Pronouns can replace a noun in a sentence; this is, as opposed to, say, an adjective or an adverb.
Personal pronouns A
personal pronoun denotes the speaker (
I), the addressee (
you) or a third person (
it). Personal pronouns in Slovene are inflected in a somewhat unusual way, for there are many different forms for each of the pronouns. Several of the pronouns have unstressed and clitic forms that are unstressed, and may attach to another word. For example: •
Zanj mi je dal denar. "He gave me the money for
him." (Note: if the 'he' was referring to the same person, the reflexive personal pronoun would be used.) •
Za njega mi je dal denar. "He gave me the money for
him (in particular)." •
Sledili smo jim. "We followed
them." •
Spodbudili smo jih, da naj se pokažejo vredne našega zaupanja, a so nas nesramno zavrnili. "We encouraged
them to prove themselves worthy of our trust, but they rejected us rudely." •
Nanjo se je zgrnila ena nesreča za drugo. "
She was struck by one misfortune after another." •
Da bi le njim to lahko dopovedali! "If only we could make
them understand this!" •
Zame ni več rešitve: pugubljena sem. "For
me there is no solution any more: I am doomed." •
Pogledal ga je s kancem ironije v očeh. "He looked at
him with a drop of irony in the eyes." •
Pogledal je njega. "He looked at
him (in particular)." The nominative forms of personal pronouns are not used in neutral sentences, only when emphasizing the subject, especially so for the first person singular
jaz "I". This is because unlike in English, the form of the verb gives all applicable information such as the gender, grammatical number and person by itself. •
Jaz mislim drugače. "
I (in particular, or contrasting) think otherwise." The
reflexive pronoun begins with
s- and is used to refer back to the subject, or to some other word. For example: •
Umivam si roke. "I am washing
my hands." •
Umivate si roke. "You are washing
your hands." •
Umivam se. "I am washing
myself." •
Umivate se. "You are washing
yourselves." Similarly as in English, the reflexive pronoun can sometimes be replaced by the reciprocal phrase
drug drugega "each other, one another". Thus: •
Drug drugemu umivata roke. "The two of them are washing '''each other's''' hands." •
Umivata drug drugega. "The two of them are washing
each other." The accusative
se can bind with prepositional words just like other personal pronouns: •
Nase je nanesla lepotilno kremo. "She put beautifying cream on
herself." •
Ampak ko dela zase, dela učinkovito. "But when he/she works for
him-/herself, he/she works efficiently." Other cases and examples: •
Sebi gradi grobnico. "He/She is building a tomb
for him-/herself." •
Gradi si grobnico. "He/She is building a tomb
for him-/herself." (The emphasis here is not so much on for whom the tomb is, but rather the tomb or the building itself.) •
S sabo/seboj ni zadovoljna. "She is not happy
with herself." •
Najprej počisti pri sebi, potlej šele kritiziraj druge! "First clean up at
yourself, only then criticize others!" •
Ko je videl odsev sebe v ogledalu, mu je ta pogled povsem pokvaril dan. "When he saw the reflection
of himself in the mirror, this sight completely ruined the day for him." (Not a widely used construction, this would be more usually expressed with the possessive adjective:
Ko je videl svoj odsev v ogledalu ...)
Interrogative pronouns The
interrogative pronouns introduce direct and indirect questions. There are two nominative forms:
kdo "who" and
kaj "what". •
Kaj je ta stvar, ki se premika? "
What is this thing that is moving?" •
Vprašal sem ga, o kom je bil govoril. "I asked him about
whom he had been talking." •
Komu naj dam to? "
To whom ought I to give this?" •
Česa ne smem storiti? "
What may I not do?"
Relative pronouns The substantival
relative pronoun is derived from the interrogative by adding
-r:
kdor "who, that",
kar "which, that". •
Kdor krade, ni pošten. "
Someone who steals is not honest." •
Kar poveš, tega ne moreš več obvladovati. "
Something that you say, that you cannot control any more." •
Odrekli so ji možnost do izbire odvetnika, s čimer je bila kršena njena ustavna pravica. "They refused her the option of choosing a solicitor, with
which her constitutional right was violated."
Negative pronouns The
negative pronoun is derived from the interrogative as well, and starts with
ni-:
nihče "nobody, anybody",
nič "nothing, anything". A negative pronoun demands a negative predicate, resulting in the so-called
double negation: •
Nihče me nikoli ni maral. "
Nobody ever liked me." •
Nikjer ni nikogar. "There is
no one anywhere." •
Nič ni resnično. "
Nothing is real." •
Od nikogar ne želim ničesar. "I want
nothing from
no one." or more freely "I don't want
anything from
anyone." •
Nikogaršnja neolikanost ni nikdar in nikjer in na nikakršen način nikomur pridobila nič drugega kot neodobravanje. "'''No one's
impropriety gained ever anyone
anywhere and in whatever way anything''' else than disapproval."
Universal pronouns The
universal pronouns are
vsakdo "everyone" and
vse "everything, all". •
Vsemu so namenjali pozornost. "They dedicated attention
to everything." •
Vsakogar bodo vrgli iz službe, če ne bo izpolnjeval zahtev. "They will sack
everyone who will not fulfil requirements."
Vsak "each, every" is an adjective that can function as a pronoun. Also in this category are
vsakateri and
vsakteri, both meaning "everyone", which are old-fashioned and not used in modern language.
Indefinite pronouns The
indefinite pronoun is derived from the interrogative, and starts with
ne-:
nekdo "someone, anyone",
nekaj "something, anything". It refers to an unknown or deliberately untold person or object. The inflection follows the pattern of
kdo and
kaj. •
Nekoga so videli stati ob oknu, a niso mogli ugotoviti, kdo bi to lahko bil. "They saw
someone standing near the window, but they could not figure out who could have been that." •
Zgodilo se je nekaj strašnega! "
Something horrible has happened!" •
Zataknilo se jima je pri nečem, a nikakor se ne morem spomniti, pri čem. "They faltered at
something, but I cannot in any way remember at what." •
Nekdo prihaja. Skrijmo se. "
Someone is coming. Let us hide." The interrogatives
kdo and
kaj, can also refer to any unspecified person or object, or one that can be chosen at will. •
Sporoči mi, prosim, če se bo kaj spremenilo. "Please let me know if
anything changes." •
Seveda dvomim o čem: kaj to ni normalno? "Naturally I doubt about
something: is this not normal?" •
Česa podobnega še nisem videl! "I have never seen
anything like that!" •
Uporabi klorovodikovo kislino ali kaj drugega, da nevtraliziraš to bazo. "Use
hydrochloric acid or
something else to neutralize this base." •
Denar, ki si ga kdo sposodi, seveda ni njegov, pač pa z njim le upravlja. "Money that
someone borrows is obviously not his; he merely manages it." •
Naj stopi kdo vendar do tega DJ-ja in ga nekajkrat lopne po glavi. "May
someone go to this DJ and smack him on the head a few times." •
Ojej, kakšne lepe govorice! O tem se res moram s kom pogovoriti. "Oh dear, what beautiful gossip! I really must talk to
someone about this."
Relative indefinite pronouns The relative indefinite pronouns are
kdorkoli or
kdor koli (whoever) and
karkoli or
kar koli (whatever). The meaning conveyed is very similar to the unspecified pronoun. The inflexion follows the pattern of the relative pronoun with
-koli or
koli appended. The space, as shown, is optional, but for sake of consistency, once one method has been adopted, one should not use the other. •
Kdorkoli pokliče 112, mora znati povedati, kaj je narobe. "
Whoever rings
112 must know how to say what is wrong." •
Kogarkoli poslušam od politikov, vsi govorijo iste neumnosti. "
To whichever of these politicians I listen, they all speak the same stupidities." •
Karkoli stori, stori to dobro. "
Whatever he/she does, he/she does it well."
Manifold pronouns The manifold pronouns are
marsikdo "many (people)" and
marsikaj "many (things)". The inflexion follows the basic pattern of
kdo and
kaj. Although these pronouns refer to multiple people or things, they are grammatically singular. In addition to
marsi-, other prefixes are possible, such as
redko- (
redkokdo "rarely anyone"),
mnogo- (
mnogokdo, same as
marsikdo, although perhaps somewhat less usual) and
malo- (
malokdo "few (people)"). •
Marsikdo pravi, da je lepše živeti na deželi, a jaz jim seveda ne verjamem. "
Many people say that it is nicer to live in the countryside, but I of course do not believe them." •
Res je, da marsičesa ne vem, pa vendar veš ti še mnogo manj. "It is true that I do not know
many things, but you know far less still." •
Z marsičim je že bila obdarjena, a česa takšnega, kar ji je prinesel egiptovski odposlanec, ni bila nikdar poprej še videla. "
Many things she had been gifted, but something like that which the Egyptian emissary brought she had never before seen." •
Redkokdo bi priznal, da je storil takšno napako. "
Rarely anyone would admit that he has made such a mistake." •
Mnogokaj mi je šlo po glavi, a bolje je, da ne povem, kaj. "
Many things went through my mind, but it is better that I do not say which." •
Maločesa se loti, če ve, da se popolnosti pri stvari ne da doseči. "He attempts to do
few things if he knows that perfection cannot be achieved at them." ==Determiners==