Location: Central Europe,
south of Poland,
rugged mountains in the central and northern part and lowlands in the
south.
Natural resources: Brown coal and lignite; small amounts of
iron ore, copper and manganese ore; salt; arable land.
Industries: Metal and metal products; food and beverages;
electricity, gas, coke, oil, nuclear fuel; chemicals and man-made
fibres; machinery; paper and printing; earthenware and
ceramics; transport vehicles; textiles; electrical and optical apparatus;
rubber products.
Nouns
Nouns are flexible words, they have to be declined accordingly to
their gender, number, case and model.
Gender: Masculine (animate and inanimate), feminine or neuter
Number: Singular or plural
Case: Cases express the 'relationship' of the speaker to
the subject he/she is talking about. There are 7 grammatical cases
in Slovak.
| 1st case – nominative |
Kto? Čo? |
| 2nd case – genitive |
Koho? Čoho? |
| 3rd case – dative |
Komu? Čomu? |
|
4th case – accusative
|
Koho? Čo? |
| 5th case – vocative |
|
| 6th case – locative |
Kom? Čom? |
| 7th case – instrumental |
Kým? Čím? |
Adjectives
Adjectives are flexible, they must have the same gender, number and case as
the respective noun.
Gender – as nouns
Number – as nouns
Case – as nouns
Types of adjectives
Common - describe nouns
Derived - Usually formed with suffixes
ný/-ná/-né
ový/-ová/-ové
ský/-ská/-ské
Possessive - Can be derived only from a word meaning
a person
Hard - Base ends in a hard consonant
Soft - Base ends in a soft consonant
Pronouns
Flexible words, as they substitute nouns (or point to them) they must have case,
number and gender;
Several types of Slovak pronouns:
Personal – substitute nouns
Possessive – indicate to whom things belong
Demonstrative – point to a person or a thing
Interrogative – used to make a question
Relative – express relation of a word in a sentence
Indefinite – compare with the English –some/-any etc.
Negative – compare with the English –no
Numerals
Numerals are flexible, declined accordingly to their;
Case
Gender
Number
Types of Slovak numerals
Cardinal – jeden, dva, tri..(one, two,
three..)
Ordinal – Ordinal numbers have cases, genders and can be
– definite – prvý, druhý, ...desiaty (first, second,..tenth)
– indefinite – niekoľko
(some)
Distributive numbers
Differentiating numbers – express differences among
things
Multiple numbers– answer How many times?
Verbs
Changes in verbs are called conjugations. Slovak verbs conjugate as follows;
Person (tells us who)
| 1st
- I (ja) |
1st
– we (my) |
|
2nd – you (ty)
|
2nd – you (vy) |
|
3rd – he/she/it (on, ona, ono)
|
3rd – they (oni, ony, ona) |
Number
Tells us how many– Singular and Plural
Gender
Masculine – natural and grammatical
Feminine – natural and grammatical
Neuter
Tense
Present
Past
Future
Mood
Indicative
– tells us whether we are making a statement
Imperative – or an order
Conditional – or a condition
Voice
Active
Passive
Aspect
Perfective
– tells us when we are or will be doing something but the action
is not finished. The action can also be repeated.
Imperfective – tells us when we did or will be doing something but
the action is finished. The action is not repeated.
Infinitive – talks
about the meaning but doesn't tell us ‘who, how and when’
Adverbs
Adverbs are words that describe verbs - only have a comparative form and are inflexible;
Different types:
Temporal – when
Local – where
Conjunctions
Inflexible words which connect words or clauses.
Prepositions
Inflexible words, usually stand in front of a noun (adjective etc. – not
a verb), express different relationship between words in a sentence.
Interjections
Inflexible words which express voices, noises, moods and emotions.
Particles
Express wishes, point of view, a relation to something that has been said.
Andy Warhol – His parents moved to the US from the village
of Medzilaborce in the Northeast of Slovakia.
Illustrator in the 1950's, he produced many different adverts and
illustrations, and was extremely successful. Then in 1960 he produced
his first set of paintings, and for the next 8 years was creating
works such as the Campbell Soup Cans, Marilyn Monroe
and the Coca Cola cans that made him famous.
Pavol Orszagh Hviezdoslav
– One of the most significant poets in Slovakia,
born in 1849.
Jan BAHYL – Best known for constructing a petrol motor-driven
helicopter
Stefan Banic – Invented the parachute
Wolfgang von Kempelen – (1734-1804) Invented
a speaking machine and a special typewriter for the blind
Jozef Macimilian Petzval
– (1807-1891) Invented the camera zoom lens
