# Slovak: vocative



## Setwale_Charm

Ahoj!!
I am using several study guides and books to help me in mastering Slovak and they differ in their opinion on the matter. Some say that learning the Vocative case can be safely omitted for lack of use, others still give examples of its usage in everyday speech. What would be the opinion of native Slovaks here? 
 To what extent is Vocative used in modern Slovak speech?


----------



## jazyk

I'm no speaker of Slovak, much less a native one, but look what Wikipedia says here (until somebody answers you):

The (syntactiv) vocative case (V) is not morphologically marked anymore in modern Slovak (unlike in modern Czech). Today the (syntactic) vocative is realised by the (morphological) nominative case, just like in English, German any many other languages.

The funny thing is that it doesn't even include the vocative in the conjugation tables, which corroborates the assumption that it's going the way of the dodo.


----------



## jazyk

I think the Slovak Wikipedia corroborates the corroboration of the assumption  by not even declining anything in the vocative but merely mentions it.


----------



## robin74

Of course, there are some established expressions, in which vocative is still used, such as "Otče náš" (Pater noster), or Bože (God!), or pane (sir!). But normally it's not used anymore.


----------



## Setwale_Charm

robin74 said:


> Of course, there are some established expressions, in which vocative is still used, such as "Otče náš" (Pater noster), or Bože (God!), or pane (sir!). But normally it's not used anymore.


 
Is it the same with Polish and Czech then?


----------



## Tagarela

Ahoj,



Setwale_Charm said:


> Is it the same with Polish and Czech then?



I'm a begginr on Czech study, but in none of my books I have seen a note about ommition of vocative case, it's always there. By the way, a Slovak also told me that one of the differences between the languages is the use of vocative in Czech and not in Slovak. 

As for Polish, Jazyk himself has told me that it hasn't been very used in Polish nowadays. Perhaps he comes back here and gives you more precise information.

Dovidenia.:


----------



## robin74

In Polish it's certainly used more than in Slovak.

It's not really used in spoken language when using isolated first names (so you would say "Marek" or "Ania" when addressing someone rather than "Marku" or "Aniu", although the latter form is correct - it just doesn't sound natural anymore in spoken language). However, vocative is still used when the name is not isolated (so you would say "panie Marku" or "droga Aniu"). And we still use vocative when using functions ("panie prezesie", "panie doktorze", "szefie") or attributes ("idioto", "bohaterze"), and in established expressions (like "Ojcze nasz").


----------



## kelt

Setwale_Charm said:


> Is it the same with Polish and Czech then?


 
Czech always uses vocative. In both formal and informal usage.


----------



## Setwale_Charm

robin74 said:


> In Polish it's certainly used more than in Slovak.
> 
> It's not really used in spoken language when using isolated first names (so you would say "Marek" or "Ania" when addressing someone rather than "Marku" or "Aniu", although the latter form is correct - it just doesn't sound natural anymore in spoken language). However, vocative is still used when the name is not isolated (so you would say "panie Marku" or "droga Aniu"). And we still use vocative when using functions ("panie prezesie", "panie doktorze", "szefie") or attributes ("idioto", "bohaterze"), and in established expressions (like "Ojcze nasz").


 

Interesting... Has it been so long? Because some of my older Polish textbooks (something nearer 60s) make essential use of it...


----------



## robin74

Setwale_Charm said:


> Interesting... Has it been so long?


No, it is a fairly recent thing.

And as I said, using vocative is still correct and the only acceptable form in the formal / written language, so I would imagine that even the modern textbooks might use it extensively. In a certain context (with isolated names) it simply sounds slightly old-fashioned and pretentious in the colloquial language.


----------



## werrr

The vocative is rare. It is never used in complicated constructions, just in single nouns or nouns with congruent attributes.

Some Slovak dialects, especially the close to Czech, tends to use it more frequently, but this is not matter of standard Slovak.

In standard Slovak, the vocative figures occasionally as less frequent alternative to the nominative. It is used to express a special familiarity or intimacy:

   synku
   švagre
   chlapče
   priateľu
   milý priateľu
   …

or to express a special respect:

   pane prezidente
   slovutný majstre
   slovutný priateľu
   …

The only domain where the vocative clearly dominates is the religious context:

   Bože
   Hospodine
   Pane
   Otče
   Synu
   Duchu
   Kriste
   Spasiteľu
   hriešniku
   ctihodný otče
   …

The vocative could be also used as an archaizing artistic figure in literature.

In Czech there is offensive to use nominative instead of the vocative.


----------

