An important and interesting part of any language is indeed adjective – pridevnik. Knowing how to use correctly adjective will greatly expand your ability to describe and express words, things, but mainly nouns.
As we known, nouns in Slovene can be masculine, feminine or neutral and singular, dual or plural. They are also affected by grammatical cases, known as skloni. Adjective takes the same form as the noun that it describes.
Slovene Adjective in Masculine Form
In my opinion, it is best to first learn the masculine form of an adjective and noun, as it is the “original” form that you might find in the dictionary. And you might notice that it has different endings:
Endings with –ER, –EK, –EN, –EL
Adjectives that end with those particular endings such as hiter (fast), lahek (light/easy), močen (strong), topel (warm) can be tricky to learn. Notice how the “e” is underlined, it means that when declined, the “e” is removed. For example:
- hiter avtom > hitra ladjaž > hitro letalos
- lahek stolm > lahka mizaž > lahko kolos
- močen veterm > močna kavaž > močno sonces
- topel čajm > topla vodaž > toplo vremes
❗ BUT it is not always the case. There are some exceptions.
With exceptions, the “e” remains and only the appropriate ending is added:
- utrujen (tired) | Davidm je utrujen, Anjaž je utrujena.
- debel (fat/thick) | Slonm je debel, Kravaž je debela.
- zelen (green) | Avtom je zelen, majicaž je zelena.
Other endings
For adjectives that have other endings, such as slab (bad), mlad (young), visok (tall), velik (big), vroč (hot) and much more, to decline, we simply add the appropriate ending. For example:
- slab tedenm > slaba mizaž > slabo vremes
- visok avtom > visoka policaž > visoko drevos
- vroč čajm > vroča juhaž > vroče vinos.
| Reminder: (m) moški/masculine, (ž) ženski/feminine, (s) srednji/neutral. Learn more about How to Determine the Gender of a Noun in Slovene. |
I hope I didn’t confused you too much. Keep in mind that adjectives in Slovene can be used in masculine, feminine, neutral, singular, dual and plural form as well as with any of the six grammatical cases.
If you have any questions or comments, don’t hesitate and contact me!
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 