Slovene declension

Most masculine nouns follow the same inflection pattern, termed "o-stem" nouns. O-stem nouns are divided between "hard" and "soft" stems, see the main Slovene grammar article for the meaning of these terms.

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, stȍl "chair", genitive singular stóla, accusative singular stȍl.
• For animate nouns, the accusative singular is identical to the genitive singular. For example, fȁnt "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).

• A few nouns ending in -elj have a stem in -eljn- 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.
• Some nouns have the ending -je 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: študȅnt "student", nominative plural študéntje, gospọ̑d "sir, lord", nominative plural gospọ̑dje, kmȅt "farmer", nominative plural kmẹ́tje, etc. Usually, the regular form is also allowed, or even preferred.
• In the 19th century the ending -i was often used in the dative/locative singular instead of -u. For example, nominative óče "father", dative/locative očẹ́ti. Nowadays this ending is considered archaic or dialectal.

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, kȋno "cinema", genitive singular kȋna; Čȋle "Chile", genitive singular Čȋla. 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, Vȋšnu "Vishnu", genitive singular Vȋšnuja; apartmȃ "apartment", genitive singular apartmȃja.
• Those ending in -a usually decline as feminine a-stems (accusative -o, genitive -e), but can optionally also decline as regular o-stems. For example, vọ̑jvoda "duke", genitive singular vọ̑jvode / vọ̑jvoda. 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 declension like the noun otročȅ, adding the infix -et- before the endings. For example, Zvọ̑ne, genitive singular Zvọ̑neta. Despite declining as neuters, these nouns still show animacy, so the accusative singular follows the genitive.

The basic and most common accentual type has accent on the same syllable throughout the stem. In circumflex stems, the accent is the same in all forms. In acute stems, the locative singular, genitive dual/plural, locative dual/plural and instrumental plural can optionally have a circumflex accent.

Some acute-accented nouns appear with an anomalous nominative singular form. This form has a short accent rather than an acute accent, or, if the stem has more than one syllable, has an acute accent one syllable to the left relative to the other forms. In addition, the locative singular allows for an optional circumflex accent, as does the dative singular when preceded by the preposition k/h.

A number of masculine o-stem nouns have a mobile accent paradigm. These have a circumflex accent on the stem in most singular forms, but a circumflex accent on the ending in the genitive singular. The locative dual/plural has a special acute-accented ending -ẹ́h, while the other dual and plural endings are circumflex accented. The genitive dual/plural has no ending, and acute accent on the stem.

Few mobile o-stems follow the pattern of mož exactly. Instead, most follow mož in the singular, but have an accented infix -ȏv- with an open-mid vowel in the dual and plural, and regular unaccented endings. In the genitive dual/plural, it is acute-accented -óv with no further ending. Only hard stems allow for the -ȏv- infix; soft stems never have it and therefore there is no soft alternative *-ȇv-.

There are two possibilities for the genitive singular ending, -ȃ or -ȗ. 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 -ȏv- in the plural also originates from the old u-stems.

A fair number of nouns combine different types of fixed-accent and mobile-accent forms:

• Nouns with stem accent in the singular, i.e. with an unaccented genitive singular ending, but the -ȏv- infix in the dual and plural. These often have optional dual/plural forms with stem accent and no infix. For example krẹ̑s, genitive singular krẹ̑sa, nominative plural kresȏvi or krẹ̑si.
• Some ending-accented forms in the plural with no -ȏv- infix, like those of mož. These are usually rare, stylistically marked or used only in fixed phrases.
• zọ̑b follows mož in the plural, optionally also in the dual and singular.
• lȃs follows mož in the plural, has stem accent in the dual, and allows both in the singular, with the genitive singular lasȗ or lȃsa.
• vọ̑z either follows mož in the plural or has the -ȏv- infix, has only forms with the infix in the dual, and mobile accent in the singular.

When there is an ending, it receives a short accent. Where the ending has multiple syllables, it has an acute accent and an open-mid vowel. In the genitive dual/plural, both accents are possible.

The feminine a-stem declension is the most common 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.

The basic and most common accentual type has accent on the same syllable throughout the stem. In circumflex stems, the accent is the same in all forms. In acute stems, the instrumental singular and the genitive dual/plural have a circumflex accent.

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 stem has an acute accent and an open-mid vowel. The endings of the nominative and accusative dual differ slightly from those of the fixed-accent nouns, having -ẹ̑ instead of -i.

The genitive dual/plural can either end in -ā, or have no ending. In the latter case, the stem vowel is acute accented with a close-mid vowel. It is not fully predictable which of the two genitive plural forms a given noun will use. Statistically, most nouns having open-mid vowels in the nominative singular will have the -ā ending, while other nouns will have the endingless form with stem accent, but there are exceptions, such as nóga "leg", genitive plural nọ́g. A few nouns have stressed -á- as a fill vowel before the final consonant in the genitive plural, like óvca "sheep", genitive plural ovác.

Some nouns have the accent on all endings. The single-syllable endings have a short accent, or sometimes optionally the same accent as in the mobile paradigm. The genitive dual/plural always has the ending -ā, with either acute or circumflex accent.

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.

Nouns with a fill vowel get an additional i before some endings, namely the instrumental singular (-ijo), dative and instrumental dual (-ima) and instrumental plural (-imi).

In circumflex stems, the accent is usually the same in all forms. Rarely, the nominative singular has a short vowel, e.g. nȉt, stem nȋt-.

In acute stems, the accentuation depends on accent position. If the accent is before the final syllable of the stem, it is acute throughout, but optionally circumflex in the instrumental singular. With accent on the final syllable of the stem, the circumflex is required in the instrumental singular, and a number of other forms also allow a circumflex accent.

Some circumflex-accented nouns appear with an anomalous nominative/accusative singular form. This form has an acute accent one syllable to the left relative to the other forms, and an open-mid vowel. For example, senóžet, stem senožẹ̑t-

Nouns with mobile accent are common among the i-stem nouns. The stem-accented forms are the nominative singular with circumflex accent, and the dative and locative singular with acute accent and an open-mid vowel. The other forms have the accent on the ending.

The accent is short and on the last syllable in all forms. The instrumental singular optionally allows an acute accent.

A small number of feminine nouns belongs to the feminine v-stem declension, with the ending -ev (in which the -e- is a fill vowel). These inflect as a-stems, but with the i-stem instrumental singular ending -ijo. 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.

Accentually, this group is identical to the a-stems.

The neuter o-stem declension closely resembles its masculine counterpart. The nominative and accusative always have the same form, however, with endings that differ from the masculine nouns. The genitive dual/plural has no ending like in the feminine a-stems. The neuter o-stems are divided between "hard" and "soft" stems, like the masculines.

In circumflex stems, the accent is the same in all forms. Acute stems have acute accent in the singular, but circumflex in the plural, and allow both accents in the dual forms not shared with the plural.

Some acute-accented neuter nouns have an acute accent in the plural. There are three general accentuation patterns in this case.

The following nouns have one of these patterns in the plural:

• Diminutives in -ce (e.g. črẹ́vce) and the noun jájce. These decline in the plural like either kọ́la or pljúča.
• Various plurale tantum nouns, including the first two exemplified above. Others decline like either kọ́la or pljúča, but vráta declines only like kọ́la, jẹ́tra only like pljúča.
• Nouns with an open-mid vowel. These all decline like gésla.
• Nouns of the above type, with an optional close-mid vowel in the plural. ọ́kna declines like kọ́la, rẹ́bra like pljúča, stẹ̑gna has circumflex throughout, rešẹ̄ta allows both in all forms.

A small number of neuter nouns have a mobile accent paradigm. These have a circumflex accent on the endings in the nominative, accusative and genitive singular, but circumflex on the root in all other cases. The dative and locative singular may have an open-mid vowel; in this case, it can be either acute or circumflex.

• The noun dŕva / drvȁ "fire wood, fuel wood" (plurale tantum) can have either stem accent or a special mobile accent. In the latter case, the nominative/accusative plural is drvȁ, genitive plural drvȁ, locative plural drvẹ́h, instrumental plural drvmí.

When there is an ending, it receives a short accent. Where the ending has multiple syllables, it has either an acute or circumflex accent and an open-mid vowel.

Some nouns of this type may have long vowels in endings and other minor irregularities:

• dnȍ "bottom": genitive dual/plural dnȍv / dnóv, rarely dán, locative dual/plural optionally dnẹ́h.
• tlȁ "floor, ground, soil" (plurale tantum): genitive plural tál, locative plural tlẹ́h, instrumental plural tlẹ̑mi / tlí.

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

Accentually, they are the same as regular o-stems, but the shorter nominative/accusative singular form can have different accentuation. If the stem is acute and the final vowel is accented, it may be either shortened (as in deklȅ) or shifted to the preceding syllable, which receives an acute accent and may have either a close-mid or an open-mid vowel (vréme, sẹ́me). Such nouns allow for a circumflex accent in the dative and locative singular.

• črevọ̑ (stem črevẹ̑s-) loses the infix in the plural: črẹ́va. It is accentuated in the plural like either kọ́la or pljúča of the o-stems.
• nebẹ́sa, a plurale tantum, is accentuated like either kọ́la or pljúča of the o-stems.

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":

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

The most common irregular masculine noun is dȃn "day". Many forms have two stems, a shorter one with only the consonants dn-, and a longer one dnẹ̑v-. The longer stem declines as a regular o-stem, while the shorter one has a unique set of endings not shared with any other noun.

The masculine noun člóvek "human, person" is suppletive. In the plural, the stem ljud- is used, which follows the mobile-accent i-stem declension.

The feminine noun gospá "lady, madam" has acute accent on all the endings.

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

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

A few masculine nouns show the effects of the Slavic second palatalisation in some of the plural forms:

• otrȍk: nominative plural otróci, locative plural otrọ̄cih.
• vȏlk: nominative plural volcjẹ̑. But this form is rare, the usual nominative plural is volkȏvi.

A few neuter s-stem nouns show the effects of the Slavic first palatalisation in the forms with the infix -es-:

• The noun okọ̑ "eye" has the stem očẹ̑s-. It also has a shorter plural stem oč- when referring to human eyes. This stem is feminine rather than neuter, and follows the mobile i-stem declension.
• The noun uhọ̑ "ear" has the stem ušẹ́s-, with a change in accent type. The genitive plural allows both accents.
• The noun igọ̑ "yoke" has the stem ižẹ̑s-.

Adjectives with a circumflex accent mostly have the same accent in all forms. Some adjectives such as surȍv have a short accent in the masculine nominative singular but circumflex in the other forms.

Adjectives with an acute accent on a non-final syllable of the stem also have the same accent in all forms. With acute accent on the final syllable of the stem, there are some more differences. Some have an anomalous masculine nominative singular form:

1. Short accent, with an open-mid vowel in the stem: zelȅn, stem zelén-.
2. Circumflex: mlȃd, stem mlád-.
3. Either circumflex or acute: klečẹ̄č, stem klečẹ́č-.
4. Acute accent one syllable to the left, with an open-mid vowel: débel, stem debẹ́l-.

A number of adjectives require or allow a circumflex accent in the feminine nominative singular. Such adjectives allow both accent types in the other feminine singular forms. The acute is used mostly in attributive position, while the circumflex appears in predicative position.

1. Circumflex required in feminine nominative singular, optional in other feminine singular forms: príden, sȉt, bógat, feminine nominative singular prȋdna, sȋta, bogȃta, feminine singular stem prīdn-, sīt-, bogāt-, stem of remainder prídn-, sít-, bogát-.
2. Circumflex optional in all feminine singular forms: blázen, feminine singular stem blāzn-, stem of remainder blázn-.

Because both the masculine and feminine nominative singular can have anomalous accentuation in adjectives with stem accent, it is the neuter nominative singular form that determines the accentuation of the rest of the forms.

A short accent appears on the last syllable of all forms.

Mobile-accented adjectives have stem accent in all cases but the nominative and accusative, so the mobility is only apparent in those cases. In these two cases, the accent matches the mobile o- and a-stems: the accent is on the stem in the masculine and feminine nominative singular, and on the ending with circumflex in the other forms. The feminine nominative/accusative dual allows for an alternative ending -ẹ̑.

Every mobile-accented adjective allows for a stem-accented declension as an alternative. The mobile accent is sometimes simply an alternative, other times it is rare or stylistically marked.

Some mobile adjectives have anomalies in the masculine nominative singular form, like the stem-accented adjectives:

1. Short accent, with an open-mid vowel in the stem: gȍl, accented stem gól-.
2. Circumflex: mlȃd, accented stem mlád-.
3. Circumflex ȃ as a fill vowel: sladȃk, accented stem sládk-.

Acute-accented mobile adjectives never have a circumflex in the feminine singular forms. The accent of the feminine singular thus determines the accentuation of all other stem-accented case forms.

Adjectives in Slovene distinguish between indefinite and definite meanings. They correspond in meaning to the distinction between the English indefinite article a, referring to an unknown thing, and the definite article the, referring to a known thing. The definite form is also used in fixed noun phrases, where the combination of adjective and noun are to be understood as a single concept.

For the majority of adjectives, the only distinction between indefinite and definite adjectives is in the masculine nominative singular, which has no ending if it is indefinite, but the special ending -i if it is definite. All other forms are the same, acting as both indefinite and definite adjective.

For some adjectives, however, there are more differences between the indefinite and definite declensions:

• If the indefinite declension has acute accent, but circumflex accent in the feminine singular, the definite declension has acute accent throughout: prídni, síti, bogáti, blázni, feminine nominative singular prídna, síta, bogáta, blázna.
• If the indefinite declension is mobile or end-accented, the definite declension has stem accent: bẹ́li, góli, tèmni.
• Some acute-stem adjectives (e.g. stȁr) switch to circumflex accentuation in the definite declension: stȃri.
• The adjective vélik (with stem velík-) has circumflex accent on the stem and a close-mid vowel in the definite declension: vẹ̑liki.

Slovene adjectives have both comparative and superlative forms. For many adjectives, these are formed periphrastically, using the adverbs bȍlj "more" and nȁjbolj / nȃjbolj "most". For some adjectives, especially more basic or old ones, the comparative and superlative are formed with affixes.

There are three affixes used to form the comparative: -ši, -ji and -ejši. Which one is used depends in a large part on the shape of the adjective's stem, although these are not hard rules and there are some exceptions. The superlative is formed from the comparative by prefixing nȁj- / nȃj- to it.

The suffix -ši is used with one-syllable adjectives ending in b, d or p, preceded by a vowel or /ər/. After a vowel, d becomes j, and after r it disappears altogether. The suffix is also used with adjectives ending in -ok or -ek, which is dropped in the comparative, and along with the previous changes, t also changes to j and other consonants are iotated. Acute stems are usually converted to circumflex.

• lẹ̑p (stem lẹ́p-) → lẹ̑pši
• slȁb (stem sláb-) → slȃbši
• mlȃd (stem mlád-) → mlȃjši
• hȗd (stem húd-) → hȗjši
• gȓd (stem gŕd-) → gȓši
• širȍk → šȋrši
• krátek → krȃjši
• tánek → tȃnjši

The suffix -ji is used with one-syllable adjectives ending in g, h or k. In the comparative, these change to their palatalised variants ž, š and č respectively. The suffix is also used with adjectives ending in -ok or -ek preceded by one of these consonants. Again, the suffix is dropped and the final consonant is iotated. Acute stems are usually converted to circumflex.

• drȃg (stem drág-) → drȃžji
• tȋh (stem tíh-) → tíšji
• blȃg (stem blág- or blȃg-) → blážji or blȃžji
• strọ̑g (stem strọ́g- or strọ̑g-) → strọ̑žji
• téžek → tẹ̑žji
• globȍk → glọ̑blji

The suffix -ejši is used in all other cases, including one-syllable adjectives ending in more than one consonant or adjectives with more than one syllable. The stem may remain accented, or the suffix may be circumflex accented -ȇjši with an open-mid vowel.

• nȍv (stem nóv-) → novȇjši
• krȗt (stem krút- or krȗt-) → krútejši or krȗtejši
• fȋn → finȇjši
• gọ̑st (stem gọ́st-) → gostȇjši
• pȏln (stem póln-) → pólnejši
• grének → grenkȇjši
• neváren → nevárnejši

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 possessive forms for each of the pronouns inflect like adjectives to match the noun they modify.

The reflexive pronouns are used to refer back to the subject or to some other word, and 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.

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 forms for several of the cases.

The demonstrative tȃ "this" inflects like an adjective, but -i- in the endings is replaced with -e-. Many of the forms have shortened alternatives, including cases of non-final short accents.

The word vȅs "all" inflects much like tȃ, but it inflects as if it were a soft stem, having -e in the neuter nominative/accusative singular. All the accents are short, even those in a non-final syllable.

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

The pronouns nekdọ̄ / nẹ̑kdo "somebody" and nẹ̄kaj "something" follow the declensions of kdo and kaj.

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

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