# Slovak: I don't speak much Slovak



## Zamolxis

As it's one thread per question, I'll repeat here a question from another thread. How do you say:

"I don't speak much Slovak"

(or if you say this with different words, please add the alternative with English word-by-word translation)

Thanks


----------



## bajuska1

well...I´ll try to show you how to translate this sentence in few steps. (I hope it won´t be too complicated)  :

*1.* "I" in Slovak "Ja"....but we don´t have to use pronouns (as the person and number is expressed by infflection of the verb) *
*2.* "don´t" - negation of verbs in slovak is made by help of prefix "ne-"
*3.* "speak" = hovoriť (inf. in Slovak always ends in ť)
*4.* to conjugate the verb you should use this pattern (for most of regular verbs):
remove the suffix Ť and you get the stem of the verb... to this stem you put suffixes as follows: 
_1.sg.: -m
2.sg: -š
3.sg: -xxx
1.pl: -me
2.pl: -te
3.pl: I would say this one differs the most....it depends on the vowel in the final syllable of the verb

(of course you must learn verb by verb..I don´t know if there is some system..but sometimes the vowels in the verb change...e.g.: spať - but 1.sg is not "spam" but "spím") !!!
however with "hovoriť" it works 

_*5.* now you know that you have the stem: "hovori" ...to form negation you join "ne-" and to form 1.sg. you join "-m" = NE-hovori-M
*6. "*very much slovak" ...well...we don´t translate it literally...you could just say "dobre"(well) , slovensky (Slovak)
*7. the result : *nehovorim dobre slovensky
-------------------------------------------------
*8. *did you understand?


----------



## Tagarela

Ahoj,

 I am learnign Czech, then, althought most of Slovaks can understand a lot of Czech, to be polite, how could I ask "I am sorry, I do not speak Slovak, do you speak Czech?" Would it be: *Promiňte, nehovorim slovensky, nehovorite česky?*And how about something like "_I cannot speak Slovak, but would you mind if I speak Czech with you?_"   

D´akujem

 Dovidenia.:


----------



## Zamolxis

bajuska1 said:


> *8. *did you understand?


Áno, d'akujem 

Is the "ť" at the end of infinitives pronounced like the t+soft sign in Russian (I did a bit of Russian in school - only remember the alphabet)?


----------



## bajuska1

Zamolxis said:


> Áno, d'akujem
> 
> Is the "ť" at the end of infinitives pronounced like the t+soft sign in Russian (I did a bit of Russian in school - only remember the alphabet)?



Yes, the pronunciation is soft. If you see ˇ, it´s always soft


----------



## bajuska1

Tagarela said:


> Ahoj,
> 
> I am learnign Czech, then, althought most of Slovaks can understand a lot of Czech, to be polite, how could I ask "I am sorry, I do not speak Slovak, do you speak Czech?" Would it be: *Promiňte, nehovorim slovensky, nehovorite česky?*And how about something like "_I cannot speak Slovak, but would you mind if I speak Czech with you?_"
> 
> D´akujem
> 
> Dovidenia.:



Hi, your translation is correct: "*Promiňte, nehovorim slovensky, vadilo by vám kdybych mluvil(a) (- for women) česky?*"


----------



## Tagarela

Ahoj,

D´akujem, bajuska1. But, one doubt - why  *mluvil(a)* and not something with* hovori-*?  Do you have both hovorit´ and mluvit? 

Dovidenia.:


----------



## bajuska1

Oh well, I am Slovak but Czech language has both *mluvit* and *hovorit *and I´d say they have the same meaning. I used *mluvit* just because it sounds more Czech to me.  But you can say both *mluvil (-a) / hovoril (-a)* as you prefer.


----------



## Tagarela

Ahoj,

Ah, D´akujem. I only knew Mluvit for Czech =) I thought that you wrote that in Slovak. 

Dovidenia.:


----------



## Jana337

"Hovořit" is a Czech word but a solemn one.  Use "mluvit" in normal conversations.


----------



## bajuska1

Tagarela said:


> Ahoj,
> 
> Ah, D´akujem. I only knew Mluvit for Czech =) I thought that you wrote that in Slovak.
> 
> Dovidenia.:



You are welcome 
What concerns the other thing, well, You can use both but as Jana mentioned, "mluvit" is used in the everyday speech. I wrote the form of "hovorit" just because You asked about it and I was not sure which one do you know. (you used "hovorit" in the previous sentence you were asking about)


----------



## Tagarela

Ahoj,

Ah! I understood it now. I used 'Hovorit' first because I copy it from your first message. Nevermind, thank you bajuska and Jana for your explanations. 
But, now, I am curious, in which situaiton would I use 'Hovořit'?

Something like "The professor spoke in the conference" , "The president spoke to the people" or somekind of compliment "He speaks too well" (meaning that he has some retoric skills). Are these examples good?

Děkuji znovu!

Dovidenia:


----------



## Jana337

> Something like "The professor spoke in the conference" , "The president spoke to the people" or somekind of compliment "He speaks too well" (meaning that he has some retoric skills). Are these examples good?


The first two are good although I'd prefer "hovořit" with "about something" rather than just with "somewhere" and "to someone".
_Oba premiéři dlouze hovořili o perspektivách evropské integrace._

The last one - not so good.
_Hovoří výborně._ - If you said this, I'd tend to think that you are using lofty words to comment on a speech someone is delivering right now.
Rhetoric skills: _Umí výborně mluvit._

Please note that the Slovak "hovoriť" is not such a high-register word.


----------

