Slovak perfective and imperfective verbs
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In Slovak language, many verbs have two forms: perfective and imperfective. Let's have a look at what it means and how we differentiate them!
Lesson outline
HideThe difference between perfective and imperfective verbs
- perfective verbs = the action ended or is complete
- imperfective verbs = the action has not ended yet, or it is a repeated action. Even though Slovak language does not have continuous tense, the imperfective verbs can be used to express the continuous actions.
Here are some examples:
| English | Perfective | Imperfective |
|---|---|---|
| to read | prečítať | čítať |
| to write | napísať | písať |
| to wash | umyť | umývať |
| put shoes on | obuť sa | obúvať sa |
Perfective verbs do not exist in present tense. They have just future or past form. To express the present time, we use perfective verbs.
For example the verb "I eat":
najedol som sa (perfective, past tense) - jem (imperfective, present tense) - najem sa (perfective, future tense)
Very often the perfective verb is a finishing phase of imperfective verb.
For example the verb "to put the clothes on":
obliekať sa (imperfective) -> obliecť sa (perfective)
"obliecť sa" is a finishing phase of "obliekať sa" and it is used when you finished eating.
As you can see, the perfective and imperfective verbs are similar. However, there is no exact rule on how to create these forms. Some are created by adding a prefix or a suffix (písať - napísať), some have an extra consonant (umývať - umyť)and some completely change their word base (hľadať - nájsť).
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Perfective verbs
We will show you how the perfective verbs work in practice.
- Adam prišiel do školy. (Adam arrived to school.)
- Adam sa obul. (Adam put his shoes on.)
- Adam sa umyl. (Adam washed himself.)
- Jana navrhla interér bytu. (Jana designed the interior.)
All of the actions were finished.
Imperfective verbs
Here are the examples of the same sentences, but with the actions that have not been finished yet, or we do not know when they will be finished.
- Adam išiel do školy. (Adam was going to school.) = we do not know, if he arrived to school as well
- Adam sa obúval. (Adam was putting his shoes on.) = we do not know if he put the shoes on, or if something else happened during this action
- Adam sa umýval. (Adam was washing himself.) = we do not know if he also finished his washing
- Jana navrhuje intériery bytov. (Jana is designing the interiors) = Jana is an interior designer, it is her job, she does it every day.
Useful perfective and imperfective verbs
And now, we will provide you with a list of vocabulary of some useful perfective and imperfective verbs.
| English | perfective | imperfective |
|---|---|---|
| to clean | upratať | upratovať |
| to sell | predať | predávať |
| to eat | zjesť | jesť |
| to do | urobiť | robiť |
| to pay | zaplatiť | platiť |
| to find | nájsť | hľadať |
| to give | dať | dávať |
| to earn | zarobiť | zarábať |
| to take | zobrať | brať |
| to learn | naučiť sa | učiť sa |
Exercises
- Drag the text exercise on perfective and imperfective verbs
- Fill in the blanks exercise on conjugation of perfective and imperfective verbs
Drag the text exercise on perfective and imperfective verbs
Fill in the blanks exercise on conjugation of perfective and imperfective verbs
In the brackets you can find the infinitive of the verb. All verbs are in past tense.
Good luck!
- napísal - umývala - prečítal - dali - predávali - čítal - navaril - piekli - predalo - obúvali - som - sme -
Jozef (prečítať) knihu. = Jozef reads the book.
Mama (umývať) okná. = Mom was cleaning the windows.
Oni nám (dať) darček. = They gave us a present.
Dedko nahlas (čítať) noviny. = Grandpa was reading the newspaper out loud.
Kuchár (navariť) dobrú polievku. = The chef cooked a good soup.
Predavači (predávať) nové oblečenie. = The shop assistants were selling new clothes.
Všetko sa (predať). = Everything is sold.
Ja s otcom (piecť) = Me and my dad were baking a cake.
Naše deti si topánky 15 minút. = Our kids were puttin on the shoes for 15 minutes.
list prezidentovi. = I wrote a letter o the president.
Exercises
- Drag the text exercise on perfective and imperfective verbs
- Fill in the blanks exercise on conjugation of perfective and imperfective verbs
Drag the text exercise on perfective and imperfective verbs
Fill in the blanks exercise on conjugation of perfective and imperfective verbs
In the brackets you can find the infinitive of the verb. All verbs are in past tense.
Good luck!
- napísal - umývala - prečítal - dali - predávali - čítal - navaril - piekli - predalo - obúvali - som - sme -
Jozef (prečítať) knihu. = Jozef reads the book.
Mama (umývať) okná. = Mom was cleaning the windows.
Oni nám (dať) darček. = They gave us a present.
Dedko nahlas (čítať) noviny. = Grandpa was reading the newspaper out loud.
Kuchár (navariť) dobrú polievku. = The chef cooked a good soup.
Predavači (predávať) nové oblečenie. = The shop assistants were selling new clothes.
Všetko sa (predať). = Everything is sold.
Ja s otcom (piecť) = Me and my dad were baking a cake.
Naše deti si topánky 15 minút. = Our kids were puttin on the shoes for 15 minutes.
list prezidentovi. = I wrote a letter o the president.
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I am a qualified, experienced teacher of Slovak for foreigners. I have master´s degree in teaching and I´ve been teaching Slovak both in person and online for 10 years. I prepare unique lessons for every student according to their level, needs, goals and preferences. I offer free trial lesson where we assess student´s level, discuss goals and make a plan of lessons. We also set our schedule and student gets a chance to see my teaching style and methods. .
So, if you like to explore the beauty of my mother language, I will be pleased to assist you! Looking forward to meeting you soon online!
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I am a qualified, experienced teacher of Slovak for foreigners. I have master´s degree in teaching and I´ve been teaching Slovak both in person and online for 10 years. I prepare unique lessons for every student according to their level, needs, goals and preferences. I offer free trial lesson where we assess student´s level, discuss goals and make a plan of lessons. We also set our schedule and student gets a chance to see my teaching style and methods. .
So, if you like to explore the beauty of my mother language, I will be pleased to assist you! Looking forward to meeting you soon online!
Regards,
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Imperativ is difficult because there are some irregular verbs which Libi included in the exercise for practice
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Hi there! Do you want to dive into the beauty of Slovak and / or English language? Then let's do it together!
My name is Katarína and I am here to help you with any aspect of the language - grammar, speaking, conversations...
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Hi there! Do you want to dive into the beauty of Slovak and / or English language? Then let's do it together!
My name is Katarína and I am here to help you with any aspect of the language - grammar, speaking, conversations...
Thanks to my experience as a teacher at language school, I gave lessons to individuals, groups of various ages, children... I always try to personalize my lessons and concentrate on those areas that are important for you.
Do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions. Have a great day!
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Hi!
My name is Ibrahim and I am here to teach you the essentials of Turkish Language. I got my university degree on law at Ankara University and subsequently finished my degree on MBA at Loyola University Quinlan school of Business in Chicago, USA. After professional life, I started teaching my language turkish to foreginers who want to speak turkish fluently. I have been teaching Turkish for over 5 years in a customized way with tailor-made course design. I use course materials produced mainly by myself as well as other grammer books and visuals. I use interactive teaching methods and encourage my students to speak confidently as well as to ask anything they have in mind. I also follow my students progress through home-works and reviews of the last lesson. After all, I give importance for my lessons to be a fun environment facilitating learning.
And now, it is your turn to take your part in my class at your earliest convenience to see how it works.
I am looking forward to seeing you in my class.
You can also check my youtube channel "Learn Turkish" at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDZZw9jEPdWImMAwfGkqpGA
Thank you.
Ibrahim
S. B.
I am using my vacations to do a session of Turkish with the help of Ibrahim (5 hours over the course of one week). Ibrahim is quite professional and provides a quality textbook in addition to his own teaching materials designed to facilitate teaching Turkish to English-speakers. He also responded positively to more specific demands. I am happy and fully satisfied by my work with Ibrahim.
Thank you Sebastien it was also a great pleasure for me to meet such a diligent and kind student like you. Thank you for everything. See you again..
Hello there! My name is Nick I am 27 years old and I come from Canada. In my free time like all kinds of activities starting from traveling the world all the way to singing and playing musical instruments. I have over five years of experience teaching English to adults and all ages of children (4-18). In my class I help you focus, have fun and learn at the same time. Don't worry if you don't know something I am here to help! Hope to see you in mu class, Bye for now!
T. V.
Nick is a teacher with great experience, especially in the education of young people, very passionate and enthusiastic about teaching.
This review was written by a coLanguage team member during a manual screening of this teacher profile.
Nick A.
Action-oriented Slovak lessons
F. H.
I am very happy and satisfied that I can learn Slovak from Eva. She's doing a great job!
Eva T.
I am a qualified, experienced teacher of Slovak for foreigners. I have master´s degree in teaching and I´ve been teaching Slovak both in person and online for 10 years. I prepare unique lessons for every student according to their level, needs, goals and preferences. I offer free trial lesson where we assess student´s level, discuss goals and make a plan of lessons. We also set our schedule and student gets a chance to see my teaching style and methods. .
So, if you like to explore the beauty of my mother language, I will be pleased to assist you! Looking forward to meeting you soon online!
Regards,
Libi
. .
Provides me with lots to learn and is always able to answer my questions about small details and practices within the Slovak language.
Libi S.