(one)) is formed using the suffixes -/ - / - The transgressive (=(while/by) ...ing) is formed using the suffixes - / - / -. (by hiding (perfective)) ((while/during) hiding) The active past participle (= ~ing (in the past)) was formerly formed using the suffix -, but is no longer used. The passive participle (= ~ed (one), the "third form") is formed using the suffixes - / - / -: The gerund (= the (process of) ...ing) is formed using the suffix -: Adverbs Adverbs are formed by replacing the adjectival ending with the ending - or - / -. Sometimes both - and - are possible. Examples include the following: (high) – (highly) (nice) – (nicely) (friendly) – (in a friendly manner) (fast) – (quickly) The comparative of adverbs is formed by replacing the adjectival ending with a comparative/superlative ending - or -, whence the superlative is formed with the prefix naj-. Examples include the following: (fast) – (faster) – (fastest): (quickly) – (more quickly) – (most quickly) Prepositions Each preposition is associated with one or more grammatical cases. The noun governed by a preposition must appear in the case required by the preposition in the given context (e.g. from friends = ). is the genitive case of . It must appear in this case because the preposition (= from) always calls for its objects to be in the genitive. around the square = (locative case) up to the square = (accusative case) has a different meaning depending on the case of its governed noun. History Relationships to other languages Slovak is a descendant of Proto-Slavic, itself a descendant of Proto-Indo-European. It is closely related to the other West Slavic languages, primarily to Czech and Polish. Czech also influenced the language in its later development. The highest number of borrowings in the old Slovak vocabulary come from Latin, German, Czech, Hungarian, Polish and Greek (in that order). Recently, it is also influenced by English. Czech Although most dialects of Czech and Slovak are mutually intelligible (see Comparison of Slovak and Czech), eastern Slovak dialects are less intelligible to speakers of Czech and closer to Polish and East Slavic, and contact between speakers of Czech and speakers of the eastern dialects is limited. Since the dissolution of Czechoslovakia it has been permitted to use Czech in TV broadcasting and during court proceedings (Administration Procedure Act 99/1963 Zb.). From 1999 to August