Slovene

[edit] Guide Note

Slovene is the official language of Slovenia, and spoken in Croatia, Italy, the United States, Austria, Hungary, Canada, Australia, South Africa and Argentina.¹

[edit] Fast Facts

1. Language family: Slavic language, Indo-European language
2. Number of speakers: over 2 million²
3. Official language: Slovenia
4. Major dialects: Littoral, Carinthian, Upper Carniolan, Lower Carniolan, Styrian, Pannonian, Rovte³
5. Slovenian speaking countries: Slovenia, Austria, Croatia, Hungary, Italy, United States, Canada, Argentina, Australia and South Africa
6. Number of letters in alphabet: 25 letters; 5 Vowels, 20 Consonants

• hello: zdravo
• good bye: nasvidenje
• good morning: dobro jutro
• good afternoon: dober dan
• yes: ja
• no: ne
• I love you: Ljubim te
• please: prosim
• thank you: hvala
• How much?: Koliko?
• I pay 200 euros/dollars: plačam 200 eurov
• How are you?: Kako se imate?
• I'm fine, thanks. And you?: Dobro, hvala, in vi?
• that's O.K.: je že v redu
• Could you lend me ...?: Mi lahko posodite ...?
• How old are you?: Koliko si star?
• Could I borrow ...?: Si lahko sposodim ...?
• have a nice day: lep dan vam želim
• I don't understand: ne razumem

The Slovene language started to take shape in the 10th century with Slavic settlers in the region. In the later half of the 19th century, Slovene language and grammar was used widely in all aspects of communication in Slovenia. During World War II, Slovenian was surpressed by the occupiers Germans, Italians and Hungarians and was reinstated as the offcial language of Slovenia after World War II.⁴