if ur not too lazy to read about slovenian language...

by **daryo** Wed May 07, 2008 3:05 am

"Slovenian"
By Victor Irving

Slovenian is one of the most complicated languages on earth.
Take this joke from students who were struggling with the language:
- Let's order two coffee.
- All right, coffee is kava en two is dva, so dva kava?
- No, it's dva kavo – 4th case because it's the object of the
sentence: (I'd like) dva kavo.
- But hey, adjective and noun should match, so shouldn't it be: dvo
kavo?

- Not really, because with two it's an exception: dve kavo
- All right, the dualism…
- Oh yeah, two has a separate ending! Ena kava, dve kavi, tri kave.
- So it should be Dve kavi, prosim,
- Don't forget it's still the 4th case.
- Same as the 1st for dual, female gender words.
- But I'd like my coffee with whipped cream: z smetan.
- That's the instrumental case. Z smetano.
- No, I think it's s smetano because of the pronunciation.
- Screw this: 'Two beer please.'
Another situation: Guys sees a girl walk by and wants to invite her
for a coffee.
He is about to say: Zdravo! Gremo na kava?
Then he remembers: Oh wait, we're going somewhere, so fourth case:
gremo na kavo. No wait, with 'gremo' she'll think it's for three or
more persons, so: greva na kavo? Then he realises it's more polite to
ask if she would like to go: Bi rad da greva na kavo? But since he's
talking to a girl he has to say: Bi rada da greva na kavo?
- Zdravo! Bi ra… The girl has passed by a minute ago.
Even more interesting is the way Slovenian bends city-names. The city
is called Ljubljana, but you are from Ljubljane. The a changes into
an e, however, if a city-name does not end with an a you add one. For
instance, I am from Amsterdama. But if you go to the city, it becomes
Ljubljano. And if you say you live there, you say in Ljubljani, or in
case there is no a to change into an i, you say you live in Londonu.
The same with names: You are at Victorju (Victor's), the belch came
out of Victorja and you're crying about an impossible grammatical
system with Victorjem and you know about Victorjevega mačka and
haven't understood Victorjevega teksta.
Let's take a moment now to fully appreciate that six cases, three
genders and singular, dual and plural endings lead to 54 options, and
with adjectives that may differ from nouns, about 108 options. For
newcomers, creating a sentence may take some time.
Most interesting, however, is that there are a few words that are the
same in every case. Roza (pink) never changes, and neither does a
name like Karen. Great. How about something similar for all words in
Slovenian? People may still be able to understand each other; in
English or Dutch coffee is coffee whether you drink it, see it, don't
have it, order it or throw with it. Moreover, these days national
identity is no longer dependant on a language's complexity. Slovenia
is a real country, so the language can develop as all other
languages: get easier. Maybe then foreigners can devote some brain
capacity to what they want to say instead of how they have to say it.

Victor Irving lives in Ljubljani and is desperately trying to learn
Slovensko.

by **C.O.L.I.N.** Wed May 07, 2008 3:16 am

lol 0o
ehmm slovenian r kinda ehmm strange.. actually their rules. i guess though that al citizents can talk them frequently >.>
greek gramar is way more complex as each word changes depending the time and other so e.g. a verb if ofc its normal will have more than 40 diferent spellings. ofc they havent been made for fun that way ad its understandable from almost every greek >.>