Slovak pronunciation

Luckily, once you learn how to pronounce all of the letters, it is very easy to read in Slovak! We usually pronounce the words how they are written. There are only a few rules to follow about pronunciation, so let's have a look at it!

Slovak de, te, ne, le, di, ti, ni, li

Even though you read those groups of letters as you see them, many times they are pronounced "softly", which means for example that you read de,te,ne,le as ďe,ťe,ňe,ľe.

Note that you never write "mäkčeň" ( ˇ )together with d, t, n, l if there is "e" or "i" after them. For example: dedič (not ďeďič), nič (not ňič), deti (not ďeťi), etc.

• de = can be pronounced as de or ďe
• te = could be read as te or ťe

For example:

• defekt = [defekt]
• dedina = [ďeďina]
• ticho = [ťicho]
• Tibor = [tibor]

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Elision 

Because the pronunciation is continuous, some of the letters are elided. Therefore, consonants are divided into 3 groups:

1. znelé párové = b d ď dz dž g h z ž v
2. neznelé párové = p t ť c č k ch s š f
3. znelé nepárové = m n ň l ľ r j

"párové" means= they have pairs and only letters from the first two groups are elided to each other. Elision can happen at the beginning, in the middle or at the end of the word. It depends on where in the word is the consonant placed.

Elision of "znelé párové" (so they sound as neznelé párové) happens in these cases:

•  when the word ends with "znelá párová" and the next word begins with "neznelá párová" consonant: loď pláva [loť pláva], dub stojí [dup stojí], tvaroh sa pečie [tvaroch sa pečie]
•  when the word ends with "znelá párová" and there is no other word after, or there is a pause: loď [loť], plod [plot], povedz [povec]
• when in the middle of the word there is "neznelá párová" right after "znelá párová": bodka [botka], babka [bapka], roztrhať [rostrhať]

Here are examples how it changes: 

and vice versa, elision of "neznelé párové" happens as well, when:

• the word ends with "neznelá párová" and the next words begins with "znelá párová" or "znelá nepárová": päť rohov [peď rohou], vlak mešká [vlag mešká], stop násiliu [stob násiliu]
• in the middle of the word there is "znelá párová" or "znelá nepárová" after "neznelá párová": prosme [prozme], vášmu [vážmu], kresba [krezba]

Some more examples: 

Pronunciation of the consonant v

You can pronounce consonant v in 3 different ways:

1. v as v = at the beginning of the words, after which is placed vowel or "znelá" consonant: voda, vlasy, vňať
2. v as f = at the beginning of the words, after which is placed "neznelá" consonant: včela [fčela], vták [fták], všetko [fšetko]
3. v as u = at the end of the words: krv [kru], mrav [mrau], stav [stau] AND in the middle of the word after which is placed "neznelá" consonant: dievča [dieuča], stávka [stáuka], lávka [láuka]

Pronunciation of prepositions

Certain prepositions are pronounced differently. Those are: k, ku, s, so. The general rule applies: they are not elided if they are used with personal pronouns. Personal pronouns are: mne, mnou, vami, vám, etc.

You can try our exercises prepared for you to train your skills! Good luck!