A guide to the alphabet and pronunciation

The Alphabet

      The Slovene alphabet (abeceda) has twenty-five letters. It differs from the English alphabet in that it has no letters x, y, w, and q, (you will find them in spellings of foreign names, places, etc.) but the following three letters (known as šumniki) are added:

	č   ch as in chocolate, chicken

	š   sh as in shop, ship

	ž   ge as in  courgette, or as the s in measure
 

      Here are the twenty-five Slovene letters. Each of them is pronounced in the same way as the italicized letters in the English words next to them. The translation of these words into Slovene is given.

A simple guide to pronunciation

      This is not a detailed account or an elocution lesson on how particular sounds are pronounced in particular places in Slovene literary language but a basic simple guide which should give you an idea of how the language is pronounced.

      The Slovene language is mostly phonetic, which means that it is pronounced as it is written. Each letter has only one specific sound which makes reading and writing easy. It is very important to remember the correct sounds of the letters and once you have done so you will be able to read and write with hardly any mistakes.

Vowels

      There are five vowels in Slovene: a, e, i, o, u. Each syllable contains a vowel. The letter r in some Slovene words replaces the vowel when it stands before a consonant, as in rdeč (red) or rjav (brown), or when it stands between two consonants, as in Brnik (the airport in Ljubljana) or in vrt (garden). The sound of each vowel is pure and very clear.

      Even though stress marks are not placed over the letters, there are rules of stress to be observed in the pronunciation of the Slovene vowels (see below).

Consonants

      There are twenty consonants in Slovene. They can be voiced or unvoiced. They are pronounced as they are spelt (refer to the alphabet).

      The voiced consonants are: b, d, g, j, l, m, n, r, v, z, ž.
      The unvoiced consonants are: c, č, f, h, k, p, s, š, t.

      Look carefully at the letters č, š, and ž. Also note how you pronounce j and h in Slovene.

      Certain letters will at times be grouped with certain other letters and have a slightly different pronunciation. The same happens when they occupy a certain position in the word. For example:

      When l is at the end of a word or placed after any other consonant than j it is pronounced as w as in bel (white), popoldan (popowdan).

      V is pronounced as v before vowels (vaja 'exercise', voda 'water'), before the consonants r (vrt 'garden', vreme 'weather') and before vowels within a word (živeti 'to live', zvezek 'notebook'). When v is at the end of the word, after a vowel or before a consonant (except for r and l) it is pronounced as w, as in prav (OK), kovček (suitcase). When v is at the beginning of the word or when it appears between consonants or before two or more consonants it is pronounced as u as in vprašati (to ask). vhod (entrance). The Slovene r is pronounced strongly, slightly rolled. It is pronounced as er when it stands before another consonant or when it stands between two consonants.

      In a few words where they appear, two identical vowels or consonants are pronounced as one long one, as in priimek (surname), oddelek (department).

      You should practise pronouncing these and other sounds throughout the book.

Stress

      Stress marks are not marked in Slovene. In most cases only one syllable of the word is stressed, which means that this syllable is pronounced slightly more strongly than other syllables. It isn't possible to predict which syllable the stress will fall on -- in words which are formed from the same root the stress is often on a different syllable -- so the syllable which is stressed must be memorized. Initially it is best to stress each syllable equally. This way you will soon be able to read long sentences with the correct Slovene pronunciation. Most important is that all sounds, both vowels and consonants, are pronounced clearly and confidently.

A link to sample pages and Lesson One from the book, Živio, Robert!

Copyright © 1995 by Andrea Albretti

For some additional help, you might check out Slovene : A Comprehensive Grammar (Routledge Grammars) by Peter Herrity. This link gives you some sample pages. I would suspect this should keep you busy for awhile!