More animals and "This is"

More Animals

Opica /o-pi-tsa/ Monkey - Imagine a Monkey driving a race car and pulling into O PITSTOp.

Vel'ryba /vel'-ri-ba/ Whale - Imagine a WHALE named VEL croaking RIBBA like a frog.

Mačka /mach-ka/ Cat - Imagine a CAT tipping over MUCH CUps off the table.

Kačica /ka-chi-tsa/ Duck - Imagine a DUCK ringing up sales on an old register KA-CHIng SUh.

Kôň /kóñ/ Horse - Imagine a HORSE wearing a bright orange CONE YUp on his head

Questions:

1. Which of the above words are feminine?
2. Which of the above words are masculine?

Answers:

1. Opica, Vel'ryba, Mačka, Kačica, (Generally nouns ending in a are feminine.)
2. Kôň (Generally nouns ending in consonants are masculine)

More Questions:

How do you say the following in English?

1. Opica
2. Vel'ryba
3. Mačka
4. Kačica
5. Kôň

How do you say the following in Slovak?

1. Monkey
2. Whale
3. Cat
4. Duck
5. Horse

Grammar

There are no definite (the) or indefinite (a, an) articles in Slovak. So depending on context pes can mean dog, the dog, or a cow

The Slovak words for "This is" are "Toto je" (TOE TOE You)

Questions

How do you say in English?

• Toto je pes.

How do you say in Slovak?

• It is a dog.

Pronunciation tips

• i is like i in little
• b and m sound like their English equivalents, Big, Mess
• j sounds like y in you
• l' is a soft lye or lyuh sound
• c sounds like ts in cats and rats
• the Caron or Czech Háček, ˇ , which looks like a "v" over a letter is a diacritical mark that is used to change the sound of the letter to which it is added.
• č sounds like ch in chocolate chips. It softens the c
• ň sounds like ni in onion and is a soft consonant
• The Circumflex, ˆ , which looks like an upside down v over a letter is a diacritical mark that is used to change the sound of the letter to which it is added.
• ô sounds like wo as in won't

Here's a link to a virtual Slovak keyboard. http://mylanguages.org/slovak_keyboard.php

Also here is a Wikipedia link to diacritical marks. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diacritic

Until next time, Do videnia.
© Kathy Porubcan 2013
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Posted by y1htak at 6:47 AM