Moving to Slovenia

Back in London, and still having a few words echoing my head: Klicati   --->   to call Kličem Kličeš Kliče Kličem mojo mačko   =   I call my cat ugani, od kod kličem   =  guess where I'm calling from I wonder what the difference with  pokličem is? te pokličem na mobi   = I'll call you on your mobile Sent from my iPhone

Že vem --> I know it (ich weiss wohl / ich weiss schon) Kaj delaš danes --> what are you doing today Potem --> after, and then Sent from my iPhone

Kava z mlekom   (Coffee with milk) Kruh z maslom   (bread with butter) Bit of praise due here.... The Slovenes know how to make/serve coffee! Fabulous stuff! And cheap too at 1.20 Euro. Butter however is rather disappointing, reminds me a bit of the white margarine-like spread I was served in Russia, Estonia, Latvia and Poland.... is it an ex-communism thing? Grammar: z (= with) is followed by instrumental (orodnik) z mlekom (instrumental of mleko (neutral) .

Early morning, sun is out again here in Ptuj, hip hip hurray! Quick grammar before I attack the fridge. The personal pronouns: Jaz,Ti,On,Ona, are not usually necessary to mention as the person is quite clear by the conjugated verb, just like in Italian or Spanish.  My first encounter with the dreaded "Dual" form. I wonder if there is a "cheaty" version like the French: "on" or the German "man" to express a plural via 3rd person singular? I think the polite form in Slovene is the second plural, TBA..   biti (to be) sing 1. sem 2. si 3. je dual 1. sva 2. sta 3. sta plural 1. smo 2. ste 3. so Examples: Si lačen? Da, sem lačen. On je la č en in ona je la č na tudi.  The...

Here I am, in Ptuj. It's green, it's warm and according to the swallows (more then one), summer has arrived. Dobrodošli - one of my favorite words, just makes me smile! - it's probably the familiar ending -li which forms the the Swiss-German diminutive.  Ptuj (Pettau) is the oldest town in Slovenia and you can sense it's history when walking through the streets. Love the old buildings with their courtyards, the castle and old church. What I have noticed though, is that there are no quirky  little shops as you would find in an equivalent medieval town in Switzerland or England. In fact, any shop... The bakery I visited in the old town was a dark hole with only 5 doughy things left - and that was not due to popular demand, believe me! The lovely cafes with their "terasa" are deserted. Something is čuden (strange).... yet to find out why? Nature is beautful here, I stumbled across a cherry tree full of red ripe fruit - in mid May!!!..... this must be a sign ...

A few verbs in the first person singular. Seems pretty consistant, all ending with -m, (em, im, am) Sem --> I am Jem --> I eat pijem --> I drink Grem --> I go Imam --> I have Vidim --> I see Sedim --> I sit mislim --> I think berem --> I read pišem --> I write želim --> I want prepositions, often just a single consonant! in --> and na --> on z --- > with , (in the company of) v --- > in, within questions: kaj je to?    --->   what is this?   ( kaj je to?  --->   what is this?) zakaj?        --->    why? koliko?       --->    how many?  (koliko je ura?   --->   what's the time?) kako?         --->    how?  kje je?       --->    where is?  ...

Story: Dragan je slovenec. On je pameten moški.     (Dragan is slovenian. He is a clever man) Živi na Ptuju in star je 25 let.  (He lives in Ptuj and is 25 year old) Dragan ima mačko.   (Dragan has a cat) Mačka se imenuja "Muzli".   (The cat is called Muzli) Danes Muzli je izginila.   (Todya Muzli has gone missing)   Dialogue : D: Zdravo Ivan, I: Zdravo Dragan, kaj delaš? D: Iščem mojo mačko . Mi lahko pomagaš? - Accusative - I: Kako je? D: Mačka je črna in bela. Ime je “Muzli” - Nominative - I: Mogoče tvoja macka je lačen in išče miši ? - Acc - D: Mogoče je v moji kuhinji ? - Locative - I: Glej! Muzli ...