Colloquial Slovene

1 Dobrodošli v Sloveniji Welcome to Slovenia

Prihod Arrival

BEN Dober dan! Oprostite, a ste vi gospa Mlakar?
ALENKA Ja, sem.
BEN Jaz sem Ben Pintar.
ALENKA O, gospod Pintar, dobrodošli v Sloveniji! To je moj mož Andrej.
ANDREJ Me veseli.
ALENKA Gospod Pintar, dobro govorite slovensko. Ste Slovenec?
BEN Ne, nisem, Američan sem. Moj oče je Slovenec.

BEN Hello! Excuse me, are you Mrs. Mlakar?
ALENKA Yes, I am.
BEN I'm Ben Pintar.
ALENKA Oh, Mr. Pintar, welcome to Slovenia! This is my husband, Andrej.
ANDREJ Nice to meet you.
ALENKA Mr. Pintar, you speak Slovene well. Are you Slovene?
BEN No, I am not. I am American. My father is Slovene.

a particle starting yes/no questions
Američan American (male)
dober dan hello (good day)
dobro well
dobrodošli welcome
gospa Mrs.
gospod Mr.
govorite you (pl.) speak
jaz I
je (s/he) is
me me
me veseli pleased to meet you
moj my
mož husband
ne no
nisem I am not
o oh
oče father
oprostite excuse me
prihod arrival
sem I am
Slovenec Slovene (male)
Slovenija Slovenia
v Sloveniji in Slovenia
slovensko (in) Slovene
ste you (pl.) are
to this

Greeting people

dobro jutro ‘good morning' (until 8-9 am)
dober dan 'hello' ('good day')
dober večer 'good evening'
na svidenje bye
adijo bye (more casually)
lahko noč ‘good night'
živjo 'hi', 'bye'
zdravo 'hi', 'bye' on arrival and leaving
čao 'bye'

Jaz sem Ben Pintar. I'm Ben Pintar.
A ste vi gospa Mlakar? Are you Mrs. Mlakar?
Moj oče je Slovenec. My father is Slovene.

The auxiliary verb biti 'to be'

(jaz) sem I am (ti) si you are (on/ona/ono) je he/she/it is (midva/medve) sva we [two] are (vidva/vedve) sta you [two] are (onadva/onidve) sta they [two] are (mi/me) smo we are (vi/ve) ste you are (oni/one/ona) so they are

je -> ni 'is not'; other + ni- : nisem, nisi, nismo, . . . Nisem Slovenec. I am not Slovene.