Order of Unstressed Words

Level 4

Unstressed words stay together right after the first stressed element and line up as by → som/si/sme/ste → sa/si → dative (mi, ti, mu) → accusative (ma, ťa, ho): Dal by som ti ho.

How It Works

The group in second position. Short unstressed words (príklonky) stand right after the first stressed word or phrase of the clause. See unstressed words in second position. When several of them meet, they always come in this order:

  1. by (conditional)
  2. som, si, sme, ste (past and conditional helper)
  3. sa, si (reflexive)
  4. dative: mi, ti, mu, jej, nám, vám, im
  5. accusative: ma, ťa, ho, ju, nás, vás, ich

Examples of full groups.

  • Dal by som ti ho. I would give it to you. (by + som + dative + accusative)
  • Včera som sa ti ozval. I got in touch with you yesterday. (som + sa + dative)
  • Kúpil by si si ho? Would you buy it for yourself? (by + helper si + reflexive si + accusative)
  • Mama nám ju ukázala. Mom showed it to us. (dative + accusative; no helper in the third person)

Dative before accusative. English says "give it to you", but Slovak says daj mi ho, povedal som mu to. The short dative pronoun always comes first. See dative pronouns and object pronouns.

Two si in a row. In the second person the helper si and the reflexive si can meet: Kúpil si si nové auto? (Did you buy yourself a new car?) Both are needed.

After the group. Words such as to and však follow the group: Páčilo by sa ti to? (Would you like that?)

What stays out. Long stressed forms such as mne, tebe, jemu are not part of the group and can move freely: Tebe by som ho dal. (To you, I would give it.) See long and short pronoun forms.

Examples (6)

  1. Dal by som ti ho, keby som ho mal.

    I would give it to you if I had it.

    Word by Word: Gave would am to-you it, if am it had.

  2. Včera som sa ti ozval, ale neodpísal si.

    I got in touch with you yesterday, but you didn't reply.

    Word by Word: Yesterday am myself to-you got-in-touch, but not-wrote-back are.

  3. Kúpil si si nový telefón?

    Did you buy yourself a new phone?

    Word by Word: Bought are yourself new phone?

    The first si is the past-tense helper, the second is the reflexive si.

  4. Nemohol by si mi ho požičať?

    Could you lend it to me?

    Word by Word: Not-could would are to-me it lend?

  5. Mama nám ju ukázala včera.

    Mom showed it to us yesterday.

    Word by Word: Mom to-us it showed yesterday.

  6. Páčilo by sa ti to?

    Would you like that?

    Word by Word: Pleased would itself to-you that?

Common Mistakes

  • Putting the accusative before the dative, as in English.

    Dal som ho mu.
    Dal som mu ho.

    The dative (mu) always comes before the accusative (ho) in the group, the reverse of English "gave it to him".

  • Putting som before by.

    Dal som by ti to.
    Dal by som ti to.

    In the conditional, by always comes first in the group, before som, si, sme or ste.

  • Starting the sentence with the unstressed group.

    Som sa ti včera ozval.
    Včera som sa ti ozval.

    Unstressed words cannot stand first. Put a stressed word in front of them: Včera som sa ti ozval, or Ozval som sa ti včera.

How It Connects

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Order of Unstressed WordsLevel 4

Learn This First

Before Order of Unstressed Words, learn Unstressed Words in Second Position. The order of unstressed words builds on their second position.

Words in This Pattern

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