Slovak Genealogical Word List

Variant Forms of Words
In Slovak, the forms of most words will vary according to how they are used in a sentence. Who--whose--whom, or marry--marries--married are examples of words in English with variant forms. In Slovak any word may change, depending on usage. This word list gives the standard form of each Slovak word. As you read Slovak records, you will need to be aware that most words vary with usage. The endings of Slovak words in a document will often differ from what you find in this list.

The plural form may change the basic word, for example: Female surnames are feminized with the basic endings: -ová or -á. For example:

Gender
Slovak words for persons, places, and things (nouns) are classified as masculine, feminine, or neuter. Adjectives used to describe the singular and plural forms of Slovak words must have the proper masculine, feminine, or neuter endings. For example: This word list gives only the singular masculine form of adjectives. Thus, starý, stará, staré, starí (old) is listed as starý.

The endings of past tense verbs also change depending on the gender of the person or thing being described or performing the action and number of its subjects. For example: This word list gives only the narodil sa (he was born) form of the past tense verb. You can conclude that narodila sa means she was born, etc.

Plurals
Plural forms of Slovak words usually change the singular word as follows: Words ending in -a change to -y Words ending in -o change to -á Words ending in a consonant add -y, a few words add -i, -e to form the plural

Grammatical Use
The endings of Slovak words can also vary depending on the grammatical use of the words. Slovak grammar requires a specific type of ending for a word used as the subject of the sentence, used in the possessive, used as the object of a verb, or used with a preposition. Slovak words fall into several classes, each with its own set of grammatical endings. Certain possessive endings give the meaning (of) to a word.

Nouns change the endings to show possession as follows
Nouns ending with consonant add -a, -e Nouns ending with -a add -y Nouns ending with -o add -a Plural (masculine nouns) change to -ov Plural (feminine/neuter nouns) change -e to -ie

Adjectives change the endings to show possession as follows:
adjectives ending in -ý change to -ého adjectives ending in -á change to -ej adjectives ending in -e change to -eho plural adjectives ending in -ý, -é add -ch

These examples show some endings in contex: Syn zosnulého Josefa Nováka a Anny Plevovej means a son of the deceased Josef Novák and of Anna Plevová (Pleva). Manželstvo medzi Karlom Václavom Havlom a Barborou Máriou Kozárovou means a marriage between Karol Václav Havel and Barbora Mária Kozárová (Kozár).

Alphabetical Order
Written Slovak uses several letters in addition to the 26 letters used in the English alphabet. These are á, ä, č, é, í, Í, ľ, ň, ó, ô, ŕ, š, ť, ú, ý, ž. The letter combinations dz, dž, and ch are also considered as single letters, dz and dž is alphabetized after d and ch is alphabetized after h. Letters q, w, x are used only in words of foreign origin. Slovak dictionaries and indexes use the following alphabetical order: a,á,ä b č d,ď dz,dž  e,é  f  g  h  ch  i,í  j  k  l,Í,,ľ m n,ň  o,ó,ô  p (q)  r,ŕ  s  š  t,ť  u,ú  v (w) ( x)  y,ý  z ž This word list follows the standard English alphabetical order. However, when working with alphabetized Slovak records, use the Slovak alphabetical order.

Spelling
Spelling rules were not standardized in earlier centuries. In Slovak, the following spelling variations are common: i, y and j used interchangeably s and z used interchangeably w used for v rz used for r sz used for š cz used for č Slovak is a phonetic language, which means words are pronounced as they are written.

Additional Resources
This word list includes the words most commonly found in genealogical sources. For further help, use a Slovak-English dictionary. Several Slovak-English dictionaries are available at the Family History Library in the European collection. The call numbers begin with 491.87321.

Key Words
In order to find and use specific types of Slovak records, you will need to know some key words in Slovak. This section gives key genealogical terms in English and the Slovak words with the same or similar meanings.

For example, in the first column you will find the English word marriage. In the second column you will find Slovak words with meanings such as marry, marriage, wedding, wedlock, unite, legitimate, joined, and other words used in Slovak records to indicate marriage.

Numbers
In some genealogical records, numbers are written out. This is especially true with dates. The following list gives the cardinal (1, 2, 3) and the ordinal (1st, 2nd, 3rd) versions of each number. In actual usage, days of the month are written in ordinal form with a possessive grammatical ending. In the following list, the ordinal number in its standard form is given first, followed by the possessive form (in some cases only the possessive ending is listed), for example:

Dates and Time
In Slovak records, dates are occasionally written out. Dates are usually given with possessive grammatical endings. For example: dvadsiateho ôsmého augusta jeden tisíc osemsto päťdesiat dva - [on the twenty-eighth of August one thousand eight hundred fifty and two, 28 August 1852] To understand Slovak dates, use the following lists as well as the preceding "Numbers" section.

Months
Slovak dates are always given in day-month-year order. Also months are often abbreviated using a Roman numeral. For example, 25 February 1848 could be written as: 25. február 1848 25. 2. 1848 25. II. 1848 The months listed below are shown in their standard form and in the possessive form used in writing dates.

Times of Days
Slovak records may indicate the exact time when the birth, marriage or death occurred. This is usually written out.

Other Languages
Before 1918 the Slovak lands were part of the Kingdom of Hungary which, together with Austria, constituted the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Records written before 1918 may be in Hungarian, Latin, German, or Slovak. Slovak records often contain Hungarian, Latin, or German words.

To help you read genealogical records also see the following word lists:
 * Hungarian Genealogical Word List
 * Latin Genealogical Word List
 * German Genealogical Word List
 * Polish Genealogical Word List