One of the use of the Fourth Sklon – Accusative as I’ve explained before is with the prepositions v and na, which are prepositions used with movement and direction verbs such as iti (to go) or teči (to run).
The biggest problem is to discern when to use v and when to use na.
The preposition v can be translated as “in” – it’s usually used with:
- zgradba – structure “that has walls” such as šola (school), trgovina (shop), knjižnica (library)…
- mesto – town and city such as Piran, Ljubljana, Novo Mesto…
- država – most of countries such as Kanada, Slovenija…
There are a few exceptions: gledališče (theater), park, živalski vrt (zoo), opera, služba (work), gore (mountains)…
The preposition na can be translated as “on” – it’s usually used with:
- zunaj – outside structure “without walls” such as tržnica (marketplace), balkon…
- aktivnost – activity such as piknik, zabavo (party), ekskurzija (excursion)…
- šport – sport such as tenis, tek (jogging), smučanje (skiing)…
- hrana, pijača – food and drinks such as malica (snack), kava (coffee), pijača (drink), kosilo (lunch)…
- formalna institucija – official building such as banka (bank), ambasada (embassy), sodišče (court)…
- otok – island such as Bled, Havaji…
- city and country that ends with -ska, -ška such as Japonska (Japan), Madžarska (Hungary)…
- location that ends with -išče such as letališče (airport), igrišče (playground)…
There are a few exceptions: postelja (bed), bazen (pool), morje (sea), Triglav, Dunaj (Vienna)…
There are more exceptions, but knowing those mentioned above will surely impress more than one ; ) !
Learning the prepositions properly is very important as they are indicators of sklon – meaning, if you known which preposition is usually or always used with which sklon, then you will know which sklon to use.
For those who are more “advanced” in their studies, the preposition v and na are also used with the Fifth Sklon – Locative, the rules of when to use which are exactly the same.
If you have any questions, please contact me and I will try my best to answer you!
Discover more Slovene “lessons” that might interest you: Slovene Numbers & Numerals, Slovene Nouns & Pronouns, Slovene Verbs, Slovene Adjectives, Slovene Syntax, Slovenian Idioms, Slovene Adverbs.
Let’s learn,
Anna.
Anna in Slovenia 