Counting in Slovene
Language overview
The Slovene language (slovenščina, slovenski jezik, also known as Slovenian) is an Indo-European language that belongs to the South Slavic languages group. Official language in Slovenia, it is spoken by about 2.5 million people.
Slovene numbers list
- 1 – ena
- 2 – dve
- 3 – tri
- 4 – štiri
- 5 – pet
- 6 – šest
- 7 – sedem
- 8 – osem
- 9 – devet
- 10 – deset
- 11 – enajst
- 12 – dvanajst
- 13 – trinajst
- 14 – štirinajst
- 15 – petnajst
- 16 – šestnajst
- 17 – sedemnajst
- 18 – osemnajst
- 19 – devetnajst
- 20 – dvajset
- 30 – trideset
- 40 – štirideset
- 50 – petdeset
- 60 – šestdeset
- 70 – sedemdeset
- 80 – osemdeset
- 90 – devetdeset
- 100 – sto
- 1,000 – tisoč
- one million – milijon
- one billion – milijarda
- one trillion – bilijon
Slovene numbering rules
Now that you’ve had a gist of the most useful numbers, let’s move to the writing rules for the tens, the compound numbers, and why not the hundreds, the thousands and beyond (if possible).
- Digits and numbers from zero to ten are specific words, namely nič [0], ena [1], dve [2], tri [3], štiri [4], pet [5], šest [6], sedem [7], osem [8], devet [9], and deset [10]. The digit two has two gendered forms: dva (masculine) and dve (feminine).
- From eleven to nineteen, numbers are suffixed by -najst (-teen): enajst [11], dvanajst [12], trinajst [13], štirinajst [14], petnajst [15], šestnajst [16], sedemnajst [17], osemnajst [18], devetnajst [19].
- Tens are formed by adding ten (deset) to the end of the digit root, with the obvious exception of ten itself and twenty: deset [10], dvajset [20], trideset [30], štirideset [40], petdeset [50], šestdeset [60], sedemdeset [70], osemdeset [80], and devetdeset [90].
- For numbers from twenty-one to ninety-nine, the unit comes first, then the ten, joined together by the word in (and), thus we get enaindvajset [21], dvaindvajset [22]…
- Hundreds are formed the same way as the tens, i.e. by adding the suffix hundred (sto) to the multiplier digit: sto [100], dvesto [200], tristo [300]…
- Thousands use the word tisoč, the same way English does. Million being masculine, we say dva milijona [2,000,000], but sedem milijonov [7,000,000].
- The Slovene language uses the long scale for big numbers where the naming pattern of the scale words alternates between the -ijon and -ijarda suffixes: milijon (106, million), milijarda (109, billion), bilijon (1012, trillion), bilijarda (1015, quadrillion), trilijon (1018, quintillion), trilijarda (1021, sextillion)…
Write a number in full in Slovene
Let’s move now to the practice of the numbering rules in Slovene. Will you guess how to write a number in full? Enter a number and try to write it down in your head, or maybe on a piece of paper, before displaying the result.
Books
Slovene: A Comprehensive Grammar
by Peter Herrity, editors Routledge (2000)
[
Amazon.com]
Guide de conversation slovène
by Alois Wiesler, editors Assimil (2010)
[ Amazon.com]
Parlons slovène
by Mojca Schlamberger Brezar, Vladimir Pogačnik, Gregor Perko, editors L’Harmattan (2005)
[ Amazon.com]
Source
- A Short Reference Grammar of Standard Slovene, by Marc L. Greenberg, 2006 (.pdf)
South Slavic languages
Bulgarian, Macedonian, Serbian, and Slovene.
Other supported languages
As the other currently supported languages are too numerous to list extensively here, please select a language from the full list of supported languages.