Slovak Matters: A guide to the Spiš dialect

You may have learned Slovak, but it may not help you much when trying to understand its dialects.

Spiš Castle.Spiš Castle. (Source: Pierre Bona/Wikipedia)

The Slovak language has hundreds of dialects, so many that Ján Sabol, head of the Slovak Language Department at Prešov University, won't wager a guess as to an approximate number.

"There is modern Slovak, plus all the old dialects, so many differences..." he says, his voice trailing off.

SkryťTurn off ads
Article continues after video advertisement
SkryťTurn off ads
Article continues after video advertisement

Centuries of contact with Hungarians, Germans, Czechs, Poles, Russians, Rusyns and others left their mark on the way Slovaks speak. And the remoteness of many of the country's regions, cities and villages created closed pockets where countless dialects formed and developed. Even today, more than 150 years after Slovak was codified, wide variations in vocabulary and expressions linger.

SkryťTurn off ads

One of Slovakia's strange tongues is the Spiš dialect, which I recently discovered after moving to Spišská Nová Ves (population 40,000). The Spiš region lies to the east and south of the High Tatras mountain range and includes the cities (from north to south) Stará Ľubovňa, Kežmarok, Poprad, Levoča, Spišská Nová Ves and Gelnica.

If you have been out east, be sure not to confuse the Spiš dialect with the Šariš dialect to the east, or the Rusyn language further east, or the Zemplínsky dialect spoken in Humenné, or the... you see how complicated it can be.

The Spiš dialect is subtle in urban areas. Take the verb 'to go' (standard Slovak: ísť). When conjugating the verb in the Spiš dialect, a 'Z' follows the 'D'. Idem (I go) is instead idzem. The 'train goes' (vlak ide) is vlak idze.

The rest of this article is premium content at Spectator.sk
Subscribe now for full access

I already have subscription - Sign in

Subscription provides you with:
  • Immediate access to all locked articles (premium content) on Spectator.sk
  • Special weekly news summary + an audio recording with a weekly news summary to listen to at your convenience (received on a weekly basis directly to your e-mail)
  • PDF version of the latest issue of our newspaper, The Slovak Spectator, emailed directly to you
  • Access to all premium content on Sme.sk and Korzar.sk

Top stories

Slovakia marks 20 years since joining NATO.

Slovakia marks 20 years in the Alliance.


Daniel Hoťka and 1 more
Píšem or pišám?

"Do ľava," (to the left) I yelled, "Nie, do prava" (no, to the right), I gasped. "Dolšie," I screamed. "Nie, nie, horšie..." My Slovak girlfriend collapsed in laughter. Was it something I said?


Matthew J. Reynolds
Czech biochemist Jan Konvalinka.

Jan Konvalinka was expecting a pandemic before Covid-19 came along.


SkryťClose ad