Slovak Pronunciation - Learn How to Pronounce Difficult Slovak Letters

Odpovedám na vaše otázky na tému slovenská výslovnosť.
Answering your questions about Slovak pronunciation.
0:50 difference between "ä" and "e"
2:19 difference between "h" and "ch"
3:15 difference between "L" and "Ľ"
5:41 when is "v" pronounced as /u/
9:20 when is "v" pronounced as /f/
11:21 more resources on Slovak pronunciation
Praktická fonetická príručka:
- textbook fphil.uniba.sk/fileadmin/fif/...
- textbook with audio recordings fphil.uniba.sk/fileadmin/fif/...
Resources about "v" read as /u/ or /v/:
- if you have the textbook Krížom krážom A1, you will find it in in Lesson 1, page 19, exercises 18 a 19 (might be slightly different in older editions)
- audio recording 1 (page 18 exercise 18 in Krížom krážom) fphil.uniba.sk/fileadmin/fif/...
- audio recording 2 (page 18 exercise 19 in Krížom krážom) fphil.uniba.sk/fileadmin/fif/...
- it is also part of the unit on pronunciation in www.e-slovak.sk (Lekcia 1, Blok 2) which is a comprehensive introduction to pronunciation
If you liked this video, you can support my work: ko-fi.com/slovencina​
Мои уроки словацкого предназначены для начинающих, но вместо заучивания сложной грамматики и зубрёжки списков новых слов вы можете изучить словацкий естественным путём, слушая забавные истории, рассказанные простыми словами.
I make Slovak lessons for beginners, but rather than studying complicated Slovak grammar and learning long lists of new words, you can acquire Slovak language the natural way, by listening to fun stories in easy Slovak.
My teaching method explained in easy Slovak: • Ako sa učiť slovenčinu...

[@LearnSlovakwithStories]

What is your favourite Slovak sound? And which one is the most difficult, in your opinion?

[@georgesoros4124]

Mój ulubiony dźwięk to "ô" ;)

[@konfituere]

I love t' and d' as these almost like soft versions of cz / dż that I know from Polish

[@georgesoros4124]

@@konfituere I think t' sounds like polish ć and d' is closer to dź. Greetings from Poland ;)

[@danielblandannat7826]

@@georgesoros4124 he said the same. He wrote "like the soft versions of cz/dż". So he meant ć and dź.

[@hcaos]

ham-ham-ham

[@donnajohnson9834]

Paulina - I have been studying the Slovak language for a while now, and watching your videos is now a part of our homework! I will definitely recommend this particular video to my teacher, in case he hasn’t seen it yet. I see in the comments that I commented on it about a year ago too - I still need refreshed on all of these special sounds!

[@grindej1]

Good Polish! :) I think that as many Slovaks and Czechs, you don't distinguish "ś" and "sz" (the same way as we, poles, don't hear the difference between H and CH) and you read it as your "š". Y also sounds more like I, but the rest is OK and the sentence is fully understandable. Btw: after about a year of just watching Slovak youtube videos i'm starting to distinguish h, ch. :)

[@LearnSlovakwithStories]

Thanks! Exactly, for me both are just "š" :D I'm glad you're getting better at h/ch, well done!

[@grindej1]

Skusim napísať po Slovensky ;-). Myslim si že poľské "sz" je viac menej rovnake ako vaše "š". České "š" je akosi medzí poľským "sz" a "ś".

[@maksymmerkulow5196]

This letters are not difficult for me, I love them very much. I see difference between "h" and "ch", because we have the same situation - "г" (h) and "х" (ch), "у" (u) and "ў" (w). I admire Slovak alphabet.

[@Suelygaa]

Greetings from Brazil. My husband is Slovak and I want to learn Slovak. I think it's fun to watch your videos.

[@LearnSlovakwithStories]

Great, good luck with learning Slovak!

[@stefanlanger264]

Good morning Paulína! Sometimes when I access your channel on Monday morning and find out that the new video isn’t in Slovak I’m a little bit disappointed - just to find out some minutes later that your new video is extremely useful for my studies. 😉👍 Thank you for this one. Have a great week!

[@LearnSlovakwithStories]

You're right, recently I had lots of English videos! I'm glad it was useful for you anyway. Have a great week too!

[@andrasvincze6894]

Very professional explanation. I find Slovak pronunciation not very difficult with my Hungarian mother tongue, compared to other Slavic languages like Czech or Polish. The only vocal we do not have is the "u" pronounced "v" like in the words "Rozpravka" or "zastavka" or "domov". It is not a pure "u", as I hear, but somewhere half way between "u" and "v". It needs some practicing. Slovak does not have too many accumulated consonnants either, like in the word "prst" which is difficult for most people with non-slavic mother tongues.

[@voyagersquaremuzika]

Ďakujem! Super video,ti si dobra učiteljica!

[@LearnSlovakwithStories]

Ďakujem!

[@tatevikhovhannisyan7760]

ti si hrvat ili srbin

[@voyagersquaremuzika]

@@tatevikhovhannisyan7760 I prvo i drugo i treće!

[@Slov50]

Дякую було цікаво

[@SidneyNaimah]

Thank you, it was interesting

[@donnajohnson9834]

So helpful. Thank you.

[@DonPedro6901]

Hello, nice to see you! After learning Czech since over a year I have no problems anymore with "h". I simply say it very hard from the bottom of my throat - exactly as it should be done (I hope). But what is for me more surprising I am understanding more and more Slovak. Lately I watched Krkavci (1982) and until 5th minute I didn't notice that they were speaking Slovak - I thought it was maybe some old Czech dialect :) When they started to say words with "-v" only then I found out I was listening to Slovak, haha. Całkiem nieźle idzie Ci czytanie po polsku ;)

[@LearnSlovakwithStories]

It's really cool that you're understanding more and more Slovak! :)

[@maksymmerkulow5196]

Jak to mnie zawsze wkurwia, kiedy mowia, ze jezyk slowacki to prawie czeski, tylko troche innego rodzaju. Kurde! To jakby ktos powiedzial, ze jezyk bialorusinski jest zachodnim dialektem rosyjskiego. Nienawidze to!

[@snflas]

This is actually really helpfull . So ch comes from the back of the throat while h from the mouth. Thank you. I still hear little difference snd cant differentiate when people tell them but at least i can pronounce them.

[@gabor6259]

@@snflas I do the ch not with my throat but with the back of my tongue, and I think that's how other people do it because the Slovak ch doesn't sound like the French r or the equivalent throat sound in Arabic. If you want to learn this method, try making a K sound continuously. But if natives understand you, it's up to you how you say ch.

[@kathyockaskis2949]

I greatly appreciate your wonderful teaching! I am sure you feel you are reading word slowly, but even slower would be helpful. This being said, your pace might be just right for others. Thank you for all your time and clear explanations.

[@LearnSlovakwithStories]

Thanks for the feedback. Actually, this morning I published a video in which I talk about how to solve the problem of people having different speed preferences, I think it might be useful: kzbin.info/www/bejne/kJa3fmuvd8-qn7M

[@bamereg]

Love love love this! I like the stories but I am really happy with the grammar videos. And this is great! I figure many more people who are searching for pronunciation vids will find your channel, too :)

[@LearnSlovakwithStories]

Thank you!

[@gbksvyaz]

Greetings from Russia! Today I found out that we, Russians, understand Slovak without problems))

[@zinalosey3736]

You are awesome! I really appreciate all your work doing these videos! Zina

[@LearnSlovakwithStories]

Thank you, Zina!

[@verandi3882]

thank you for the explanation, very useful

[@LearnSlovakwithStories]

you're welcome!

[@kumarvijay6977]

Very helpful📚, Good work 👌

[@LearnSlovakwithStories]

Thank you, I'm so glad it was helpful!

[@weepingscorpion8739]

Myslím si, že Ľľ je jedno z dvoch unikátnych písmen v slovenčine. To druhé je Ĺĺ. Ŕŕ existuje v jednom z lužickosrbských jazykov (nikdy neviem v ktorom, ale asi v hornom). A áno, ľudia na západe (najmä v Bratislave ;) ) nevedia "správne" vysloviť ľ. Zaujímavý kanál tu máš, Paulína. Pozdravia z Faerských ostrovov. :)

[@LearnSlovakwithStories]

Máš pravdu, ĺ je druhé unikátne písmeno v slovenčine :)

[@marcinszostek675]

I've watched this video only now. I need to admit that I loved hearing you reading my question, which was unexpected. Your pronunciation was suprisingly good as for someone so self-depricating. Szacunek. There are times I think I can distinguish l/ľ and h/ch pairs of sounds but then there are some words that make my mind blow. Maybe I have a hidden switch in my brain that would flip eventually one day and everything will become clear one day. Or maybe not. It's not THAT important. The words are put in context. (What really drives me crazy is the Slovak keyboard on PC's... It takes me always five minutes to remid myself how to write some special uppercases. Grrr.) A swoją drogą wy, Słowacy, macie gorzej jeśli chodzi o naukę polskiego - mam na myśli ś, ź oraz ą i ę. Jesteśmy więc kwita.

[@subashrajendran7171]

This is a helpful video from you and I like this video very much

[@LearnSlovakwithStories]

Thank you, that's great! :)

[@elpapito24529]

Is hard not to love you woman. Thank you for your service.

[@AAAA-hi6gi]

Good afternoon Paulina! Great thanks for the video lecture! You have worked a miracle - I am beginning to overcome my "psychological barriers": of grammar (even of my native language) and of English language. For me it was a real combo: a combination of English and a discussion of grammar rules. But I watched this video with enthusiasm. Yes, phonetics is a realy much more gratifying topic for me. But it's still incredible! Usually I don't listen in English anything more difficult "Britain's Got Talent" 😁 Thank You very much! P.S. this text was checked in Google, oh yes

[@LearnSlovakwithStories]

Nice! If you want to listen to great content in English, I really recommend the podcast Easy Stories in English - it's similar to what I do.

[@AAAA-hi6gi]

@@LearnSlovakwithStories, thank You, Paulina! I will definitely use this!

[@korpediem]

Thanks❤

[@LearnSlovakwithStories]

You're welcome!

[@janoshorvath4384]

For me Slovak letters are not a big problem. Rather , congestion of consonants is a lesser problem. I would tell You a succesful story: During my work I managed to send medical help to a Slovak woman living in Hungary. Bol sú vel'mi vystraseny a musel som vyuzit'svoje malé znalosti slovenského jazyka. Hovorím po slovensky vel'mi málo, ale stacilo to pomoct.

[@LearnSlovakwithStories]

Thank you for sharing that story, that's so awesome! Well done!

[@akirafunakashi4973]

Hej, przepraszam nie będę pisał po ang nasze języki są podobne i tak stwierdziłem, że się zrozumiemy Takie ch/h w polskim języku rozróżnienie tych liter zamarło jakiś czas temu l' to takie l z polskim j Jak Ciebie słucham to jakbym poznawał język polski dawnych przodków. Mam nadzieję, że jak na urlop przyjadę w lato na Słowację będę mógł już parę zdań powiedzieć :)

[@robertgrajny498]

Hello! Few years ago I learnt the Ukrainian language and there are all cases that you have mentionned about Slovak - h/ch (where H is used instead of G, for my surname for example), l/l’ (where l’ is similar to ль and the sign ’ is used with other letters, like ім‘я), and v/u (я вийшов, я увійшов). Thank you for you lessons, I live close to Orava and l hope to use this knowledge. And I’ve got some questions too - could you tell about hungarism and germanism in official and local Slovak language? Best regards,

[@annettedronkert4534]

Hello Paulina i am very happy with your videos on monday always very nice. I have a question because i want to see more videos or films but i cant understand it only when there is text under in slovak than i understand more i must see the words. But it is very difficult to find film in slovak with text. Maybe you have tip or someone who also follow you. Have a nice day and thank you very much

[@lemonr7288]

Oh I didn't notice you uploaded this video. For Japanese, pronunciation difference of "r" and "l" is extremely hard. I also struggle to pronounce "ryža" and "lyža", "včera" and "včeľa". One day, if you upload similar video next time, please explain about these words...

[@LearnSlovakwithStories]

I think the book I linked in the description might be very useful for you.

[@alaarabah]

Thank you

[@LearnSlovakwithStories]

You're welcome!

[@dawidlipka6547]

Hej! Mogłabyś nagrać film o wymowie samogłosek krótkich i długich? Dziękuję za wszystko co robisz!

[@LearnSlovakwithStories]

Ďakujem za námet.

[@MaxNaumchik]

I find it personally easier to memorize where to use ä as it appears in cases where I have related words in my own (Ukrainian) language. It is used in words with 'я . For example, mäkky (м'який), mäso (м'ясо), pät' (п'ять). It also might be that at some point in history Slovak had distinct pronunciation of this letter.

[@LearnSlovakwithStories]

You're right. There is definitely a historical reason behind ä, and it can be seen exactly in comparison with other related languages, as you mention. Well done for noticing that!

[@OSaKaDjTung]

Hii teacher ... have nice day :))

[@LearnSlovakwithStories]

Thanks, you too!

[@mmolzhanova4634]

Good English

[@LearnSlovakwithStories]

Thank you 😊

[@maciek697788]

Paulina, super czytasz po polsku :)

[@LearnSlovakwithStories]

Ďakujem! :D

[@Bobojsza84]

Make other videos about slovak grammar, please! I am from Hungary, that means Slovakia is very close to my country.

[@LearnSlovakwithStories]

Thank you for your comment! There's a playlist with my grammar videos: kzbin.info/aero/PLT6ZZUmMcgfciExRpMZw5OzqqjhvVps3V. However, I don't really focus on talking about grammar, because I specialise on acquiring grammar implicitly rather than explicitly (I explain more about it here kzbin.info/www/bejne/naPWfoCCfrWSeqs). If you want to learn grammar explicitly, there are other resources available to you: kzbin.info/www/bejne/e3WvgopmhKmsh8U

[@hervegalicher5358]

could you make a video about the rules (the only complicated part for reading sloval perfectly) about letters that are written without the accent but must be pronounced as if they had one like -ne which must be pronounced as -ňe, and i wonder if there are similar rules for -ľe/-le -ťe/-te etc ...

[@LearnSlovakwithStories]

Thanks for the suggestion.

[@hervegalicher5358]

@@LearnSlovakwithStories to be more precise and with an example, i do not understand the rules hidden behind the fact that neočakávaná must be pronounced as if it were written ňeočakávaná BUT hviezdne is NOT pronounced as if it were written hviezdňe (you will guess the source of my insiration with movies' titles from the Hobbit and star wars ^^). thnaks if you can extract the rules behind this and explain it clearly

[@LearnSlovakwithStories]

@@hervegalicher5358 If you can do it in Slovak, in the meantime I recommend you download the book that I mention in the video and read page 233 which has the explanation that you are looking for.

[@sitzpredsedafunt8544]

@@hervegalicher5358 Phonetic writing system is much younger than speech. And it is never 100% consistent with the pronunciation (it would have to be too complicated). Štúr's standard (1843 "you write as you hear") was strictly phonetic and used ďe ťe ňe ďi ťi ňi. Hattala's new standard (1852) respects etymological principles and this is one of few exceptions from "you write as you hear" - for correct pronunciation you need to know the meaning of the word.

[@fischka100]

Hello from America, I struggle with Ŕ, Please can you give tips on how to pronounce Ŕ

[@juliahelenaginzorivero9469]

Hi, the second link for the audio and book doesn’t work. Can you tell how I can get the audios for the book? Thank you.

[@LearnSlovakwithStories]

You can go though this website: fphil.uniba.sk/katedry-a-odborne-pracoviska/sas/edicna-cinnost-publications/ucebnice-slovenciny-pre-cudzincov/ - it's the second book on the list, and there's a link you can click in the second to last paragraph (where it says "Fonetickú príručku si môžete stiahnuť tu").

[@lenbas]

Pozdrav, I am from northern Serbia and here where I live also live many slovaks, so i want to ask you how big is difference between Slovakian slovak and south panonian dialect of slovak. Thank you!

[@peterjakub5480]

My very simple explanation since I had a chance to spend some time in Vojvodina. Standard slovak is still very similar to southern dialects and very understandable. What I noticed is slovak used in Vojvodina is more archaic, many words that are nowadays considered as archaic in standard slovak are commonly used in southern slovak. I think the main emigration from proto slovak regions to panonia happend in 17/18th century and since area of hungary is between, this had made kind of barrier and souther dialect started to develop a bit different. Also influenced by serbian language.

[@michalisakov3566]

Pekné video! A mám tiež otázku. Kedy a prečo sa vyslovuje S ako Z? Napríklad "chlebíček so sýrom" - tu sa vyslovuje ako "zo"?

[@LearnSlovakwithStories]

Dobrá otázka. Je to zasa spodobovanie (assimilation), o ktorom hovorím vo videu, keď hovorím o "v". S sa vyslovuje ako z, keď je pred znelou alebo zvučnou spoluhláskou (voiced or sonorant consonant). Ale v tvojom príklade (chlebíček so syrom) je prepozícia "so" - prepozícia "so" sa skoro vždy číta ako "zo" (okrem "so mnou" - tam sa číta ako "so").

[@andreahunter7281]

Ahoj! Please, could you at some time explain the difference in meaning between verbs joined with either sa or si. Could you also recommend a dictionary that would work alongside Krížom Krážom. Ďakujem 🙂

[@LearnSlovakwithStories]

Ahoj! I don't know what dictionary to recommend, but maybe someone else does. Reflexive verbs have been one of my favourite topics for a long time (I basically wrote my bachelor's thesis about "sa")! I've been planning to do a grammar lesson about the word order with sa/si, but so far I wasn't going to do a video about their meaning... I'll think about it. Do you have some more specific questions about it?

[@andreahunter7281]

@@LearnSlovakwithStories I have trouble separating sa and si: sometimes they seem to mean the same thing (to apply the verb to yourself) and sometimes they don't. I'm obviously missing something 😔

[@gabor6259]

@@LearnSlovakwithStories Can I read your bachelor's thesis? Is it online somewhere?

[@LearnSlovakwithStories]

@@gabor6259 No, I think it's not online - I don't know why. But I think there are more useful resources about reflexive pronouns than my bachelor's thesis anyway :)

[@LearnSlovakwithStories]

@@gabor6259 It was linguistics, not teaching, and also it was about Russian rather than Slovak (but the same principles apply). I couldn't find it online but if you want to look for it, here are the details: 'morphosyntactic innovations in the language of Runet' - Paulina Kozuchova - University of Cambridge

[@hervegalicher5358]

and what about pronouncing the ending -ii ? is it like -i/y or -í/ý or do we have to articulate two separate -i/y one after the other ?

[@LearnSlovakwithStories]

Two separate ones one after another.

[@tekbarrier]

I am a native English speaker who is brand new to learning Slovak (and some other languages). How is l' pronounced? How do I make the sound? Thank you from the US

[@megamix1301]

Please, enable 'automatic captions' generated by YT's machine learning algorithms in your videos ! That can be done in KZbin Studio.

[@nenad6278]

Ahoj ! Serbia has Љ љ , which is Ľ and it is pronounced the same :)

[@LearnSlovakwithStories]

Thanks for sharing! ☺️

[@nenad6278]

@@patatrak68 L'ubl'ana - Љубљана , same as њ is nj џ is dž ђ is dj ,it's just transtripted that way in latin characters

[@kickflipzine]

hi! i have trouble differentiating the pronouncing of nie and ne (as in neviem for example), my friend keeps telling me i say the latter wrong but i can’t hear the difference

[@LearnSlovakwithStories]

That's an interesting point, thanks for bringing it up!

[@iTzBucK5]

The worst part of pronunciations is when slovak natives try to get non Slovaks to say tongue twisters. My girlfriend's family always try to make me say things like štvrtvrstva v štvrtvrstve or strč prst skrz krk. It's evil but it does help to pracrice slovak tongue twisters

[@Mkninja002]

Technically the difference between "h" and "ch" exists in Polish too, yet the rule as such is not taught anymore. Still such difference is used in some regions of Poland or by some language freaks like me. Pozdrowienia

[@LearnSlovakwithStories]

Interesting!

[@basementcattiger6231]

I know right answer why they use 'ä' in words bábätko in words 'holúbä, žriebä, päta, päsť, päť, opäť, späť mäso, mäta, pamäť, smäd, mäkký, deväť, väčší, obväz, zväz'. But i am not sure this information let them stay happy.

[@snflas]

I still hear no difference between h and ch. Im latin. Regarding de,ne,se, l’ and other such “soft” consonants i just find it easier to add an i. Because in reality its diacuiem, li, sie, nie, etc. Similarly with the zmrzlina, krl, trznica, which become easy to pronounce of you add the vowel “î” which doesnt exist in sk, but exists in romanian, polish, ukrainian. Kîrk, zmirzlina, triznica, etc

[@tjmieczynskyj3393]

Volume is too low

[@maciek697788]

niestety Twoje filmy, które są tylko po angielsku nie potrafią spowodować mojego skupienia uwagi :/ więcej Filmów po słowacku poproszę :) pozdrawiam serdecznie

[@LearnSlovakwithStories]

Ďakujem za spätnú väzbu.

[@megamix1301]

Do you speak, understand Russian?

[@escapematrixenterprisejacq7810]

Trying to learn how to pronounce my grandmothers name Valachovic

[@LearnSlovakwithStories]

Oooh, I think my last name has very similar issues to your grandmother's: - there is the "ch" sound that people want to pronounce like "č" in English - I assume that the last letter is supposed to be a "č", but in many countries people just don't write the diacritics and then they don't pronounce them either :/

[@tatevikhovhannisyan7760]

she said that her polish pronunciation is very bad , so she can understand how difficult Slovak is for us but Poland is 2 times bigger than Slovakia and more people need Polish than Slovak

[@marcinszostek675]

Following this train of thought, it is stupid to learn both Slovak and Polish when you consider how big is Russia... But it doesn't matter. People sometimes learn languages just for fun.

[@rizwin9082]

Am from india trying to learn slovak for first time 👀idk where to start...i need to learn this ...bcz tinaah is in slovakia🤌🌝