This article is meant as a help for our English speaking friends struggling to learn the Slovak language. I will show you how English and Slovak are similar. Especially this Jono Graham‚s video, titled Slovak is SO hard to learn…I’m struggling! HELP!!, triggered me. So, Jono, here you are. I hope it will help you.
There are other strugglers on youtube:
- Why is Slovak Language so difficult to learn? I am struggling! | Slovenské Titulky by the channel Chasing Kimberly.
- Slovak is Hard!! | My Experience & How I Learn as a Foreigner by the channel Sterba
My very first English sentence was: „Mister carpenter was helping to build a new house.“ It was a sentence from a fairytale book and I remember it till nowadays.
What was your first Slovak sentence? Let me know in the comments below.
If you don’t know any Slovak sentence, I can teach you one: „Dujú vetry, dujú?“ Well, don’t read the „j“ as „j“ in „Jane“. In Slovak, the „j“ is always read as „y“ in „yes“. So the English transcript would be like: „Do-you vet-ree, do-you?“ Sounds too English? That is the purpose – to fool you. But the sentence is 100% Slovak. The meaning of the sentence goes like: „Do the winds blow, do they?“ The verb „duť“ means „to blow“.
I will teach you another funny Slovak sentence: „Strč prst skrz krk!“ Is it easy to read? I don’t think so.:) But don’t worry, there are actually some sounds that we don’t write that will help you to pronounce it. Let’s use the „@“ character for the shwa sound. If we use this shwa sound, the sentence would look like this: „Str@č pr@st skr@z kr@k!“ Is it now easier to read? I think so! This sentence literally means: „Put a finger through a neck!“
That was a funny beginning.
Schwa Sound
The Slovak language uses the sound of the schwa letter but it is never written. We will use this character „@“ for the schwa sound in this article.
Example: krk (pronounced as kr@k) = a neck in English, vlk (pronounced as vl@k) = a wolf in English.
Diacritics
As you could see, in Slovak, we use these funny letters with roofs and other diacritics. The roof is a softener.
š = sh, č = ch, ž = zh, ť = ty, ľ = ly, dž = g, ň = ny (el Nino)
We also use long vowels (the acute makes the sound longer):
á (love), é (like in vet but long), í (beep), ó (four), ú (woo-doo)
We have some other funny letters:
ä (like in black but Slovaks simplify it to pronounce as in „vet“), ô (this is u + o, simply uo like in „put“ and „dot“) but together.
We have some composed letters:
dz = d + z , dž = g like in george, ch = kh
Now, when you know how to read the letters, we can start with the vocabulary.
But firstly some rules of the development of the Slovak language:
Metathesis
In most of the Slavic languages something called metathesis took place, that is a swap of the combination of „a consonant and a vowel“ to „a vowel and a consonant“, for example German „berg“ (a hill) and Slavic „breg“ (a bank of a river). The „-re-“ swapped to „-er-„.
Similar Sounds
„b“, „p“, „v“, „u“, „f“, rarely „t“ are similar sounds, the only difference is that some of them are accented and some are not, some are used preferably by Germans, some by Slavs. Slavic languages did not know the sound „f“, it had always been replaced either by „b“ (German die Farbe /a color/, and Czech barva), „p“ (English „for“ and Slovak „pre“), „v“ or „t“ (English „true“ and Slavic „pravdivý“ meaning „true“). Therefore all words with the letter „f“ in the current Slovak language are of a foreign origin.
„g“, „h“, „ch“ (kh), „k“ are also similar letters. In the Slovak language, the original Slavic „g“ changed to „h“, for example „grob“ (Eng. grave) changed to „hrob“, „g“ –> „h“. Therefore all words with the letter „g“ in the current Slovak language are of a foreign origin.
„d“ and „t“ are similar letters.
„t“ and „c“ (pronounced as „ts“) are similar letters. The Latin or Hungarian language couldn’t write the Slavic „c“ sound (English would read it as „ts“) so they used the simple „t“ instead. This makes a rule for the Hungarian language that all words with the sound of the Slovak „c“, are not of Hungarian origin.
„s“, „š“, „z“, „ž“ are similar letters.
Palatalisation
It is a rule in the Slavic languages that a consonant is palatized/softened before the vowels „e“ or „i“ as these two vowels are softeners. This softening rule appears in some other cases too.
- „k“ is softened to „č“ (ch) [krk (a neck) –> krčiť (to bow), krčný (neck-like)],
- „g/h“ is softened to „ž“ (zh) [noha (a leg) –> nožný (leg-like)],
- „ch“ (kh) is softened to „š“ (sh) [duch (a spitrit) –> dušovať (to swear)],
- „d“ is softened to „ď“ [deväť (nine) while the „d“ is pronounced as „ď“ – we don’t have to write „ďeväť“ with the „ď“ because the presence of the following „e“ already indicates the soft sound]
- „t“ is softened to „ť“ [teta (an aunt) is pronounced as „ťeta“],
- „l“ is softened to „ľ“ [lenivec (a lazy man) should be pronounced as „ľenivec“ but the language already degenerated and the Slovaks no more care to be pedant at pronouncing the soft „ľ“],
- „n“ is softened to „ň“ [nedeľa (sunday) is pronounced as „ňeďeľa“].
Accent
In Slovak, the accent is always on the first syllable. In English, the accent can vary. In English, the accent in the word „Successful“ is on the syllable „cess“, which is in the middle of the word. Russians put accent on the very last syllable in the word for milk „moloko„. French put the accent on the last syllable. Eastern Slovaks put accent like Italians, on the before the last syllable. Anyway, the correct Slovak puts the accent always, always, always on the first syllable. If the preposition is the first, then on the preposition, like for example „na stole“ meaning „on the table“, the accent is on the preposition „na“.
Pronunciation
The English „v“ and „w“ don’t exist in Slovak sounds. The Slovak „v“ sound doesn’t exist in English even though they are very similar.
The English „t“ sound is pronounced differently in Slovak. In Slovak, the last „t“ in a Slovak word is always fully pronounced. In English the last „t“ is many times silent. There is nothing like the American flapped „t“ in Slovak.
The Slovak language doesn’t have the English sound of „th“.
List of Similar Words:
Articles and Pronouns:
Eng. „I“ <–> „ja“ (I in English). English „I“ is pronounced as „aj“, which is a metathesis of the Slovak „ja“. In Bulgarian, it is „az“.
Eng. „thee“ <–> „ty“ (thee, you), here we have similar letters „th“ and „t“.
Eng. „it“ <–> Slovak „to“ (it), only „t“ is common but the shortness of both words shows a similarity.
Eng. „me“ <–> „mi“ (me). The same sound.
Eng. „us“ <–> „nás“ (us), in German „uns„. It is a metathesis „un“ to „na“.
Eng. „them“ <—> „im“.
Eng. „that“ <–> „henten“ (that – for males), „hentá“ (that – for females), „hento“ (that/it – for neutral nouns).
Eng. „the“ <–> „ten“ (the – for males), „tá“ (the – for females), „to“ (the/it – for neutral nouns).
Eng. „the same“ <–> „ten samý“ (the same), „samotný“ (single, alone, himself), „osamote“ (alone), „sám“ (alone, self).
Numbers:
Eng. „one“ <–> „jeden“ (one) in Slovak, „odin“ (one) in Russian.
Eng. „two“ <–> „dva“ (two), „d“ is similar to „t“. It is interesting to mention that the Slovaks pronounce the English „w“ as „v“.
Eng. „three“ <–> „tri“ (three). „th“ and „t“ are similar letters.
Eng. „six“ <–> „šesť“ (six). „š“ and „s“ are similar words.
Eng. „seven“ <–> „sedem“ (seven).
Prepositions and Conjunctions:
Eng. „that“ <–> „že“ (grammatical conjunction „that“), in Slovenian it is „da„.
Eng. „front“ <–> „pred“ (in front, before), here we have „f“ and „p“ as similar consonants, also „t“ and „d“ are similar consonants.
Eng. „to“ <–> „do“ (to), example: „I am going to school.“ <–> „Idem do školy.“
Eng. „on“ <–> „na“ (on), for example „On the table“ is „Na stole“ in Slovak, here we have metathesis of „on“ to „na“.
Eng. „mid“ <–> „medzi“ (in between), „medza“ (a border).
Human Related:
Eng. „a man“ <–> „muž“ (a man), in German „Mensch“ (a man, a human), in Polish „mężczyzna„, read as „menzh-šh-ch-inna“ (a man). The nasal sound „eN“ came into English as „-an“ in „a man“, in Slovak it regularly changed to „u“.
Eng. „a queen„, „a wench“ <–> „žena“ (a woman), „ženština“ (a woman in Russian), „q“ was palatilized to „ž“. There is an interesting similarity between „a wench“ and Russian „ženština“ where it seems like the English „ch“ corresponds to the Russian „šť“.
Eng. „a child„, „a kind“ <–> „čeľaď“ (a kind, a flock, a race), in old Slavic „čeNď“ (a child), where „eN“ is a nassal „e“, present Slovak uses the word „dieťa“ for a child, the Russians use the word „ribjenok“ but they have another one less used „čado“ which is similar to the old Slavic and English.
Eng. „a widow“ <–> „vdova“ (a widow).
Eng. „a dad“ <–> „tata“ (a dad), „t“ and „d“ are similar letters.
Eng. „a mom„, „mother“ <–> „mama“ (a mom), „mater“ (a mother), „th“ and „t“ are similar letters.
Eng. „a fight“ , „a fighter“ <–> „boj“ (a fight), „bojar“ (a fighter), „f“ and „b“ are similar consonants, see the rule above – the Slavic language did not have the sound „f“. English ending „-er“ is the same as the Slovak „-ar“.
Eng. „a guest“ <–> „hosť“ (a guest), in the old Slovak „gosť„.
Eng. „a baker„, „to bake“ <–> „pekár“ (a baker), „piecť“ (to bake a bread or a cake), „opekať“ (to bake sausages).
Eng. „a hero“ <–> „hrdina“ (a hero), it could be related to „hruď“ which means „a chest“ of human body, and also to „hrdý“ which means „proud“.
Eng. a „pussy“ , a „peach“ <–> „piča“ (a pussy; vulgar), „puča“ (a pussy), it is related to „pučať“ meaning „to bud“, „pučiť“ meaning „to press“, and „puk“ meaning „a bud“, probably related to „pišať“ (to piss). A peach (in Slovak „broskyňa“) is maybe related to pussy, especially by the shape.
Eng. „tits“ <–> „cicky“ (tits) pronounced as tsitskie. Here „t“ <–> „c“ pronounced as ts.
Eng. „a dance“ <–> „tanec“ (a dance), in German it is „Ein Tanz„. The word looks to have an origin in the Slavic languages and the reason for it is the ending „c“ which is typical in the Slavic languages and untypical in German.
Eng. „hop“ <–> „hop“ (jump), „hoplá“ (it is used when someone stumbles meaning to jump).
Eng. „to dream“ <–> driemať (to take a nap).
Eng. „to flow“ <–> „plávať“ (to swim), „f“ and „p“ are similar letters.
Eng. „to touch“ , „a tangent“ <–> „týkať sa“ (to touch), „dotýkať sa“ (to touch) where the preposition „do“ means „to“, dotyk (a touch) where „do“ means to „to“, here we see a palatalization of „k“ –> „č“. „Styčný bod“ means „contact point“, „dotyčnica“ means „a tangent“.
Eng. „to cry“ <–> „kričať“ (to cry).
Eng. „to beat„, „to be“ <–> „biť“ (to beat someone), „byť“ (to be.)
Eng. „saint“ <–> „svätý“ (saint), in old Slovak it used to be „sveNtý“, there was a nassal letter „eN“ that changed to the wide „ä“ pronounced as „ae“.
Eng. „weight“ <–> „váha“ (weight).
Eng. „to suck“ <–> „cucať“ (to suck), „sosák“ (a proboscis).
Eng. „to crotch“ <–> „roz-kročiť“ (to crotch).
Eng. „a bed“ (posteľ) <–> „bedro“ (a hip), a bed is a depression or a hollow, same the Slovak „bedro“ is a depression in the hip.
Eng. „bliss“, „a pleasure“, „please“ <–> „blažený“ (bliss). „b“ and „p“ are similar letters.
Eng. „to thank“ <–> „ďakovať“ (to thank).
German „dolmetschen“ <–> „tlmočiť“ (to interpret to another language). „d“ and „t“ are similar letters.
Eng. „to tug“ <–> „tahať“ (to tug), in old Slavic „tagať“. „g“ changed to „h“ in modern Slovak.
Eng. „a passion“ <–> „vášeň“ (a passion). „p“ and „v“ are similar letters.
Eng. „caught“ <–> „chytiť“ (to catch).
Eng. „a will“ <–> „vôľa“ (a will).
Eng. „to fry“ <–> „pražiť“ (to fry). Here „p“ changed to „f“.
Eng. „a showel“ <–> „šabľa“ (a saber).
Eng. „foot“ <–> „päta“ (a heel), „f“ and „p“ are similar letters.
Eng. „hair“ <–> „hriva“ (horse or human mane), metathesis „-air-“ to „-ri-„.
Eng. „menses“ <–> „mesiac“ (a month, the Moon).
Eng. „to love“ <–> „ľubiť“ (to love), in German „lieben“ (to love), in Czech „líbit“ (to like). „b“ and „v“ are similar letters.
Eng. „smart“ <–> „smatriť“ (to look) in Russian.
Eng. „to bash“ , „to bang“ <–> „búšiť“ (to pound, to bash), „buch“ (a bang), „búchať“ (to bang). The „-an-“ in „bang“ is a nasal „a“.
Eng. „to lie“ , „to lay“ <–> „ležať“ (to lie – on something) , „klásť“ (to lay – something)
Eng. „step“ <–> „stúpiť“ (to step on), „stopa“ (a foot), derived words are „vstup“ (an entrance) where „v“ means „in“, „prístup“ (an access) where „pri“ means „at/by/near“, „nástup“ (a line up) where „na“ means „on“, „zástup“ (a queue or a crowd) where „za“ means „behind/after“, „postup“ (a procedure) where „po“ means „along“, „odstup“ (a set back) where „od“ means „from“, „výstup“ (getting out of, a climb) where „vý“ means „out of/off“.
Eng. „pale“ <–> „biely“ (white). „p“ is just an unaccented version of „b“.
Eng. „to mean“ <–> „mieniť“ pronounced as mieňiť, because the „i“ is softening the „n“ before it (to mean, to think), „mienka“ (an opinion).
Eng. „to use“ <–> „užívať“ (to use) pronounced as uzh-ee-vat-y. Similarly Eng. usery <–> úžera.
Eng. „a crust“ <–> „chrasta“ (a crust) pronounced as khrasta. Here are similar letter „k“ <–> „kh“.
Animals:
Eng. „a cow“ <–> „hovedo“ (a cow), in the old Slavic „govedo“. „Krava“ (a cow), „chovať“ (to keep, to breed).
Eng. „an ewe“ or „a sheep“ <–> „ovca“ (an ewe, a sheep).
Eng. „a sheep“ , „a swine“ <–> „ošípaná“ (a pig), but usually a sheep is called „prasa“ or „sviňa“ (a swine). It is interesting that „ošípaná“ resembles a „sheep“ even though in Slovak it means „a pig„.
Eng. „a bug“ <–> „voš“ (a louse), „b“ and „v“ are similar letters, „š“ is softened „g“.
Eng. „a wolf“ <–> „vlk“ (a wolf).
Eng. „a goose“ <–> „hus“ (a goose), old Slavic „gus„. „g“ eventually changed to „h“ in Slovak.
Eng. „a mouse“ = „myš“ (a mouse).
Eng. „a cat“ <–> Russian „kot“ (a cat), Czech „kočka“ (a cat), in Slovak it is „mačka„.
Eng. „a cock“ <–> „kokot“ (a dick, a penis – vulgar, a cock), „kokoška“ (a chicken in Bulgarian).
Eng. „a beaver“ <–> „bobor“ (a beaver).
Eng. „a rib“ <–> „rebro“ (a rib).
Eng. „a crop“ , „a grave“ <–> hrvoľ“ (a crop of a bird), „hrbol“ (a bump), „hrob“ (in old Slovak grob meaning a grave), „chrib“ (a hill) pronounced as khrib, „chrbtica“ (a spine) pronounced as khr@btitsa, „chrbát“ (a back) pronounced as khr@baat, „hríb“ (a mushroom). A mushroom has a bumpy hat too. Here we see the similarity of a crop and a grave. „k“ is similar to „g“, „p“ is similar to „v“, see above.
Farming
Eng. „a grain“ <–> „zrno“ , „g“ was palatalized „z“. It is very surprising that such an old word is the same in both languages.
Eng. „a field“ <–> „pole“ (a field), Slavic „p“ changed to Germanic „f“.
Eng. „a turf“ (mačina, trávnik) <–> „tráva“ (a grass), „trs“ (a tuft of grass), „trávnik“ (a turf, a lawn).
Eng. „a nest“ <–> „hniezdo“ (a nest), niesť (to carry), „zniesť“ (to lay, for example to lay eggs), the Slovak „h“ which used to be „g“ in the past is missing in English, „s“ and „z“ are similar letters, „t“ and „d“ are similar letters too.
Eng. „a butcher“, „a pasture“ <–> „bača“ (a shepherd), „pastier“ (a shepherd), the similarity of the word „bača“ with the English „butcher“ is maybe a coincidence.
Eng. garden <–> záhrada (a garden), originally „zagrada“ but „g“ changed to „h“ overtime in Slovak. Zagrada literally means „za-grada“, „za“ = behind, „grada“ = fence.
Eng. „an apple“ <–> „jablko“ (pronounced as yabl@ko, where @ is a shwa), we see simlar consonants „p“ <–> „b“.
Eng. „beech“ <–> „buk“ (a beech), „bučina“ (a beech forest), the Slavic „k“ was palatized to „č“ in English. This palatalization happens regularly in the Slavic languages, „k“ –> „č“.
Eng. „to knead“ <–> „hnietiť“ (to knead), in old Slovak it was „gnietiť“ but „g“ changed to „h“, it is interesting that Slovaks actually kind of pronounce the „k“ in English „to knead“. „knedľa“ (dumpling), „knedľa“ comes from German „Knedeln“.
Eng. „to piss“ <–> „pišať“ (to piss). The ending -ať generates the infinitive, which in English is generated by the preposition „to“ like in „to piss“.
Eng. „a heart“, „cardio“ <–> „srdce“ (a heart), also related to English „cardio“. Again, the sound „k“ was softened to „s“ in Slavic.
Eng. „to grab“ <–> „hrabať“ (to rake), in the old Slavic „grabať“ (to rake).
Eng. „a fart“ <–> „prd“ (a fart) pronounced as pr@d, here we have metathesis of „-ar-“ to „-r@-„.
Eng. „live“ <–> „živý“ (live), Italian „vivo„.
Eng. „is„, „eat“ <–> „je“ (is), „jest“ (to eat), „jedli“ (they ate), Russian „jesť“ (is), French „este“ (is).
Eng. „a folk“, „a flock“, „a bulk“ <–> „pluk“ (a regiment).
Eng. „a hook“ <–> „hák“ (a hook).
Eng. „a year“ <–> „jar“ (a spring season), the English/Germans counted years by the springs.
Eng. „mead“ (a fermented honey wine) <–> „med“ (honey), „medovina“ (a fermented honey wine) where „vina“ comes from „víno“ meaning „wine“ in English.
Building and Mining:
Eng. „to build„, „a building„, „a booth“ <–> „Budín“ (a town in Hungary that used to be Slovak, now it is called Budapest where „Buda“ is Hungarianized Slovak name „Budín“), „budýnok“ or „budova“ (a building), „budovať“ (to build), „búdka“ (a booth).
Eng. „shop“ <–> „šopa“ (a workshop, a storage house), when the Slovaks returned from USA back to the homeland, they brought this word from the American English into Slovak.
Eng. „a house“, „a kitchen“ <–> „chyža“ (a wooden house, it is an outdated noun), „h“ and „ch“ are similar letters, also „s“ and „ž“ are similar, „kuča“ in Serbian-Croatian means a room, in Slovak „kutica„. „kuchyňa“ (a kitchen).
Eng. „a door“ <–> „dvere“ (a door).
Eng. „fillings“, „to file“ <–> „piliny“ (filings), „piliť“ or „pilovať“ (to file either some wood or nails), „f“ and „p“ are similar letters, the Slavic languages didn’t have a letter „f“, the letter f developed in the Germanic languages first.
Eng. „a moss“ <–> „mach“ (a moss). Moss was used by the old Slavs as an insulation between logs of their wooden houses.
Eng. „light“ <–> „ľahký“ (light, as low weight), it is pronounced as lyakhkee.
Eng. „lead“ <–> „olovo“ (the metal called lead), „liať“ (to pour), usually a lead is poured „olovo sa leje“.
Eng. „a town“ <–> „týn“ (a town, a castle) in Czech, for example a town called „Týnište“, probably from Celtic. „Devín“ castle was called „Dowina“, which means a town, a castle.
Eng. „a sift“ <–> „sito“ (a sift).
Eng. „a valley“, „a wall“ <–> „válov“ (a trough for feeding pigs), „váľať sa“ (to wallow), „val“ (a rampart of a castle).
Eng. „a fort“ <–> „grad“ (a fort, a castle), „varad“ (a fort, a castle), „vradište“ (a fort), vor (a raft made from logs), „vorok“ (a fence) in Russian. „v“ and „f“ are similar letters.
Eng. „a close“, „a closure“, „a claustrum“ (in Latin a castle, in Slovak „hrad“) <–> „kľúč“ (a key).
Eng. „a door“ <–> „dvere“ (a door).
Eng. „gold“ <–> „zlato“ (a gold), „žold“ (a soldier’s pay), „g“ was palatized to „ž“, there was metathesis/swap of „-ol-“ to „-lo-„. In the most of the Slavic languages something called metathesis happened, that is a swap of the combination of „a consonant and a vowel“ to „a vowel and a consonant“.
Legal:
Eng. „true“ <–> „pravý“ (real, genuine), „pravdivý“ (true), „právo“ (a right, a law), „pravda“ (a truth), „vpravo“ (the right side) where „v“ means „in“. Here English „u“ must be read as „v“, same as in „two“ and Slovak „dva“. In „truth“, here „t“ <–> „p“ are similar letters and „th“ <–> „d“ are also similar letters.
Eng. „clever“ <–> „sláva“ (a glory), „slovo“ (a word), clever is someone who knows words. The „k“ sound was soften to Slavic „s“. The Byzantine empress Cleopatra’s name means „Glory“ to „Father“, „cleo-“ reflects the Slavic „sláva“ , „k“ corresponds to „s“.
Eng. „a leader“ <–> „vladár“ (a ruler).
Eng. „a king“ <–> „knieža“ (a duke, a king), „g“ was palatilised to „ž“. The origin comes from the Slavic word „kon“ meaning „the first“ or „the low“, same as the English word „the principle“ meaning „“
Eng. „a suit“ <–> „súd“ (a trial, a court, a sue), in the old Slavic it was „soNd“ with a nassal „o“. The similarity can be a coincidence as we have a word „sud“ in Slovak meaning a barrel. In the past, the trials were hold by putting the convicts in the barrels full of water and the one who endured under water the longest time with the help of God was innocent.
Eng. „tree“ <–> „drevo“ (a tree, a wood), „strom“ (a tree).
Eng. „book“ <–> „buk“ (a beech), „bukvica“ (a beech, a letter), „bukva“ (a letter in Russian).
Eng. „to meet“ <–> „mýto“ (a toll, like on a border you pay a toll), „mýtnica“ (a place where you pay a toll), probably derived from the English related word of „to meet“ as a place where people met the guards.
Eng. „a coin“ <–> „kuna“ (a Croatian currency meaning a marten), „kov“ (a metal).
Geography:
Eng. „a hill„, Germanic „Holm“ like in „Stockholm“ <–> „hýľ“ (a hill) is a very rare word, almost unknown, originally „gyľ“ in old Slavic, there is a hill called „gilitka“ sout-west of Hungarian town of Egger (in Slovak Jáger), in the past the Slovak territory. „chlm“ (a hill, a holm) pronounced as khl@m, „h“ and „ch“ are similar sounds.
Eng. „a sea“ <–> „jazero“ (a lake).
Eng. „a bog“ <–> „bažina“ (a bog, a mud, a swamp), here is a palatalization of „g“ –> „ž“ because the following „i“ softens the „g“ to „ž“, see the rule above.
Eng. „a bald“, „a plateau“, „flat“ <–> „plešina“ (a bald), „plošina“ (a plateau). „f“ and „p“ are similar letters.
Eng. „a cap“ <–> „čapica“ (a cap), „čiapka“ (a cap), „čepiec“ (a cap for a bride, a bonnet), „kapuca“ (a hood), „kapota“ (a car hood).
Eng. „a cape“ (výbežok, predhorie, poloostrov, mys) <–> kopec (a hill).
Eng. „a waste“ <–> „púšť“ (a waste land, a dessert), „pustatina“ (a waste land, a dessert). „w“ and „p“ are similar letters.
Eng. „water“ <–> „voda“ , almost identical in the American pronunciation of water.
Weather:
Eng. „a snow“ <–> „sneh“ (a snow), in German „Schnee„.
Eng. „sleet“ (dážď so snehom) <–> „slota“ (bad weather, rain).
Miscellaneous:
Eng. „a row“ <–> „riadok“ (a row).
Eng. „yes“ <–> „jest“ (it is).
Eng. „east“ <–> „vostok“ (east) in Russian.
Eng. „red“ <–> „rudý“ (red) in Czech, „ruda“ (ore, as metal rust is of red color), „hruda“ (a lump, for example of clay).
Eng. „enter“, „interior“ <–> „vnútro“ (inside, interior).
Eng. „flame“ <–> „plameň“ (flame), „f“ and „p“ are similar letters.
Eng. „both“ <–> „oba“, „obidvaja“ (both), metathesis „bo“ to „ob„.
Eng. „Tele“-vision = „diaľka“-vidieť, really the Latin „tele“ has the same root as the Slovak „diaľka“ (distance, farness). We see a change of t –> d.
Eng. „cold“ <–> „chlad“ (pronounced as khlad, meaning cold), metathesis of „ol“ to „la“. In German it is „kalt„.
Eng. „a point“ <–> „bod“ (a point), „b“ and „p“ are similar letters, also „t“ and „d“ are similar letters.
Eng. „not“ <–> „niet“ (it is not).
Eng. „to replenish“, „to refill“, „full“ <–> „doplniť“ (to replenish, to refill) where do means „to“/“re“ and „plniť“ means „to fill“, „plný“ (full) pronounced as pl@nee. Here we see similar letters „f“ <–> „p“. We have a metathesis here as well „-ul-“ to „-l@-„.
Eng. „hey“ <–> „hej“ (hey, yes)
Eng. „rather“ <–> „radšej“ (rather), „th“ and „d“ are similar letters.
Eng. „previous“ <–> „prv“ (earlier, before, firstly) pronounced as „pr@v„.
Eng. „to screw“ <–> „skrútiť“ (to screw).
Eng. „to prepare“ <–> „pripraviť“ (to prepare), metathesis of „-ar-“ to „-ra-„.
Eng. „bright-ness“ <–> „jas-nosť“ (brightness).
Eng. „still“ <–> „stále“ (still).
Eng. „to ring“ <–> „rinčať“ (to ring).
Eng. „sheer“ <–> „číry“ (sheer).
Eng. „a char“, „warm“, „glare“, „flare“, „glow“ <–> „žiar“ (a glow), „žiara“ (a glare, a flare).
Suddenly you know so many Slovak words without learning. So good luck with practising your Slovak.
Do you have any other similar words suggestions? Let me know in the comments below!