Slovio/Printable version

Slovio

The current, editable version of this book is available in Wikibooks, the open-content textbooks collection, at
https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Slovio

Permission is granted to copy, distribute, and/or modify this document under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License.

Introduction

Slovio is an international auxiliary language created by Mark Hucko in 1999. It has simple, logical grammar similar to that of Esperanto, and its vocabulary is taken from roots common in most Slavic languages, including Russian, Polish, Ukrainian, Belorussian, Czech, Slovak, Slovene, Bulgarian, Serbian, Croatian, Sorbian, Old Church Slavonic, and Macedonian. The name Slovio derives from the proto-Slavic root meaning "word." Slovio is easily understood by anyone familiar with at least one Slavic language, and thus has a natural base of an approximate 400 million people. Slovio uses the Roman alphabet but can be transcribed into Cyrilic.

Sample Text

The Pater Noster in Slovio:

Nasx otec ktor es vo nebo,

Sanktju es tvoi imen.

Tvoi kralenie pridib.

Tvoi hcenie bu na zemla takak na nebo.

Darij mi dnes nasx denju hleb.

I uprostij mi nasx grehis takak mi uprostime tamktor grehitu protiv mi.

I ne vestij mi vo pokusenie, no spasij mi ot zlo.

External Links

• Official Website
• Profile at Langmaker.com
• Profile at Omniglot

Alphabet and pronunciation

Slovio | Lessons: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9

Lesson 1 - Alphabet and pronunciation

The Slovio language can be written either using Latin alphabet based on English, which is purely ASCII, or using a cyrillic alphabet, which is based on Russian. This guide will mostly use the Latin alphabet for simplicity and not to overwhelm learners, but you should familiarize yourself with cyrillic as well. This is the basic Slovio alphabet, both in Latin and the corresponding cyrillic:

A  B  C  Cx  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  R  S  Sx  T  U  V  Z  Zx
А  Б  Ц  Ч   Д  Е  Ф  Г  Х  И  Й  К  Л  М  Н  О  П  Р  С  Ш   Т  У  В  З  Ж

a  b  c  cx  d  e  f  g  h  i  j  k  l  m  n  o  p  r  s  sx  t  u  v  z  zx
а  б  ц  ч   д  е  ф  г  х  и  й  к  л  м  н  о  п  р  с  ш   т  у  в  з  ж

cx, sx, and zx are always represented by two characters in conjunction and form only one letter each.

! TIP Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Czech, Slovak and Polish speakers

• cx = ч, č, cz
• sx = ш, š, sz
• zx = ж, ž, ż
• gx = дж, џ, dž, dż
• wx = щ, шт, шј, št, ś, ć, šč, szcz

Vowels are pronounced the same way they would be in German or Polish.

a	-	car
e	-	bet
i	-	see
o	-	bold
u	-	foot

Consonant pronunciation:

b	-	bold
c	-	cats
cx	-	cheese
d	-	dog
f	-	food
g	-	gold
h	-	home
j	-	yes
k	-	king
l	-	letter
m	-	moon
n	-	noon
p	-	pencil
r	-	roll
s	-	sun
sx	-	shoe
t	-	team
v	-	vanilla
z	-	zoo
zx	-	pleasure

As in most Slavic languages, r should be rolled.

J is used only in some cases:

1. When j sound is at the beginning of the word.
2. In suffixes like -ju, -just, etc.

Otherwise, i is used to represent that sound.

Slovio also includes several optional letters, mainly for expressing sounds of foreign words:

Gx Wx X

Дж Щ Кс

Gx is used to present the sound that would be formed by "dzx", as in George. Wx is used to present the "sxcx" sound, as in Yushchenko. X, if used apart from cx, sx or zx, is equivalent to "ks", as in box.

Pronunciation and stresses

In cases of vowel combination (like ai, oi, io, uo, etc.) it is recommended to pronounce the combination as one diphthong.

It is recommended to accent the penultimate syllable (the syllable before the last one).

Slovio | Lessons: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9

Introducing yourself

Slovio | Lessons: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9

Lesson 2 - Introducing yourself

Please take a look at how Ana might introduce herself:

Imenijm Ana. Ja es ucxnik.

Vocabulary:

imenit - name (verb, "to be named")
ja     - I
es     - to be
ucxnik - student

Ana introduced herself with "imenijm Ana", meaning "my name is Ana". Imenijm is the first person singular form of the verb imenit in the present tense. In this case, it was unnecessary to use personal pronoun ja (I), as it would be in most Slavic languages, as it is assumed that subject is "ja" from the verb suffix -ijm.

Verb conjugation (delaslovju koniugenie)

Verbs are conjugated by adding a suffix to the stem of the word. Stems are formed by removing the infinitive ending -t (if the stem ends in o), -it (if it ends in a consonant) or -vit (if it ends in a, e, i or u). The verb endings for the present tense are: ijm, ijsx, ijt, ime, ite and ijut, if the word ends in a consonant as seen in this example:

Slovio	English
imenijm	my name is
imenijsx	your name is
imenijt	her, his, its name is
imenime	our name is
imenite	your (plural) name is
imenijut	their name is

So, for example:

Mlodic imenijt Dusxan. - Boy is named Dushan. (literal translation)

Imenime Vikibuks.      - Our name is Wikibooks.

Words that end in a vowel lose i in the ending, so the endings are: -jm, -jsx, -jt, -me, -te and -jut. The use of i in such cases is optional, but it is easier to omit it. For example: delat (to work), would be delajm, delajsx, delajt, delame, delate or delajut.

Pronouns (zamenslovis)

Pronouns in Slovio appear in three forms:

1. Subject (nominative)
2. Object
3. Possessive

This is a table of pronouns when they are in the subject position:

Singular		Plural
ja	I	mi	we
ti	you	vi	you (pl.)
to	3rd person	oni	they
on	he
ona	she
ono	it
Please take a look at to. It is a gender neutral form of third person singular, and can be used to designate either he, she or it. Plural equivalent, oni is also gender neutral.

Verb 'to be' (delaslov 'but')

Conjugation of the verb 'to be' in slovio is very easy, it is es in every case. If the verb is used without a pronoun, verb personal ending (see above section) is added to the stem es.

Slovio	English	Without pronoun
ja es	I am	esijm
ti es	you are	esijsx
to es	he/she/it is	esijt
on es	he is	esijt
ona es	she is	esijt
ono es	it is	esijt
mi es	we are	esime
vi es	you are	esite
oni es	they are	esijut

For example, Ana said:

Ja es ucxnik.

Meaning I am a student. She also could have said Esijm ucxnik.

Slovio | Lessons: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9

Asking questions

Slovio | Lessons: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9

Question words

Asking questions in Slovio can be done either by adding the word li to the beginning of otherwise affirmative sentence, or by using one of the question words.

Dialogue

! TIP Question words

• kak = how
• sxto = what
• kai = what kind
• gdem = where (movement)
• kto = who
• gda = when
• pocx = why
• zakj = why (slovenian?)

Please take a look at this dialogue:

Marek: Zdrav Katia, kak ti cxutijsx?

Katia: Cxutijm dobruo. Sxto derzxijsx vo tvoi ruk?

Marek: To es brosxur.

Katia: Kai brosxur?

Marek: To es turistju brosxur.

Katia: Interesju! Gdem ti putovajsx?

Marek: Idijm ko Praga.

Katia: Kto idijt so te?

Marek: Nikto. Putovajm samuo.

Katia: Pocx idijsx ko Praga?

Marek: Ibo Praga es krasju.

Katia: Da, ja tozxe hcejm ko Cxehju Republik putovat. Gda idijsx?

Marek: Idijm sledju mesiac.

Vocabulary

• zdrav - hello
• cxutijsx - you feel (How are you?)
• cxutijm - I feel
• dobruo - well
• derzxijsx - you hold
• vo - in
• ko - to
• tvoi - your
• ruk - hand
• to - this
• brosxur - brochure
• turistju - tourist
• interesju - interesting
• ti - you (2nd person singular)
• putovajsx - you travel
• idijm - I go
• Praga - Prague
• idijt - he/she/it goes
• so - with
• te - you (instrumental case)
• nikto - nobody
• putovajm - I travel
• samuo - alone
• idijsx - you go
• ibo - because
• krasju - beautiful
• da - yes
• ja - I
• tozxe - also
• hcejm - (I) want
• Cxehju Republik - Czech Republic
• putovat - to travel
• sledju - next
• mesiac - month

Slovio | Lessons: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9