Colon
Syntactical Use
A colon (:) is a left-leaning punctuation mark. It is used in various ways as described below.
1. to introduce direct speech after an accompanying sentence
- Zadregetala je od same jeze: "Kaj? Tako drago?" (She shivered with pure anger: "What? So expensive?")
- Kot v zboru so dejali: Seveda. (As though in a choir they said: Naturally.)
- Kot v zboru so dejali: "Seveda."
- Estragon: Pejva. (Estragon: Let's go.) (from Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot (Čakajoč Godota))
2. in enumeration, expatiation or explanation
- So stvari, o katerih ne vem popolnoma nič: fiziologija, oftalmologíja, socialna antropologija. (There are things I know absolutely nothing about: physiology, ophthalmology, social anthropology.)
- Potrebuje se: moka, mleko, med in sojina omaka. (Needed are: flour, milk, honey and soya sauce.) – this may also be written as "Potrebuje se moka, mleko, med in sojina omaka."
- Zahvaliti se želim še posebej: (I wish to thank especially:)
- Jožetu,
- Pulheriji,
- Cvetki,
- Cirilu.
- Sodelujemo vsi: to vključuje tudi tebe, Metka. (Everyone participates: this includes you, Metka.)
- To je lepo: neizmerna umetnina. (This is beautiful: an unmeasurable piece of art.) – this may also be written as "To je lepo, in pri tem neizmerna umetnina." (This is beautiful, and an unmeasurable piece of art at that.) or similarly
- Rekel sem: ne rekel, vzkliknil! (I said: not said, exclaimed!) – this may also be written as "Rekel sem – ne rekel, vzkliknil!" or "Rekel sem, ne rekel, vzkliknil!"
- V najbolj preprosti obliki ti povem, ker vem, da ne razumeš dobro: spelji se mi izpred oči. (I tell you in the simplest form, for I know you do not understand well: get out of my sight.)
3. optionally after form data
- Ime in priimek: (Name and surname:)
- Datum: (Date:)
When a colon is encountered in reading, the pitch is semi-cadent, thus decreased.
Non-Syntactical Use
1. for the meaning 'proti' (to, against) (usually non-leaning):
- Rezultat je bil 1 : 2 . (The result was 1 : 2.)
- Množini ogljika in klorove (VII) kisline sta v razmerju 1 : 1 . (The amounts of carbon and chloric (VII) acid are in the ratio 1 : 1.)
2. for the meaning 'deljeno' (divided):
- 15 : 3 = 5 (petnajst deljeno s tri je pet) (fifteen divided by three is five)
Read more about this topic: Slovene Punctuation