Slovene declension

Masculine o-stem nouns

Wiktionary has a category on Slovene masculine hard o-stem nouns

Wiktionary has a category on Slovene masculine soft o-stem nouns

The masculine o-stem declension is very common, and is the default pattern for masculine nouns. Nouns are divided between "hard" and "soft" stems, see the main Slovene grammar article for the meaning of these terms.

The following table shows the declension for inanimate masculine nouns. The declension for animate nouns can be derived via the above rules.

• If a noun has a fill vowel, it appears in the nominative singular. It is dropped in all other forms. For example: vrélec "hot spring", genitive singular vrélca, kôzel "he goat", genitive singular kôzla.
• A few nouns ending in -elj add the infix -n- after the stem, rather than dropping the fill vowel. For example, nágelj "carnation", genitive singular nágeljna.
• If the stem of a noun ends in -rj-, the nominative singular ends only in -r. For example, redár "security guard at a public event", genitive singular redárja.

A number of masculine o-stem nouns have a mobile accent paradigm. These have the accent on the ending in the genitive singular, rather than on the stem. All other forms of the singular have the accent on the stem. In the dual and plural, these nouns have regular endings, but preceded by the accented infix -ôv-. Nouns with mobile accent almost always allow the regular o-stem declension (with plural in just -i), either as the primary form or as an alternative.

There are two possibilities for the genitive singular ending, -á or -ú. The former reflects the Common Slavic mobile o-stems, while the latter is a remnant of the u-stem inflection, which has otherwise disappeared in Slovene. The infix -ôv- in the plural also originates from the old u-stems.

Certain nouns have minor irregularities:

• Some nouns have the ending -je/-jé in the nominative plural instead of -i. This is a remnant of the Common Slavic masculine i-stem inflection, which was mostly lost in Slovene except for this ending. For example: zób "tooth", nominative plural zobjé, študènt "student", nominative plural študêntje, gospód "sir, lord", nominative plural gospódje, kmèt "farmer", nominative plural kmétje, etc.. Usually, the regular form is also allowed, or even preferred.
• In the 19th century the ending -i was often used instead of -u in the dative/locative singular, for example, nominative ôče "father", dative/locative očéti. Nowadays this ending is considered archaic or dialectal.
• The noun gòst "guest" has the accusative plural gôste or gosté and the locative plural gôstih or gostéh. The irregular endings are used only in fixed phrases.
• The noun dólg "debt" has the accusative plural dolgôve or dolgé and the locative plural dolgôvih or dolgéh. The irregular endings are archaic or dialectal. However, they are used in church liturgy, for example in the prayer Ôče nàš "Our Father".
• The noun dár "gift" has the accusative plural darôve and darí. The ending -í is archaic.
• The noun bóg "god" has a stylistically coloured ending -ú in the dative singular. It is stylistically unmarked only in the phrase hvala bogú "thank god". In the singular this noun follows the mobile-accent paradigm. In the nominative/accusative dual its forms can be bogá or bogôva, whereas in the dative/locative dual and in the plural it declines like the mobile-accent nouns.
• A small number of nouns have the ending -éh besides the regular -ih or -ôvih in the locative dual/plural, for example, dól, kòl, kônec, brég, gròb, lóg, rób, vŕh,... In the past there were many more nouns with this ending, nowadays it is stylistically coloured and rarely used with most of them.
• A small number of nouns have the ending -mí besides the regular -i or -ôvi in the instrumental plural, vòl, vŕh, róg, lás,... This ending has no stylistic connotation only with the following nouns: móž, zób, vóz, lás, ljudjé. For all other nouns the ending -mí sounds archaic or dialectal.
• Several nouns have no ending in the genitive dual/plural instead of the regular -ov: móž, zób, vóz, lás, kònj(genitive plural kónj and kônjev), otròk(genitive plural otrók), vòl, pénez, róg. In modern colloquial Slovene the forms in -ov are more usual for some nouns, even though they are not always considered correct in standard Slovene.
• Some nouns have the infix -ôv- in the dual and plural, like the mobile-accent nouns, but are regular in the singular. For example, krés "bonfire", genitive singular krésa, nominative dual kresôva, nominative plural kresôvi, genitive plural kresôv. Usually, the regular form is also allowed, or even preferred.

Masculine vowel-stem nouns

A relatively small number of masculine nouns have a nominative singular ending in a vowel. These can be declined in various ways, depending on the individual noun.

• Those ending in -o (and rarely -e) decline as regular masculine o-stems with simply an additional vowel in the nominative singular (and accusative, if inanimate). In the other forms, the ending replaces this vowel. For example, kíno "cinema", genitive singular kína, nominative plural kíni; Číle "Chile", genitive singular Číla. Personal names ending in -o (which are fairly common) decline in this way.
• Those ending in -i or -u (primarily loanwords), as well as all words ending in a stressed vowel, add -j- after the stem when endings are attached, and therefore decline as soft o-stems. For example, Víšnu "Vishnu", genitive singular Víšnuja; bé "B (letter)", genitive singular bêja, nominative plural bêji; apartmá "apartment", genitive singular apartmája, nominative plural apartmáji.
• Those ending in -a usually decline as feminine a-stems (accusative -o, genitive -e), but can optionally also decline as regular o-stems as above. For example, vójvoda "duke", genitive singular vójvode/vójvoda, nominative plural vójvode/vójvodi. If declined as feminine a-stems, these nouns do not show animacy themselves (since the nominative, accusative and genitive singular all have their own distinct forms), but adjectives and other modifying words will still show animacy as appropriate.
• Proper names ending in -e normally follow the neuter declension like the noun otročè, adding the infix -t- before the endings. For example, Zvóne, genitive singular Zvóneta. Despite declining as neuters, these nouns still show animacy, so the accusative singular follows the genitive.

Irregular masculine nouns

The most common irregular masculine noun is dán "day". The declension pattern is:

The noun móž "husband, man" partially preserves the archaic Slavic masculine i-stem declension, which has otherwise disappeared in Slovene. In modern terms, its forms are a mixture of the mobile-accented masculine o-stem and feminine i-stem declensions. The genitive dual/plural has no ending.

The nouns vóz "wagon", zób "tooth" and lás "hair" are declined like móž in the plural. In the singular vóz has the mobile-accented masculine o-stem endings, whereas zób and lás can decline either like the fixed-accent or mobile-accent nouns. In the dual zób declines either like the regular masculine o-stem nouns or more rarely like móž, whereas lás declines like the fixed-accent nouns and vóz like the mobile-accent nouns with stress on the infix -ov-. In the case of vóz the regular masculine o-stem plural endings are much more common in modern Slovene.

The nouns róg "horn", vŕh "peak" and vòl "ox" usually follow the fixed-accent paradigm in the singular, although róg and vŕh can also follow the mobile-accent paradigm. In the dual and plural róg and vŕh can have the fixed- or mobile-accent noun endings. All three nouns also partly preserve the archaic declension in the plural, which is somewhat akin to that of vóz, but is considered obsolete and is hardly ever used for these nouns.

• Declension of róg in the plural, nominative rogôvi, rógi, accusative rogôve, róge, rogé, genitive rogôv, róg, dative rogôvom, rógom, rogém, locative rogôvih, rógih, rogéh, instrumental rogôvi, rógi, rogmí.
• Declension of vŕh in the plural, nominative vrhôvi, vŕhi, accusative vrhôve, vŕhe, vrhé, genitive vrhôv, vŕhov, dative vrhôvom, vŕhom, locative vrhôvih, vŕhih, vrhéh, instrumental vrhôvi, vŕhi, vrhmí.
• Declension of vòl in the plural, nominative vôli, volóvi, accusative vôle, vôli, genitive vôlov, volóv, dative vôlom, volém, locative vôlih, voléh, instrumental vôli, volmí.

The noun člôvek "human, person" is suppletive and has a different stem ljud- in the plural which follows the mobile-accent i-stem declension.

• The noun otròk "child" shows the effects of the second palatalization in the nominative plural and locative dual/plural: otrôci, otrócih. Its declension in the plural is: nominative otrôci, accusative otrôke, genitive otrók, dative otrôkom, locative otrócih, instrumental otróki.
• The noun vólk also shows the effects of the second palatalization in the nominative plural before the ending -jé volcjé. But this form is rare, the usual nominative plural of vólk is volkôvi.

Feminine a-stem nouns

Wiktionary has a category on Slovene feminine a-stem nouns

The feminine a-stem declension is very common, and is the default pattern for feminine nouns. There is no distinction between hard and soft stems (the declension used in modern Slovene was historically the soft one). This declension can also be used for masculine nouns in -a.

• If a noun has a fill vowel, it appears in the genitive dual/plural. It is dropped in all other forms. For example, vôžnja "fare", genitive dual/plural vôženj; ígra "game", genitive plural íger; ládja "ship", genitive plural ládij, zárja "dawn", genitive plural zárij.

Wiktionary has a category on Slovene feminine a-stem nouns with mobile accent

Some a-stem nouns have declensions with mobile accent, usually as rarer alternatives to the more common fixed-accent forms described above. These nouns have the accent on the ending in all forms except the nominative, dative and locative singular. The endings of the nominative and accusative dual differ slightly from those of the fixed-accent nouns, having -é instead of -i.

The genitive dual/plural can either end in -á, or have no ending. In the latter case, the stem vowel is stressed and any ê and ô are converted to é and ó. It is not fully predictable which of the two genitive plural forms a given noun will use. Statistically, most nouns having ê or ô in the nominative singular will have the stressed -á ending, while other nouns will have the endingless form with stem accent, but there are exceptions, such as nôga "leg", genitive plural nóg. A few nouns have stressed -á- as a fill vowel before the final consonant in the genitive plural, like ôvca "sheep", genitive plural ovác.

Feminine i-stem nouns

Wiktionary has a category on Slovene feminine i-stem nouns

The feminine i-stem declension is less common. It is used primarily by the widely productive abstract noun suffix -ost, but a fair number of other nouns (mostly of Common Slavic origin) also follow it.

• If a noun has a fill vowel, it appears in the nominative and accusative singular. These nouns also get a fill vowel -i- before the ending in the instrumental singular (-ijo), dative and instrumental dual (-ima) and instrumental plural (-imi). For example, pésem "song", genitive singular pésmi, instrumental singular pésmijo, dative and instrumental dual pésmima, instrumental plural pésmimi.

Wiktionary has a category on Slovene feminine i-stem nouns with mobile accent

Nouns with mobile accent are common among the i-stem nouns. These nouns have the accent on the ending in all forms except the nominative, accusative, dative and locative singular. The endings of the dual and plural differ slightly from those of the fixed-accent nouns, in that they have -e- where there is normally -i- or no vowel.

• In some mobile i-stem nouns with é or ó in the nominative singular, the dative and locative singular has ê and ô respectively. For example, kóst "bone" and pést "fist", dative/locative singular kôsti and pêsti.

Feminine v-stem nouns

Wiktionary has a category on Slovene feminine v-stem nouns

A fair number of feminine nouns belongs to the feminine v-stem declension, with the ending -ev (in which the -e- is a fill vowel). Examples are cérkev "church", bréskev "peach", léstev "ladder", žétev "harvest". These inflect as a-stems, but with some i-stem forms mixed in:

• Many nouns in this group can also inflect as regular a-stems, with the nominative singular ending in -va and accusative and instrumental singular in -vo.

Irregular feminine nouns

The noun gospá "lady, madam" follows an unusual variety of the mobile-accent a-stem paradigm with stress only on the endings, and several irregular endings with -e-.

• The colloquial forms in dative and locative singular are gospêj, and are also limited to certain dialects and avoided in the standard language.

The nouns máti "mother" and hčí "daughter" follow the a-stem paradigm, but have irregular nominative and accusative forms, and the instrumental singular ending -jo of the i-stems.

The noun krí "blood" follows the mobile-accent i-stem declension, but replaces the final -v with -i in the nominative and accusative singular.

Neuter o-stem nouns

Wiktionary has a category on Slovene neuter hard o-stem nouns

Wiktionary has a category on Slovene neuter soft o-stem nouns

The neuter o-stem declension closely resembles its masculine counterpart. The differences are in the nominative and accusative (of all numbers), which have their own unique endings, and in the genitive dual/plural, which has no ending like in the feminine a-stems. The neuter o-stems are divided between "hard" and "soft" stems, like the masculines.

• If a noun has a fill vowel, it appears in the genitive dual/plural. It is dropped in all other forms. For example: ôkno "window", genitive plural ôken; vesêlje "happiness", genitive plural vesêlij.

A small number of neuter nouns in -ó or -é have a mobile-accent paradigm. These are stressed on the endings in the nominative, accusative and genitive singular, but on the root in all other cases, for example:

Nouns in this category include blagó "goods", prosó "millet, nebó "sky", zlató "gold" and a few others.

Neuter n-, s- and t-stem nouns

Wiktionary has a category on Slovene neuter n-stem nouns

Wiktionary has a category on Slovene neuter s-stem nouns

Wiktionary has a category on Slovene neuter t-stem nouns

A small group of neuter nouns that follow the neuter n-stem, neuter s-stem or neuter t-stem declensions. These decline as hard o-stems, but have an additional consonant infix (-en-, -es-, -et-) in all forms except the nominative/accusative singular. The n-stem and t-stem nouns have a nominative/accusative in -e, while the s-stem nouns have -o or -e depending on whether the preceding stem is hard or soft.

• The noun okó "eye" follows the s-stem declension, and shows the effects of the Slavic first palatalization, i.e. in all forms but the nominative and accusative singular the stem is očés-. It also has a shorter plural stem oč- when referring to human eyes, which is feminine: nominative/accusative plural očí, genitive očí, dative očém, locative očéh, instrumental očmí.
• The noun uhó "ear" also follows the s-stem declension, and shows the effects of the Slavic first palatalization, i.e. in all forms but the nominative and accusative singular the stem is ušés-.
• The noun igó "yoke" shows the same effects of palatalization as uhó and okó, i.e. except in the nominative and accusative singular the stem is ižés-.

Irregular neuter nouns

The noun dnò "bottom" is irregular in the genitive and locative of the dual/plural.

The noun tlà "floor, ground, soil" is plurale tantum and has irregular locative and instrumental.

The noun dŕva "fire wood, fuel wood" is plurale tantum and has irregular forms in the genitive, locative and instrumental.

The noun črevó "intestine, bowel, gut" follows the s-stem declension in the singular and dual, but has regular neuter o-stem endings in the plural.