Slovak declension

Legend

• “ends in“ in the following refers to the ending in the nominative singular (N sg), unless stated differently
• Soft consonants are: all consonants with the diacritic mark ˇ (e.g. š, ľ) + c, dz, j. Hard and neutral consonants are all the remaining consonants
• For masculine nouns, adjectives, pronouns and numerals it is necessary to distinguish between animate and inanimate ones. An animate noun is a person (e. g. father, Peter) and an inanimate noun is any other noun (e. g. table, fear, democracy). Animals are usually viewed as persons only in sg. For the animate nouns, the G is identical with the A (both in sg. and in pl.), and for the inanimate nouns, the N is identical with the A (both in sg. and in pl. ). Animate/Inanimate adjectives, pronouns and numerals are those referring to an animate/inanimate noun respectively (e. g. in „my father“ the „my“ is animate, because father is animate).
• sg = singular, pl = plural
• N, G, D, A, L, I are abbreviations of grammatical cases (see above)

Nouns

Note that many nouns (especially those following the paradigm chlap) have different endings then those of the paradigms in one or several grammatical cases. They are neither defined, nor listed in the following

A very small number of foreign nouns is not declined (i. e. the stem and ending never change).

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

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

Notes on chlap:

• For the nouns ending in a vowel (e. g. -o, -u) the vowel is not part of the stem, but the ending in N sg: e. g. 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 (e. g. vrabec - vrabca);
• in some short nouns, the -e- changes its position in all cases except N sg (e. g. žnec - ženca)
• some nouns ending in -k / -ch change the k / ch in c / s in N pl , e. g. žiak - žiaci
• most Latin and Greek nouns in -us, -as, -es, -os lose the us / as / es / os in all cases except N sg (e. g. génius - génia; but e. g. fiškus - fiškusa)

Notes on dub:

• many nouns lose an e/ o / i / í /ie/ á from the stem in all cases except N sg and A sg (e. g. výmysel - výmysla, chrbát - chrbta, ohníček - ohníčka, dnešok - dneška, ocot - octa )
• 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 Asg :, e. g. mráz - mraza, chlieb - chleba, vietor - vetra (here at the same time loss of o), stôl - stola, bôr - bora
• in G pl, some nouns change the a/e/i/o/u (without an acute or a preceding i) in the stem in á/é/í/ó/ú (raz - ráz, Vojany - Voján, Krompachy - Krompách) or in some cases in ia/ie/iu/ô (e. g. čas -čias, Margecany - Margecian, Žabokreky - Žabokriek), unless the preceding syllable in the stem already contains a vowel with an acute or a diphthong (e. g. Hájniky - Hájnik)

• many nouns lose the e/ o / i / í /ie/ á in all cases except N sg and A sg (e. g. 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 Asg :, e. g. 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 in á/é/í/ó/ú (e. g. Tlmače - Tlmáč) or in some cases in ia/ie/iu/ô (e. g. Ladce - Ladiec) in the G pl, unless 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 (e. g. 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 (e. g. švagriná - švagrín), but otherwise an -ie- is inserted (e. g. 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 Lsg 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 (e. g. 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)

• In the G pl of some nouns, an ie is inserted (e. g. 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 (e. g. 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, päsť.
• 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.
• most nouns in -eň lose the e in all cases except N sg and A sg (e. g. úroveň - úrovne)

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

The Neuter Gender

For (any) neuter nouns ending in -vowel+um/on (e. g. 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 (e. g. fórum, epiteton) are declined like mesto, except that the -um- / -on- is omitted in all cases except N sg and A sg (e. g. N sg and A sg: publikum, G sg: publikuma, D sg: publikumu etc. )
• in the G pl of some nouns, an ie/ e / o / á /(rarely é) is inserted in the last syllable of the stem (e. g. 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)

• In the G pl of some nouns, an ie/e is inserted in the last syllable of the stem. (e. g. 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 dievča:

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

Adjectives

Paradigms

Pekný

	masculine	neuter	feminine	plural
N	pekný	pekné	pekná	pekné (masc. animate: pekní)
G	pekného	pekného	peknej	pekných
D	peknému	peknému	peknej	pekným
A	pekný (animate: pekného)	pekné	peknú	pekné (masc. animate: pekných)
L	peknom	peknom	peknej	pekných
I	pekným	pekným	peknou	peknými

Cudzí

Forms: They are like with pekný, but within the endings (i. e. in what follows after pekn-) always replace ý by í, é by ie, á by ia, and ú by iu., e.g.: pekný - cudzí, pekné(ho) - cudzie(ho), pekný(m) - cudzí(m), pekná - cudzia, peknú - cudziu.

	masculine	neuter	feminine	plural
N	otcov	otcovo	otcova	otcove (masc. animate: otcovi)
G	otcovho	otcovho	otcovej	otcových
D	otcovmu	otcovmu	otcovej	otcovým
A	otcov (animate: otcovho)	otcovo	otcovu	otcove (masc. animate: otcových)
L	otcovom	otcovom	otcovej	otcových
I	otcovým	otcovým	otcovou	otcovými

Regular: hrozný – hroznejšÃƒÂƒÃ‚­, bohatý - bohatšÃƒÂƒÃ‚­ . . .

Irregular: veľký - väčšÃƒÂƒÃ‚­, malý - menšÃƒÂƒÃ‚­, dobrý - lepšÃƒÂƒÃ‚­, zlý - horšÃƒÂƒÃ‚­, pekný - krajšÃƒÂƒÃ‚­, čierny - černejšÃƒÂƒÃ‚­, blízky-bližšÃƒÂƒÃ‚­, ďaleký - ďalšÃƒÂƒÃ‚­, hlboký – hlbšÃƒÂƒÃ‚­ . . .

The superlative (i. e. biggest, most difficult etc. )is formed as follows: naj+comparative . Examples: pekný - krajšÃƒÂƒÃ‚­ - najkrajšÃƒÂƒÃ‚­, hrozný- hroznejšÃƒÂƒÃ‚­ – najhroznejšÃƒÂƒÃ‚­ . . .

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)šÃƒÂƒÃ‚­ from the adjective by -(ej)šie (e. g. 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 (e. g. pre mňa) or when emphasized, especially always at the beginning of the sentence (e. g. 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 (e. g. 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 (e. g. 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 (e. g. pre neho (masc. ) = preňho = preň); the special form -eň can be used alternatively (for neutre nouns obligatorily) after the prepositions nad, ponad, cez, pod, popod, pred, popred (e. g. 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: e. g. istý (certain, same), každý (each), iný (other), taký / onaký (such), všetok (all), sám (-self), onen (that one),and žiaden=žiadny (no one) . . .

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 adjectives are declined:čí (whose), niečí /dačí / hocičí (someone’s), ničí (noone’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). . .

like môj (my) are declined:

• tvoj (your (sg. )) and svoj (one’s own), except that the o never changes in ô (e. g. tvoj-tvojho . . . )
• náš (our) and váš (your (pl. )), except that the -ô- in môj corresponds to an -á- , and an -o- in môj corresponds to an -a- here (e. g. náš-G:nášho- L:našom)

• jeho (his), jej (her), ich (their)

Numerals

• Changes for compound numerals in -jeden: not declined ; see Compound Numerals

• Changes for compound numerals in -dva:

• Also declined like dva: obidva / oba (both) , and (with the above changes) the second part of the compound numerals 32, 42, . . . 92, if they are declined (see Compound Numerals)

• Changes for compound numerals in -tri, -štyri:

• Also declined like tri: štyri (4), and (with the above changes) the second part of the compound numerals 23, 33, 43, . . . 93; 24, 34, 44, . . . 94, if they are declined (see Compound Numerals)

• Also declined like päť: the numerals päť (6) to 19 (19), and 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, and the second part of the compound numerals 25 - 29, 35-39 . . . 95-99, if they are declined (see Compound Numerals)

• if they end in -jeden (e. g. 21, 101):
  • not declined

• otherwise:
  • 2 alternatives: not declined or declined; if they are declined, then each number making up the numeral is declined according to its own paradigm (e. g. 23 chlapov: dvadsiatich troch chlapov)

Ordinal Numerals (first, second . . . . )

Note: Ordinal numerals are formed by adding adjective endings to the (slightly modified) cardinal numbers, e. g.

5: päť - 5th: piaty,

20: dvadsať - 20th: dvadsiaty

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