There are twenty consonants in Slovene. They can be voiced or unvoiced. They are pronounced as they are spelled (refer to the alphabet).
b
the 'b' in "best"
The voiced consonants are: b, d, g, j, l, m, n, r, v, z, ž. The unvoiced consonants are: c, č, f, h, k, p, s, š, t.
Look carefully at the letters č, š, and ž. They are typical for Slovene and some other Central and South European languages. Also note how you pronounce j and h in Slovene.
Certain letters will at times be grouped with certain other letters and have a slightly different pronunciation. The same happens when they occupy a certain position in the word. For example:
When l is at the end of a word or placed after any other consonant than j it is pronounced as w as in bel (BEW, "white"), popoldan (POPOWDAN, "afternoon").
"V" is pronounced as v before vowels (vaja "exercise", voda "water"), before the consonants r (vrt "garden", vreme "weather") and before vowels within a word (živeti "to live", zvezek "notebook"). When v is at the end of the word, after a vowel or before a consonant (except for r and l) it is pronounced as w, as in prav ("OK"), kovček ("suitcase"). When v is at the beginning of the word or when it appears between consonants or before two or more consonants it is pronounced as u as in vprašati ("to ask"), vhod ("entrance"). The Slovene r is pronounced strongly, slightly rolled. It is pronounced as er when it stands before another consonant or when it stands between two consonants.
In a few words where they appear, two identical vowels or consonants are pronounced as one long one, as in priimek ("surname"), oddelek ("department").