Soft pronunciation of de, te, ne, di, ti, ni
If the consonants d, t, or n are followed by the vowels e, i, or í, or the diphthongs ia, ie, or iu, they have a soft pronunciation (ď, ť, ň).
deti | /ďeťi/ |
teta | /ťeta/ |
pekne | /pekňe/ |
rodina | /roďina/ |
ticho | /ťicho/ |
nikto | /ňikto/ |
dívať sa | /ďívať sa/ |
dieťa | /ďi̯eťa/ |
peniaze | /peňi̯aze/ |
cvičenie | /cvičeňi̯e/ |
Exceptions: jeden [jeden] , ten [ten] , tamten [tamten] , sveter [sveter] , tip [tip] , politika [politika] , titul [titul] , foreign loanwords, etc.
In the descriptions of Slovak pronunciation, you read a rule regarding soft pronunciation for the consonant "l". However, in the modern day, the letter "l" in this position is usually pronounced hard.
ale | ... is pronounced /ale/, although the prescribed pronunciation is /aľe/ |
lebo | ... is pronounced /lebo/, although the prescribed pronunciation is /ľebo/ |
lipa | ... is pronounced /lipa/, although the prescribed pronunciation is /ľipa/ |