From 1829 to 1836, Ľudovít Štúr studied at the prestigious Lutheran Lýceum (preparatory high school and college) in Pressburg (modern-day Bratislava) and became a member of the Czech-Slav Society, which stimulated his interest in all Slav nations.

From January to September 1834, he temporarily interrupted his studies due to a lack of finances, and returned to Uhrovec, where he worked as a scribe for Count Károly Zay.

Also that year, he was co-editor of the Plody ("Fruits") almanac, a compilation of the best works of the members of the Czech-Slav Society, including poems of Štúr's.

[2] On 24 April 1836, a trip to Devín Castle (Dévény, now part of Bratislava) by the members of the Slovak national movement took place, led by Štúr as the vice-president of the Czech-Slav Society.

The beginning of his group's extensive efforts on behalf of national awareness are linked to this visit to the ruins of Devín Castle, woven together with legends and reminders of Great Moravia.

The members of the Czech-Slav Society swore here to be true to the national cause, deciding to travel around Upper Hungary to drum up support for their ideas.

In that year, he continued to write articles for newspapers and journals, including Tatranka, Hronka, Květy (Czech), Časopis českého musea, Danica (Croatian) and Tygodnik literacki (Polish).

On 16 August 1841, Štúr and his friends ascended Kriváň (a symbolic mountain in Slovak culture), an event that is now commemorated by annual excursions to its summit.

In 1842, he initiated the first Slovenský prestolný prosbopis, a Slovak petition to the Royal Court in Vienna requiring the government to stop national persecutions by the Hungarians in Upper Hungary.

In July 1843, his defense, Die Beschwerden und Klagen der Slaven in Ungarn über die gesetzwidrigen Übergriffe der Magyaren ("The complaints and grievances of the Slavs in Hungary about the illegal malfeasances of the Hungarians"), which editorial offices throughout 19th century Hungary had refused to publish, was published in Leipzig, Germany.

On 17 July 1843, they visited Ján Hollý, an important writer and representative of the older Bernolák Slovak language standard, in Dobrá Voda and informed him about their plans.

One of the supporting students was Janko Matuška, who took the opportunity to write a hymn, "Nad Tatrou sa blýska", which later became the official anthem of the Slovak Republic.

Also that year, his brochure Das neunzehnte Jahrhundert und der Magyarismus ("The 19th century and Magyarism"), written in German, was published in Vienna.

In 1846, Štúr got to know the well-situated noble family Ostrolúcky in Zemianske Podhradie (Nemesváralja), who later helped him to become a deputy in the Diet of Hungary in Pressburg.

In addition, his books Nárečja Slovenskuo alebo potreba písaňja v tomto nárečí (1844) and Nauka reči Slovenskej ("The Theory of the Slovak language") were published in Pressburg.

In Nárečia Slovenskuo, he rebutted Kollár's concept of only four Slavic tribes (Russians, Poles, Czechoslovaks and Southern Slavs), and listed reasons for the introduction of the new language, which was based on central Slovak dialects and used phonetic spelling.

In August 1847, at the 4th convention of the Tatrín association in Čachtice, Catholics and Protestants proclaimed that they "definitively agree to use only the newly codified Štúr language standard".

From 17 November 1847 to 13 March 1848, he gave five important speeches at the Diet, in which he demanded the abolition of serfdom in Hungary, the introduction of civil rights, and the use of the Slovak language in elementary schools.

On 30 April 1848, he initiated the establishment of "Slovanská lipa" (Slavic linden tree) in Prague – an association aimed at promoting the mutual cooperation of Slavs.

On 19 June 1848, he went to Zagreb, Croatia, because the Slavic Congress was interrupted by fighting in Prague, and became an editor of the Croatian magazine Slavenski Jug.

On 20 March 1849, he led a delegation to meet with the Austrian king in the Czech town of Olomouc and presented the demands of the Slovak nation.

From March until June, Štúr – along with Hurban, Hodža, Bórik, Chalúpka, and others – negotiated in Vienna for a solution to the Slovak demands.

But on 21 November 1849, the Slovak volunteer corps was officially demobilized in Pressburg, and the disappointed Štúr retreated to his parents' home in Uhrovec.

The reforms, involving mainly a transition from the phonetic spelling to an etymological one, were later introduced by M. M. Hodža and Martin Hattala in 1851–1852, but Štúr, among others, also participated in the preparations.

In Modra in 1852, Štúr finished his essay O národních písních a pověstech plemen slovanských ("On national songs and myths of Slavic kin"), written in Czech and published in Bohemia the next year.

The asteroid 3393 Štúr, about 9.6 km in diameter and discovered on 28 November by Milan Antal at the Hungarian observatory at Piszkéstető, is named after him.