Second Sklon – Genitive

As you already know, there are 6 grammatical cases – skloni in Slovene. Knowing how and when to apply them is primordial.

Before getting to the second sklon, you should already know the First Sklon – Nominative and the Fourth Sklon – Accusative.

If you’ve read my previous posts, you will know by now that Slovene word is masculine, feminine or neutral and it has a singular, dual and plural form. Each form can be used with all the 6 grammatical cases – so, in Slovene, every noun has 18 versions.

The second sklon is also known as rodilnik or genitiv in Slovene and it is the “Genitive” case. The rodilnik sklon is one of the most used form of the nouns along with imenovalnik and tožilnik.

Here’s the table for the Sklon 2, Genitive (I don’t have…)

SKLON 2	(m) STAR_ TELEFON_	(ž) NOVA TORBA	(s) VELIKO LETALO
(E) Nimam	starega telefona starega psa	nove torbe	velikega letala vročega morja
(D) Nimam	starih telefonov	novih torb_	velikih letal_
(M) Nimam	starih telefonov	novih torb_	velikih letal_

Reminder:  (E) ednina/singular, (D) dvojina/dual, (M) množina/plural and (m) moški/masculine, (ž) ženski/feminine, (s) srednji/neutral.

As you can see, in the Genitive case, a lot of endings are the same. Refer to the colors:

• the masculine singular is the same as the neutral singular,
• the masculine dual and plural is the same and
• the feminine dual and plural forms have the exact same ending as the neutral dual and plural forms.

❤ And here’s an simplified version of the endings, easier to remember :

SKLON 2	(m)	(ž)	(s)
(E)	–EGA –A	-E-E	–EGA –A
(D)	–IH –OV*	–IH –_	–IH –_
(M)	–IH –OV*	–IH –_	–IH –_

Reminder: * is the famous bracket (c, č, š, ž j) where the o changes into e.

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When to use the second sklon

1. the noun is directly affected by a negation verb
   For example, I don’t have (what? who?) a telephone  → Nimam (česa? koga?) telefona^2(E)/ I don’t drink coffee → Ne pijem kave^2(E).
2. following specific preposition
   • iz or s/z(from) – to answer the question Od kod ste? (Where are you from?) | i.e. I’m from Canada → Sem iz Kanade² / She is from China → Ona je s Kitajske².
     

     The prepositions v and na – Fourth Sklon — When we use the preposition v in the fourth sklon, we use the preposition iz in the second sklon. — When we use the preposition na for the fourth sklon, we use the preposition s/z. (s is used if the following word starts with C, Č, F, H, K, P, S, Š and T).

   • brez(without), od… do (from… to), blizu* (near), zraven/poleg (next to, beside), nasproti (facing), mimo* (passing by), preko (across), sredi (in the middle), okoli* (around) and izmed (among all).
     

     * Please note that those are considered as “fake preposition” as they categorized as adverbs.

3. the double nouns (samostalnik^X + samostalnik²)
   The Slovene noun + noun is like two nouns connected with the preposition “of” in English.
   For example, let’s use school of Slovene (šola^X + slovenščina²) with different skloni:
   • Sklon 1: To je šola¹ slovenščine² /To ni šola¹ slovenščine²
   • Sklon 4: Grem v šolo⁴ slovenščine² /  Ne grem v šolo⁴ slovenščine²  / Imam šolo⁴ slovenščine² danes.
   • Sklon 2: Nimam šole² slovenščine² danes.
     

     Notice how the first noun is used with the corresponding sklon and how the second noun is always in its second sklon form.

The second sklon is used at other occasions as well, but if you can remember and learn those written here, you’re already doing a great job! I know it’s a lot of information at once, but

Vaja dela mojstra – Practice makes perfect.

If you are up to learn more uses of the second sklon, you can check When to use the Second Sklon – Genitive.

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I remember how confused while learning the first, fourth and second sklon. Therefore, if you are currently feeling confused, overwhelmed and/or completely lost – don’t worry, it is absolutely normal and part of the learning (and trust me, it will get better!).

If you have any questions, because you might have: don’t be shy and contact me for help! If you have any other learning tricks, please do share with me – we are all learners!

Knowing the first, fourth and second sklon  (which are the most commonly used ones) – you already know half (50%!) of the 6 Slovene grammatical cases! Woohoo! 😀

Update – here is my Cheat sheet “Table of Skloni “. More can be found under Learning Materials.

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Discover more Slovene “lessons” that might interest you: Slovene Numbers & Numerals, Slovene Nouns & Pronouns, Slovene Verbs, Slovene Adjectives, Slovene Syntax, Slovenian Idioms, Slovene Adverbs.

Don’t give up, let’s learn,
Anna.