a distinction between here and there, we use tuttoj „this” and tamtoj „that, yonder”. Declension of toj, tuttoj, and tamtoj is similar, but not identical to that of adjectives.

singular plural
masculine feminine neuter
Nom toj ta to te
Acc tu
Gen togo toj togo tih
Dat tomu toj tomu tim
Ins tim toju tim timi
Loc tom toj tom tih

4.3.5. Relative pronouns

The relative pronoun is ktori (declined like an adjective). Alternatively, the use of čo „what” is also allowed.

4.3.6. Interrogative and indefinite pronouns

The basic forms are kto „who” and čo „what”. Derived from these are also several indefinite pronouns, e.g. nekto „somebody”, libokto „anybody”, ničo „nothing”, vsečo „everything”. For more forms, see section 4.3.7. They are inflected as follows:

who? what?
Nom kto čo
Acc kogo
Gen čego
Dat komu čemu
Ins kim čim
Loc kom čem

4.3.7. Pronominal adverbs

On of Zamenhof's best inventions was his table of correlatives, a group of interrelated pronouns, adverbs and adjectives. The principle here is the same as everywhere in Slovianski-N: I try to keep it as regular as possible, but not at the expense of recognisability for speakers of Slavic languages. Therefore, unlike the schematicists, it is not my intention to make the table perfectly regular. A few virtually impossible words have been left out, and a few other regular forms have been replaced by forms that are common in the natural languages.

question here there some any no every else
which? ktori toj,
tuttoj
toj,
tamtoj
nektori liboktori žadni vse ini
who? kto nekto libokto nikto vsekto inokto
what? čo nečo libočo ničo vsečo inočo
how much? kol'ko tol'ko nekol'ko libokol'ko
whose? čij nečij libočij ničij vsečij inočij
what kind of? kaki taki nekaki libokaki nikaki vsekaki inokaki
how? kak tak nekak libokak nikak vsekak inokak
where? gde tut tam negde libogde nigde vsegde inogde
when? kogda tutčas togda nekogda libokogda nikogda vsekogda inokogda
whither? kude tude nekude libokude nikude vsekude inokude
whence? odkude odtude odnekude odlibokude odnikude odvsekude odinokude
why? začo zato zanečo zalibočo zaničo

In the table above, adverbs are in  black , adjectives in  blue , demonstrative and possessive pronouns in  green , interrogative and indefinite pronouns in  red . Irregular forms (i.e. not looking the way they should according to the table) are in italics.

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4.4. Numerals

4.4.1. Cardinal numbers

1-10 11-19 20-90 100-900 1000-
jedin (jedna, jedno)
dva (dve)
tri
četiri
pjat'
šest'
sedem
osem
devjat'
desjat'
jedinast
dvanast
trinast
četirnast
pjatnast
šestnast
sedemnast
osemnast
devjatnast

 
dvadesjat'
tridesjat'
četirdesjat'
pjatdesjat'
šestdesjat'
sedemdesjat'
osemdesjat'
devjatdesjat'
 
sto
dvasto
tristo
četiristo
pjat'sto
šest'sto
sedemsto
osemsto
devjat'sto
 
tisjač
dva tisjač
tri tisjač





milion
miliard

4.4.2. Ordinal numbers

Basically, these are formed by adding -i to the corresponding cardinal number. Except for the following:

1st — pervi
2nd — drugi
3rd — treti
4rd — četverti
7th — sedmi
8th — osmi
100th — sotni (stoti)
1000th — tisjačni

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4.5. Verbs

Verbs in Slovianski behave pretty much the way they do in the natural Slavic languages: they are conjugated for three persons in two numbers. There are three tenses: present tense, past tense and future tense. Furthermore, there are participles, imperatives and verbal nouns. There is also aspect: most verbs are either perfective or imperfective, most perfective verbs have an imperfective counterpart and vice versa.

Slavic verbs are quite a complicated thing. Most verbs have two different forms („aspects”), both listed the dictionary: the imperfective and the perfective one. Usually, they need to be learned separately. In addition to that, many verbs have two basic roots, which also need to be memorised. And since this phenomenon occurs in áll Slavic languages, that leaves us little choice but to incorporate it into Slovianski as well.

Our task is of course to make things as simple as possible without sacrificing naturalism. We accomplish that as follows:

4.5.1. Infinitive stem and present tense stem

Infinitive stem

In Slovianski, infinitives can have the following endings: -at', -et', -it', -ut', and consonant + t'. The infinitive stem is created by simply removing final -t'. This form serves as a starting point for the infinitive, the past tense, the conditional, the imperative, the past passive participle, and the verbal noun (gerund).

Present tense stem

For most verbs goes that the present tense stem can be derived regularly from the infinitive, so that the infinitive is enough to establish the entire conjugation of a verb. The present tense stem can both end in a consonant and in a vowel, and is formed as follows:

In these cases conjugation is simply a matter of regularly establishing the present tense stem and adding the correct endings to it. A number of verbs, however, use a separate root in the present tense. In most cases, these are verbs of the mixed a/j, a/i and e/i classes. An active user of Slovianski will have to learn both forms. He will notice, however, that in most cases the formation of this second root happens in a predictable way. Whenever the present-tense stem cannot be derived from the infinitive by applying the rules above, it will be given in the dictionary. A few examples: pisat' (piš-), plakat' (plač-), klamat' (klamj-), spat' (spi-), stojat' (stoi-), videt' (vidi-), umet' (ume-), hovat' (hova-), hotet' (hoč-), zvat' (zov-), brat' (ber-)

We are aware, of course, that this is making the language more difficult than a language with a fully regular grammar; however, it cannot be avoided without making the distance between Slovianski and the natural Slavic languages bigger. And with this approach, we can at least avoid subdividing verbs into classes and the like.

4.5.2. Conjugation

Infinitives

All infinitives have the ending -t' (-at', -et', -it', -ut', in some particular cases consonant + t').

Present tense

The present-tense endings are:

In the first person singular, the ending -(e)m is preferred, but the ending -(j)u is also allowed.

In the case of the i-stems, the sequence -iju- should be avoided: *-siju-, *-ziju-, *-tiju-, *-diju-, *-stiju- and *-zdiju- become -šu-, -žu-, -ču-, -džu-, -šču- and -ždžu-, while in other cases -iju- becomes -ju-.

Examples:

infinitive delat' umet' prosit' nest' pisat' čut' djakovat' tjagnut'
present-tense root on a vowel on a consonant
dela- ume- prosi- nes- piš- čuj- djakuj- tjagn-
ja delam
(delaju)
umem
(umeju)
prosim
(prošu)
nesem
(nesu)
pišem
(pišu)
čujem
(čuju)
djakujem
(djakuju)
tjagnem
(tjagnu)
ti delaš umeš prosiš neseš pišeš čuješ djakuješ tjagneš
on/ona/ono dela ume prosi nese piše čuje djakuje tjagne
mi delame umeme prosime neseme pišeme čujeme djakujeme tjagneme
vi delate umete prosite nesete pišete čujete djakujete tjagnete
oni delajut umejut prošut nesut pišut čujut djakujut tjagnut

Explanation of our choice for the forms:

Past tense

The past tense in formed by replacing the -t' of the infinitive by the ending -l (masculine singular), -la (feminine singular), -lo (neuter singular), -li (plural).

Examples:

infinitive delat' umet' prosit' nest' pisat' čut' djakovat' tjagnut'
(masculine) ja/ti/on delal umel prosil nesl pisal čul djakoval tjagnul
(feminine) ja/ti/ona delala umela prosila nesla pisala čula djakovala tjagnula
(neuter) ono delalo umelo prosilo neslo pisalo čulo djakovalo tjagnulo
(plural) mi/vi/oni delali umeli prosili nesli pisali čuli djakovali tjagnuli

The only two exceptions are:

Future tense

The future tense is formed by combining the future tense of the verb bit' „to be” with the infinitive. The forms are the same as if a verb with the stem bud- was conjugated in the present tense.

delat' ja budem delat', ti budeš delat', on/ona/ono bude delat', mi budeme delat', vi budete delat', oni budut delat'
umet' ja budem umet', ti budeš umet', ...
etc.

A perfective verb cannot have a future tense form: the future tense is expressed by the present form.

Conditional

The conditional is formed by adding the particle bi to the past tense:

If really needed, a past conditional can be formed by inserting the paste tense of the verb „to be” into the normal conditional form:

Imperative

The imperative has forms for the 2nd person singular, the 1st person plural and the 2nd person plural. It is derived from the present tense stem. If the latter ends in a vowel or -j, the endings are:

If the present tense stem ends in a consonant, the imperative is formed by adding the following endings:

Examples:

infinitive delat' umet' prosit' nest' pisat' čut' djakovat' tjagnut'
present tense stem dela- ume- prosi- nes- piš- čuj- djakuj- tjagn-
2sg delaj umej prosij nesi piši čuj djakuj tjagni
1pl delajme umejme prosijme nesime pišime čujme djakujme tjagnime
2pl delajte umejte prosijte nesite pišite čujte djakujte tjagnite

Participles

There are two participles: the present active participle and the past passive participle. The former is derived from the present-tense root, the latter from the infinitive root.

The present active participle has the ending -juč (-juči when used as an adjective) when the present-tense root ends in a vowel, -uč (-učí) when it ends in a consonant. In other words, you can build it by replacing the ending -t of the 3rd person plural by .

The past passive participle is created by adding -ni to the infinitive stem. However:

The verbal noun can be derived very simply from the past passive participle by replacing the endings -ni resp. -ti by -nje resp. -tje.

Examples:

infinitive delat' umet' prosit' nest' pisat' čut' djakovat' tjagnut'
present-tense root on a vowel on a consonant
dela- ume- prosi- nes- piš- čuj- djakuj- tjagn-
p.a.p. delajuč(i) umejuč(i) prošuč(i) nesuč(i) pišuč(i) čujuč(i) djakujuč(i) tjagnuč(i)
p.p.p. delani umeni prošeni neseni pisani čuti djakovani tjagnuti
verbal noun delanje umenje prošenje nesenje pisanje čutje djakovanje tjagnutje

The passive voice

The passive voice is created as in English, by combinating a form of the verb bit' „to be” with the past passive participle:

Now, a sentence like: Pica jest delana „Pizza is being made” is grammatically completely correct. It is, however, recommended to avoid such constructions because they sound clumsy to those Slavs who are not accustomed to using the verb „to be” very often, especially in the present tense. If the subject is known, it is better to utilise a normal active sentence. And if the subject isn't known, as in the case of our pizza, it is possible to use third person plural form without the subject: Delajut picu „They make pizza, one makes pizza, pizza is being made”.

4.5.3. Irregular verbs

Bit' „to be”

Is conjugated as follows:

present past future imperative
1sg jesem (jesu) bil, bila, bilo budu (budem) (*)  
2sg ješ (jesi) bil, bila, bilo budeš budi
3sg je (jest) bil, bila, bilo bude  
1pl jesme bili budeme budime
2pl jeste bili budete budite
3pl jesut bili budut  
infinitive bit'   present active participle buduč(i) verbal noun bitje

(*) Because „budem” would be understood as „we will be” rather than „I will be”, the form on -u is preferred here.

Other irregular verbs

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4.6. Prepositions

Prepositions should only be used according to their logical meaning, not according to national idioms. Many of them can be used as prefixes, too.

As a general rule, prepositions that indicate a location govern the following cases in Slovianski-N:

In most other cases, the genitive is used. Here follows a preliminary list of prepositions in Slovianski:

aždo (+ gen.) — till
bez (+ gen.) — without
bez obzira na (+ acc.) — regardless
blizko (+ acc./loc.) — close to
dlja (+ gen.) — for
do (+ acc.) — to
iz (+ gen.) — from (out of)
iz-nad (+ gen.) — from above
iz-pod (+ gen.) — from under
iz-pred (+ gen.) — from before
iz-za (+ gen.) — from behind
k (+ dat.) — to (direction)
krome (+ gen.) — except
medžu (+ acc./loc.) — between
mimo (+ acc./loc.) — next to
na (+ acc./loc.) — on
nad (+ acc./loc.) — above
ob (+ loc.) — about
od (+ gen.) — of, from (away from); since; by (agent)
od stroni (+ gen.) — by (agent in passive constructions)
okolo (+ acc./loc.) — around
po (+ loc.) — after; in the manner of
pod (+ acc./loc.) — under
podčas (+ gen.) — during
podolg (+ gen.) — according to
polev (+ acc./loc.) — left of
pomimo (+ gen.) — in spite of
poprav (+ acc./loc.) — right of
posred (+ acc./loc.) — amidst, in the middle of
posredstvom (+ gen.) — by means of, using
poverh (+ acc.) — across
pre (+ acc.) — because of
pred (+ acc./loc.) — before, in front of, ahead of
prez (+ acc.) — through, across
pri (+ acc./loc.) — near
protiv (+ dat.) — against
s (+ instr.) — with; together with; by means of, using
soglosno (+ gen.) — according to
v (+ acc./loc.) — in
v čase (+ gen.) — during
vmeste, vmesto (+ gen.) — instead of
vnutri (+ acc./loc.) — inside
za (+ acc./loc.) — after, behind (time & place); because of

In caseless Slovianski-P, all preposition govern the nominative (the accusative in case of personal pronouns). Besides, od (sometimes s) replaces the genitive case, k the dative case, and posredstvom (sometimes s) the instrumental case, while na serves as a „universal preposition”.

Many prepositions can also be used as prefixes. See word formation for details.

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4.7. Conjunctions

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4.8. Syntax

The stylistically most neutral word order is subject – verb – object. It isn't mandatory, but please note that if you put the object before the subject, the meaning will no more be clear. This is not the case of sentences where either a personal pronoun or the pronoun kto is either subject or object, because personal pronouns and kto have their own accussative forms, so the meaning is always clear.

If necessary, it is possible to use passive sentences that are always clear.

As far as relative clauses and questions are concerned, the word order is similar to that in English:

The yes-no questions are formed by adding li to the beginning of the normal indicative sentence.

Final clauses are translated by means of čobi which is followed by past tense forms:

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5. Word formation

Words are created in accordance with the living Slavic languages, and when they are not in agreement with each other, we basically follow the majority. However, merely counting „votes” does not always give the desired result. To avoid inconsistencies, we have to assume that words using the same root always use that root in the same form. Besides, since all Slavic languages derive their forms from Common Slavic in a fairly predictable way, it would be helpful if Slovianski follows a model for simple derivation from Common Slavic as well (although Slovianski is by no means intended to be directly based on it). This will make the language easier to recognise for everybody, if he knows how a given sound in his own language is represented in Slovianski – something he will learn very quickly and automatically while reading a few texts.

Words derived from Latin or other Western languages should have predictable forms as well:

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6. Sample texts

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6.1. The Lord's Prayer

Naš otec, ktori ješ v nebah,
da svetene je tvoje imeno,
da priide tvoje krolevstvo,
da bude tvoja volja, kak v nebah tak i na zemlje,
hleb naš každodenni daj nam tutden',
i izvinij nam naše grehi, tak kak mi izvinime naših grešnikov,
i ne ved' nas v pokušenje,
ale spasij nas od zlogo.

Наш отец, ктори йеш в небах,
да светене йе твойе имено,
да прииде твойе кролевство,
да буде твоя воля, как в небах так и на землье,
хлеб наш каждоденни дай нам тутдень,
и извиний нам наше грехи, так как ми извиниме наших грешников,
и не ведь нас в покушенье,
але спасий нас од злого.

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6.2. Babel text

  1. I cela zemlja imala jedin jazik i podobne slova.
  2. Ale kogda ljudi premestili sja iz voshoda, oni našli rovninu v kraje Šinar i tam osadili sja.
  3. I oni govorili jedin drugomu: "Hodijte, izdelajme ceglini i dobro palijme ih!" I ceglini služili im kak kameni, a smola služila im kak cement.
  4. I oni govorili: "Hodijte, budujme grod i vežu, ktora dosjagat' bude do neba, i izdelajme si imeno, da bi mi ne rozsipali sja na celu zemlju."
  5. Togda Bog prišel v dol, da bi videl grod i vežu, ktore detka ljudjov budovali.
  6. I Bog govoril: "Vidijte! Jedin narod i jedin jazik pro vsih, a vidi čo oni načali delat'. I tutčas, ničo ne bude dlja nih ne-možlive, čo oni ne bi hoteli izdelat'.
  7. Vidite! Izpustime sja i rozmešime ih jazik, da bi oni ne rozumeli jedin drugogo."
  8. I Bog rozsipal ih na celu zemlju, a oni obstanovili budovat' grod.
  9. Zato on naziva sja Babel, zato čo tam Bog rozmešil jazik celoj zemli i odtude Bog rozsipal ih na celu zemlju.
  1. И цела земля имала йедин язик и подобне слова.
  2. Але когда люди преместили ся из восхода, они нашли ровнину в крайе Шинар и там осадили ся.
  3. И они говорили йедин другому: "Ходийте, изделайме цеглини и добро палийме их!" И цеглини служили им как камени, а смола служила им как цемент.
  4. И они говорили: "Ходийте, будуйме грод и вежу, ктора досягать буде до неба, и изделайме си имено, да би ми не рожипали ся на целу землю."
  5. Тогда Бог пришел в дол, да би видел грод и вежу, кторе детка людьов будовали.
  6. И Бог говорил: "Видийте! Йедин народ и йедин язик про всих, а види чо они начали делать. И тутчас, ничо не буде для них не-можливе, чо они не би хотели изделать.
  7. Видите! Изпустиме ся и розмешиме их язик, да би они не розумели йедин другого."
  8. И Бог рожипал их на целу землю, а они обстановили будовать грод.
  9. Зато он назива ся Бабел, зато чо там Бог розмешил язик целой земли и одтуде Бог рожипал их на целу землю.