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DOBRODOŠLI |
ДОБРОДОШЛИ |
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 slovianski medžujazik iztvorieni v gode 2006 kak sotrudnične usilie grupi liudov iz rozličnih krajov, sbiranih v Slovianski Forum. On može biti velika pomoč dlia putujučih i mnogo upotrebime orudie dlia libo-kogo, ktori bi hotel adresovati celi slovianski svet posredstvom vebsajtov, forumov, spisov e-mejlskih i.t.d., bez potrebovania prevoditi tekst v rozne jaziki. Znanie togo jazika umožlivi človeku biti rozumemi dlia libo-ktorogo govoritelia slovianskogo jazika i rozumeti viačej, než tolko osnovu teksta v libo-ktorom slovianskom jazike. Slovianski tož je mnogo dobra metoda dlia tih, ktore hočut načati učiti se svoj pervi slovianski jazik. |
Словянски е словянски меджуязик изтворьени в годе 2006 как сотрудничне усилье групи людов из розличних крайов, сбираних в Словянски Форум. Он може бити велика помоч для путуючих и много употребиме орудье для либо-кого, ктори би хотел адресовати цели словянски свет посредством вебсайтов, форумов, списов э-мейлских и.т.д., без потребованя преводити текст в розне язики. Знанье того язика уможливи чловеку бити розумеми для либо-кторого говорителя словянского язика и розумети вячей, неж толко основу текста в либо-ктором словянском язике. Словянски тож е много добра метода для тих, кторе хочут начати учити 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 najdete osnovi slovianskogo jazika: krotku gramatiku, slovnik, prikladne teksti, rozlične orudia, linki i inu informaciju. V najblizkoj budučosti tož bude kurs jazika. Jesli vi hočete uvideti slovianski v akcije, zoveme vas posetiti našu viki. |
На туттих строницах ви найдете основи словянского язика: кротку граматику, словник, прикладне тексти, розличне орудя, линки и ину информацию. В найблизкой будучости тож буде курс язика. Если ви хочете увидети словянски в акцие, зовеме вас посетити нашу вики. |
We wish you a pleasant and, hopefully, useful stay! |
Mi želame vam prijemnogo i, imajme nadeju, upotrebimogo pobitia! |
Ми желаме вам приемного и, имайме надею, употребимого побитя! |
Sdržanje ~ Сдржанје ~ Contents | ||
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.
Vowels | a e i o u |
---|---|
Semivowels | j |
Voiceless stops | p t k |
Voiced stops | b d g |
Voiceless fricatives | f s š h |
Voiced fricatives | v z ž |
Voiceless affricates | c č |
Voiced affricates | dz dž |
Nasals | m n |
Trills | r |
Laterals | l |
Consonants can be palatalised as well. In that case, they are followed by e, i, j or ’. This pronunciation, however, is not mandatory.
Slovianski can be written using in the Latin alphabet (Latinica) and the Cyrillic alphabet (Kirilica). One basic design principle is that it can be written on any Slavic keyboard. Therefore, it is inevitable to allow alternate spellings that are both natural and convenient:
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 (Serbian) |
А | Б | Ц | Ч | Д | Е / Э Е | Ф | Г | Х | И | Й / Ь Ј | К | Л | М | Н | О | П | Р | С | Ш | Т | У | В | З | Ж | |
Pronunciation | [ɑ] [a] | [b] | [ʦ] | [ʧ] | [d] | [ɛ] | [f] | [g] [ɦ] | [x] | [ɪ] [i] [ɨ] | [j] [ʲ] | [k] | [l] | [m] | [n] | [o] [ɔ] | [p] | [r] | [s] | [ʂ] [ʃ] | [t] | [u] | [v] [ʋ] | [z] | [ʐ] [ʒ] |
In addition, we have the following digraphs in Cyrillic:
Latin | IU / JU | IA / JA | IE / JE | DJ / D’ | LJ / L’ | NJ / N’ | TJ / T’ |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Cyrillic (Serbian) |
Ю ЈУ | Я ЈА | Е (*) ЈЕ | ДЬ Ђ | ЛЬ Љ | НЬ Њ | ТЬ Ћ |
(*) only at the beginning of a word or after a vowel.
The Slovianski Transliterator makes it possible to transliterate any of these versions into any of the other.
Slovianski distinguishes between hard and soft consonants. In Latin orthography, a consonant is softened before i, ’ and (optionally) e. How this palatalisation is realised exactly may depend on the speaker (see 3.3.1 for details). There is much interaction between the softener ’ and the semivowel j (pronounced like English y), and it depends largely on the speaker whether a preceding consonant is indeed palatalised or simply followed by a j-like sound. The representation of both is somewhat problematic in all orthographies. In general, a softener can occur only after a consonant, while j will occur after a vowel or word-initially; in rare cases, usually after a prefix, it can follow a consonant as well. Because the two are largely complementary, they could theoretically be represented by one letter, if it hadn't been for the following problems:
All this is demonstated in the following table:
Latin | Cyrillic (non-Serbian) | Cyrillic (Serbian) | |
---|---|---|---|
Vowel (word-initially or after a vowel) | a, u, o, e, i | а, у, о, э, и | а, у, о, е, и |
Vowel (after a consonant) | а, у, о, е, и | ||
Semivowel (word-finally or before a consonant) | j | й | ј |
Semivowel + vowel | ja, ju, jo, je, ji | я, ю, йо, е, и | ја, ју, јо, је, ји |
Consonant + softener (word-finally) | t’, d’, n’, l’, r’ | ть, дь, нь, ль, рь | тј, дј, њ, љ, рј |
Softener + vowel | ia, iu, io, ie, ii | я, ю, ьо, ье, ьи | ја, ју, јо, је, ји |
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 recommended pronuncation given in the table above is not more than an approximation.
The largest discrepancy in pronunciation will probably be related to palatalisation, i.e. differentiating between hard and soft consonants. How palatalised consonants are realised depends on the speaker. Thus:
t’ — [tj], [tʲ], [c]
d’ — [dj], [dʲ], [ɟ]
n’ — [nj], [nʲ], [ɲ]
r’ — [rj], [rʲ], [r̝] (raised alveolar trill)
l’ — [lj], [lʲ], [ʎ]
In Latin orthography, consonants are softened before i, ’ and (optionally) e. In Cyrillic, palatalisation occurs before ь, я, ю and ј, as well optionally before е.
Accentuation is free. However, if you want to stay on the safe side, it would deserve recommendation to follow as guidelines:
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 has six cases: nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, instrumental, locative. The vocative, used in some Slavic languages, is absent in Slovianski, but Slavic vocatives can be used anyway, if desired. A simplified form of Slovianski, Slovianski-P, has no declension at all, and replaces all grammatical cases by means of 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:
|
|
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:
One declension will do here. After i/j, the endings -om and -ov are preferably changed to -em/-ev. 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, putia | mužov, psov, putiev |
Dat | mužu, psu, putiu | mužam, psam, putiam |
Ins | mužom, psom, putiem | mužami, psami, putiami |
Loc | muže, pse, putie | mužah, psah, putiah |
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 -ia are identical. Examples: žena „woman”, zemia „earth”, jednost' „unit(y)”.
singular | plural | |
---|---|---|
Nom | žena, zemia, jednost' | ženi, zemii, jednosti |
Acc | ženu, zemiu, jednost' | |
Gen | ženi, zemii, jednosti | žen, zem, jednosti |
Dat | žene, zemie, jednosti | ženam, zemiam, jednostiam |
Ins | ženu, zemiu, jednostiu | ženami, zemiami, jednostiami |
Loc | žene, zemie, jednosti | ženah, zemiah, jednostiah |
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 morie „sea”.
singular | plural | |
---|---|---|
Nom | slovo, imeno, morie | slova, imena, moria |
Acc | ||
Gen | slova, imena, moria | slov, imen, mor' |
Dat | slovu, imenu, moriu | slovam, imenam, moriam |
Ins | slovom, imenom, moriem | slovami, imenami, moriami |
Loc | slove, imene, moriu | slovah, imenah, moriah |
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 |
An adjective can be made into an adverb by using the ending -o: dobro „well”.
Comparatives and superlatives can be made in two ways: a simple form and a more complex form. The simple form uses the words više- (more), mene- (less), najviše- (most) and najmene- (least), preceding the adjective and preferably connected to it with a hyphen. The complex form replaces the ending -i with -ejši for the comparative, which in turn can be turned into a superlative by adding the prefix naj-.
When changed into an adverb, instead of *-ejšo we simply use -ej.
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-.
Here is again the word dobri as an example:
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.
Singular | Plural | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1st person | 2nd person | 3rd person | 1st person | 2nd person | 3rd person | |||
masc. (neut.) | fem. | |||||||
Nom | ja | ti | on (ono) | ona | mi | vi | oni | |
Acc | mene (me) | tebe (te) | jego | ju | nas | vas | ih | |
Gen | mene | tebe | jego | jej | ||||
Dat | mne (mi) | tobe (ti) | jemu | jej | nam | vam | im | |
Ins | mnoju | toboju | im | ju | nami | vami | imi | |
Loc | mne | tebe | im | jej | nas | vas | ih |
Notes:
And a few notes regarding usage:
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: se. For example: „Ja mijem se” „I'm washing myself”. Instead of se, the form sia can be used as well and should even be preferred when writing in Cyrillic.
The reflexive pronoun can also be used as a reciprocal pronoun: „Oni bijut se” 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 se jedin drugogo”.
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, definite 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 | mojih, naših |
Dat | mojemu, našemu | mojej, našej | mojemu, našemu | mojim, našim |
Ins | mojim, našim | mojeju, našeju | mojim, našim | mojimi, našimi |
Loc | mojem, našem | mojej, našej | mojem, našem | mojih, naših |
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”. Except for the nominative, toj, tuttoj, and tamtoj are declined like 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 |
The relative pronoun is ktori (declined like an adjective). Alternatively, the use of čo „what” is also allowed.
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 |
One of Zamenhof's best inventions was his table of correlatives, a group of interrelated pronouns, adverbs and adjectives. There words have been kept as regular as possible in Slovianski, but not at the expense of recognisability for speakers of Slavic languages. 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 | (tut)toj | (tam)toj | nektori | liboktori | žadni | vse, každi | ini |
who? | kto | nekto | libokto | nikto | vsekto | inokto | ||
what? | čo1 | (tut)to | (tam)to | nečo1 | libočo1 | ničo1 | vsečo1 | inočo1 |
how much? | kolko | tolko | nekolko | libokolko | — | |||
whose? | čij | — | nečij | libočij | ničij | vsečij | inočij | |
what kind of? | kaki2 | taki | nekaki2 | libokaki2 | nikaki2 | vsekaki2 | inokaki2 | |
how? | kak2 | tak | nekak2 | libokak2 | nikak2 | vsekak2 | inokak2 | |
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? | začo1, čemu | zato, tomu | zanečo1, nečemu | zalibočo1, libočemu | zaničo1, ničemu | — | — |
1 In all cases when čo appears, što can be used interchangeably.
2 In all cases when kak or kaki appears, jak/jaki can be used interchangeably.
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.
The cardinal numbers are:
1-10 | 11-19 | 20-90 | 100-900 | 1000- |
---|---|---|---|---|
jedin (jedna, jedno) dva (dve) tri četiri piat' šest' sedem osem deviat' desiat' | jedinnast dvanast trinast četirnast piatnast šestnast sedemnast osemnast deviatnast | dvadesiat' tridesiat' četirdesiat' piatdesiat' šestdesiat' sedemdesiat' osemdesiat' deviatdesiat' | sto dvasto tristo četiristo piatsto šeststo sedemsto osemsto deviatsto | tisiač dva-tisiač tri-tisiač milion miliard |
Combinations of these are always made from high to low: tri-tisiač četiristo piatdesiat šest' „3,456”.
Basically, ordinal numbers 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 or stoti
1000th — tisiačni
When a higher number forms a string, only the last member is modified to create an ordinal number: v tisiač deviatsto osemdesiat' četvertom gode „in the year 1984”.
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.
Verbal conjugation is simplified to the highest possible extent, however, without sacrificing naturalism. As a result:
In Slovianski, infinitives always have the ending -ti. The infinitive stem is created by simply removing this ending. The result serves as a starting point for the infinitive, the past tense, the conditional, the past passive participle, and the verbal noun.
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. Usually, the present tense stem it is identical to the infinitive stem: it can be derived by simply removing the ending -ti:
delati > dela-, prositi > prosi-, nesti > nes-. There are, however, a few exceptions:
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: pisati (piš-) „to write”, plakati (plač-) „to cry, weep”, spati (spi-) „to sleep”, videti (vidi-) „to see”, hoteti (hoč-) „to want”, zvati (zov-) „to call”, brati (ber-) „to take”.
This system gives a fairly accurate approximation of verbal conjugation in the Slavic languages. We are of course aware that it is more complicated than in a language with a fully regular grammar, but any further simplification would be impossible without creating a greater distance to the natural Slavic languages. And with this approach, we can at least avoid subdividing verbs into classes and the like.
All infinitives have the ending -ti: delati „do, make”, umeti „can, to be able”, prositi „to ask”, nesti „to carry”, pisati „to write”, čuti „to feel”, diakovati „to thank”, tiagnuti „to pull”.
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-.
In the case of the consonantal stems, -k and -g become -č and -ž before -e. Thus: mog-eš > možeš, etc.
Examples:
infinitive | delati | umeti | prositi | nesti | pisati | čuti | diakovati | tiagnuti |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
present-tense root | on a vowel | on a consonant | ||||||
dela- | ume- | prosi- | nes- | piš- | čuj- | diakuj- | tiagn- | |
ja | delam (delaju) | umem (umeju) | prosim (prošu) | nesem (nesu) | pišem (pišu) | čujem (čuju) | diakujem (diakuju) | tiagnem (tiagnu) |
ti | delaš | umeš | prosiš | neseš | pišeš | čuješ | diakuješ | tiagneš |
on/ona/ono | dela | ume | prosi | nese | piše | čuje | diakuje | tiagne |
mi | delame | umeme | prosime | neseme | pišeme | čujeme | diakujeme | tiagneme |
vi | delate | umete | prosite | nesete | pišete | čujete | diakujete | tiagnete |
oni | delajut | umejut | prošut | nesut | pišut | čujut | diakujut | tiagnut |
Explanation of our choice for the forms:
The past tense in formed by adding the ending -l (masculine singular), -la (feminine singular), -lo (neuter singular), -li (plural) to the infinitive stem. Examples:
infinitive | delati | umeti | prositi | nesti | pisati | čuti | diakovati | tiagnuti |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
(masculine) ja/ti/on | delal | umel | prosil | nesl | pisal | čul | diakoval | tiagnul |
(feminine) ja/ti/ona | delala | umela | prosila | nesla | pisala | čula | diakovala | tiagnula |
(neuter) ono | delalo | umelo | prosilo | neslo | pisalo | čulo | diakovalo | tiagnulo |
(plural) mi/vi/oni | delali | umeli | prosili | nesli | pisali | čuli | diakovali | tiagnuli |
One verb has an irregular past tense: the verb idti „to go” has šel, šla, šlo, šli „went”.
The future tense is formed by combining the future tense of the verb biti „to be” with the infinitive. The forms are the same as if a verb with the stem bud- were conjugated in the present tense.
delati | ja budem delati, ti budeš delati, on/ona/ono bude delati, mi budeme delati, vi budete delati, oni budut delati |
umeti | ja budem umeti, ti budeš umeti, ... |
etc. |
A perfective verb cannot have a future tense form: the future tense is expressed by the present form.
The conditional is formed by adding the particle bi to the past tense: ja bi delal(a) „I would do/I would have done”.
If really needed, a past conditional can be formed by inserting the paste tense of the verb „to be” into the normal conditional form:
The imperative has forms for the 2nd person singular, the 1st person plural and the 2nd person plural: delaj „do!” (to one person), delajme „let's do!”, delajte „do!” (to more persons). The imperative can always be recognised by the letter -j, added to the present tense stem. If the stem already ends in -j, it is not added again. If the stem ends in another consonant, -i- is inserted. Examples:
infinitive | delati | umeti | prositi | nesti | pisati | čuti | diakovati | tiagnuti |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
present tense stem | dela- | ume- | prosi- | nes- | piš- | čuj- | diakuj- | tiagn- |
2sg | delaj | umej | prosij | nesij | pišij | čuj | diakuj | tiagnij |
1pl | delajme | umejme | prosijme | nesijme | pišijme | čujme | diakujme | tiagnijme |
2pl | delajte | umejte | prosijte | nesijte | pišijte | čujte | diakujte | tiagnijte |
There are two participles: the present active participle and the past passive participle.
Examples:
infinitive | delati | umeti | prositi | nesti | pisati | čuti | diakovati | tiagnuti |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
present-tense root | on a vowel | on a consonant | ||||||
dela- | ume- | prosi- | nes- | piš- | čuj- | diakuj- | tiagn- | |
p.a.p. | delajuč(i) | umejuč(i) | prošuč(i) | nesuč(i) | pišuč(i) | čujuč(i) | diakujuč(i) | tiagnuč(i) |
p.p.p. | delani | umeni | prošeni | neseni | pisani | čuti | diakovani | tiagnuti |
verbal noun | delanie | umenie | prošenie | nesenie | pisanie | čutie | diakovanie | tiagnutie |
The passive voice is created as in English, by combinating a form of the verb biti „to be” with the past passive participle:
Now, a sentence like: „Pica je 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”.
Slovianski has only one irregular verb: biti „to be”. It is conjugated as follows:
present | past | future | imperative | |
---|---|---|---|---|
1sg | jesem (jesu) | bil, bila, bilo | budu (budem) (*) | |
2sg | jesi | budeš | bud' | |
3sg | je | bude | ||
1pl | jesme | bili | budeme | bud'me |
2pl | jeste | budete | bud'te | |
3pl | sut (jesut) | budut |
infinitive | biti | present active participle | buduč(i) | verbal noun | bitie |
---|
(*) Because „budem” would be understood as „we will be” rather than „I will be”, the form on -u is preferred here.
Prepositions should only be used according to their logical meaning, not according to national idioms. As a general rule, prepositions that indicate a location govern the following cases:
In most other cases, the genitive is used. Here follows an incomplete list of prepositions in Slovianski:
aždo (+ gen.) — till bez (+ gen.) — without bez obzira na (+ acc.) — regardless blizko (+ acc./loc.) — close to dlia (+ 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 vnutr (+ 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 s (sometimes posredstvom) the instrumental case, while na serves as a „universal preposition”.
Many prepositions can also be used as prefixes. See word formation for details.
The preferred (and 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.
There are two types of questions:
Final clauses are translated by means of čobi or da bi which is followed by past tense forms:
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:
Naš otec, ktori jesi v nebah, |
Наш отец, ктори еси в небах, |
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