Slovak developed as a national language in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, prompted by a rise in the Slovak people's awareness of their national identity and the accompanying need for education and literacy. The Slovak language has gained the soft dental consonants t', d', l' , and , but it lacks a soft r existing also in Polish . Compared with Czech, Slovak word structure has been simplified. Stress falls on the first syllable of a word. The vocative case has been virtually lost.
Many verbs have an iterative form, which expresses repeated action.
Slovak has a complex numeral system and a well-developed system of indefinite pronouns and adverbs.