Types of accents

Most of the time you will encounter two types of accents in Slovak ‒ mäkčeň (the “softener”, caron) and dĺžeň (the “lengthener”, acute mark).
The other two accent marks are dvojbodka (umlaut) and vokáň (“uo”-er, circumflex)
The type of accent determines the pronunciation of letters and letter combinations.

1. longitude accent (dĺžeň)

All vowels (á, é, í, ó ,ú and ý) and the consonants ŕ and ĺ that are provided with such a longitude sign are pronounced long.

💬 Practise with these examples.

áno [aːnɔ] ‒ yes
nový [ˈnɔviː] ‒ new

2. caron (mäkčeň)
Letters marked with a caron or haček (a diacritic mark) on top, are pronounced softly.
This mark shows the reader that a hard sound merges with a "j" (comparable to the "gn" in cognac) and is thereby softend.
This softening occurs in the letters d, l and t (Ď, ď, Ľ, ľ and Ť, ť).
The letters c, dz, n, s and z (Č, č, Ďz, ďz, Ň, ň, Š, š and Ž, ž), which are given the soft sign, are pronounced as sibilants.
Before e and u, the letters d, n, l and t are pronounced with a j after the relevant consonant.

Large and lower case in Slovak

💡Basically, in Slovak all words are written in lowercase.
Only at the beginning of a sentence, with nouns, abbreviations and in correspondence do you use capital letters.
💬 Read out this dialogue aloud and insert your first name.

😀 Dobrý deň, som Miroslav. Ako sa voláte?
Good day, I'm Miroslav. What's your name?

😁 Dobrý deň, Miroslav. Volám sa Eva. Teší ma.
Good day, Miroslav. I'm Eva. Nice to meet you.

😀 Rovnako ma teší, Eva. Odkiaľ pochádzate?
Likewise, Eva. Where are you from?

😁 Som z Bratislavy. A vy?
I'm from Bratislava. And you?

😀 Ja tiež, z Bratislavy. Pracujem ako učiteľ.
I'm from Bratislava too. I work as a teacher.

➠ The article in Slovak