Bulgarian grammar

Bulgarian grammar is the grammar of the Bulgarian language. Bulgarian is a South Slavic language that evolved from Old Church Slavonic—the written norm for the Slavic languages in the Middle Ages which derived from Proto-Slavic.
Bulgarian is also a part of the Balkan sprachbund, which also includes Greek, Macedonian, Romanian, Albanian and the Torlakian dialect of Serbian. It shares with them several grammatical innovations that set it apart from most other Slavic languages, even other South Slavic languages. Among these are a sharp reduction in noun inflections—Bulgarian has lost the noun cases but has developed a definite article, which is suffixed at the end of words. In its verbal system, Bulgarian is set apart from most Slavic languages by the loss of the infinitive, the preservation of most of the complexities of the older conjugation system and the development of a complex evidential system to distinguish between witnessed and several kinds of non-witnessed information.

Nouns

Bulgarian nouns have the categories grammatical gender, number , definiteness and vocative form.

Gender

A noun has one of three specific grammatical genders.

Number

A noun has two numbers, plus a numerical plural form. The plural is formed by adding to or replacing the singular ending, most commonly in the following ways:

	sing.	plur.
masc.	-conson.	+и +ове
fem.	-а / -я	-и
neut.	-о -е	-а +та

With cardinal numbers and some adverbs, masculine nouns use a separate numerical plural form бройна множествена форма . It is a vestige of the grammatical dual number, which disappeared from the language in the Middle Ages. The numerical form is used in the masculine whenever there is a precise amount of something, regardless of the actual number, e.g. –стол → много столове → два стола' / десет стол'а.

Definiteness

Definiteness is expressed by a definite article which is postfixed to the noun:
The definite article comes after plural ending:

Vocative form

Vocative form is used for a noun that identifies a person being addressed.

for family members – e.g. майка → майко
for masculine names – e.g. Петър → Петре
in social descriptors – e.g. приятел → приятелю, учител → учителю

From the first decades of the 20th century, there is a tendency to avoid vocative forms. This is true for many personal names, as the use of feminine name forms in -o and of the potential vocative forms of foreign names has come to be considered rude or rustic. Thus, Любомире means 'hey, Lyubomir', while the corresponding feminine forms Елено, Маргарито are today seen as rude or unceremonious, and declining foreign names as in *Джоне or *Саймъне is considered humorous.
The tendency to avoid vocative forms for foreign names does not apply to names from Classical Antiquity, with the source languages having the vocative case as well: cf. Цезаре', Перикле, Зевсе, etc.
Vocative is still in full and regular use for general nouns such as господине, госпожице, госпожо, бабо, майко, сине.

Remnants of grammatical cases

Old Bulgarian had an extensive system of declension which included seven grammatical cases: nominative, accusative, dative, genitive, locative, instrumental and vocative; of these, only what used to be nominative and vocative cases survive in modern Bulgarian. Though Bulgarian has lost its old declensional system, pronouns still have grammatical case; also, some nouns in indirect cases became fossilized and were reanalyzed as other parts of speech.

Remnants of grammatical cases in pronouns

Personal pronouns still have different subject, direct object and indirect object forms.
The set of pronouns in italic is obsolete and is nowadays substituted by на + long direct object pronouns: на мен/на мене, на теб/на тебе, на него, на нея, на него, на нас, на вас, на тях.
Interrogative, indefinite, negative, relative and universal pronouns have different subject and object forms, but only if some conditions are met:

they are different only for masculine singular pronouns;
only if pronoun refers to a male human being: e.g. човекът, с когото говоря 'the man that I'm talking to'; note that когото can be replaced with който in spoken language; but e.g. столът, на който седя 'the chair that I'm sitting on'.
only if the pronoun is used alone, not attributively.

Otherwise, the subject and object pronouns are the same. The complete declension is summed up in the table below:
*These sets of pronouns are falling out of use, especially in spoken language. Instead of object forms, the subject ones tend to be used in more instances, e.g. на кой is used instead of на кого and кой instead of кого and so on.
Single-word indirect object pronouns are obsolete.

Definite article

The grammarians who standardised the Bulgarian literary language introduced the subject definite article -ът/-ят and the object definite article -a/-я. Both of these forms existed in Bulgarian dialects of the time, but they were regional rather than grammatical variants. Their redistribution to express case distinctions was entirely artificial. The subject definite article is used with definite masculine singular nouns which are the subject of a sentence, otherwise the object definite article is used.
e.g. стол → столът → под стола.

Formerly inflected nouns as other parts of speech

Remnants of the accusative case

Adverbs: сутрин, вечер, зимъс, днес, нощес, есенес, пролетес, лятос, ''вред.''

Remnants of the dative case

Adverbs and prepositions:
:
masc
на него/му, ! никому
fem
на нея/ѝ; ѝ not to be confused with й
neu
на него/му

Remnants of the genitive case

Adverbs: снощи, отстрани, довечера, отръки, ''допъти.''

Remnants of the instrumental case

Adverbs and prepositions: нощем ; сбогом ; бегом, посредством, пешком, пълзешком, силом, денем, кръгом, гърбом, редом, тихом, мигом, ''ребром, цифром, числом, словом.''

Remnants of the locative case

Adverbs and prepositions: горе, отгоре, долу, отдолу, зиме, лете, утре, вкратце, есени, пролети, върху, ''срещу, между.''

Adjectives

A Bulgarian adjective agrees in gender, number and definiteness with the noun it is appended to and is usually put before it. The comparative and the superlative form are formed with the prefixes по- and най- respectively.

Pronouns

Nicolova distinguishes the following types of Bulgarian pronouns:

personal;
reflexive;
possessive;
reflexive possessive;
demonstrative;
universal;
interrogative;
relative;
negative;
indefinite.

Word order

Although Bulgarian has almost no noun cases its word order is rather free. It is even freer than the word order of some languages that have cases, for example German. This is due to the agreement between the subject and the verb of a sentence. So in Bulgarian the sentence "I saw Lyubomir" can be expressed thus:
Видях Любомир.
saw-1pSg Lyubomir
Любомир видях.
Lyubomir saw-1pSg
It is clear that the subject is "аз", because the verb "видях" is in the first person singular.
Other examples – Lyubomir greeted the girls:
Любомир поздрави момичетата.
Lyubomir greeted-3pSg girls-the.
Момичетата поздрави Любомир.
Girls-the greeted-3pSg Lyubomir.
Любомир момичетата поздрави.
Lyubomir girls-the greeted-3pSg.
Момичетата Любомир поздрави.
Girls-the Lyubomir greeted-3pSg.
Поздрави Любомир момичетата.
Greeted-3pSg Lyubomir girls-the.
Поздрави момичетата Любомир.
Greeted-3pSg girls-the Lyubomir.
Theoretically all permutations are possible but the last one sounds rather odd.
The girls greeted Lyubomir:
Момичетата поздравиха Любомир.
Girls-the greeted-3pPl Lyubomir.
Любомир поздравиха момичетата.
Lyubomir greeted-3pPl girls-the.
Момичетата Любомир поздравиха.
Girls-the Lyubomir greeted-3pPl.
Любомир момичетата поздравиха.
Lyubomir girls-the greeted-3pPl.
Поздравиха момичетата Любомир.
Greeted-3pPl girls-the Lyubomir.
Поздравиха Любомир момичетата.
Greeted-3pPl Lyubomir girls-the.
The clitic doubling is obligatory only when the subject and the object are both in third person, and they are either both singular or both plural, but when the meaning is clear from the context it can be omitted. Examples:
Любомир го поздрави Мария.
Lyubomir him greeted-3pSg Maria.
Maria greeted Lyubomir.
Мария я поздрави Любомир.
Maria her greeted-3pSg Lyubomir.
Lyubomir greeted Maria.
but
Ролите озвучиха артистите...
Roles-the sound-screened-3pPl artists-the...
The artists... sound-screened the roles.
In the compound tenses, when a participle is used, and when the subject and the object are of different gender or number, the clitic doubling can also be left out. So the first two of the above examples can be expressed in a compound tense thus:
Любомир е поздравила Мария.
Lyubomir has greeted-3pSgFem Maria.
Maria has greeted Lyubomir.
Мария е поздравил Любомир.
Maria has greeted-3pSgMasc Lyubomir.
Lyubomir has greeted Maria.
The above two examples sound a bit odd without the doubling, unless it is a case of topicalization and special stress is put on the first word.

Syntax

Bulgarian employs clitic doubling, mostly for emphatic purposes. For example, the following constructions are common in colloquial Bulgarian:
The phenomenon is practically obligatory in the spoken language in the case of inversion signalling information structure :
Sometimes, the doubling signals syntactic relations, thus:
This is contrasted with:
In this case, clitic doubling can be a colloquial alternative of the more formal or bookish passive voice, which would be constructed as follows:
Clitic doubling is also fully obligatory, both in the spoken and in the written norm, in clauses including several special expressions that use the short accusative and dative pronouns such as "играе ми се", студено ми е, and боли ме ръката :
Except the above examples, clitic doubling is considered inappropriate in a formal context.

Other features

Questions

Questions in Bulgarian which do not use a question word are formed with the particle ли after the verb; a subject is not necessary, as the verbal conjugation suggests who is performing the action:

Идваш – 'you are coming'; Идваш ли? – 'are you coming?'

While the particle ли generally goes after the verb, it can go after a noun or adjective if a contrast is needed:

Идваш ли с нас? – 'are you coming with us?';
С нас ли идваш? – 'are you coming with us'?

A verb is not always necessary, e.g. when presenting a choice:

Той ли? – 'him?'; Жълтият ли? – 'the yellow one?'

Rhetorical questions can be formed by adding ли to a question word, thus forming a "double interrogative" –

Кой? – 'Who?'; Кой ли?! – 'I wonder who'

The same construction +не is an emphasized positive –

Кой беше там? – 'Who was there?' – Кой ли не! – 'Nearly everyone!'

Significant verbs

Съм

The verb съм – 'to be' is also used as an auxiliary for forming the perfect, the passive and the conditional:

past tense – – 'I have hit'
passive – – 'I am hit'
past passive – – 'I was hit'
conditional – – 'I would hit'

Two alternate forms of съм exist:

бъда – interchangeable with съм in most tenses and moods, but never in the present indicative – e.g., ; in the imperative, only бъда is used – ;
бивам – slightly archaic, imperfective form of бъда – e.g. Биваше заплашен. ; in contemporary usage, it is mostly used in the negative to mean "ought not", e.g. Не бива да пушиш. .
Ще

The impersonal verb ще is used to form the future tense:

отивам – 'I am going'
ще отивам – 'I will be going'

The negative future is formed with the invariable construction няма да :

няма да отивам – 'I will not be going'

The past tense of this verb – щях is conjugated to form the past conditional :

щях да отида – 'I would have gone;' щеше да отидеш 'you would have gone'
Имам and нямам

The verbs имам and нямам :

the third person singular of these two can be used impersonally to mean 'there is/there are' or 'there isn't/aren't any,' e.g.
*Има време. ;
*Няма никого. .
The impersonal form няма is used in the negative future –.
*няма used on its own can mean simply 'I won't' – a simple refusal to a suggestion or instruction.

Conjunctions and particles

But

In Bulgarian, there are several conjunctions all translating into English as "but", which are all used in distinct situations. They are но, ама, а, ами, and ала .
While there is some overlapping between their uses, in many cases they are specific. For example, is used for a choice – Не това, ами това. – "not this one, but that one", while ама is often used to provide extra information or an opinion – Казах го, ама сгреших. – "I said it, but I was wrong". Meanwhile, а provides contrast between two situations, and in some sentences can even be translated as "although", "while" or even "and" – Аз работя, а той блее. – "I'm working, and he's daydreaming".
Very often, different words can be used to alter the emphasis of a sentence – e.g. while and both mean "I smoke, but I shouldn't", the first sounds more like a statement of fact, while the second feels more like a judgement. Similarly, and both mean "I don't want to, but he does", however the first emphasizes the fact that he wants to, while the second emphasizes the wanting rather than the person.
is interesting in that, while it feels archaic, it is often used in poetry and frequently in children's stories, since it has quite a moral/ominous feel to it.
Some common expressions use these words, and some can be used alone as interjections:

– means "you're wrong to think so".
can be tagged onto a sentence to express surprise: – "he's sleeping!"
ами! – "you don't say!", "really!"
Vocative particles

Bulgarian has several abstract particles which are used to strengthen a statement. These have no precise translation in English. The particles are strictly informal and can even be considered rude by some people and in some situations. They are mostly used at the end of questions or instructions.

бе – the most common particle. It can be used to strengthen a statement or, sometimes, to indicate derision of an opinion, aided by the tone of voice.
* – tell me ; – is that so? ; – you don't say!.
де – originally simply the feminine counterpart of, but today perceived as rude and derisive.
бре, мари – similar to and, but archaic. Although informal, can sometimes be heard being used by older people.
Modal particles

These are "tagged" on to the beginning or end of a sentence to express the mood of the speaker in relation to the situation. They are mostly interrogative or slightly imperative in nature. There is no change in the grammatical mood when these are used.

нали – is a universal affirmative tag, like "isn't it"/"won't you", etc.. It can be placed almost anywhere in the sentence, and does not always require a verb:
* – you are coming, aren't you?; – didn't they want to?; – that one, right?;
*it can express quite complex thoughts through simple constructions – – "I thought you weren't going to!" or "I thought there weren't any!".
дали – expresses uncertainty – e.g. – "do you think he will come?"
нима – presents disbelief ~"don't tell me that..." – e.g. – "don't tell me you want to!". It is slightly archaic, but still in use. Can be used on its own as an interjection –
дано – expresses hope – – "he will come"; – "I hope he comes". Grammatically, is entirely separate from the verb – "to hope".
нека – means "let" – e.g. – "let him come"; when used in the first person, it expresses extreme politeness: – "let us go".
*neka, as an interjection, can also be used to express judgement or even schadenfreude – – "he deserves it!".
Intentional particles

These express intent or desire, perhaps even pleading. They can be seen as a sort of cohortative side to the language. They are also highly informal.

хайде – "come on", "let's"
*e.g. – "faster!"
я – "let me" – exclusively when asking someone else for something. It can even be used on its own as a request or instruction, indicating that the speaker wants to partake in or try whatever the listener is doing.
* – let me see; or – "let me.../give me..."
недей – can be used to issue a negative instruction – e.g. – "don't come". In some dialects, the construction is used instead. As an interjection – – "don't!".

These particles can be combined with the vocative particles for greater effect, e.g., or even exclusively in combinations with them, with no other elements, e.g. ; .

Pronouns of quality

Bulgarian has several pronouns of quality which have no direct parallels in English – kakav ; takuv ; onakuv ; nyakakav ; nikakav ; vsyakakav ; and the relative pronoun kakavto. The adjective ednakuv derives from the same radical.
Example phrases include:

kakav chovek?! – "what person?!"; kakav chovek e toy? – what sort of person is he?
ne poznavam takuv – "I don't know any "
nyakakvi hora – lit. "some type of people", but the understood meaning is "a bunch of people I don't know"
vsyakakvi hora – "all sorts of people"
kakav iskash? – "which type do you want?"; nikakav! – "I don't want any!"/"none!"

An interesting phenomenon is that these can be strung along one after another in quite long constructions, e.g.

word	literal meaning	sentence	meaning of sentence as a whole
–	–	edna kola	a car
takava	this sort of	edna takava kola...	this car
nikakva	no sort of	edna takava nikakva kola	this worthless car
nyakakva	some sort of	edna takava nyakakva nikakva kola	this sort of worthless car

An extreme, albeit colloquial, example with almost no intrinsic lexical meaning – yet which is meaningful to the Bulgarian ear – would be:

"kakva e taya takava edna nyakakva nikakva?!"
inferred translation – "what kind of no-good person is she?"
literal translation: "what kind of – is – this one here – this sort of – one – some sort of – no sort of"

—Note: the subject of the sentence is simply the pronoun "taya".
Another interesting phenomenon that is observed in colloquial speech is the use of takova not only as a substitute for an adjective, but also as a substitute for a verb. In that case the base form takova is used as the third person singular in the present indicative and all other forms are formed by analogy to other verbs in the language. Sometimes the "verb" may even acquire a derivational prefix that changes its meaning. Examples:takovah ti shapkata – I did something to your hat takovah si ochilata – I did something to my glasses takovah se – I did something to myself
Another use of takova in colloquial speech is the word takovata, which can be used as a substitution for a noun, but also, if the speaker doesn't remember or is not sure how to say something, they might say takovata and then pause to think about it:i posle toy takovata... – and then he ... izyadoh ti takovata – I ate something of yours. Here the word takovata is used as a substitution for a noun.

Miscellaneous

The commonly cited phenomenon of Bulgarian people shaking their head for "yes" and nodding for "no" is true, but it is important to note that the shaking and nodding are not identical to the Western gestures. The "nod" for no is actually an upward movement of the head rather than a downward one, while the shaking of the head for yes is not completely horizontal, but also has a slight "wavy" aspect to it. This makes the Bulgarian gestures for yes and no compatible with the Western ones, and allows one to use either system unambiguously.
*A dental click also means "no", as does ъ-ъ . The two are often said with the upward 'nod'.
*The head-shaking gesture used to signify "no" in Western Europe may also be used interrogatively, with the meaning of "what is it?" or "what's wrong?".
Bulgarian has an extensive vocabulary covering family relationships. The biggest range of words is for uncles and aunts, e.g. chicho, vuicho, svako ; an even larger number of synonyms for these three exists in the various dialects of Bulgarian, including kaleko, lelincho, tetin, etc. The words do not only refer to the closest members of the family, but extend to its furthest reaches, e.g. badzhanak from Turkish bacanak and etarva. For all in-laws, there are specific names, e.g. a woman's husband's brother is her dever and her husband's sister is her zalva. In the traditional rural extended family before 1900, there existed separate subcategories for different brothers-in-law/sisters-in-law of a woman with regard to their age relative to hers, e.g. instead of simply a dever there could be a braino, a draginko, or an ubavenkyo.
As with many Slavic languages, the double negative in Bulgarian is grammatically correct, while some forms of it, when used instead of a single negative form, are grammatically incorrect. The following are literal translations of grammatically correct Bulgarian sentences that utilize a double or multiple negation: "Никой никъде никога нищо не е направил." – "Nobody never nowhere nothing did not do." ; "Никога не съм бил там." – I never did not go there ; Никога никакви чувства не съм имал! – I never no feelings had not have! . The same applies for Macedonian.

Numerals

In Bulgarian, the numerals 1 and 2 are inflected for gender.
Furthermore, cardinal numerals take special endings when:

referring to men – add "-ma"
* e.g. 2 chairs – dva stola; 2 brothers – dvama bratya
referring to an approximate number – add "-ina"
* e.g. dvadeset dushi – 20 people; dvadesetina dushi – about 20 people
they are used as common nouns – add the feminine "-ka/-tsa"

Notes:

In Bulgarian, numerals can be used directly before uncountable nouns – e.g. voda "water" → edna voda "a glass of water".
The word edni can be translated as "some" – e.g. edni tzigari "some cigarettes".
When counting, the neuter numbers are taken – edno, dve, tri....
Fractions are the same as the ordinal numbers, and are done in the feminine 1/5 – edna peta, 2/5 – dve peti, etc.
The words for men can be used by themselves, without a noun following – e.g. simply "vidyah dvama" – I saw two men, or even colloquially "edni dvama..." – these two men...
Irregularly, "sedmina" and "osmina" can be used to also mean "7/8 men" rather than "around 7/8".
The smaller denomination of the Bulgarian currency – the stotìnka literally mean "hundredths" ; 100 stotinki = 1 lev.