How to Learn Slovenian With Comprehensible Input

In Slovenian, the past tense shows whether the speaker is a man or a woman, and whether one, two, or more people did something, so a single verb has many endings. A grammar table lists all these endings together. Using the right one without stopping to think comes from meeting the forms in many sentences you already understand. Comprehensible input is Slovenian like that: language you mostly follow, where the speaker and the scene explain each ending.

What Comprehensible Input Looks Like

The rows in the picture are Slovenian sentences, and each bar is a word. Known words are gray, and the newcomer is purple.

About one unfamiliar word per sentence, while you still follow the meaning.

.

.

.

When the rest of a sentence is familiar, it shows you what the new word means and what its ending is doing. Early on, that's a bedtime story read slowly by an actor. Later, a news piece for young people gives you enough context to guess a word. When most sentences lose you, go back to the shorter stories for a while.

Your Roadmap by Level

Each of Bubblegum's six levels is described by a sentence a reader might say. Pick the closest, and treat the stories and shows as a rough match, since they don't follow these levels.

1. Level 1

   I'm just starting out or know only a few words

   Listen to Lahko noč, otroci!, a short bedtime story read by actors on RTV 365. Then try the sentences further down this page.

   Lahko noč, otroci! →
2. Level 2

   I can read simple sentences.

   Slovenščina skozi dialog posts short dialogues about everyday things, like a trip to the post office. Watch one with the text and listen at the same time.

   Slovenščina skozi dialog →
3. Level 3

   I can read short stories and messages.

   Časoris is an online newspaper for children with short stories about news and science. Some appear in English too, so you can check what you understood.

   Časoris →
4. Level 4

   I can read longer texts about everyday life.

   The University of Ljubljana's Centre for Slovene publishes graded readers from A2 to B1+, retelling folk tales and stories from history. Read one from start to finish.

   Graded readers →
5. Level 5

   I can follow complex topics, but miss some details.

   Infodrom is a weekly news show for young people that explains the hard ideas in the news. Listen to an episode on a story you already know.

   Infodrom →
6. Level 6

   I can follow detailed arguments and different writing styles.

   Watch RTV Slovenija's quiz shows, series, and news on RTV 365, and read Slovenian novels. Notice how speakers shift between formal and casual Slovenian.

Once a row feels easy, try the next one. If nearly every sentence needs a dictionary, go back a row.

Try It on a Sentence

Here are two sentences to compare. Videl sem film means "I saw a film," said by a man, and Videla sem film means the same, said by a woman. Every other word stays the same, so the -a ending is the only new part, and the speaker tells you why it's there.

Bubblegum is a language app where Poppy, your AI tutor, writes Slovenian lessons for your level about topics you choose. Lessons come with AI audio, word lookups, and her grammar help, and Regenerative Review™ works saved words into later lessons.

Frequently Asked Questions About Comprehensible Input