Subject (Personal) Pronouns in Slovenian

Subject (Personal) Pronouns in Slovenian

SlovenianSlovenian A1

Welcome to our Slovenian grammar course for beginners! Today, we're going to talk about the subject pronouns.

Subject or Personal pronouns (Osebni zaimki) in Slovenian are quite important and are used in a variety of contexts. We use them when a pronoun is the subject of a sentence. They also replace nouns to avoid repetition, they help to identify the participants in a conversation, or we use them to point to an object without naming it. The pronouns also contain information about the case, number, and gender of the subject.

Slovenian personal pronouns have the following forms:

Singular

Jaz (I)
Used when you want to refer to yourself.
For example:
Jaz grem v kino. (I go to the cinema).

Ti (You, singular informal)
Used when addressing someone familiarly.
For instance:
Ti si moja prijateljica. (You are my friend).

On, Ona, Ono (He / She / It)
Used for he, she, or it respectively.
Example:
Ona igra nogomet. (He plays football).

Dual

Midva, Midve, or Medve (We two / We two feminine)
When you and another person are included and one of you are man, use Midva. Midve or Medve are used if you talk only about two women.
For example:
Midva greva v gledališče. (We two go to the theater).

Vidva, Vidve or Vedve (You two, informal / You two feminine)
If you're addressing two people familiarly, you can use Vidva. Vidve or Vedve mean that two people are women.
Like:
Vidva sta zelo smešna. (You two are very funny).

Onadva, Onidve or Onedve (They two / They two feminine)
Use Onadva when talking about at least one male, Onidve or Onedve for only two feminine nouns.
Example:
Onadva igrata košarko. (They two play basketball.)

Plural

Mi, Me (We / We all feminine)
Refers to a group including yourself.
Example:
Mi gremo na izlet. (We go on a trip).

Vi, Ve (You, plural or formal / You all feminine)
Used for addressing more than one person or someone formally.
Example:
Vi ste zelo prijazni. (You are very kind).

Oni, One, Ona (They / They all feminine / They all neuter)
Refers to a group of males, females, or mixed genders, respectively.
Example:
Oni so dobri prijatelji. (They are good friends).

Cases

At the end of the article, let's provide all the forms of the subject pronouns based on cases.

There are six grammatical cases in Slovenian (Nominative, Genitive, Dative, Accusative, Locative, Instrumental). This means that any noun can theoretically have six different forms. You can identify them by asking a few question words. We will study cases in more detail in further lessons of the course. Now just look at how pronouns change depending on the specific case.

Nominative (kdo, kaj - what, who)
Jaz (I)
Ti (You)
On, Ona, Ono (He, she, it)
Midva, Midve or Medve (We two)
Vidva, Vidve or Vedve (You two)
Onadva, Onidve or Onedve (They two)
Mi, Me (We, us - only for feminine gender)
Vi, Ve (You, you - only for feminine gender)
Oni, One, Ona (They, they - only for feminine gender, they - only for neuter gender)

Genitive (koga, česa - what, whom)
Mene (Me)
Tebe (You)
Njega, nje (Him, her)
Naju (Us two)
Vaju (You two)
Ju (Them two)
Nas (Us)
Vas (You)
Jih (Them)

Dative (komu, čemu - to what, to whom)
Meni (Me)
Tebi (You)
Njemu, njej (Him, her)
Nama (Us two)
Vama (You two)
Jima (Them two)
Nam (Us)
Vam (You)
Jim (Them)

Accusative (koga, kaj - what, whom)
Mene (Me)
Tebe (You)
Njega, njo (Him, her)
Naju (Us two)
Vaju (You two)
Ju (Them two)
Nas (Us)
Vas (You)
Jih (Them)

Instrumental (s kom, s čim - with whom, with what)
Z menoj Z mano (With me)
Z teboj Z tabo (With you)
Z njim Z njo (With him, with her)
Z nama (With us two)
Z vama (With you two)
Z njima (With them two)
Z nami (With us)
Z vami (With you)
Z njimi (With them)

Locative (o kom, o čem - about whom, about what)
O meni (About me)
O tebi (About you)
O njem, pri njej (About him, about her)
O naju (About us two)
O vaju (About you two)
O njiju (About them two)
O nas (About us)
O vas (About you)
O njih (About them)

Summary

The subject pronouns give life to your sentences and help you express who's taking action. Remember, verbs and pronouns in Slovenian are good friends, so they can change based on the verb tense and the overall sentence structure. We recommend trying to construct sentences using these subject pronouns even now when you are just starting to learn this language.
We are waiting for you in the next lesson, where we will talk about the conjugation of verbs in Slovenian. Good Luck!