Slovenian
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Fact corner
- Language: Slovenian
- Alternate names: Slovene, slovenski jezik, slovenščina
- SIL-code: Ethnologue:slv
- Language family: Indo-European, Slavic, South, Western
- Number of speakers: 1,984,775
- Script: Latin script
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Introduction
Slovenian is a South Slavic language spoken by approximately 2 million speakers worldwide, the majority of whom live in Slovenia. Slovenian is one of 23 official and working languages of the European Union.
The verb
In Slovenian, the verbs are conjugated for 3 persons and 3 numbers (singular, dual, plural). There are 4 tenses (present, past, pluperfect, and future), 3 moods (indicative, imperative, and conditional) and 2 voices (active and passive). Verbs also have 4 participles and 2 verbal nouns (infinitive and supine). Not all combinations of the above are possible for every case.
Like in other Slavic languages, Slovak verbs are distinguished by aspect, they are either perfective or imperfective. Perfective verbs indicate the finality of the process. Therefore, they cannot express the present tense.
Sample verb: delati
Present
The present tense can be expressed in imperfective verbs only.
| Person | Present Indicative | |
| Sg.1 | delam | |
| Sg.2 | delaš | |
| Sg.3 | delá | |
| Du.1 | delava 1 | delave 2 |
| Du.2 | delaeta 1 | delaete 2 |
| Du.3 | delata 1 | delate 2 |
| Pl.1 | delaemo | |
| Pl.2 | delate | |
| Pl.3 | delajo | |
Notes:
- Masculine.
- Feminine & Neuter