Slovene Nouns & Pronouns

Nouns in Slovene are slightly more complex and much more specific than English, but Pronouns are used to replace nouns in a sentence, similar to English.

Nouns and Pronouns can be masculine, feminine or neuter, singular, dual or plural and are used with six declensions.

💡 My suggested learning order of the declensions is: (1) Nominative, (4) Accusative, (2) Genitive, (5) Locative, (6) Instrumental and (3) Dative.

Gender of Nouns

Slovene nouns can be masculine, feminine or neuter. Knowing how to identify the gender of a noun is important as it is essential knowledge to be able to use the declensions correctly.

How to Determine the Gender of a Noun in Slovene?

Question Words Related to Skloni

There are six grammatical cases in Slovene, called skloni. Sometimes, it can be a challenge to know when to use which. Fortunately, by asking some basic but specific question words can help identify them.

First Sklon – Nominative: kdo (who), kaj (what).
Second Sklon – Genitive: koga (who), česa (what), od kod (from where)
Third Sklon – Dative: komu (whom), čemu (what), kam (to where).
Fourth Sklon – Accusative: koga (who), kaj (what), kam (to where).
Fifth Sklon – Locative: o kom (about who), o čem (about what), kje (where).
Sixth Sklon – Instrumental: s kom (with who), s čim (with what).

First Sklon / Case 1 / Nominative / Imenovalnik

The first sklon is the “original” form that are found in a dictionary. Knowing and memorizing its declension is the very first step in learning the grammar.

Fourth Sklon / Case 4 / Accusative / Tožilnik

The fourth sklon is one of the most used declensions in Slovene as it is used with nouns that are directly affected by most verbs. Learning its declension right after the first sklon is also easier.

**Second Sklon / Case 2 / Genitive / Rodilnik**

The second sklon is also one of the most used declensions in Slovene and probably the most complex, confusing and versatile one. Generally used for nouns directly affected by negative verbs, the second sklon is also applied in many situations.

**Fifth Sklon / Case 5 / Locative / Mestnik**

The fifth sklon is always used with prepositions, often used to express “about” and it indicates locations, where there are no movement or direction (otherwise, it will be the fourth sklon). Prepositions are great indicators of skloni.

Sixth Sklon / Case 6 / Instrumental / Orodnik

The sixth sklon is always used with prepositions, often used to express “with” someone or something and locations with specific prepositions.

**Third Sklon / Case 3 / Dative / Dajalnik**

Last but not least, the third sklon is usually used for nouns that are indirectly affected by most verbs.

Declension by Genders

Slovene nouns are divided into three genders: masculine, feminine and neutral. Some of them have a different endings, therefore a different declensions. I suggest that you know the six skloni decently well before learning the declension by genders.