General Question Words in Slovene

Whether you’re learning Slovene seriously or just for fun, knowing how to express questions, vprašanje, is essential. It also makes conversation a lot more interesting.

A or Ali

Using the short word Ali or A is an easy way to formulate a yes or no questions in Slovene | i.e.  Can you repeat, please→ A lahko ponovite, prosim?  / Do you like to eat apple → A radi jeste jabolko?

Question Words in General

Same as in English, Slovene uses different general and basic question words at the beginning of the sentence

• kaj (what)| i.e. What are you doing here → Kaj delate tukaj?
• kdo (who) | i.e. Who is your friend → Kdo je tvoj prijatelj?
• kje (where)| i.e. Where do you live → Kje živite?
• kako (how)| i.e. How are you today→ Kako ste danes?
• kdaj (when)| i.e. When do you have your birthday → Kdaj imate rojstni dan?
  

  Kdaj is used to express dates and time. — How to Say Dates and Times in Slovene

• kateri (which) | i.e. Which bus is the right one → Kateri avtobus je pravilen?
• čigav (whose) | i.e. Whose car is silver → Čigav avto je siv?
• koliko (how much, how many) | i.e. How much time do you have → Koliko časa imate?
  

  Koliko is used to express amounts and quantities. — How to Express Quantities in Slovene – Second Sklon

• zakaj (why)| i.e. Why is the sky blue → Zakaj je nebo modro?

Of course, there are more ways to formulate questions, but being familiar with those will be a good start. 🙂

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As you learn the language, you will start to notice that some question words have the same translation in English, but are differently used in Slovene, such as

• kje and kam (where),
• kako and kakšen (how) and
• kateri and kakšen (which).

Slovene is a very precise language and some Slovene question words are used with specific situation. — Which Slovene Question Words to Use

While learning the Slovene grammar, you will realize that some question words will help you identify which of the six grammatical cases is used. Sometimes, you will notice that the questions words are written differently. I will cover that in a future post.

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Once you know which question words to use, formulating a question in Slovene shouldn’t be too complicated! At some point, it can even become fun as you will be able to express yourself easier! 🙂

If you have any questions or comments, don’t hesitate to ask me and I will try my best to give you an answer!

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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.

Let’s learn,
Anna.