# Slovenian: Lepo mi ajaj pa pridna bodi!



## Alberta

Translate please (Slovenien).
My friend in Slovenija sms to me in Canada.

*epo mi ajaj pa pridna bodi!*


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## Irbis

You probably missed "L" at beggining?
Sleep well and be good!

"ajaj" is usually used when you talk to a child, it is quite affectionate (neutral version is "spi"), but I don't know how to translate this to English more accuratelly.


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## Alberta

OK so pridna means...??? What is the verb in this sentence? Because I can't find it in the dictionary! "Mi" is a possessive pronoun and what about "pa"?

Hvala lepa!


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## Tolovaj_Mataj

The sentence is stupid, therefore it's difficult to translate it.
As Irbis explained "ajati" is a childish way to express 'to sleep' "spati". "Mi" is a clitic for "meni" 'to me' and has no specific meaning in this particular sentence, where btw, the comma is missing after "ajaj". This comma separates two clauses. So if I rewrite it to a somehow proper sentence, it would look like this:
Lepo spi, pa pridna bodi! -- Sleep well and be dilligent!

You are asking what the verb is. There are actually two and therefore must be separated by a comma:
- ajaj: an imperative form, singular, of the verb ajati /to sleep/
- bodi: an imperative form, singular, of the verb biti /to be/

pridna is a feminine sing. adjective of the masculine form priden: dilligent

pa ... that's a bit difficult  ... it usually means 'but', it can also mean 'and' (specially here in Ljubljana). The meaning can always be visible from the context and dialect.


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## Irbis

If you need base forms to search in dictionary, you can try this web site: http://besana.amebis.si/pregibanje/
You just enter any form and you will get all possible base forms (along with all forms for those base forms).
And I don't agree with translation "dilligent" here. This is also possible meaning for "priden" (close to "marljiv" or "prizadeven" in Slovenian), but I think meaning here would be closer to "ubogljiv" ("good").

"pa" has many meaning. In a lot of cases you can just skip it, otherwise you can translate it with "but", "however" or "and" (more colloquial).
And comma is not missing here! If "pa" is in meaning "and" ("vezalno priredje") there is no comma (actually you can distinct meaning this way, if you trust the writer to be aware of this).


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## Alberta

When I looked at the web site, its all in Slovanish. Its really nice but there's something I don't understand:  you have single, dual and plurial, after that, there's first person, second person, and third person? Who is  second person if  dual means 2 person? I'm a little bit mix up because there is nothing about masculin or femine form. And the past present and futur???

Sorry, maybe I ask too much.


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## Irbis

The English name for the language is Slovenian or Slovene.

Short dictionary:

samostalnik - noun
pridevnik - adjective
glagol - verb
prislov - adverb
števnik - numeral
zaimek - pronoun
predlog - preposition
veznik - conjunction
členek - particle
medmet - interjection

sklon - case
imenovalnik - nominative
rodilnik - genitive
dajalnik - dative
tožilnik - accusative
mestnik - locative
orodnik - instrumental

število - number
ednina - singular
dvojina - dual
množina - plural

spol - gender
moški - masculine
ženski - feminine
srednji - neuter

oseba - person
prva - first (I, we)
druga - second (you)
tretja - third (he/she/they)

nedoločnik - infinite form
namenilnik - supine
velelnik - imperative
sedanjik - present

Past and future tenses are made using -l participle ("deležnik na -l").
For simple sentences you can try a machine translator: http://presis.amebis.si/prevajanje/index.asp?jezik=en

Like:
I'm writing a letter. - Pišem pismo.
I'll write a letter. - Napisal bom pismo.
I wrote a letter. - Napisal sem pismo.


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## Alberta

OK, the "L" at the end and the "na" at the beggining!? And how I know where to "cut" the end of the verb like: pisem: na-pis... al
So if I'm a girl it's the same: Napisal bom pismo! Is it right?


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## Irbis

"na" at the beginning is because "napisati" is perfective verb and "pisati" is imperfective verb ("na" is in this case, typical prefixes to create perfective verbs are: do, iz, z, s, se, na, nad, o ,ob, od, po, pre, pred, pri pro, raz, u, v ,vz, za ... - and there is no simple rule when to use one and it also depends on meaning).

No, for a girl the ending is -la:
Napisala bom pismo.
or
Pisala bom pismo. (I'll be writting a letter.)


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