I can say how many things are in a room and what they're like: stoly, lampy, okná; dva stoly, but dve lampy and dve okná; nové lampy, moje okná, tie dvere.
Many things: stoly, lampy, okná, and dva / dve
Many things: stoly, lampy, okná, and dva / dve
Why: to say how many things and what they're like. The plural depends on the end of the word. Masc.: stôl → stoly; after a soft consonant, kľúč → kľúče. Fem.: kniha → knihy, kuchyňa → kuchyne, noc → noci. Neut.: pero → perá, poschodie → poschodia. In stôl → stoly the ô becomes o. The table is next to this text.
After a long syllable the ending is short: číslo → čísla (not ×číslá). Two words change completely: dieťa → deti, dievča → dievčatá.
For things in the plural an adjective has one ending, -é, for every gender: nové zošity, nové knihy, nové perá. The same goes for moje, tvoje, naše, vaše and tie (these, those): tie perá, moje knihy.
Unlike English “two”, the Slovak word changes: dva only with masculine nouns, dve with feminine and neuter: dve perá, dve knihy. After dva, dve, tri, štyri comes the same plural: tri zošity.
Plural only, like English “glasses”: dvere, hodiny (clock), okuliare, slúchadlá, nožnice (scissors). They take sú and -é: Nožnice sú tu. “To je” + -é means “it's …”: To je pekné.
Common mistakes:
• ×tri stôly → tri stoly
• ×dva perá → dve perá
• ×Dvere je biele → Dvere sú biele
One → many (things)
Look at the gender and at the last letter of the word.
| Gender | How it ends | One | Many |
|---|---|---|---|
| masc. | hard consonant | stôl | stoly |
| masc. | soft consonant (č, ž, š, j, ľ) | kľúč | kľúče |
| fem. | -a | kniha | knihy |
| fem. | -ňa, -ľa, soft consonant | kuchyňa | kuchyne |
| fem. | -osť, -c | noc | noci |
| neut. | -o | pero | perá |
| neut. | -ie | poschodie | poschodia |
| adjective | any gender | nový | nové |
Two, three, four
After 2, 3, 4 — the same plural form.
| Gender | 2 | 3 | 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| masc. | dva zošity | tri zošity | štyri zošity |
| fem. | dve knihy | tri knihy | štyri knihy |
| neut. | dve perá | tri perá | štyri perá |
Lesson notes
Many things: stoly, lampy, okná, and dva / dve
Why: to say how many things and what they're like. The plural depends on the end of the word. Masc.: stôl → stoly; after a soft consonant, kľúč → kľúče. Fem.: kniha → knihy, kuchyňa → kuchyne, noc → noci. Neut.: pero → perá, poschodie → poschodia. In stôl → stoly the ô becomes o. The table is next to this text.
After a long syllable the ending is short: číslo → čísla (not ×číslá). Two words change completely: dieťa → deti, dievča → dievčatá.
For things in the plural an adjective has one ending, -é, for every gender: nové zošity, nové knihy, nové perá. The same goes for moje, tvoje, naše, vaše and tie (these, those): tie perá, moje knihy.
Unlike English “two”, the Slovak word changes: dva only with masculine nouns, dve with feminine and neuter: dve perá, dve knihy. After dva, dve, tri, štyri comes the same plural: tri zošity.
Plural only, like English “glasses”: dvere, hodiny (clock), okuliare, slúchadlá, nožnice (scissors). They take sú and -é: Nožnice sú tu. “To je” + -é means “it's …”: To je pekné.
Common mistakes:
• ×tri stôly → tri stoly
• ×dva perá → dve perá
• ×Dvere je biele → Dvere sú biele