Slovene declension

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This page describes the declension of nouns, adjectives and pronouns in Slovene. For information on Slovene grammar in general, see Slovene grammar.

Grammatical categories

Nouns are declined for six cases and three numbers. Adjectives and most pronouns additionally decline for three genders.

There are six cases (the Slovene names are given in brackets):

  1. Nominative (imenovalnik or nominativ)
  2. Genitive (rodilnik or genitiv)
  3. Dative (dajalnik or dativ)
  4. Accusative (tožilnik or akuzativ)
  5. Locative (mestnik or lokativ)
  6. Instrumental (orodnik or instrumental)

Traditionally, the cases are given in the order above. They are also usually numbered accordingly: the nominative case is the first case, the genitive the second, and so on. For convenience, this article lists the accusative between the nominative and genitive.

Slovene has three numbers:

  1. Singular (ednina), which refers to one object.
  2. Dual (dvojina), which refers to a pair of objects.
  3. Plural (množina), which refers to more than two objects.

A noun in Slovene can have one of the following three genders:

  1. Masculine (moški); divided further into animate (accusative singular equals genitive) and inanimate (accusative singular equals nominative).
  2. Feminine (ženski)
  3. Neuter (srednji)

Most nouns contain distinct forms for each combination of case and number. Adjectives have distinct forms for each combination of case, number and gender. The dual and plural are not distinguished in the genitive and locative cases. In the dual and plural of adjectives, only the nominative and accusative cases distinguish the genders, the other dual and plural case forms are the same in all three genders.

Nouns

The declensions for nouns can be split by gender, as gender and declension pattern normally coincide. However, some nouns of one gender follow the declension of another gender, so this is not an absolute rule.

Every declensional class has a small subset of nouns following the so-called "mobile accent" paradigm. These nouns have the accent on the ending in some of the forms, in particular in the genitive singular, and some of the endings may also be different. The mobile paradigms were inherited from Common Slavic, where they were more numerous. In modern Slovene, they are best treated as irregular because there are relatively few of them, but the declensional patterns are usually still regular enough to consider them as cohesive subclasses. Most nouns with mobile accent are commonly used, which has helped to preserve them.

There are also a few nouns with a stressed fill vowel (/ə/ or occasionally /a/) in the last syllable of the stem. These usually shifted the accent onto the ending in most forms, but are different from mobile-accent nouns in that the endings have a short vowel, whereas mobile-accent nouns mostly have long vowels in the ending.

Masculine nouns

Masculine nouns typically end in a consonant, these are the hard and soft masculine "o-stem" nouns. Some masculine nouns end in a vowel, but these are rare.

Masculine nouns are further divided between animate and inanimate nouns. This difference is only significant for the accusative singular.

  • For inanimate nouns, the accusative singular is identical to the nominative singular. For example, stòl "chair", genitive singular stôla, accusative singular stòl.
  • For animate nouns, the accusative singular is identical to the genitive singular. For example, fànt "boy", genitive singular fánta, accusative singular fánta.

This distinction is also applied to all words that modify the noun, such as adjectives, determiners and the like. Thus, adjectives in the masculine accusative singular will have either the form of the nominative (no ending or -ni), or the form of the genitive (-ega).

Masculine o-stem nouns

The masculine o-stem declension is very common, and is the default pattern for masculine nouns. Nouns are divided between "hard" and "soft" stems, see the main Slovene grammar article for the meaning of these terms.

The following table shows the declension for inanimate masculine nouns. The declension for animate nouns can be derived via the above rules.

Hard declension Soft declension
Singular Dual Plural Singular Dual Plural
Nominative korák koráka koráki stròj strôja strôji
Accusative korák koráka koráke stròj strôja strôje
Genitive koráka korákov korákov strôja strôjev strôjev
Dative koráku korákoma korákom strôju strôjema strôjem
Locative koráku korákih korákih strôju strôjih strôjih
Instrumental korákom korákoma koráki strôjem strôjema strôji
  • If a noun has a fill vowel, it appears in the nominative singular. It is dropped in all other forms. For example, vrélec "hot spring" has the genitive singular vrélca.
  • A few nouns ending in -elj add the infix -n- after the stem, rather than dropping the fill vowel. For example, nágelj "carnation", genitive singular nágeljna.
  • If the stem of a noun ends in -rj-, the nominative singular ends only in -r. For example, redár "security guard at a public event", genitive singular redárja.

A number of masculine o-stem nouns have a mobile accent paradigm. These have the accent on the ending in the genitive singular, rather than on the stem. All other forms of the singular have the accent on the stem. In the dual and plural, these nouns have regular endings, but preceded by the accented infix -ôv-. Nouns with mobile accent almost always allow the regular o-stem declension (with plural in just -i), either as the primary form or as an alternative.

There are two possibilities for the genitive singular ending, or . The former reflects the Common Slavic mobile o-stems, while the latter is a remnant of the u-stem inflection, which has otherwise disappeared in Slovene. The infix -ôv- in the plural also originates from the old u-stems.

Genitive singular in Genitive singular in
Singular Dual Plural Singular Dual Plural
Nominative svét svetôva svetôvi grád gradôva gradôvi
Accusative svét svetôva svetôve grád gradôva gradôve
Genitive svetá svetôv svetôv gradú gradôv gradôv
Dative svétu svetôvoma svetôvom grádu gradôvoma gradôvom
Locative svétu svetôvih svetôvih grádu gradôvih gradôvih
Instrumental svétom svetôvoma svetôvi grádom gradôvoma gradôvi

Certain nouns have minor irregularities:

  • Some nouns have the ending -jé in the nominative plural instead of -i. This is a remnant of the Common Slavic masculine i-stem inflection, which was mostly lost in Slovene except for this ending. For example, zób "tooth", nominative plural zobjé. Usually, the regular form is also allowed, or even preferred.
  • Some nouns have the infix -ôv- in the dual and plural, like the mobile-accent nouns, but are regular in the singular. For example, krés "bonfire", genitive singular krésa, nominative dual kresôva, nominative plural kresôvi, genitive plural kresôv. Usually, the regular form is also allowed, or even preferred.

Masculine vowel-stem nouns

A relatively small number of masculine nouns have a nominative singular ending in a vowel. These can be declined in various ways, depending on the individual noun.

  • Those ending in -o (and rarely -e) decline as regular masculine o-stems with simply an additional vowel in the nominative singular (and accusative, if inanimate). In the other forms, the ending replaces this vowel. For example, kíno "cinema", genitive singular kína, nominative plural kíni; Číle "Chile", genitive singular Číla. Personal names ending in -o (which are fairly common) decline in this way.
  • Those ending in -i or -u (primarily loanwords), as well as all words ending in a stressed vowel, add -j- after the stem when endings are attached, and therefore decline as soft o-stems. For example, Víšnu "Vishnu", genitive singular Víšnuja; "B (letter)", genitive singular bêja, nominative plural bêji; apartmá "apartment", genitive singular apartmája, nominative plural apartmáji.
  • Those ending in -a usually decline as feminine a-stems (accusative -o, genitive -e), but can optionally also decline as regular o-stems as above. For example, vójvoda "duke", genitive singular vójvode/vójvoda, nominative plural vójvode/vójvodi. If declined as feminine a-stems, these nouns do not show animacy themselves (since the nominative, accusative and genitive singular all have their own distinct forms), but adjectives and other modifying words will still show animacy as appropriate.
  • Proper names ending in -e normally follow the neuter t-stem declension, adding the infix -t- before the endings. For example, Zvóne, genitive singular Zvóneta. Despite declining as neuters, these nouns still show animacy, so the accusative singular follows the genitive.

Irregular masculine nouns

The most common irregular masculine noun is dán "day". The declension pattern is:

Singular Dual Plural
Nominative dán dní, dnéva dnévi
Accusative dán dní, dnéva dní, dnéve
Genitive dné, dnéva dní dní
Dative dné, dnévu dnéma, dnévoma dném, dnévom
Locative dné, dnévu dnéh, dnévih dnéh, dnévih
Instrumental dném, dnévom dnéma, dnévoma dnémi, dnévi

The noun móž "husband, man" partially preserves the archaic Slavic masculine i-stem declension, which has otherwise disappeared in Slovene. In modern terms, its forms are a mixture of the mobile-accented masculine o-stem and feminine i-stem declensions. The genitive dual/plural has no ending.

Singular Dual Plural
Nominative móž možá možjé
Accusative možá možá možé
Genitive možá móž móž
Dative móžu možéma možém
Locative móžu možéh možéh
Instrumental móžem možéma možmí

The noun člôvek "human, person" is suppletive and has a different stem ljud- in the plural, which follows the mobile-accent i-stem declension.

Singular Dual Plural
Nominative člôvek človéka ljudjé
Accusative človéka človéka ljudí
Genitive človéka ljudí ljudí
Dative človéku človékoma ljudém
Locative človéku ljudéh ljudéh
Instrumental človékom človékoma ljudmí
  • The noun otròk "child" shows the effects of the second palatalization in the nominative plural and locative dual/plural: otrôci, otrócih.

Feminine nouns

Feminine nouns usually end in -a; these are the "a-stem" nouns. A number of feminine nouns ends in a consonant; these are "i-stem" nouns.

Feminine a-stem nouns

The feminine a-stem declension is very common, and is the default pattern for feminine nouns. There is no distinction between hard and soft stems (the declension used in modern Slovene was historically the soft one). This declension can also be used for masculine nouns in -a.

Singular Dual Plural
Nominative lípa lípi lípe
Accusative lípo lípi lípe
Genitive lípe líp líp
Dative lípi lípama lípam
Locative lípi lípah lípah
Instrumental lípo lípama lípami
  • If a noun has a fill vowel, it appears in the genitive dual/plural. It is dropped in all other forms. For example, vôžnja "fare", genitive dual/plural vôženj; ígra "game", genitive plural íger; ládja "ship", genitive plural ládij.

Some a-stem nouns have declensions with mobile accent, usually as rarer alternatives to the more common fixed-accent forms described above. These nouns have the accent on the ending in all forms except the nominative, dative and locative singular. The endings of the nominative and accusative dual differ slightly from those of the fixed-accent nouns, having instead of -i.

The genitive dual/plural can either end in , or have no ending. In the latter case, the stem vowel is stressed and any ê and ô are converted to é and ó. It is not fully predictable which of the two genitive plural forms a given noun will use. Statistically, most nouns having ê or ô in the nominative singular will have the stressed ending, while other nouns will have the endingless form with stem accent, but there are exceptions, such as nôga "leg", genitive plural nóg. A few nouns have stressed -á- as a fill vowel before the final consonant in the genitive plural, like ôvca "sheep", genitive plural ovác.

Gen. plural in Gen. plural no ending
Singular Dual Plural Singular Dual Plural
Nominative gôra goré goré gláva glavé glavé
Accusative goró goré goré glavó glavé glavé
Genitive goré gorá gorá glavó gláv gláv
Dative gôri goráma goràm glávi glaváma glavàm
Locative gôri goràh goràh glávi glavàh glavàh
Instrumental goró goráma gorámi glavó glaváma glavámi

Feminine i-stem nouns

The feminine i-stem declension is less common. It is used primarily by the widely productive abstract noun suffix -ost, but a fair number of other nouns (mostly of Common Slavic origin) also follow it.

Singular Dual Plural
Nominative perút perúti perúti
Accusative perút perúti perúti
Genitive perúti perúti perúti
Dative perúti perútma perútim
Locative perúti perútih perútih
Instrumental perútjo perútma perútmi
  • If a noun has a fill vowel, it appears in the nominative and accusative singular. These nouns also get a fill vowel -i- before the ending in the instrumental singular (-ijo), dative and instrumental dual (-ima) and instrumental plural (-imi). For example, pésem "song", genitive singular pésmi, instrumental singular pésmijo, dative and instrumental dual pésmima, instrumental plural pésmimi.

Nouns with mobile accent are common among the i-stem nouns. These nouns have the accent on the ending in all forms except the nominative, accusative, dative and locative singular. The endings of the dual and plural differ slightly from those of the fixed-accent nouns, in that they have -e- where there is normally -i- or no vowel.

Singular Dual Plural
Nominative vás vasí vasí
Accusative vás vasí vasí
Genitive vasí vasí vasí
Dative vási vaséma vasém
Locative vási vaséh vaséh
Instrumental vas vaséma vas
  • In some mobile i-stem nouns with é or ó in the nominative singular, the dative and locative singular has ê and ô respectively. For example, kóst "bone" and pést "fist", dative/locative singular kôsti and pêsti.

Feminine v-stem nouns

A fair number of feminine nouns belongs to the feminine v-stem declension, with the ending -ev (in which the -e- is a fill vowel). Examples are cérkev "church", bréskev "peach", léstev "ladder", žétev "harvest". These inflect as a-stems, but with some i-stem forms mixed in:

Singular Dual Plural
Nominative léstev léstvi léstve
Accusative léstev léstvi léstve
Genitive léstve léstev léstev
Dative léstvi léstvama léstvam
Locative léstvi léstvah léstvah
Instrumental léstvijo léstvama léstvami

Many nouns in this group can also inflect as regular a-stems, with the nominative singular ending in -va and accusative and instrumental singular in -vo.

Irregular feminine nouns

The noun gospá "lady, madam" follows an unusual variety of the mobile-accent a-stem paradigm with stress only on the endings, and several irregular endings with -e-.

Singular Dual Plural
Nominative gospá gospé gospé
Accusative gospó gospé gospé
Genitive gospé gospá gospá
Dative gospé gospéma gospém
Locative gospé gospéh gospéh
Instrumental gospó gospéma gospémi
  • The colloquial forms in dative and locative singular are gospêj, and are also limited to certain dialects and should be avoided in the standard language.

hčí "daughter", and máti "mother" follow the a-stem paradigm, but have irregular nominative and accusative forms, and the instrumental singular ending -jo of the i-stems.

Singular Singular
Nominative máti hčí
Accusative máter hčér
Genitive mátere hčére
Dative máteri hčéri
Locative máteri hčéri
Instrumental máterjo hčérjo

The noun kri "blood" follows the mobile-accent i-stem declension, but replaces the final -v with -i in the nominative and accusative singular.

Singular
Nominative krí
Accusative krí
Genitive krví
Dative kŕvi
Locative kŕvi
Instrumental krvjó

Neuter nouns

Neuter nouns end in -o or -e, these are the hard and soft neuter "o-stems".

Neuter o-stem nouns

The neuter o-stem declension closely resembles its masculine counterpart. The differences are in the nominative and accusative (of all numbers), which have their own unique endings, and in the genitive dual/plural, which has no ending like in the feminine a-stems. The neuter o-stems are divided between "hard" and "soft" stems, like the masculines.

Hard declension Soft declension
Singular Dual Plural Singular Dual Plural
Nominative mésto mésti mésta líce líci líca
Accusative mésto mésti mésta líce líci líca
Genitive mésta mést mést líca líc líc
Dative méstu méstoma méstom lícu lícema lícem
Locative méstu méstih méstih lícu lícih lícih
Instrumental méstom méstoma mésti lícem lícema líci
  • If a noun has a fill vowel, it appears in the genitive dual/plural. It is dropped in all other forms. For example: ôkno "window", genitive plural ôken; vesêlje "happiness", genitive plural vesêlij.

Neuter n-, s- and t-stem nouns

A small group of neuter nouns follow the neuter n-stem, neuter s-stem or neuter t-stem declensions. These decline as hard o-stems, but have an additional consonant infix (-en-, -es-, -et-) in all forms except the nominative/accusative singular. The n-stem and t-stem nouns have a nominative/accusative in -e, while the s-stem nouns have -o or -e depending on whether the preceding stem is hard or soft.

n-stem s-stem t-stem
Singular Dual Plural Singular Dual Plural Singular Dual Plural
Nominative imé iméni iména teló telési telésa deklè dekléti dekléta
Accusative imé iméni iména teló telési telésa deklè dekléti dekléta
Genitive iména imén imén telésa telés telés dekléta deklét deklét
Dative iménu iménoma iménom telésu telésoma telésom deklétu deklétoma deklétom
Locative iménu iménih iménih telésu telésih telésih deklétu deklétih deklétih
Instrumental iménom iménoma iméni telésom telésoma telési deklétom deklétoma dekléti
  • The noun okó "eye" follows the s-stem declension, and shows the effects of the Slavic first palatalization: in all forms but the nominative and accusative singular, the stem is očés-. It also has a shorter plural stem oč- when referring to human eyes, which is feminine: nominative/accusative plural očí, genitive očí, dative očém, locative očéh, instrumental očmí.

Indeclinable nouns

Acronyms and symbols generally do not decline, and have the same form in all cases and numbers. They may also be declined as the masculine soft declension, with a hyphen and j added before the ending.

Thus, for the noun NLP "UFO":

Singular Dual Plural
Nominative NLP NLP or NLP-ja NLP or NLP-ji
Accusative NLP NLP or NLP-ja NLP or NLP-ji
Genitive NLP or NLP-ja NLP or NLP-jev NLP or NLP-jev
Dative NLP or NLP-ju NLP or NLP-jema NLP or NLP-jem
Locative NLP or NLP-ju NLP or NLP-jih NLP or NLP-jih
Instrumental NLP or NLP-jem NLP or NLP-jema NLP or NLP-ji

Substantivized adjectives

Adjectives may occasionally be used as nouns. They are declined as the original adjective.

Adjectives

All adjectives decline more or less the same way. Some masculine and neuter forms resemble the equivalent o-stem nouns, while the feminine forms are somewhat like the a-stem nouns. Like nouns, a distinction is made between hard and soft stems, but this is only relevant for the neuter nominative/accusative singular, which has -o for hard stems and -e for soft stems. All other forms use the soft endings regardless of the final consonant of the stem.

The following table shows the declension of a hard stem adjective. Differences with the corresponding noun inflections are shown in blue.

Singular
Masculine Feminine Neuter
Nominative móder, módri módra módro
Accusative nom or gen módro módro
Genitive módrega módre módrega
Dative módremu módri módremu
Locative módrem módri módrem
Instrumental módrim módro módrim
Dual
Masculine Feminine Neuter
Nominative módra módri módri
Accusative módra módri módri
Genitive módrih módrih módrih
Dative módrima módrima módrima
Locative módrih módrih módrih
Instrumental módrima módrima módrima
Plural
Masculine Feminine Neuter
Nominative módri módre módra
Accusative módre módre módra
Genitive módrih módrih módrih
Dative módrim módrim módrim
Locative módrih módrih módrih
Instrumental módrimi módrimi módrimi

The masculine nominative singular has two possible forms:

  • With no ending, and a fill vowel when applicable (like in nouns). This form is "indefinite" in meaning, and is used to indicate a particular kind of something, much like the indefinite article a in English.
  • With the ending -i. This form is "definite" in meaning, and acts to distinguish one thing from another, using the quality indicated by the adjective as the distinguishing feature. This is like the definite article the in English.

Not all adjectives have an indefinite form, some (those whose base form already ends in -i) only have a definite form. This includes comparatives and adjectives in -ski. A few pronoun-like adjectives have only the indefinite form.

The masculine accusative singular is like either the nominative or the genitive, as in masculine nouns. Which form is used depends on which form the accompanying noun uses, which in turn depends on whether the noun is animate or inanimate. If the nominative form is used for the accusative, then either the definite or indefinite form can be used, with the same distinction in meaning.

Pronouns

Pronouns generally inflect like adjectives, although many do not have a definite form in the masculine nominative singular. Some pronouns are irregular; these are detailed here.

Personal pronouns

The first and second person pronouns are very irregular, and do not fit neatly into any other declensional category. The nominative forms of the dual and plural have different forms for the genders, depending on who is speaking or who is being spoken to. The accusative, genitive and dative forms of the singular have stressed and unstressed forms; the stressed forms are used when particular emphasis is needed. The accusative singular also occurs in clitic form, which is unstressed and attaches to the preceding word.

The reflexive pronouns are used to refer back to the subject or to some other word, have only a single set of forms for all three numbers, which inflect like the first- and second-person singular pronouns. There is no nominative form.

Singular
1st person 2nd person Reflexive
Nominative jàz
Accusative méne (me, -me) tébe (te, -te) sébe (se, -se)
Genitive méne (me) tébe (te) sébe (se)
Dative méni (mi) tébi (ti) sébi (si)
Locative méni tébi sébi
Instrumental menój, máno tebój, tábo sebój, sábo
Dual
1st person 2nd person
Nominative mídva m, médve/mídve f, n vídva m, védve/vídve f, n
Accusative náju váju
Genitive náju váju
Dative náma váma
Locative náju váju
Instrumental náma váma
Plural
1st person 2nd person
Nominative m, mé f, n m, vé f, n
Accusative nàs vàs
Genitive nàs vàs
Dative nàm vàm
Locative nàs vàs
Instrumental nàmi vàmi

The third-person pronouns inflect similar to adjectives, but irregularly. Like in the first- and second-person pronouns, the accusative mostly normally the genitive, and the ending -ih in the dual forms is replaced with -iju. The nominative is formed from a different stem than the other cases. There are also unstressed and clitic forms for several of the cases.

Singular
Masculine Feminine Neuter
Nominative òn ôna ôno
Accusative njêga (ga, -(e)nj) njó (jo, -njo) njêga (ga, -(e)nj)
Genitive njêga (ga) njé (je) njêga (ga)
Dative njêmu (mu) njéj, njèj, njì (ji) njêmu (mu)
Locative njêm njéj, njèj, njì njêm
Instrumental njím njó njím
Dual
Masculine Feminine Neuter
Nominative ônadva ônidve, onédve ônidve, onédve
Accusative njíju (ju, -nju) njíju (ju, -nju) njíju (ju, -nju)
Genitive njíju (ju) njíju (ju) njíju (ju)
Dative njíma (jima) njíma (jima) njíma (jima)
Locative njíju njíju njíju
Instrumental njíma njíma njíma
Plural
Masculine Feminine Neuter
Nominative ôni ône ôna
Accusative njìh (jih, -nje) njìh (jih, -nje) njìh (jih, -nje)
Genitive njìh (jih) njìh (jih) njìh (jih)
Dative njìm (jim) njìm (jim) njìm (jim)
Locative njìh njìh njìh
Instrumental njími njími njími

There are also possessive forms for each of the pronouns. These inflect like regular adjectives.

ta and ves

The demonstrative ta "this" inflects like an adjective, but -i- in the endings is replaced with -e-.

Singular
Masculine Feminine Neuter
Nominative tá
Accusative nom or gen
Genitive téga téga
Dative tému tèj tému
Locative tém tèj tém
Instrumental tém tém
Dual
Masculine Feminine Neuter
Nominative
Accusative
Genitive téh téh téh
Dative téma téma téma
Locative téh téh téh
Instrumental téma téma téma
Plural
Masculine Feminine Neuter
Nominative
Accusative
Genitive téh téh téh
Dative tém tém tém
Locative téh téh téh
Instrumental témi témi témi

The word ves "all" inflects much like ta, but it inflects as if it were a soft stem, having -e in the neuter nominative/accusative singular. It has a fill vowel in the masculine nominative singular.

Singular
Masculine Feminine Neuter
Nominative vès vsà vsè
Accusative nom or gen vsò vsè
Genitive vsèga vsè vsèga
Dative vsèmu vsèj vsèmu
Locative vsèm vsèj vsèm
Instrumental vsèm vsò vsèm
Dual
Masculine Feminine Neuter
Nominative vsà vsì vsì
Accusative vsà vsì vsì
Genitive vsèh vsèh vsèh
Dative vsèma vsèma vsèma
Locative vsèh vsèh vsèh
Instrumental vsèma vsèma vsèma
Plural
Masculine Feminine Neuter
Nominative vsì vsè vsà
Accusative vsè vsè vsà
Genitive vsèh vsèh vsèh
Dative vsèm vsèm vsèm
Locative vsèh vsèh vsèh
Instrumental vsèmi vsèmi vsèmi

Interrogative, relative and negative pronouns

The interrogative pronouns kdo "who" and kaj "what" have only singular forms, and have irregular stem changes. kaj also replaces the normal -g- in the genitive with -s-.

Nominative kdó káj, kàj
Accusative kóga káj, kàj
Genitive kóga čésa
Dative kómu čému
Locative kóm čém
Instrumental kóm čím

The relative pronouns kdor "who, that" and kar "which, that" inflect like kdo and kaj, but add -r to the end of each form, adding a fill vowel if necessary.

Nominative kdór kàr
Accusative kógar kàr
Genitive kógar čésar
Dative kómur čémur
Locative kómer čémer
Instrumental kómer čímer

The pronouns nihče "nobody" and nič "nothing" follow the declensions of kdor and kar, but the nominative and accusative are different.

Nominative nihčè nìč
Accusative nikóga nìč
Genitive nikógar ničésar
Dative nikómur ničémur
Locative nikómer ničémer
Instrumental nikómer ničímer