s1 #1 self introduction: basic greetings in...2020/06/23 · hours you can spend losing yourself in...

LESSON NOTES

Basic Bootcamp S1 #1Self Introduction: Basic Greetings

in Bulgarian

CONTENTS

2 Bulgarian2 Romanization2 English2 Informal Bulgarian3 Vocabulary3 Sample Sentences4 Vocabulary Phrase Usage5 Grammar5 Cultural Insight

# 1

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BULGARIANPOD101.COM BASIC BOOTCAMP S1 #1 - SELF INTRODUCTION: BASIC GREETINGS IN BULGARIAN 2

BULGARIAN

1. �⇥⇤: ⌅⇧⌃⇤⇥⌥�, ⇤ ⌦↵� �⇥⇤. �⇤� ⌦⌥ �⇤ ⇥⇤✏?

2. ⇣⌃⇤: ⌅⇧⌃⇤⇥⌥�, �⇥⇤. ⌘ ⌦↵� ⇣⌃⇤.

3. �⇥⇤: ✓◆� �� ⌥ ⌫⌃�⇠⇡◆.

4. ⇣⌃⇤: ⇢⇤ �⌥◆ ⌦↵�.

ROMANIZATION

1. Iva: Zdravei, az sym Iva. Kak se kazvash?

2. Yura: Zdravei, Iva. Az sym Yura.

3. Iva: Mnogo mi e priyatno.

4. Yura: Na men syshto.

ENGLISH

1. Iva: Hello. My name is Iva. What's your name?

2. Yura: Hello Iva. My name is Yura.

3. Iva: Nice to meet you.

4. Yura: Me too.

INFORMAL BULGARIANCONT'D OVER


1. Iva: Zdravei, az sym Iva. Kak se kazvash?

2. Yura: Zdravei, Iva. Az sym Yura.

3. Iva: Mnogo mi e priyatno.

4. Yura: Na men syshto.

VOCABULARY

Bulgar ian Romanization English

⇤ az I

✓◆� �� ⌥ ⌫⌃�⇠⇡◆ Nice to meet you.

◆⇤ �⌥◆ ⌦↵� na men syshto me too

�⇤ ⇥⇤� kazvam say

⇧⌃⇤⇥⌥�⇡⌥ zdraveitehello (formal second person

plural form)

SAMPLE SENTENCES

�⇥ ⇤⌅⇧ ⇥⌅⌃⌥� ⌦↵�.Az sym zybolekar. I am a dentist.

�⇥ ⇧� ⌦↵⇥↵�, ✏ ⇣⌥ ⌥⌃⌘✏↵⇧. I told him that I love him.

✓◆⌥⇣⌥ ⇧⌘ �⌘��◆⌥ ⌫↵ ⇤ ⇥↵⌥⇥◆↵ ⇧. I'm very glad for the acquaintance.

⇠↵ ⇧ ◆ ⇤⌅⇡⌥ ✏ �◆⌥ ⌦↵⇢ ⇧⌘ ��⌃⌘⇧↵�↵ ◆↵⌘�⌦↵. Me too, my favorite drink is black coffee.


⇠↵ ⇧ ◆ ⇤⌅⇡⌥ ⇧⌘ ⇥↵ ⌅�⌧⌘ ⌅�. It is my first time too.

�⌥⇣↵�⌥ ◆�⌦⌥� ⌦⌘�↵, ◆⌘ ⌦↵⇥⌧↵⇧ "⇠↵⇥⌫�↵⌧ ." When somebody sneezes, we say "Bless you."

�⌫�↵⌧ �, ⌥�⌫↵⌧◆↵ ◆ ⇤⇧ ⇤ ⌧⌘ ⌫↵�⌘. Hello, haven't seen you for a while.

�⌫�↵⌧ �� , ⌦↵⌦ ⇤� ? Hello, how are you?

VOCABULARY PHRASE USAGE

�� means, literally, "Be healthy," but translates as "Hello." To make the greeting more friendly and informal, you can just say ��! � means "I" in Bulgarian. For Example:

1. � � �� ---. Az se kazvam ---. "I'm called---."

2. � �� . Az gi snimah. "I took their picture."

�� is like the English "nice to meet you".

But it means something like "Very delighted." We can translate �� as "Me too," where � is just a modification of the pronoun �, meaning "I." We won't go into the grammar at this point, so just remember that this is a response to "Nice to meet you." For Example


1. � �� . Umori me. "It made me tired."

2. � �� . I na men. "For me too."

GRAMMAR

The Focus of This Basic Bootcamp Lesson Is How to Ask Somebody Their Name

To ask someone their name, just ask �� ? Literally, this means "How are you called?" when it is said in the informal way.

The first word, �� means "How." It is followed by the word for you, when it is a direct object: �. And finally it uses that same verb that we saw in the expression for "My name is --" �� , which means something like "to say." �� ? with this question you'll be able to meet people easily in Bulgaria.

CULTURAL INSIGHT

Bulgarian Greeting Customs

When Bulgarians meet for the first time, it's customary for men to shake hands and women to smile while introducing themselves. Once they get to know each other better, their greetings will graduate to hugs, shoulder taps, and kisses on the cheek—the last mainly for women though. Of course, these more emotional greetings are best done outside the workplace. At work, a handshake is your best bet.

LESSON NOTES

Basic Bootcamp S1 #2Talking Nationality in Bulgarian

CONTENTS


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BULGARI ANPOD101.COM BAS I C BOOTCAMP S 1 #2 - TALKI NG NATI ONALI TY I N BULGARI AN 2

BULGARIAN

1. �⇥⇤: ⌅⇧⌃⇤⇥⌥� ⌥. ⌦↵ �⌥ �⇤↵⇥⇤� �⇥⇤. ⌦↵ �✏� ⇣✏⌘✓⇤⌃�⇤.

2. ◆⌃⇤: ⌅⇧⌃⇤⇥⌥� ⌥, ⇤↵ �⌥ �⇤↵⇥⇤� ◆⌃⇤. ⌦↵ �✏� ⇤✓⌘��⇤�.

ROMANIZATION

1. Iva: Zdraveite. Az se kazvam Iva. Az sym bylgarka.

2. Yura: Zdraveite, az se kazvam Yura. Az sym anglichanin.

ENGLISH

1. Iva: Hello. My name is Iva. I'm Bulgarian.

2. Yura: Hello, I'm Yura. I'm British.

INFORMAL BULGARIAN

1. Iva: Zdraveite. Az se kazvam Iva. Az sym bylgarka.

2. Yura: Zdraveite, az se kazvam Yura. Az sym anglichanka.

VOCABULARY

Bulgar ian Romanization English Class Gender

�⇤↵⇥⇤� �⌥ kazvam se call phrase


�✏� sym be verb

⇤✓⌘��⇤� anglichanin

British (nationality,

man)noun masculine

⇤↵ az I pronoun

�✏� sym I am verb

⇣✏⌘✓⇤⌃�⇤ bylgarka

Bulgarian (nationality,

woman)noun feminine

SAMPLE SENTENCES

�⇥⇤⌅⇧ ⌃⌅ ⌥� ⇥⌦↵⇥�? Is your name Maria?

�⇥ ⌥� ⇥⌦↵⇥�? What is your name?

�✏⇣⇤� ⌃⌅ ⌥⌘�? Are you okay?

✓�, ⇥⌦ ⌥◆ ⇥��⌃⌅⌫⇥� ⇥. No, I'm British.

⇠⌦ ⌥◆ ⌦◆⇣✏⌃� ⇥⇤.Az sym zybolekar. I am a dentist.

⇠⌦ ⇡ ⇥⌦⇥⇢, ⌫� �✏ ✏⇣⌅⌫⇥.Az mu kazah, che go obicham. I told him that I love him.

⇠⌦ ⌥◆ ⌃� ⇥⇤.Az sym lekar. I'm a doctor.(said by a male)

⇠⌦ ⌥◆ ✏⌘ ⇠��⌃⌅⇧.Az sym ot Angliya. I'm from England.

�◆⌃�⇥⇤ ⇥ ⌃⌅ ⌥⌘�? (formal) Are you Bulgarian?

�⇥⌧ ⇥ ⌅ � ⇣◆⌃�⇥⇤ ⇥, ⇥ ⇣⇥�⇥ ⌅ � ��⇤⇥��. My mom is Bulgarian, and my dad is German.



To say you are British, just say the verb ��, which means "I am," and add �� (feminine) or �� (masculine) to the end of the phrase to say, "I am British." To change the nationality to, for example, Russian, use the same � and just add the word for Russian-�� . "I am Russian" (feminine).

GRAMMAR

The Focus of This Lesson is to Teach You How to Talk About Gender

Let's take a look at the dialogue again:

��: �� . �� . �� . �� : �� , �� . �� .

We start with a self-introduction ("Hello, my name is Iva"). Then we say our nationality, �� .

The point that needs special attention here is gender. The phrase "I'm Bulgarian" sounds different for women and men. Let's take a look at the examples with both genders, feminine and masculine.

Feminine

Bulgarian Romanization "English"

�� . Az sym bylgarka. "I'm Bulgarian."

�� . Az sym ruskinya. "I'm Russian."

�� . Tya e amerikanka. "She's American."

�� . Tya e anglichanka. "She's British."

�� ? Yaponka li ste? (formal) "Are you Japanese?"

�� ? Kitaika li ste? (formal) "Are you Chinese?"


� �� .

Priyatelkata mi e francuzoika.

"My girlfriend is French."

� �� . Priyatelkata mi e italianka. "My girlfriend is Italian."

Masculine


�� . Az sym bylgarin. "I'm Bulgarian."

�� . Az sym rusnak. "I'm Russian."

�� . Toi e amerikanec. "He's American."

�� . Toi e anglichanin. "He's British."

�� ? Yaponec li ste? (formal) "Are you Japanese?"

�� ? Kitaec li ste? (formal) "Are you Chinese?"

� �� . Priyatelyat mi e francuzin. "My boyfriend is French."

� �� . Priyatelyat mi e italianec. "My boyfriend is Italian."

Another important point is that unlike in English, we cannot use �� ("Bulgarian," masculine) to refer to anything besides ethnicity. Therefore, we can't use these words to say something like, "I speak Bulgarian."

For Example:

1. !�� Bylgarski "Bulgarian" (language)


2. !�� "�� Bylgarska kuhnya "Bulgarian cuisine"

CULTURAL INSIGHT

Why bother studying Bulgarian?

For starters, it's a very old language. Even though it's changed a lot over the years, it still offers a connection to other Slavic languages and has so many words from Western culture. But even those who aren't language or history buffs will appreciate a Bulgarian vacation—and appreciate it even more if they can get around using the local language! From food and conversation to history and culture, the reasons to learn Bulgarian are as endless as the hours you can spend losing yourself in it.

LESSON NOTES

Basic Bootcamp S1 #3Useful Phrases for Learning

Bulgarian

CONTENTS


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BULGARI ANPOD101.COM BAS I C BOOTCAMP S 1 #3 - US EFUL PHRAS ES FOR LEARNI NG BULGARI AN 2

BULGARIAN

1. A: �⇥⇤⌅⇧⌃⌥⌃, � � � ⇥⇤ ⌥⌃ “cheese” ⇧ ⌦↵�� ✏�⌅?

2. B: ⇣⌅�⌃⇧⌃

3. A: ⇣↵⌘ �✓⇤ ◆, ⇧⌃ � ⇥⌦� . �⌃ �� ⌫�⇤⌥��⌅⌥⌃ �⌅?

4. B: ⇣⌅�⌃⇧⌃

5. A: ⇠��✓, ��⇤��⌃⌥⌃ ⌫�-⌦ ⇤⇧�.

6. B: ⇣⌅-�⌃-⇧⌃.

7. A: ⇠�⌘⌃ �⌅ ⇡ ◆⌅ �� ⇧ ⌫⌅⇢⌃⌥⌃ ⇧ ⌦↵�� ✏�⌅?

ROMANIZATION

1. A: Izvinete, kak kazvate Cheese na bylgarski?

2. B: Sirene.

3. A: Syjalyavam, ne razbrah. Shte go povtorite li?

4. B: Sirene.

5. A: Molya, govorete po-bavno.

6. B: Si-re-ne.

7. A: Moje li da mi go napishete na bylgarski?

ENGLISH CONT'D OVER


1. A: Excuse me, how do you say "cheese" in Bulgarian?

2. B: Cheese.

3. A: I'm sorry, I didn't understand. Say it once again, please.

4. B: Cheese.

5. A: Please, speak slower.

6. B: Che-ese.

7. A: Write this down in Bulgarian for me, please.

INFORMAL BULGARIAN

1. A: Izvinete, kak kazvate Cheese na bylgarski?

2. B: Sirene.

3. A: Syjalyavam, ne razbrah. Shte go povtorite li?

4. B: Sirene.

5. A: Molya, govorete po-bavno.

6. B: Si-re-ne.

7. A: Moje li da mi go napishete na bylgarski?

VOCABULARY


Bulgar ian Romanization English Class

⌫�-⇤⌅✏�� po-visoko louder adverb

��⇤��⌃⌥⌃ govorete say verb

� � kak how adverb

� ⇥⇤ ◆ kazvam to say verb

⌫�-⌦ ⇤⇧� po-bavno slower adverb

◆��✓ molya please phrase

✏↵⌘ �✓⇤ ◆ syjalyavam I'm sorry interjection

� ⇥⌦⌅� ◆ razbiram understood verb

� ⌫⌅⇢⌃⌥⌃ write down

⌫�⇤⌥ �✓◆ povtaryam repeat verb

⇧⌃ ne not, don't adverb

⇧ ⌦↵�� ✏�⌅ na bylgarski in Bulgarian phrase

⌅⇥⇤⌅⇧⌃⌥⌃ izvinete excuse me (polite) expression

◆⌅ mi for me, to me pronoun

SAMPLE SENTENCES

�⇥⇤⇥⌅⇧⌃⇧ ⌥⇥-⇤� ⇥⌦⇥. Speak louder.

↵�⌦ ⇧ �⇧⌃⇧ ⌃⇥⇤�?

Kak se chete tova? How do you read this?

↵⇥��⌃⇥ ✏⇣⌦⇥⌘ ⌦�✓�, ✏�⇧ ⌦�◆⇤�⇧

"��◆�⌅�⇤⇧." When somebody sneezes, we say "Bless you."

⌫⇥⇤⌃⇥⌅⇧⌃⇧ ⌥⇥-⇠�⇤✏⇥, ⇥⇡⇣. Repeat, slower, please.


⇢�⇡⇧⌃ � ⌃⌧�⇧✏⌃ ⌦⇥ ✏��⇡⇧✏�⇧,

⇥⇡⇣. A ticket with a student discount, please.

��⇡⇣⇤�, �⇧ ◆�⌦� ✏⇣✓. I'm sorry I'm late.

��⇧✏� �⌃⇧ ⌅�◆⇠�⌅�⌃ ⇤�⌥⌅⇥ �.

Uchenicite razbirat vyprosa. The elementary school students understand the question.

!�◆⇠�⌅�" ⇡� ⇧? Do you understand me?

!�◆⇠�⌅� ⌦�⌦ ⇧ �⌧⇤ ⌃⇤�". I understand how you feel.

⌫⇥⇥⇡�✓ ⌃⇧ �� ✏�⌥�"⇧" ��⌅⇧ � �. I asked you to write down your address.

#⇥�⇧ ⇡� �� ⌥⇥⇤⌃⇥⌅�⌃⇧ �⇧⌃⇥ �, ⇥⇡⇣? Can you repeat your name, please?

�⇧ ⇧ �⇡��⇧✏. He's not hungry.

↵�◆�✓ "�⇧"! I said "No"!

↵�⌦ ⇧ ⌦�◆⇤� olive oil ✏� ⇠�⇡��⌅ ⌦�? What is olive oil called in Bulgarian?

$◆⇤�✏⇧⌃⇧, ⌦⇥⇡⌦⇥ ⇧ �� ⌃? Excuse me, what time is it now?

$◆⇤�✏⇧⌃⇧, ⌦⇥⇣ ⇧ ⇡⇧�⇤�%�⌃� ⌥�⌅⌦�? Excuse me, what is the next stop?

#⇥�⇧ ⇡� �� ⇥✏⇧ ⇧" ✓�⇠⌧⌅�⇧⌅? Can you bring me a burger? (informal)


�� means "excuse me" and has the same usage as in English when used in questions. However, if we use it like "I'm sorry," it changes to ��.

For Example:


1. �� , �� ? Izvinete, kolko e chasyt? "Excuse me, what time is it now?"

2. ��, � � �� . Syjalyavam, ne te zabelyazah. "I'm sorry, I didn't notice you."

�� , �� . �� ? The verb ��, meaning "understand," can be used both in the present and past tense.

1. ��, � ��. Syjalyavam, ne razbiram. "I'm sorry, I don't understand."

�� has the same usage as the English "please," and we use it with both requests and offers, as well as to mean "not at all" as a reply to "thank you."

1. �� , ��. Edno kafe, molya. "One coffee, please."

2. ��, � �� . Molya, vzemi si bonbon. Please, have a candy.

��, �� -��. We write the third sentence in the imperative mood-��, �� -��.

�� means "speak," and we say it as a command. It will be very useful to remember how this verb changes in an interrogative sentence.

1. �� ? Govorite li angliiski? "Do you speak English?"


�� means "slow" and ��-�� means "slower." If you have difficulty understanding your companion, you can simply say this.

1. ��, ��-��. Molya, po-bavno. "Slower, please."

�� ?

We say the last sentence in the imperative mood also—�� ? �� means "write" or "write down." �� is a modification of the pronoun "I," and literally means "to me" or "for me." You can use it with other verbs.

GRAMMAR

The Focus of This Lesson is Using Bulgarian Phrases to Learn More Bulgarian

First Phrase: �� , �� ______________ �� ? I. �� ("Excuse me")

The first word in this sentence means "excuse me" and has the same usage as in English when used in questions. However, if we use it in an exclamatory sentence, �� will change to "I'm sorry" or ��.

For Example:

�� , �� ___________ �� . ("How do you say ________ in Bulgarian?")

!�� literally means "How do you say." We can translate �� as "in Bulgarian," and it refers to the language in our case.

CULTURAL INSIGHT

Useful Bulgarian Phrases


The phrases in this lesson are more than just a handful of vocab words—they're invaluable tools that can get you back on your feet if you find yourself stumbling in Bulgarian, and they'll help you regain control of the conversation. Instead of giving up and reverting to English, you can use these phrases to find the missing words and steer your Bulgarian sentences to the end. Even though many Bulgarians will understand your English, they'll be much more grateful for the chance to understand your Bulgarian!

LESSON NOTES

Basic Bootcamp S1 #4Counting from 1-100 in Bulgarian

CONTENTS

2 Bulgarian3 Romanization4 English5 Informal Bulgarian7 Vocabulary7 Sample Sentences8 Vocabulary Phrase Usage9 Grammar

12 Cultural Insight

# 4


BULGARIANPOD101.COM BASIC BOOTCAMP S1 #4 - COUNTING FROM 1-100 IN BULGARIAN 2

BULGARIAN

1. A: �⇥⇤⌅ (1),

2. B: ⇧

3. A: ⇥⌃� (2)

4. B: ⇧

5. A: ⌥�⇧ (3)

6. B: ⇧

7. A: �⌥⇧�⇧ (4)

8. B: ⇧

9. A: ⌦�⌥ (5)

10. B: ⇧

11. A: ↵��⌥ (6)

12. B: ⇧

13. A: ��⇥�� (7)

14. B: ⇧

15. A: ⌅�� (8)

CONT'D OVER


16. B: ⇧

17. A: ⇥�⌃�⌥ (9)

18. B: ⇧

19. A: ⇥��⌥ (10).

ROMANIZATION

1. A: edno,

2. B: i

3. A: dve,

4. B: i

5. A: tri,

6. B: i

7. A: chetiri,

8. B: i

9. A: pet,

10. B: i

CONT'D OVER


11. A: shest,

12. B: i

13. A: sedem,

14. B: i

15. A: osem,

16. B: i

17. A: devet,

18. B: i

19. A: deset.

ENGLISH

1. A: One,

2. B: and

3. A: two,

4. B: and

5. A: three,

CONT'D OVER


6. B: and

7. A: four,

8. B: and

9. A: five,

10. B: and

11. A: six,

12. B: and

13. A: seven,

14. B: and

15. A: eight,

16. B: and

17. A: nine,

18. B: and

19. A: ten.

INFORMAL BULGARIAN

CONT'D OVER


1. A: edno,

2. B: i

3. A: dve,

4. B: i

5. A: tri,

6. B: i

7. A: chetiri,

8. B: i

9. A: pet,

10. B: i

11. A: shest,

12. B: i

13. A: sedem,

14. B: i

15. A: osem,

CONT'D OVER


16. B: i

17. A: devet,

18. B: i

19. A: deset.

VOCABULARY


⇥⌃� dve two

⌥�⇧ tri three

�⌥⇧�⇧ chetiri four

↵��⌥ shest six

�⇥⇤⌅ edno one

⌦�⌥ pet five

��⇥�� shedam seven

⌅�� osem eight

⇥�⌃�⌥ devet nine

⇥��⌥ deset ten

⇧ i and

SAMPLE SENTENCES

�⇥⇤ ⌅⇧⌃⇤⌥⇧, � ⌦↵. Two coffees, please.

�� ✏⇧⇣⌘⌥ ⇤. It's three o'clock.


✓ ⇣⌥⇧↵⌥⇧ ��⇧ ✏⇤⌥�� ⇣⌥ ⌦⇧. There are four chairs in the room.

◆�⌅ ⇥�↵⌥ ✏⇧⇣ ⇧� ✏⇥⇧ ⇥ �⇤⇣⌥. The rush hour begins at six.

⌫�⇧� ⇣⇧� ⇤⇠⇡⇧ � ⇡⇤⌥⇧ ⇥ ⇠⇢ �⇧. I have only one coin in my pocket.

◆⇤⌥ �� ⇤ ⌦⌧�� ⌥ ✏�⇣⌦ . Five is my favorite number.

��⇤�⇧⌥⇧ ⇤ ⇥ ⇣⇤⇠⇤�. The meeting is at seven.

� ��⇤ ⇤ ⇠⇧ ⇥⇤✏⇤�↵� ��⇤⇠� ⇣⇤�. It's good to have dinner before eight.

◆��⇧� ⇣⇤ ⇥⌅⌘�� ⇥ ⇠⇤⇥⇤⌥. I go back home at nine.

�⇧� ✏⇥⇧� �⇧� ⌥⇧ ⇥ ⇠⇤⇣⇤⌥ ✏⇧⇣⇧. I start work at ten o'clock.

�⇧ ⇧� � ⇣�⇤⌥⇧⇡⇧, � ⌦↵. Sugar and cream, please.


Numbers From Eleven to Twenty

As you might have already noticed, we form the numbers thirteen to twenty simply by adding deset ("ten") after the number.

Here are some more examples:


�� edinadeset godini "eleven years"

�� dvanadeset koli "twelve cars"

�� shestnadeset godishen (male)

"sixteen years old"

�� dvadeset choveka "twenty people"


The Multiples of Ten

You need to learn the tens in Bulgarian separately. But once you can do one through ten, it should not be a problem. And they end with -��, which makes it easier to remember.

There is one exception that needs blind memorization.

1. �� sto "one hundred"

Other Compound Numbers

We form other compound numbers in the same way as we form the English numerals, that is, by placing numbers from one to nine after twenty, thirty, forty, fifty...ninety.

For Example:

1. �� dvadeset i chetiri istorii "twenty-four stories"

2. �� chetirideset i pet minuti "forty-five minutes"

3. �� osemdeset i shest procenta "eighty-six percent"

GRAMMAR

The Focus of this Lesson is Bulgarian Numerals

From the point of view of word order, Bulgarian numerals have the same usage as in English. The number comes first, followed by a noun (the thing you are counting).


For Example:

1. �� edin bilet "one ticket"

2. �� tri choveka "three people"

3. �� chetirideset godini "forty years"

Numbers From One to Ten

The things that need special consideration when using Bulgarian numerals are

1. number (singular or plural)

2. gender (masculine, feminine, or neuter)

3. case (nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, instrumental, or prepositional)

But the only numbers that change are one, two, three, and four. Note that for numbers two, three, and four, feminine and neuter are the same; only the masculine is different.

So, let's take a look at the numeral �� ("one").

Construction Bulgarian Romanization "English"

Feminine Singular Nominative �� edna jena "one woman"

Masculine Singular Nominative �� edin myj "one man"

Neuter Singular Nominative �� edno dete "one child"


As we can see, it agrees with the related noun in gender, number, and case.

But next, only the masculine changes in number "two," or ��.


Feminine Plural Nominative �� dve jeni "two women"

Masculine Plural Nominative �� dvama myje "two men"

Neuter Plural Nominative �� dve deca "two children"

Now, number "three," or ��.


Feminine Plural Nominative �� tri jeni "three women"

Masculine Plural Nominative �� trima myje "three men"

Neuter Plural Nominative �� tri deca "three children"

Moving on to "four," or ��:


Feminine Plural Nominative �� chetiri jeni "four women"

Masculine Plural Nominative �� chetirima myje "four men"


Neuter Plural Nominative �� chetiri deca "four children"

CULTURAL INSIGHT

Do Bulgarian Numbers Sound Familiar?

If some of these number words sound familiar, it's because Bulgarian has invaded countless English counting words. You'll be surprised to find just how many of the basic building blocks you already know, such as di and tri, have their roots in Greek and then in the ancient Slavic languages, one of which is Bulgarian. And once you learn to put those blocks together in their original combinations, you'll be building your way up to huge Bulgarian numbers in no time!

LESSON NOTES

Basic Bootcamp S1 #5Counting from 100-1,000,000 in

Bulgarian

CONTENTS

2 Bulgarian3 Romanization5 English7 Informal Bulgarian9 Vocabulary

11 Sample Sentences13 Grammar14 Cultural Insight

# 5


BULGARIANPOD101.COM BASIC BOOTCAMP S1 #5 - COUNTING FROM 100-1,000,000 IN BULGARIAN 2

BULGARIAN

1. A: �⇥⇤!

2. B: ⌅⇧⌃�⇥⌥!

3. A: ⇥� �⇥⌥!

4. B: ⌦⌃⇥ � �⇥⇤⇥ ↵!

5. A: �⌃⇥�⇥⇤⇥ ↵!

6. B: �⌃�⇥⇤⇥ ↵!

7. A: �⌃⌅⌃��⇥⇤⇥ ↵!

8. B: ⇤�⌃��⇥⇤⇥ ↵!

9. A: ⌅⌃⇧⌃⇥�⇥⇤⇥ ↵!

10. B: ✏ ⇣⌘⌅⌥!

11. A: ⌅⇧⌃ ✏ ⇣⌘⌅ !

12. B: ⇥� ✏ ⇣⌘⌅ !

13. A: ⌦⌃⇥ � ✏ ⇣⌘⌅ !

14. B: �⌃⇥ ✏ ⇣⌘⌅ !

15. A: �⌃�⇥ ✏ ⇣⌘⌅ !

CONT'D OVER


16. B: �⌃⌅⌃� ✏ ⇣⌘⌅ !

17. A: ⇤�⌃� ✏ ⇣⌘⌅ !

18. B: ⌅⌃⇧⌃⇥ ✏ ⇣⌘⌅ !

19. A: ⌅⌃�⌃⇥ ✏ ⇣⌘⌅ !

20. B: ⌅⇧⌥⌅⌃�⌃⇥ ✏ ⇣⌘⌅ !

21. A: ⇥� ⌅⌃�⌃⇥ ✏ ⇣⌘⌅ !

22. B: ⌦⌃⇥ � ⌅⌃�⌃⇥ ✏ ⇣⌘⌅ !

23. A: �⌃⇥⌅⌃�⌃⇥ ✏ ⇣⌘⌅ !

24. B: �⌃�⇥⌅⌃�⌃⇥ ✏ ⇣⌘⌅ !

25. A: �⌃⌅⌃�⌅⌃�⌃⇥ ✏ ⇣⌘⌅ !

26. B: ⇤�⌃�⌅⌃�⌃⇥ ✏ ⇣⌘⌅ !

27. A: ⌅⌃⇧⌃⇥⌅⌃�⌃⇥ ✏ ⇣⌘⌅ !

28. B: �⇥⇤ ✏ ⇣⌘⌅ !

29. A: ⌃⌅ ↵ � ⇣ ⇤↵!

ROMANIZATION

CONT'D OVER


1. A: sto,

2. B: dvesta,

3. A: trista,

4. B: chetiristotin,

5. A: petstotin,

6. B: shestotin,

7. A: sedemstotin,

8. B: osemstotin,

9. A: devetstotin

10. B: hilyada,

11. A: dve hilyadi

12. B: tri hilyadi,

13. A: chetiri hilyadi,

14. B: pet hilyadi,

15. A: shest hilyadi,

CONT'D OVER


16. B: sedem hilyadi,

17. A: osem hilyadi,

18. B: devet hilyadi,

19. A: deset hilyadi,

20. B: dvadeset hilyadi,

21. A: trideset hilyadi,

22. B: chetirideset hilyadi,

23. A: petdeset hilyadi,

24. B: shestdeset hilyadi,

25. A: sedemdeset hilyadi,

26. B: osemdeset hilyadi,

27. A: devedeset hilyadi,

28. B: sto hilyadi,

29. A: edin milion!

ENGLISH

CONT'D OVER


1. A: one hundred!

2. B: two hundred!

3. A: three hundred!

4. B: four hundred!

5. A: five hundred!

6. B: six hundred!

7. A: seven hundred!

8. B: eight hundred!

9. A: nine hundred!

10. B: one thousand!

11. A: two thousand!

12. B: three thousand!

13. A: four thousand!

14. B: five thousand!

15. A: six thousand!

CONT'D OVER


16. B: seven thousand!

17. A: eight thousand!

18. B: nine thousand!

19. A: ten thousand!

20. B: twenty thousand!

21. A: thirty thousand!

22. B: forty thousand!

23. A: fifty thousand!

24. B: sixty thousand!

25. A: seventy thousand!

26. B: eighty thousand!

27. A: ninety thousand!

28. B: one hundred thousand!

29. A: one million!

INFORMAL BULGARIAN

CONT'D OVER


1. A: sto,

2. B: dvesta,

3. A: trista,

4. B: chetiristotin,

5. A: petstotin,

6. B: shestotin,

7. A: sedemstotin,

8. B: osemstotin,

9. A: devetstotin

10. B: hilyada,

11. A: dve hilyadi

12. B: tri hilyadi,

13. A: chetiri hilyadi,

14. B: pet hilyadi,

15. A: shest hilyadi,

CONT'D OVER


16. B: sedem hilyadi,

17. A: osem hilyadi,

18. B: devet hilyadi,

19. A: deset hilyadi,

20. B: dvadeset hilyadi,

21. A: trideset hilyadi,

22. B: chetirideset hilyadi,

23. A: petdeset hilyadi,

24. B: shestdeset hilyadi,

25. A: sedemdeset hilyadi,

26. B: osemdeset hilyadi,

27. A: devedeset hilyadi,

28. B: sto hilyadi,

29. edin milion

VOCABULARY



⌅⇧⌃�⇥⌥ dvesta two hundred (200)

⇥� �⇥⌥ trista three hundred (300)

⌦⌃⇥ � �⇥⇤⇥ ↵ chetiristotin four hundred (400)

�⌃�⇥⇤⇥ ↵ shestotin six hundred (600)

�⇥⇤ sto one hundred

�⌃⇥�⇥⇤⇥ ↵ petstotin five hundred (500)

�⌃⌅⌃��⇥⇤⇥ ↵ sedemstotin seven hundred (700)

⇤�⌃��⇥⇤⇥ ↵ osemstotin eight hundred (800)

⌅⌃⇧⌃⇥�⇥⇤⇥ ↵ devetstotin nine hundred (900)

✏ ⇣⌘⌅⌥ hilyada one thousand (1000)

⌅⇧⌃ ✏ ⇣⌘⌅ two thousand (2000)

⇥� ✏ ⇣⌘⌅ three thousand (3000)

⌦⌃⇥ � ✏ ⇣⌘⌅ four thousand (4000)

�⌃⇥ ✏ ⇣⌘⌅ five thousand (5000)

�⌃�⇥ ✏ ⇣⌘⌅ six thousand (6000)

�⌃⌅⌃� ✏ ⇣⌘⌅ seven thousand (7000)

⇤�⌃� ✏ ⇣⌘⌅ eight thousand (8000)

⌅⌃⇧⌃⇥ ✏ ⇣⌘⌅ nine thousand (9000)

⌅⌃�⌃⇥ ✏ ⇣⌘⌅ ten thousand (10,000)

⌅⇧⌥⌅⌃�⌃⇥ ✏ ⇣⌘⌅ twenty thousand (20,000)

⇥� ⌅⌃�⌃⇥ ✏ ⇣⌘⌅ thirty thousand (30,000)

⌦⌃⇥ � ⌅⌃�⌃⇥ ✏ ⇣⌘⌅ forty thousand (40,000)

�⌃⇥⌅⌃�⌃⇥ ✏ ⇣⌘⌅ fifty thousand (50,000)

�⌃�⇥⌅⌃�⌃⇥ ✏ ⇣⌘⌅ sixty thousand (60,000)

�⌃⌅⌃�⌅⌃�⌃⇥ ✏ ⇣⌘⌅ seventy thousand (70,000)


⇤�⌃�⌅⌃�⌃⇥ ✏ ⇣⌘⌅ eighty thousand (80,000)

⌅⌃⇧⌃⇥⌅⌃�⌃⇥ ✏ ⇣⌘⌅ ninety thousand (90,000)

�⇥⇤ ✏ ⇣⌘⌅ a hundred thousand

(100,000)

⌃⌅ ↵ � ⇣ ⇤↵ a million (1,000,000)

SAMPLE SENTENCES

�⇥⇤⌅⇧⌃ ⌥⇤⇥⌃ � ⌦↵⌦ ⌥� ⌅⌃? Is two hundred leva a lot?

�⌦�� ↵✏⌃⇣ ⇤ ⌃ ⇧✏�⌅⇧⌃ ↵⌦⇣� �. This city is three hundred years old.

�⌦⌘ �� ⇣⌃⇣⇤ ✓⇤⇧�✏�⌅⇧⌦⇧� ⌥⇤⇥⌃ ⌃ �⌃⇤�. He lent four hundred leva to me.

◆⌦⌥, ⌅�⇤ ⇤⇧⇤ �� ⇤⌅⇧⌦⇧� ⇣⌦⌥⌃✏⌃ ⇥ ⌥⇤⇥⌃. Please change six hundred dollars into leva for me.

��⌃� ⌅⇧⌦ ⇣⌦⌥⌃✏⌦⇥⌃ ⌫⌃ ⇠ ⌦⇧⌃. I have a one hundred-dollar bill.

��⌃ ⇡⇤⇧⌅⇧⌦⇧� ✏⌃⌫⌦⇧ �⇠⌃ ⇥ ⇧⌃�� ⇠⌦�⇡⌃ �. There are five hundred employees working in our company.

⇢⌃ ⇧⌃⇧⌃ ⌅⇧✏�⇥⌃ ⌅⇤⇣⇤�⌅⇧⌦⇧� ⌥⇤⇥⌃. The bag costs seven hundred leva!

⌧⌦�⌃✏✓�� ⌦⌅⇤�⌅⇧⌦⇧� ⌥⇤⇥⌃ �⌃ ⇤⇣� ⇣⇤ . I spent eight hundred leva in one day.

� ⇧�⇠⌃⇧⌃ ⌫⇤�⇤ ⌃ ⇣⇤⇥⇤⇧⌅⇧⌦⇧� ↵⌦⇣� �. The antique was nine hundred years old.

�⌃�⇤✏�� ⌥⇣⌃ ⌥⇤⇥⌃. I found one thousand leva!


◆⇤⌅⇤✓ ⌃⇧⌃ �� ⌃⇡⌥⌃⇧⌃ ⇤ ⇣⇥⇤ ��⌥⇣� ⌥⇤⇥⌃. My monthly salary is two thousand leva.

⌃⌥⌃⇧⌃ ⇤ ⌅ ⇧✏� ��⌥⇣� �⇤⌅⇧⌃. The hall has three thousand seats.

!⇧⌃⇣�⌦ "⇧ ⇤ ✓⇤⇧�✏� ��⌥⇣� ⇠⇥⌃⇣✏⌃⇧ � �⇤⇧✏⌃. The stadium is four thousand square meters.

⌧⇤⇧ ��⌥⇣� ✓⌦⇥⇤⇠⌃ ⇡✏⌦⇧⇤⌅⇧�✏⌃�⌃ ⌃ ⇡⌥⌦#⌃⇣⌃. Five thousand people were protesting on the square.

$⇤⌅⇧ ��⌥⇣� ✓⌦⇥⇤⇠⌃ ⌅⌃ ⌫⇤�✏⌃⌫⌦⇧ � ⇧⌃�� ↵⌦⇣� ⌃. This year six thousand people are unemployed.

!⇤⇣⇤� ��⌥⇣� ⌥⇤⇥⌃ ⌅⌃ ⇣⌃⇣⇤ � �⌃ ⌃✏�⇤⌦⌥⌦↵�✓⇤⌅⇠� ✏⌃�⇠⌦⇡⇠�. Seven thousand leva are given for archeological excavations.

�⌃⇣ ⌦⌅⇤� ��⌥⇣� ⌥⇤⇥⌃ ⌅⌃ ⌅"⌫✏⌃ � �⌃ ⇠⌃��⌃⇧⌃. Over eight thousand levas were collected for the cause.

�⇤⇥⇤⇧ ��⌥⇣� ⌃�⇤✏�⇠⌃ ⌅⇠� ⇥⌦⇤ � ⌃⇡�⌅⇠⌃⇧ %⇡⌦ �. Nine thousand U.S. troops leave Japan.

�⇤⌅⇤⇧ ��⌥⇣� ⌃⌫⌦ ⌃⇧⌃ ⌅⌃ ⌫⇤� ⇧⌦⇠ �⌃✏⌃⇣� ⌫�✏⇧⌃. Ten thousand subscribers are without electricity because of the storm.

⌧✏⌦✓⇤⇧⌦� ⇠ �↵⌃⇧⌃ "�⇥⌃⇣⇤⌅⇤⇧ ��⌥⇣� ⌥⇤⇥↵� ⇡⌦⇣ ⇥⌦⇣⌃⇧⌃". I read the book "Twenty thousand leagues under the sea."

�⌦⇥�⇧ ⇡⌦⇧✏⇤⌫�⇧⇤⌥⌅⇠� ⇠✏⇤⇣�⇧ ⇤ ⇧✏�⇣⇤⌅⇤⇧ ��⌥⇣� ⌥⇤⇥⌃. The new consumer credit is thirty thousand levas.

⌃⇤�"⇧ ⇤ ⇥ ✏⌃��⇤✏ ⌃ ✓⇤⇧�✏�⇣⇤⌅⇤⇧ ��⌥⇣�. The loan amounts to forty thousand.


&⌥⌦⌫⌃⇧⌃ ⇤ ⇡⇤⇧⇣⇤⌅⇤⇧ ��⌥⇣� ⌥⇤⇥⌃. The fine is fifty thousand levas.

$⇤⌅⇧⇣⇤⌅⇤⇧ ��⌥⇣� ✓⌦⇥⇤⇠⌃ ↵⌥⌃⌅�⇥⌃�⌃ �⌃ ⇠⌃ ⇣�⇣⌃⇧⌃. Sixty thousand people voted for the candidate.

!⇤⇣⇤�⇣⇤⌅⇤⇧ ��⌥⇣� ✓⌦⇥⇤⇠⌃ ⌅⌃ �⌃↵� ⌃⌥�. Seventy thousand people were killed.

�⇤⇠⌅⇧"⇧ ⌅"⇣"✏'⌃ ⇡✏�⌫⌥��⇧⇤⌥ ⌦ ⌦⌅⇤�⇣⇤⌅⇤⇧ ��⌥⇣� � ⌃⇠⌃.Tekstyt sydyrja priblizitelno osemdeset hilyadi znaka. The text consists of approximately eighty thousand characters.

(⌫⇤�"⇧ ⌃ ⇤�⇤✏⌦⇧⌦ ⇤ ⇣⇤⇥⇤⇧⇣⇤⌅⇤⇧ ��⌥⇣� ⇠�⌫�✓ � �⇤⇧✏⌃. The lake's volume is ninety thousand cubic meters.

�⌃↵✏⌃⇣⌃⇧⌃ ⇤ ⌅⇧⌦ ��⌥⇣� ⌥⇤⇥⌃. The prize is one hundred thousand leva.

)⇤↵�⌅⇧✏�✏⌃ � ⌅⌃ ⇤⇣� ��⌥�⌦ ⇡⌦⇧✏⇤⌫�⇧⇤⌥�. One million users were registered.

GRAMMAR

The Focus of this Lesson Is How to Learn Numbers Larger than 100 in Bulgarian

The easiest way to remember large Bulgarian numbers is to understand their structure first. In the previous Boot Camp lesson, we covered the numbers from one to one hundred. As you can remember, the most important thing was to memorize the numbers from one to ten, and then build larger numbers by modifying endings, adding or dropping some parts, and so on. There are exceptions among the common rules, but in general, Bulgarian numbers have a strong logical system according to which large numbers are built.

100


"One hundred" in Bulgarian is ��; however, when counting the rest of the hundreds, this word changes. For example, "two hundred" is �� and "three hundred" is ��. As you might have noticed, we use numbers two through nine first, and then we add -�� for two hundred and three hundred and -�� for the rest. This makes the hundreds.

1,000

Here, things are even easier than with hundreds. The only thing worth paying attention to is that �� ("one thousand") is of feminine gender. The change we had with numbers one, two, three, and four doesn't exist here, so we construct the numbers by adding -�� .

For Example:

Bulgarian

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

CULTURAL INSIGHT

Restaurant Prices in Bulgaria

One obvious application for all the number words you've been learning is counting what


things cost. Restaurant prices vary throughout Bulgaria, depending on where you go and what you order—and Sofia, of course, is more expensive than most Bulgarian cities—but you can usually get a decent meal for three to fifteen leva. A nice meal might cost thirty leva. The most expensive dishes tend to be some special prepared ones from traditional cuisine; you would really like to try those, but you need to know how to count well in Bulgarian beforehand, right?

LESSON NOTES

All About S1 #1History of The Bulgarian Language

and Top 5 Reasons to Learn

Bulgarian

CONTENTS

2 Grammar

# 1


BULGARIANPOD101.COM ALL ABOUT S1 #1 - HISTORY OF THE BULGARIAN LANGUAGE AND TOP 5 REASONS TO LEARN BULGARIAN 2

GRAMMAR

The Focus of This Lesson is the History of Bulgarian.

I. Linguistics

Bulgarian is estimated to have about twelve million native speakers. It is the national language of The Republic of Bulgaria. Bulgarian is also spoken in other neighboring countries of Bulgaria. Bulgarian is unique, as it is the first Slavic language used in written documents. Its relationship to other Slavic languages is especially evident when compared to other southeastern Slavic groups such as the Serbian, Serbo-Harvatian, and Macedonian languages. In general, there has been a mutual development of the main Slavic languages and the languages that use the Cyrillic alphabet. That is why Bulgarians and people from other Slavic countries can understand each other.

The history of the Bulgarian language started in the middle of the ninth century. This is the time of the promotion of Christianity among Slavic people, which was caused by the mission of the brothers Cyril and Methodius in Great Moravia. Saints Cyril and Methodius created the first Slavic alphabet, called the Glagolitic alphabet, which was used to transcribe the Old Bulgarian language or so-called Old Church Slavonic. Their work was devoted to translation of the Bible from Greek into Slavic. The later script, the Cyrillic alphabet, is now used in the Bulgarian, Serbian, Macedonian, and Russian languages. The first mention of the "Bulgarian language" instead of the "Slavonic language" was made in the eleventh century.

Bulgaria became the motherland of the Slavic language and culture in the ninth and tenth centuries, after the students of Cyril and Methodius were expelled from Great Moravia and accepted in Bulgaria. They started to create the first Slavic literature in the country. Until the fourteenth century, Bulgaria was a cultural center of eastern Slavic literature, which was written in Bulgarian.

Bulgarian dialects are part of the southern Slavic dialects. Until the second half of the twentieth century, the Macedonian dialects were also considered part of the Bulgarian. The Bulgarian dialects are separated into eastern and western on the basis of the pronunciation of the "yat" vowel in the Old Bulgarian, pronounced in the two regions either as "ya" or as "e." The number of Bulgarian dialects is hard to define, but their classification is easily made on the basis of the fact that the dialects are divided by geographic principles. The contemporary Bulgarian is based on the variety of dialects called east-Bulgarian govori.


Bulgarian pronunciation is rather complicated, but the rules are easy to learn and even easier to follow. Most letters in the Bulgarian alphabet stand for just one specific sound. There are letters that stand for the single expression of combinations of sounds, like, for example, "sht." You can learn the basics of Bulgarian pronunciation very quickly if you have a table comparing the pronunciation of the letters with their English equivalents.

II. About Bulgaria

Bulgaria is located in the southeastern part of Europe. The Bulgarians have descended from three main tribal groups (Thracians, Slavs, and Bulgars), which mixed themselves together and formed a Slavic-speaking nation. Of course, the Bulgars are the ones who give the nation its names. The emergence of a unified Bulgarian ethnicity and state dates back to the seventh century AD. The First and the Second Bulgarian Empire were times of flourishing cultural advancement. With the decline of the Second Bulgarian Empire, the Bulgarian territory came under Ottoman rule for almost five centuries.

The Third Bulgarian state was established in 1878 after the Russo-Turkish War. Between 1945 and 1989 Bulgaria was a communist state, part of the Eastern Bloc. After that, the country undertook a transition to democracy and is now a member of the European Union and NATO. The official language is Bulgarian, and the ethnic groups found in Bulgaria are Bulgarians (almost eighty-five percent), Turks, and Roma. The country preserves its traditions (in ethnic names, language, and alphabet) and is one of the oldest sovereign states in Europe.

III. Where Bulgarian is Spoken

The Bulgarian language is spoken in many countries in the neighborhood of Bulgaria.

Bulgarian is spoken in Turkey, Serbia, Greece, Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, Albania, Kosovo, the Republic of Macedonia, and among emigrant communities worldwide.

Regions with significant Bulgarian populations include the United States, Spain, the United Kingdom, Italy, Turkey, and Ukraine.

IV. Writing System and Pronunciation

The Bulgarian writing system is Cyrillic, and the nation is not planning to change to the Latin alphabet as other countries, like some former republics in the Soviet Union and the neighboring Republic of Serbia, did.


A modern literary language based on vernacular spoken Bulgarian was standardized after Bulgaria became independent in 1878. Many Turkish words were adopted into Bulgarian during the long period of Ottoman rule. Words have also been borrowed from Latin, Greek, Russian, French, Italian, German, and, increasingly, from English. Modern Bulgarian was based essentially on the eastern dialects of the language, but its pronunciation is in many respects a compromise between eastern and western Bulgarian.

The difference between the two major dialects, eastern and western, is in their specific, respective use of mek govor or tvyrd govor, or "soft speech" or "hard speech."

The former yat vowel is pronounced in the Western "hard" dialect as "e," while the Eastern "soft" dialect alternates it between "e" and "ya." For example, hlyab ("bread") is pronounced with "ya" in the eastern and in the official Bulgarian, while in the western dialects it is pronounced with "e," as hleb.

V. Why it is Important: The Top Five Reasons to Learn this Language Are...

1. Learning Bulgarian is fun!

And with these easy lessons, you can make new friends!

2. Business is booming!

Bulgaria has experienced rapid economic growth in recent years, and its strategic geographical location makes it a key European hub.

Due to its large-scale computing technology exports, Bulgaria became known as the Silicon Valley of the Eastern Bloc. In 2002, the country ranked eighth in the world in terms of its total number of ICT specialists, outperforming countries with larger populations, and it operates the only supercomputer in the Balkan region.

Bulgaria has an unusually well-developed educational system, specializing in electronics, engineering, and computer sciences. There are more than forty-seven universities in Bulgaria, located in twenty-six different towns. Bulgaria's advanced education is right up there with the top countries in the world, ranking fifth amongst all countries in sciences and eleventh in mathematics, according to the World Bank and "The Economist."

This makes Bulgaria one of the top offshore IT destinations.

3. If you're into investing, Bulgaria is the place.


Since 2004, Bulgaria's economy has averaged more than six percent annual growth, attracting significant amounts of new foreign direct investment. Between 2004 and 2008, foreign direct investment grew by 19.6 percent, driven primarily by increased investments in Bulgaria's real estate, energy, and manufacturing sectors. Bulgaria's cheap labor and resources, coupled with favorable corporate tax rates, render Bulgaria something of an investment haven.

Bulgaria's services sector is mainly comprised of financial services and tourism. In particular, Bulgaria's natural landscapes attract almost six million visitors annually, which contribute significantly to Bulgaria's economic growth.

4. The tourist destinations and the cultural heritage!

The tourism opportunities in Bulgaria are endless. In 2010, Lonely Planet ranked it among its top ten travel destinations for 2011. Main destinations include the capital Sofia, all the Black Sea coast resorts, the winter sports resorts, the traditional rural tourist destinations, and many more places of cultural significance.

Bulgaria has the third-largest total number of uncovered archaeological sites in Europe after Italy and Greece, and many of them are Thracian in origin. A historical artifact of major importance is the oldest golden treasure in the world, dating back to 5,000 BC, from the site of the Varna Necropolis. Apart from these sites, nine UNESCO World Heritage Sites exist in Bulgaria.

The Bulgarian rose oil produced by the rose-growing industry in the Rose Valley makes eighty-five percent of the world's rose oil. The extracts are used by perfumeries all over the world. You will love to experience the rose festivals, the rose petal collection, and the awesome aroma of this place for yourself.

5. The Bulgarian yogurt and cuisine.

Bulgarians are well-known for their longevity, and one of the reasons for this is the famous Bulgarian yogurt, together with the healthy lifestyle and preserved natural environment. If you want to try the real Bulgarian yogurt-the homemade kind-and many other tasty dishes, you will need a little Bulgarian so that you can enjoy your meal to the fullest. If you like cooking for yourself, it will be amazing to prepare delicious food from an authentic Bulgarian recipe. The secret of a long and healthy life and beauty lies in the ancient tradition of eating yogurt in Bulgaria, and your knowledge of Bulgarian can make you a part of that experience.

LESSON NOTES

All About S1 #2The Bulgarian Writing System

CONTENTS

2 Grammar

# 2


BULGARIANPOD101.COM ALL ABOUT S1 #2 - THE BULGARIAN WRITING SYSTEM 2

GRAMMAR

The Focus of This Lesson is the Bulgarian Writing System

The Bulgarian alphabet is a Cyrillic alphabet. If it uses romanization to match the English,

Bulgarian can be very easy to learn.

Knowing the basics of the Bulgarian alphabet is a huge step in learning Bulgarian because

most letters in the Bulgarian alphabet stand for just one specific sound. That means if you

know the letters and use the romanization, then you can read the words and people will

understand you. In fact, the writing system is so exact that when you ask someone to spell a

word, they usually just say it slower. We'll go over the pronunciation of each letter and the

rules for spelling in our pronunciation series.

Alphabet

The Bulgarian alphabet consists of six vowels; one semi-vowel, "�," being equivalent to "y" in

English as in "yes;" and thirty-five consonants. Bulgarian consonants may be divided into

twelve pairs (voiced or voiceless).

You also form words the same as in English, by putting letters together in certain orders.

Bulgarian is a Cyrillic-based language but it also shares many words with English, French,

and Italian. Cognates are similar-looking words with similar meanings. For example,

"electricity" (elektrichestvo) and "traditional" (tradicionen) are English-Bulgarian cognates.

Word Stress

Bulgarian word stress is dynamic.

Stressed syllables are louder and longer than unstressed ones. Stress, as in Russian and

other East Slavic languages, is also lexical, rather than fixed as in French, Latin, or the West

Slavic languages.

Bulgarian stress is also distinctive. There are words differentiated only by stress. For example,

�'�� ("wool") and ��'� ("wave"), and �'�� ("steam") and ��'� (coin).

Stress usually isn't signified in written text, except for the case of the vowel , meaning "to

her," which is different from the unstressed , meaning "and."

BULGARIANPOD101.COM ALL ABOUT S1 #2 - THE BULGARIAN WRITING SYSTEM 3

Learning Other Languages

If you know Bulgarian, then Macedonian, Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, Slovene, and even

Russian will be easier to understand and learn because they share common roots.

LESSON NOTES

All About S1 #3Painless Bulgarian Grammar

CONTENTS

2 Grammar

# 3


BULGARIANPOD101.COM ALL ABOUT S1 #3 - PAINLESS BULGARIAN GRAMMAR 2

GRAMMAR

The Focus of This Lesson is Basic Bulgarian Grammar

When learning a language, grammar usually chews you up, spits you out, and leaves you to cry in a small corner of the room. The good news is that Bulgarian grammar is not the kind you need to spend hours and hours memorizing. In fact, you could master the basics in less than a week!

Bulgarian grammar is a lot simpler than you might think. For example, basic word order is so similar to English you probably don't need to study it. We easily sum up some of the more difficult aspects of Bulgarian grammar (like gender or subjunctives) in one word-agreement. Everything needs to agree with or match everything else. But we'll talk about that later.

I. History of Grammar

We have studied grammar for at least four thousand years. That means there are many (too many) terms used by grammarians that no one else understands or uses, like "paroxytone" or "present indicative." Almost any four-year-old can speak their native language fluently without knowing those words, so why should you have to learn them?

In these All About lessons, we are going to avoid all but the most basic grammar words. Introducing complex grammatical concepts in the early stages of language learning actually makes things much more difficult than they need to be.

II. Verbs

All languages have verbs and every language uses those verbs differently. The Bulgarian verb can take up to three thousand distinctive forms. We sometimes call Bulgarian verbs "strong" or "heavy" verbs because there is so much meaning in just one or two words. That means less vocabulary to learn. Yea!

Time and Person

Bulgarian verbs contain two central meanings-time (also called tense) and person. "Time" (or tense) is past, present, or future. "Person" means who is talking and who is being talked to or about. We express these meanings by altering the verbs according to specific patterns. Time is indicated by changing the verb to a past, present, or future form, and person is indicated by

BULGARIANPOD101.COM ALL ABOUT S1 #3 - PAINLESS BULGARIAN GRAMMAR 3

adding on a specific ending.

English verbs change to express time and person as well. For example, time can be expressed as "I was happy" (past), which is different from "I am happy" (present), which is different from "I will be happy" (future). Person can be expressed as "I am happy," which is different from "He is happy," which is different from "We are happy."

Bulgarian verbs

Bulgarian verbs vary in person, number, voice, aspect, mood, tense, and even gender. For example, the correct response to Shte hodish li do magazina? ("Are you going to the store?") is Shte otida ("I will go"). Hodish is the verb hodya, originally meaning "to walk." Otida is the verb otivam ("to go"), changed into the correct time and then to the correct person, "I." So in this case, not only the time and person change, but the verb usage changes too, according to the direction of the action.

III. Gender

Gender in Bulgarian denotes a particular type of agreement among words, not people. Jena ("woman") is feminine but so is masa ("table") and zemya ("earth"). Myj ("man") is masculine but so is noj ("knife") and vestnik ("newspaper"). This may sound strange, but it is very easy to pick up and is kind of fun to play with once you get it down.

English does this too, just not as much. For example, we don't say, "He is a stewardess," because "stewardess" denotes femininity and "he" indicates masculinity. Since Bulgarian doesn't have gender-neutral forms like "flight attendant," using the correct grammatical gender is very important.

Tables, chairs, cars, trees, socks, and food all have gender in Bulgarian. We'll go over this in more detail in future lessons.

IV. Plural - More Than One?

Once again, agreement. We already learned that verbs need to be altered or conjugated to the correct person. This number agreement extends to all the articles, demonstratives, pronouns...wait! Too many grammar words! To...all the other words in the sentence. The plural forms of the words do not express their gender as clearly as the singular ones, but may also provide some clues to it. Details on how this is done will come in our next lessons.

LESSON NOTES

All About S1 #4Basic Bulgarian Pronunciation

CONTENTS

2 Grammar

# 4


BULGARIANPOD101.COM ALL ABOUT S1 #4 - BASIC BULGARIAN PRONUNCIATION 2

GRAMMAR

The Focus of This Lesson is Basic Bulgarian Pronunciation

Comparatively speaking, Bulgarian is an easy language to speak. A few sounds might be difficult, but almost every sound in Bulgarian is used every day in English. That means you already know how to say it! Bulgarian also follows many of the same intonation patterns as English.

Let's recap the written system quickly, just as an introduction to the pronunciation. The Bulgarian alphabet is a Cyrillic alphabet that has thirty-five consonant phonemes, one semi-vowel, and six vowels, -�, -�, -�, -�, -�, -�. Their romanization is -A, -Y, -O, -U, -E, -I.

The Five Vowels

-�

The Bulgarian letter -� is pronounced like the [a] in "adorable." The word for "car" is �� (kola), and the word for "small" is �� (malyk).

-�

The Bulgarian letter -� is pronounced like the [u] in "turn." The word for "full" is �� (pylen), and the word for "angle" is �� (ygyl).

-�

The Bulgarian letter -� is pronounced like the [e] in "best." The word for "child" is �� (dete), and the word for "woman" is �� (jena).

-�

The Bulgarian letter -� is pronounced like the [i] in "igloo." The word for "list" is � �� (spisyk), and the word for "life" is �� (jivot).

-�


The Bulgarian letter -� is pronounced like [o] in "order." The word for "cat" is �� (kotka), and the word for "reply" is �� (otgovor).

-�

The Bulgarian letter -� is pronounced like the [u] in "tool." The word for "raw" is �� (surov), and the word for "student" is �� (uchenik). Please do not confuse this with the English -y and with the romanization letter "y," which we use for the vowel -�.

It's important to reproduce these sounds accurately. It doesn't matter how many words you know or how good you are at the grammar, if you don't pronounce the word correctly, the Bulgarians won't understand.

Consonants

Some unique aspects of Bulgarian pronunciation:

-�

The -� sound in Bulgarian is similar to the [sht] in the word "shtick." The word for "happiness" is �� (shtastie), the word for "future" is �� (bydeshte), and the word for "shield" is �� (shtit).

-� or "-�� " (i-kratko)

-� is similar to the English [y] in "yes." The main thing to remember is that it usually combines with -� as -�� for a pronunciation like [yo] in "yoyo." �� (yoga) is of course "yoga," and "New York" is �� (Nyu York) in Bulgarian.

-� or "��-��" (er-malyk)

We pronounce an -� combined with -� as - �, for pronunciation like [yo] in "yoyo." The word for "driver" is !�" �� (shofior), and the word for "magician" is �� (magiosnik).

-# is different from -�, although it sounds the same. Elementary school kids might find it difficult to decide when to use -�� and when - �, but grown-ups know the rules well.

(Furthermore, in Bulgarian the pronunciation of -� or "l" involves a raising of the back of the tongue and a lowering of its middle part, but some Bulgarians pronounce it incorrectly as [w]


and this is known as the phenomenon of the "lazy "l.")

LESSON NOTES

All About S1 #5Top 5 Must Know Bulgarian

Phrases

CONTENTS

2 Grammar

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BULGARIANPOD101.COM ALL ABOUT S1 #5 - TOP 5 MUST KNOW BULGARIAN PHRASES 2

GRAMMAR

The Focus of This Lesson is the Top 5 Must Know Bulgarian Phrases

Here we'll introduce five phrases in Bulgarian that will take you a long way and help you out in a variety of situations!

Zdrasti ("Hi," "hello," informal) ��

The first useful phrase in Bulgarian is Zdrasti. Its meaning is "Hi" or "Hello." Most often someone will greet you with this Bulgarian phrase. The literal meaning behind the word Zdrasti is something like "be healthy," so what Bulgarians do first is wish health to the person they meet. The correct response to this greeting is Zdrasti again, or, even better, Zdravei, also meaning "Hi" or "Hello."

For Example:

A: Zdrasti! ��!

B: Zdrasti. ��.

or

A: Zdrasti! ��!

B: Zdravei. ��.

Here we give you the informal phrase, as you will probably need it the most since it is a basic way to greet new people. Formal situations might include more complicated phrases, which we can discuss in our later lessons.

Blagodarya ("Thank you") ��

A well-placed and sincere "thank you" will always be appreciated when someone gives you a plate of food, a drink, or even a compliment. "Thank you" in Bulgarian is Blagodarya. You might be amazed at the original meaning of this phrase. Literally, it is composed of two words: blago and darya. The first one, blago, means "good" or even "sweet." The second one, darya, means "to give" or "to present." So when we say Blagodarya, we give a good gift of thanking

BULGARIANPOD101.COM ALL ABOUT S1 #5 - TOP 5 MUST KNOW BULGARIAN PHRASES 3

the other person.

Bulgarians are polite and always want to make others happy, and thanking them for it is just good manners. Beyond that, it's often the only thing they will let you do in return!

Molya ("Please") or ("You are welcome")

Molya ("Please") ��

Depending on the context, molya might mean "please." When you need to ask for something, using molya will do miracles. If you don't know the right words or how to phrase your request, don't feel ashamed to simply point and say molya.

Molya ("You are welcome") ��

Molya also can be used as a reply to Blagodarya. It will make a great impression on your Bulgarian friends if you use it, and you can easily remember that it is used after expressing thanks to someone. So after saying Blagodarya, which you already know, you might hear Molya! in reply.

Izvinete ("Excuse me," formal) ��

Bulgarian homes, parties, stores, and especially the buses can be very crowded, and just shoving through people is a good way to make someone mad. Literally, izvinete means "take my fault," but again, Bulgarians do not take it literally and use it just like "excuse me." Simply saying izvinete ("excuse me") gets you through just about any human roadblock. We suggest using the formal word because you most probably will have to use it in public encounters.

Syjalyavam ("I'm sorry") ��

In Bulgarian, syjalyavam means, "I'm sorry." You're probably going to be saying this a lot. Literally, it's a phrase that means "with regret," in the sense that you did something (anything) and now you feel bad about it. In Bulgaria, someone else needs to assure you that you do not need to feel regret by saying Nyama zashto ("There is nothing (to be forgiven for)").

LESSON NOTES

All About S1 #6Top 5 Things to Know About

Bulgaria

CONTENTS

2 Grammar

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BULGARIANPOD101.COM ALL ABOUT S1 #6 - TOP 5 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT BULGARIA 2

GRAMMAR

The Focus of This Lesson is a Quiz!

These are five things you have to know about Bulgaria! Test your knowledge of Bulgaria.

Geography

I. In which part of Bulgaria is the Black Sea coast located?

1. The north

2. The south

3. The east

Correct answer: 1. the east

The Black Sea coast covers the entire eastern boundary of Bulgaria. Golden beaches occupy approximately 130 kilometers of the 378-kilometer-long coast. The season for tourism along the Black Sea Coast starts in May and ends in late September. Many foreign and local tourists visit it, and this is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Bulgaria. Its nickname is the Bulgarian Riviera.

The Bulgarian Black Sea coast has a humid subtropical climate, with temperatures averaging around twenty-eight degrees Celsius, and the sunshine in the peak season of July and August is more than three hundred hours.

The Balkan Mountains of Bulgaria cross the country and reach the edge of the Black Sea coast at Cape Emine, dividing the coastline into northern and eastern parts. The northern Black Sea Coast attracts people with beautiful rocky headlands where many ancient stories took place. The southern Black Sea Coast is known better for its wide sandy beaches with preserved privacy and beauty.

The Bulgarian Black Sea coast presents many opportunities for summer sports, sightseeing, archaeological tourism, art festivals, and many other ways to have a good time. The coastal region can be accessed from two airports, Varna International Airport and Burgas Airport. An


easier option, though, is to land at the airport in the capital, Sofia, and go by bus to the seaside.

Pop Culture

II. We give the names of three people. One is a famous singer, another is a politician, and the third is a sports star. Match the name with their profession.

Boyko Borisov Singer

Dimitar Berbatov Politician

Valya Balkanska Athlete

Correct answers:

Dimitar Berbatov is a Bulgarian soccer player and is well known throughout the world. He plays for Manchester United. He captained the Bulgarian national team from 2006 to 2010, and is its all-time leading goal scorer. He has also won the Bulgarian Footballer of the Year a record seven times, surpassing the number of wins by another famous Bulgarian soccer player, Hristo Stoichkov.

Valya Balkanska is a Bulgarian folk music singer from the Rhodope Mountains. She is known locally for her wide repertoire of Balkan folksong, but around the world she is known mainly for singing the song "Izlel e Delyu Haydutin," part of the Voyager Golden Record selection of music included in the two Voyager spacecrafts launched in 1977.

Boyko Borisov is the Prime Minister of Bulgaria and has held the office since July 2009. Previously, he was Mayor of Sofia from November 2005 until his election as Prime Minister. Boyko Borisov's "man of the people" attitude and the failings of the previous government have been seen as the main sources of his popularity. Borisov has also marked a very wide media presence, being regularly cited in most major media outlets. One of his main goals is the expansion of the national motorway network, of which "Lyulin" was the first motorway to be completed.

Just like Bulgarian grammar, it's all about agreement.

The Bulgarian Finance Minister is vowing that there will be a higher figure for the growth of the state budget, which will feature 2.8 or 2.9 percent growth. However, others estimate these figures will be lower, and Borisov's popularity has been steadily declining due to ongoing economic woes and failure to carry out promised reforms. His controversial status remains the


main subject in the news.

Travel

III. Which are the most popular travel destinations in Bulgaria?

1. Rila National Park, Bansko, and Sofia

2. The Black Sea resorts, Melnik, and Sofia

3. Bansko, Sofia, and the Black Sea resorts

Correct Answer: 3. Bansko, Sofia, and The Black Sea coast

Bansko is the most frequently visited ski resort in Bulgaria. During recent years a multi-million euro investment in a brand new skiing area has been made. Bansko has the best snow record and the longest ski season (December fifteenth through May fifteenth) of all Bulgarian ski resorts. During the last couple of years, this resort has been using its massive investment to create new hotels and resort facilities. A brand new resort area with super luxury hotels and holiday apartments is being developed, which also makes Bansko the resort with the best hotels.

Sofia is the capital and the largest city in Bulgaria. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of Mount Vitosha. Prehistoric settlements were excavated in the center of the present city, near the royal palace. Many of the major universities of Bulgaria are concentrated in Sofia. It is also a center for media, cultural events, and modern theaters, and it is the home of research institutes, sporting events, orchestras, and museums. The increasing number of contemporary art events, festivals, and the like is making Sofia a very attractive destination.

The Black Sea resorts are one of Bulgaria's best options for a vacation. The Black Sea beach resorts of Bulgaria can be divided into two groups according to their location: northern resorts and southern resorts. The southern resorts have slightly higher temperatures compared to the northern ones. Bulgaria offers a budget alternative to more expensive European resorts, with many beautiful cities combining old archaeological sites, traditional craft villages, contemporary entertainment attractions, and first-class hotels.

Economics

IV. Bulgaria is the world's largest exporter of...


1. Wine

2. Fuel

3. Rose extract

Correct Answer: 3 (but also 1)

Trick question! In 1990 Bulgaria was the world's largest exporter of attar (or extract) of roses, used in making perfume. Bulgaria is now one of the world's leading exporters of rose oil, producing more than half of the world's output. The oil is traditionally used for the highest-grade perfumes in the world, but it is also used in the pharmaceutical industry and as an ingredient in some foods. The main buyers are France and the United States.

Although Bulgaria's export of wine is not the world's largest, by the mid-1990s, Bulgaria became the world's second largest exporter of bottled wines and the fifth largest exporter overall, after Italy, France, Spain, and Germany. More than eighty percent of the country's production is exported.

Perspective Check

Bulgaria's electronics, IT, and services outsourcing are the sectors of the Bulgarian economy that harbor the greatest growth potential, and there are other sectors that possess substantial potential for growth.

MYTH Buster!

The biggest myth is that the country of Bulgaria has no good potential when it comes to the development of the economy. In fact, the economy of Bulgaria is rapidly growing, and it is also considered one of the fastest growing economies.

Here we bust some common myths:

1. Food

Bulgarians do eat yogurt every day, but they do not have the same customs for eating it as other nations. Actually, yogurt is used for cooking or as an addition to already cooked meal. It can be the main ingredient of a salad, a topping of a dish, or part of the dessert.


2. Culture

Bulgarians do shake their heads for "yes" and "no" in the opposite way of the rest of the world. Still, many young people and people who are used to visitors from foreign countries do know that fact and will not confuse you by nodding their heads in an extraordinary way.

3. Society

Bulgarian society is such a blend of Bulgarians, with their mixed ethnic origins of the tribes that created the country combined with the Turkish and Roma groups. However, they all consider themselves Bulgarians and follow specific Bulgarian cultural traditions.

4. Roma

The Roma in Bulgaria are the country's second largest minority and third largest ethnic group after Bulgarians and Turks. Bulgaria is the European country with the highest percentage of Roma. Bulgaria participates in international initiatives to improve the socio-economic status and social inclusion of the Roma.

5. Language

And last but not least, Bulgarians speak Bulgarian, their unique Slavic language.

LESSON NOTES

All About S1 #7Top 5 Bulgarian Foods

CONTENTS

2 Grammar

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BULGARIANPOD101.COM ALL ABOUT S1 #7 - TOP 5 BULGARIAN FOODS 2

GRAMMAR

The Focus of This Lesson is Bulgarian Cuisine

Most people have heard of Bulgarian yogurt and Bulgarian wine, but those are just the icing on a very big cake. Bulgaria is a representative of the cuisine of southeastern Europe. Essentially south Slavic, it shares characteristics with other Balkan cuisines. Bulgaria's relatively warm climate and diverse geography afford excellent growth conditions for a variety of vegetables, herbs, and fruits. That is why Bulgarian cuisine is very diverse. We could easily do a fifty-part series on this topic, but let's go with an overview.

Bulgarian food is a unique blend of Mediterranean, Oriental, European, and Slavic influences. A typical Bulgarian meal will have beans, potato, some kind of meat, some kind of vegetable, salad, and, of course, the yogurt drink, airyan (airan). Most meals are a variation on this basic theme. And believe me, there are variations. Bulgarians who live inland usually have pork, chicken, or beef as the meat. Bulgarians who live on the coast often use fresh seafood in addition to or replacing the pork, chicken, or beef.

Bulgarians also consume a plain kind of bread with almost every meal. Bulgarian white cheese, sirene, is also a very common addition to the main dish and salad, and its variation, the yellow cheese kashkaval, is also popular when used for topping or as an appetizer. Lamb is consumed a lot in spring when Bulgarians celebrate Easter and prepare this special, huge dish with lamb, rice, and vegetables.

Bulgarians don't typically use recipes when they cook. This means that the recipes you see in cookbooks or on the Internet, or even in these lessons, are just one (typically simplified) version of one part of one Bulgarian meal. After having meat and potatoes almost every day for seven years, I can honestly say that I've never had the same dish twice. Every meal is a unique experience.

It's also important to know that for Bulgarians, lunch is the most important and largest meal. Meals are almost always made fresh each day, and from eleven A.M. to one P.M. the sweet aroma of fresh cooked food fills every home, street, and city in Bulgaria.

Popular Food Items

Everywhere you go in Bulgaria, you'll find banicharnici ("bakeries"). There you'll find banichka


("white cheese bread, sometimes mixed with leeks"), baklava ("sweet pastry made of layers, filled with nuts and syrup"), milinka, and any number of sweet and salty breads and cookies, or even torts. What will never be missing, though, is gevrek ("circular bread"). It is a crispy bread, plain or sometimes with sesame seeds, which is also very common in Turkey, Greece, and Serbia.

As a side note, the Bulgarian yogurt-based cold soup, tarator, is one of the best, most refreshing summer soups I've ever had, particularly with fresh cucumber in it. Why? It is all vegetables and yogurt, and so healthy! Besides yogurt and cucumbers, it is made with garlic, walnuts, dill, vegetable oil, and water, and is served chilled or even with ice. Tarator is a type of summer 'liquid salad' that can be used as side dish or as a refreshing appetizer.

Seasonal Dishes

There are several holidays that are characterized by specific meals in Bulgaria. Christmas is a big food holiday in Bulgaria. On Christmas Eve, December twenty-fourth, it is a tradition to have vegetarian food. This tradition is connected with Orthodox Christianity, and many people do a vegetarian fast for a long period before Christmas Day, December twenty-fifth. But the Christmas Eve dishes are so plentiful and filling that you won't feel hungry or like you are fasting at all.

Bulgarians prepare vegetarian stuffed peppers, pylneni chushki, and vegetarian stuffed grape leaves, sarmi, together with many more vegetarian dishes. Usually the homemade pita or pitka (traditional bread) has very beautiful decorations and even a lucky coin in it! People say that the one who gets the coin will be happy, healthy, and rich the whole year.

On the next day of Christmas, Bulgarians start eating meat and dairy products again and the holiday is celebrated with a filling dish of pork, rice, and cabbage.

Table Etiquette

While it may seem like an unorganized tumult of plates, food, and conversation, table etiquette in Bulgaria is important. The basic rules apply, such as don't talk with your mouth full, sit up straight, don't put your feet on the table, etc. There are two other things are particularly important to Bulgarians.

1. Although you may be the guest of honor, it is polite to insist that the eldest person at the table start the proceedings.


2. Glasses will always be refilled, so leave a mouthful at the bottom of your glass if you don't want more. The same applies to food. Eating more shows appreciation, but make sure to take little at the initial serving to allow you a second serving.

The Top 5 Bulgarian Dishes

Number 5 – Shopska salata (Shopska salad)

The typical Bulgarian salad dish is made from tomatoes, cucumbers, onion, raw or roasted peppers, sirene (the white brine cheese), olives, and parsley. Bulgarians usually take it with the high-proof alcoholic beverage rakiya, which is often homemade and pretty strong.

Number 4 – Banica

This is a very popular variation of the banichka we mentioned above. It is usually homemade and the filo pastry is the only ingredient you can buy from the supermarket. It is prepared by layering a mixture of whisked eggs and pieces of the same white cheese sirene between the filo pastry and then baking it in an oven. It is also the most common breakfast in Bulgaria.

Number 3 – Kyufte

The Bulgarian kyufte consists of balls of minced or ground meat, usually pork or beef, mixed with spices and onions. There is a vegetarian variety, the kartofeno kyufte (made with potatoes).

Number 2 – Musaka ("Moussaka")

This is an eggplant-based dish that is popular not only in Bulgaria but in the Balkans, the Mediterranean region, and the Middle East. The Bulgarian version uses potatoes together with aubergines, pork mince, and tomato. The top layer is yogurt mixed with raw eggs and a couple spoonfuls of flour.

Number 1 – Gyuvech ("Meat and vegetable stew")

Gyuvech is an oven-baked pork or beef and vegetable stew similar to ratatouille. It is made with the main meat ingredient and olives, tomatoes, mushrooms, rice, onions, herbs, and spices, and it is often served with Shopska salad.


Top 5 Foods for the Brave

Number 5 – Shkembe chorba ("Tripe soup")

In Bulgaria, a whole pork, beef or lamb tripe is boiled for few hours, chopped in small pieces, and returned to the broth. The soup is spiced with ground red paprika, which is briefly fried, and often a small quantity of milk is added. In some areas it is thickened by adding flour to the paprika during frying. Traditionally the soup is served with mashed garlic in vinegar and hot red pepper. Bulgarians consider it to be the best hangover cure.

Number 4 – Popara

This is a breakfast meal made with leftover or fresh bread, milk, and sugar (or honey). It is often eaten with sirene.

Number 3 – Apetitka (Lyutenica)

Lyutenica or apetitka (its spicy version) is a relish-like sauce that includes tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, onion, garlic, black pepper, vegetable oil, sugar, and salt.

Number 2 – Boza

Boza is actually a very thick drink that most Bulgarians love but foreign visitors to Bulgaria find difficult to drink. It is made of fermented wheat and has a slightly acidic, sweet flavor.

Number 1 – Lyuta chushka

This is the "hottest pepper in Bulgaria," one of the hottest in the world, and one of the healthiest. The processed pepper sauces are typically not as hot as eating the pure fruit, which we find at city markets.

LESSON NOTES

All About S1 #8Top 5 Things You Need to Know

about Bulgarian Society

CONTENTS

2 Grammar

# 8


BULGARIANPOD101.COM ALL ABOUT S1 #8 - TOP 5 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT BULGARIAN SOCIETY 2

GRAMMAR

The Focus of This Lesson is the Top 5 Things You Need to Know about Bulgarian Society

Society is a very broad topic, and can't be summarized in a single lesson. That's why we're narrowing it down to the top five most important aspects of Bulgarian society!

Major Cities

Sofia Sofia is the biggest and the most developed city in Bulgaria. Sofia is considered to be the second oldest city in Europe. Among its many names is Serdika-the name of the central residence of the ancient Thracian tribe known as the Serdi. When it was recognized as one of the most important feudal towns in the ninth century, it acquired the Slavic name Sredets, meaning "middle one." In 1879, Sofia was chosen as the capital of Bulgaria. Near Sofia lies Boyana church, which is one of the most valuable monuments of Bulgarian and European culture. Among the main tourist attractions in Sofia are the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, the statue of St. Sofia, The Largo, SS. Cyril and Methodius National Library, Ivan Vazov National Theatre, National Palace of Culture, the Royal Palace at Battenberg Square, Central Military Club, TZUM department store, Lake Ariana, and Sofia Public Mineral Baths.

Plovdiv

Plovdiv is one of the oldest cities in Europe; the city was contemporary with Troy. Its ancient Greek name was Philippoupolis. It is the second largest city in Bulgaria. Plovdiv spreads over an area of about fifty-three square kilometers in the Upper Thracian Plain, along the two banks of the Maritza River. The favorable climate and strategic location helped the city to thrive during almost all historical eras. Historically, the city has developed on seven hills and is often referred to as "The City of the Seven Hills." Plovdiv hosts economic and cultural events such as the International Fair Plovdiv, the international theatrical festival "A stage on a crossroads," and the TV festival "The golden chest." There are many ruins preserved from antiquity, such as the ancient amphitheatre, Roman odeon, Roman stadium, the Eirene archaeological complex, and others. The city's tradition of iconography dates back to the Middle Ages. During the period of National Revival, a number of notable icon-painters from all regions of Bulgaria worked in Plovdiv. Today the city has thirty art galleries.

Varna


The biggest city on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast and the third largest city in Bulgaria, Varna is situated 470 kilometers east of Sofia. The Gulf of Varna has been the cradle of several significant civilizations. Humankind's oldest gold was excavated in Varna, mined by people who inhabited that place around the fourth millennium BC, long before the Thracians, Greeks, Bulgarians, and Turks. Varna provides a wide range of sights and museums. The outstanding treasures of the Archaeological Museum include the Chalcolithic necropolis with the oldest examples of gold jewelry ever discovered. Of particular interest are the National Revival Museum, the Ethnographic and City Historical Museum, the Art Gallery, the Navy Museum, the Aquarium, the Natural History Museum, the Zoo, the Dolphinarium, and the Sea Gardens. Of more historical value are the seventeenth-century Cathedral of the Holy Mother, the Church of St. Atanas, and the second-century Roman thermae. As well as being a beach resort in its own right, Varna offers access to the first-class resorts of Sveti Konstantin, Sunny Day, Golden Sands, and Albena, the natural reserve at Kamchiya, and the rock monastery of Aladja.

Contradictions in Bulgarian Cities

The number one thing you need to know about Bulgarian cities is that they are full of contradiction.

Sofia

Sofia is, and probably always will be, beautiful almost beyond compare. The Vitosha mountain on the outskirts of Sofia, the many parks, and the architectural landmarks are part of its charm. But it is true that recently crimes like pick-pocketing and street fights are becoming a major concern for the citizens, and such a problem earns a spot on the list of major challenges Bulgaria needs to overcome.

Plovdiv

Plovdiv is situated on the Maritsa River. Its unique location on an ancient crossroads has stimulated strong cultural and political influences from eastern and western civilizations, and yet the city has maintained its unique cultural identity. Older than most of the oldest towns, including Rome, Athens, Carthage, and Constantinople, almost the same age as Troy, Plovdiv is a town built upon layers of towns and a culture developed upon layers of cultures. But because of those layers, now there is a problem with the road system, which is becoming more convoluted than the one in the capital.


Varna

Varna is different. It is a big and shiny resort city, safer and well organized. Since antiquity, the city has been surrounded by vineyards, orchards, and forests. Commercial shipping facilities are being relocated inland into the lakes and canals, while the bay remains a recreation area; almost all the waterfront is parkland. Still, cleanliness, not of the water itself but of one of the beaches in Varna, is a big concern.

Family Life

Families in Bulgaria are typically very traditional and very tight-knit. Throughout the era of postwar communist modernization, family life remained one of the most important values in Bulgarian society. For example, the Bulgarian family kept many of its traditional forms of organization. Many households consist of an extended family comprising parents and one of their married sons-usually the youngest-or daughters. Household chores are primarily the responsibility of women, including most working wives. Still, in social planning, Bulgarian legislators usually view their country's women mainly as mothers, not as workers.

The number two thing you should know about Bulgarian society is that most people (more than seventy percent of the population) are Orthodox Christians. Six and a half million Bulgarians identify themselves as Orthodox Christians as well as two million people in other European countries and around the world. Christianity is often part of the family identity. Under the communist government, religious functions were declared entirely separate from state functions. The postwar constitution prohibited the use of religion or religious organizations for political purposes. After 1990 the Bulgarian constitution provided for religious freedom, but in practice this freedom was granted only to the mainstream, registered religions. The practice of nonregistered religions was prohibited.

Work Culture and Economy

A diverse blend of ancient cultures, heritages, and religions, Bulgaria has played an important role at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. Once a powerful country, Bulgaria suffered at the hands of the Ottoman Empire but maintained its ability to contribute extensively to art, literature, music, and architecture. Living in an agricultural society steeped in tradition, Bulgarians are known for their open and friendly demeanor and their extreme hospitality. Since the end of communist control, Bulgaria has made enormous strides towards becoming a modern, industrialized society and is on its way to becoming a member of the EU. As such, it is increasingly attracting the attention of new foreign businesses and investments. For those who wish to become involved in this emerging


market, it is essential to understand the complexity of Bulgarian culture and business etiquette.

Bulgarian business culture is hierarchical, but often the consensus of everyone involved is sought when making decisions. Meetings and negotiations are formal in nature. More senior members in the group have the most authority and command a certain level of respect.

Bulgarian economy is a free market economy. Economically, Bulgaria can be qualified as a developed industrial-agrarian country and is an attractive place for active tourism and sports-lovers because of its incredible natural resources. The main industries, with great importance for the country, are food processing, wine, and tobacco, as well as horticulture and stockbreeding. Bulgaria produces and exports the best tasting vegetables, fruits, tobacco, and dairy products, as well as its famous wines. Bulgaria, with its unique climate and natural resources, is home to Bacillus Bulgaricus and the number one yogurt in the world, which is believed to be the main factor for the longevity of the Bulgarians.

With that short introduction to the economy and the work culture, the third most important thing you should know is that Bulgarian society is tied closely to the land. Phrases like eja se ("to behave like a hedgehog") to indicate that someone is aggressive and/or defensive, zapynal se kato magare na most ("to be like a donkey that does not want to cross the bridge") to indicate stubbornness, and thousands of other phrases and customs show a close connection to nature, despite Bulgaria's industrial development.

Politics

The politics of Bulgaria take place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the Prime Minister is the head of government and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the National Assembly. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislative branches.

Bulgaria has a multi-party system with numerous parties, in which no one party usually has a chance of gaining power alone and parties must work with each other to form coalition governments. Parliamentary elections were held in Bulgaria on July 5, 2009. The decisive winner of the elections was the Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (or GERB) party, led by Boyko Borisov. GERB amassed more votes than the members of the then-ruling center-left coalition combined and is to head a center-right government.

Actually, since 1990 Bulgaria has had an unstable party system that includes the dominant party plus several small parties that have emerged over a short period of time in the past


decade. With that being said, the fourth thing you have to know about Bulgarian society is that few Bulgarians understand how their government works and many are not really interested in politics. This is partially due to the fact that over the past twenty years Bulgaria has always had dramatic changes in its government.

Recently, the presidential elections (last held in October of 2011) show that people still cannot show strong support for one specific party or person.

Generational Trends

The number five thing you should know about Bulgarian society is that it is changing constantly. In the past twenty years, after the end of the communist era, Bulgaria has changed so fast that novelty constantly bombards Bulgarians. People who grew up without electricity are now writing software and designing solar panels. Women who washed clothes by hand in the village river now travel the world as partners in international businesses. Not surprisingly, this has caused a tremendous generational gap. The younger generation absorbs every novelty presented to them. iPhones, Twitter, and bio-fuels are part of everyday life, but many of the older generation have had difficulty keeping up.

LESSON NOTES

All About S1 #9Top 5 Dates During the Calendar

Year

CONTENTS

2 Grammar

# 9


BULGARIANPOD101.COM ALL ABOUT S1 #9 - TOP 5 DATES DURING THE CALENDAR YEAR 2

GRAMMAR

The Focus of This Lesson is the Top 5 Dates During the Calendar Year

Oh, dear, oh, dear! How to choose among so many! In reverse order:

Number 5: Velikden ("Easter")

The fifth most important day in Bulgaria is Velikden ("Easter"). Bulgarians have a traditional society, and Christian celebrations are very important throughout the year-maybe because that is the time for the family to gather, eat a lot of delicious food, and think about the valuable things in life. Easter starts with Palm Sunday, and the holy week leads up to the Great Day. The holiday is popularly known as "Velikden," which literally means, "Great Day." Easter traditions in Bulgaria are derivative of the Eastern Orthodox Church rituals. In tune with worldwide Orthodox traditions, bright red-colored eggs and Easter breads known as "kozunak" are the prominent symbols of Easter in Bulgaria. The Bulgarian "good luck crack" is a unique Easter tradition in Bulgaria. Eggs are cracked after the midnight church service and over the next few days, during the festive season of Easter. On Easter, the eggs are cracked before lunch. The egg that is cracked on the wall of the church is the first egg that people eat after the long fast of Lent. People take turns in tapping their eggs against the eggs of others, and the person who ends up with the last unbroken egg is believed to have a year of good luck. He or she is considered the most successful, healthy, and happy person for the rest of the year. On this day, people often say Hristos Voskrese, and the answer is Voistina Voskrese. Its meaning, of course, relates to Christ's resurrection.

Number 4: Koleda ("Christmas")

The fourth most important day in Bulgaria is Koleda ("Christmas"). Bulgarian Christmas is the same day, the twenty-fifth of December, as every other country in the world. Koleda is a Christian holiday meant to commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ, the central figure of all Christian religions. As Bulgaria is over seventy percent Orthodox Christian, this is a national holiday.

Bulgarians celebrate Christmas in a specific way. Christmas Eve or Bydni vecher is a very important part of the Christmas celebration. Traditionally, Koleda is more for family and most people stay home. Many families have a large, traditional nayadka ("supper") late Christmas Eve, which is often continued on the twenty-fifth with a family lunch. The food is prepared according to the fasting tradition, but plenty of vegetable dishes make a colorful and tasty


dinner. The tradition also involves hiding a coin in the loaf of Christmas bread. The person who finds the coin can also expect good luck in the year to follow.

Bulgarians celebrate Christmas for three consecutive days (the twenty-fifth, twenty-sixth, and twenty-seventh). They stay up late on the twenty-fourth after the big dinner, and on the next day people can wish each other Vesela Koleda! ("Merry Christmas").

Number 3: Nova Godina ("New Year")

The third most important day in Bulgaria is Nova Godina ("New Year"). In fact, New Year celebrations in Bulgaria are more prominent and grand than Christmas celebrations, which are comparatively silent. Traditionally, Nova Godina is less about family and more about society as a whole. Many people go out with friends, go to parties, and have community events. After the New Year speech is given by the country's president, all Bulgarians start preparing for midnight celebrations. As soon as the church bell rings twelve, all the firecrackers are detonated in unison to form an incredible scene in the Bulgarian sky. It is followed by exchanges of wishes and good luck for the coming year. People say, Chestita Nova Godina, which means, "Happy New Year!"

Number 2: 24th of May – Bulgarian Education and Culture and Slavonic Literature Day

The second most important day in Bulgaria is the Day of Education and Culture and Slavonic Literature Day, which both fall on the twenty-fourth of May. Of course, this is also the day of Saints Cyril and Methodius. It is a national holiday celebrating Bulgarian culture and literature as well as the Cyrillic alphabet. Saints Cyril and Methodius are patrons of the National Library of Bulgaria. A monument to them stands in front of the library. They are the most celebrated saints in the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, and icons of two brothers can be found in every church. On the twenty-fourth of May, all the Bulgarian schools celebrate with cultural programs, lots of flowers, and traditional folkloric songs and dances. It's a holiday of spiritual rising, of perfection and striving for scientific and cultural achievements. This day has been celebrated for 160 years now-no other holiday has been celebrated for so long in modern Bulgarian history.

Number 1: 3rd of March – Liberation Day

The most important day in Bulgaria is the day of the founding of the Principality of Bulgaria as established by the Treaty of San Stefano and the day that Ottoman domination in Bulgaria ended-March 3, 1878. This is the date proclaimed as the national holiday of Bulgaria. March third was commemorated as a holiday for the first time in 1880, on the occasion of the enthronement of Russian Emperor Alexander the Second. Since 1888, March third has


become Bulgaria's Day of Liberation, but it was not declared a national holiday until 1978. By tradition, on Bulgaria's national holiday, March third, thousands of people go to Shipka peak on Stara Planina mountain to honor the memory of the Bulgarian volunteers and Russian soldiers who fought for Bulgaria's freedom. Throughout the day people of all generations, carrying the national flag, climb the stairs to the monument and stand on top of the hill. This is a day of celebration of freedom and independence, and many Bulgarians consider it an honor to wear, display, and use items with the pattern of the Bulgarian national flag on any patriotic occasion.

LESSON NOTES

All About S1 #10Top 5 Things You Need to Know

About Bulgarian Pop Culture

CONTENTS

2 Grammar

# 10


BULGARIANPOD101.COM ALL ABOUT S1 #10 - TOP 5 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT BULGARIAN POP CULTURE 2

GRAMMAR

The Focus of This Lesson is the Top 5 Things to Know about Bulgarian Pop Culture

As popular culture changes quickly and drastically, this lesson focuses on the most recent pop culture phenomena. Please keep in mind, we wrote this lesson in November 2011. In this lesson, we'll focus on the top five pop culture topics in Bulgaria.

Popular TV

In Bulgaria, the main form of entertainment is television, and the four major TV channels, which are BNT, bTV, Nova Television, and TV7, influence everything from political campaigns to fashion to international relations. One of the most important aspects of TV in Bulgaria is the serial. Bulgarian serials are usually foreign soap operas, but recently new Bulgarian productions like "Staklen Dom" ("Glass House") are also becoming very popular.

Many popular daily expressions can be traced to a particular episode or character in the serial. "Glass House" is a family drama story that also features crime. It shows Bulgarian society as it appears in real life. Viewers can see everything that is happening in Bulgaria by watching it.

Content can vary among the TV channels, but in general, it includes kids and variety programs in the morning; general entertainment programs, movies, and reruns in the afternoon; and news, serials, sports, films, and the very popular talk shows in the evening.

Popular Bulgarians Abroad

Bulgarians often occupy surprising roles in the international scene, from Veselin Topalov, the Bulgarian grandmaster and world champion in chess during 2005 and 2006, to Christo Javacheff, known worldwide as Christo, an artist of Bulgarian origin who is one of the greatest avant-garde artists of our time.

With that short introduction to Bulgarians abroad, the number four thing you should know about Bulgarian pop culture is the names of important Bulgarian soccer players. Hristo Stoichkov, Dimitar Berbatov, and, a long time before them, Georgi Asparuhov (nicknamed Gundi) are all famous around the world. Hristo Stoichkov has arguably become the best-known Bulgarian footballer of all time. Dimitar Berbatov currently ranks as one of the most famous Bulgarian football players. Gundi also became extremely popular at home and


abroad, having had offers from clubs in Italy and Portugal and having won the Bulgarian football player Number One award for the twentieth century.

Popular Music

The most popular Bulgarian genres outside of Bulgaria are folk music and classical music. The most internationally famous folk music songs are the ones by the women's vocal group Misteriyata na bylgarskite glasove or the "Mystery of the Bulgarian Voices." Their songs are used in many movies' soundtracks. Another folk song, "Izlel e Delyo Haidutin," by the folk singer Valya Balkanska, was included on the Voyager Golden Record.

The number three thing you need to know about Bulgarian pop culture is that Bulgarian music is diverse. From rock to rap to pop-folk, Bulgarian music has something for everyone. Some famous musicians and groups include Maria Ilieva, Karizma, Upsurt, Wickeda, Hipodil, Azis, Isihia, and Ostava, just to name a few.

Popular Sports

If you know anything about sports then you know that Bulgaria means "soccer," called futbol in Bulgarian. Here, futbol is more than a sport, it's a cultural phenomenon. When there is an important football game, it's almost like a national holiday; everyone is at the stadium or in front of the TV.

Even though soccer is the overwhelming favorite, other sports are played in Bulgaria. Bulgaria fields one of the leading volleyball teams in Europe and the world. Weightlifting is one of the most successful disciplines in Bulgaria. And thanks to Neshka Robeva and others like her, rhythmic gymnastics has always been popular. Bulgarians have made many significant achievements in athletics. Wrestling is also very popular in Bulgaria, and Bulgaria has two sumo wrestlers in Japan. One of them, Kaloyan Mahlyanov, is named Kotooshu and was the first European to win the ozeki.

The number two most important thing you need to know about Bulgaria is that the Bulgarian winter sports resorts offer cheap deals with excellent quality. If you intend to spend your winter vacation in Bulgaria, you can book a hotel at the top winter resorts, Borovets, Bansko, or Pamporovo. Winter at Bulgarian mountain resorts is mild and snowy, presenting excellent conditions for winter sports. The perfect ski conditions in the winter resorts, the low prices, and the large investments that they receive make them highly competitive and attract foreign tourists to spend their winter holidays in Bulgaria.

International Pop Culture


Bulgarians are surprisingly up to date on international pop culture. Twilight, Lady Gaga, and Beyonce are part of popular culture as well as Kesha, Justin Bieber, the Black-Eyed Peas, and Avatar. Basically, whatever is popular internationally is popular in Bulgaria too.

Like everywhere in the world, the iPhone is very popular in Bulgaria now. The major mobile operator, GLOBUL, started offering the device in 2009, and since then the new releases have been followed by great interest from consumers. Before that time, Bulgarians had to rely on unofficial channels to get an iPhone. Although still quite an expensive device, a lot of people are eager to get it.

LESSON NOTES

All About S1 #11Top 5 Most Useful Tools for

Learning Bulgarian

CONTENTS

2 Grammar

# 11


BULGARIANPOD101.COM ALL ABOUT S1 #11 - TOP 5 MOST USEFUL TOOLS FOR LEARNING BULGARIAN 2

GRAMMAR

The Focus of this Lesson is the Top 5 Most Useful Tools for Learning Bulgarian

Entertainment

Language is not just an academic pursuit. The purpose of any language is to communicate with others, and that is more often done through stories and video than through academic papers. Besides, these sources of reading and listening pleasure provide excellent examples of how native speakers actually use the language, something no textbook can copy. Some great resources for Bulgarian learners of all levels are YouTube and Google Images. Just type in the Bulgarian word for whatever you want to learn about and start studying. Many people have used movies and TV shows as their primary means of contact with a culture. Just remember, you are what you watch. Watching a professionally produced feature film will yield better results faster than watching people doing dumb stuff on YouTube.

Dictionary

Using bilingual dictionaries used to be a bit of a catch-22. Only the larger dictionaries were complete enough to be useful, but they were too large to carry around. Nowadays, web-based and electronic dictionaries are rapidly bridging that gap. They are complete enough to help you with your composition assignments, faster than paperbound dictionaries, and available on any web browser or smart phone. Currently, no online Bulgarian dictionary is a "one-stop-shop," but the English-Bulgarian dictionary at SA Dictionary is about as close as you can get. It matches words in Bulgarian very well and can give you some example sentences too. Very useful!

Warning: Make sure you're using a web-based dictionary and not an online translator. Web-based dictionaries will give you the dictionary entry of the word you're looking for; an online translator will offer you a machine translation that is rarely accurate.

Bulgarian-Speaking Friends and Loved Ones

This is potentially the most efficient and most rewarding way to learn Bulgarian. Friends and loved ones who speak to you in Bulgarian can give you more insight and understanding and help you feel the heart of Bulgarian. Bulgarian is always changing, and the only way you can

BULGARIANPOD101.COM ALL ABOUT S1 #11 - TOP 5 MOST USEFUL TOOLS FOR LEARNING BULGARIAN 3

keep up is if you can feel the language the way they do. With their help, you'll learn to express yourself in Bulgarian and understand others in ways that none of the tools previously mentioned can even approach. The more time you spend negotiating meaning from natural, native speech, the better.

Social Networking

If you are like I was when I started learning Bulgarian, then talking with Bulgarian-speaking friends and family isn't really an option. I didn't know anyone who spoke Bulgarian and didn't feel comfortable randomly calling people in Bulgaria to practice speaking. Many people, probably most people, are in a similar situation. That's why social networking sites can be so useful when you are learning a language. If you want to meet Bulgarians, the best place is a social networking service like Facebook. An interesting fact is that some two million Bulgarians (the population of Bulgaria is around seven million) are on Facebook. Millions and millions of Bulgarians access it every day and post messages about their lives. You can create an account, search for and get to know new people, and practice your Bulgarian all for free on Facebook. Bulgaria takes second place in Europe when it comes to Internet usage amongst the youth demographic, according to recent case studies conducted by "EU Kids Online."

Besides that, you can explore more in vbox7.com (the Bulgarian YouTube), the Bulgarian tourism social network idi.bg (idi means "go" in Bulgarian), and many more.

Pen and Paper

Ultra-low-tech and ultra cheap, pen and paper is still the king of speed and flexibility in note taking. No one will mug you for a notebook (but they might for that three hundred dollar smart phone or thousand dollar laptop), and it doesn't matter if it gets wet—let it dry and keep on using it, or throw it out and get a new one. Journalists still use pen and paper for note taking because it's just plain faster. For example, you're at the store and you have a good idea about something to study, but when you have time to study, you can't remember what it was. Has this happened to you? Instead, write down all your ideas and then choose what you want to study from your list. That way, you study what you want, when you want, and you aren't wasting time trying to remember your great idea.

LESSON NOTES

All About S1 #12Top 5 Tips for Avoiding Common

Mistakes in Bulgarian

CONTENTS

2 Grammar

# 12


BULGARIANPOD101.COM ALL ABOUT S1 #12 - TOP 5 TIPS FOR AVOIDING COMMON MISTAKES IN BULGARIAN 2

GRAMMAR

The Focus of this Lesson is Tips to Help Overcome Some Common Errors That Learners of Bulgarian Make.

Tip 1: Don't Talk Fast

It's so hard to understand someone when he or she speaks too fast. When you hear native Bulgarians speaking, it will seem like they are talking a thousand words per minute, but don't feel like you need to keep up. They're native, which means they can talk as fast as they want. Many foreigners try to speak as fast as Bulgarians do, and even though their grammar is perfect, they smash the words together in ways that we can't decipher. It usually takes years of fine-tuning pronunciation to be able to speak as fast as a Bulgarian does. Many people jumble up their words in Bulgarian because they speak too fast. Speak slowly and clearly, and people will understand.

Tip 2: Distinguish the cognate pronunciations

Bulgarian and English, Italian, and French have many cognates, but it isn't that simple. The way the cognates are pronounced in Bulgarian sometimes differs a lot. You have to be careful not to try to copy the original pronunciation but to learn the way Bulgarian people pronounce it. Here are some examples of simple cognate pronunciation patterns.

"English" Bulgarian

"-y" (melody, fantasy) -iya, -��

"-ic" (dramatic, dynamic) -en, -�� (or -ichen, -��)

Bulgarians very often say "merci" instead of "blagodarya" (meaning formal "thank you") and "ciao" instead of "dovijdane" (meaning formal "good bye"), but you must remember they do not pronounce the "merci" with the French "r" but with a hard Slavic "r." The same applies to "ciao," which is pronounced short, not like the Italian prolonged "ciao;" also, it is used only to say good-bye, and not as a greeting as in Italy.

Tip 3: Learn basic conjugations


Bulgarian verbal conjugation is also important. Bulgarian verbs are divided into three conjugations according to the thematic vowel they use in the present tense-first using the vowel "�," second using the vowel "�," and third ending in the vowels "�" or "�." It is affected by person, number, gender, tense, mood, and voice. But still, that is way too much to go over in one lesson. And for that matter, if you're just starting out, "sym" ("��") or "to be" is a great place to begin because it is the most commonly used verb in Bulgarian.

People starting to speak Bulgarian often say things like Te e umoreni or Az sme amerikanec. This is incorrect and very painful for Bulgarians to hear. It's kind of like hearing "They is tired" or "I are American," only worse. Learning the correct conjugations isn't hard, but can be time-consuming, as there are so many. Just remember to pace yourself and focus on what each conjugation means instead of its grammatical function.

Many people get very frustrated when it comes to verb conjugation because we place so much focus on the grammatical function that the actual meaning of the verb is somehow lost. We'll try to avoid that sinkhole in these lessons and help you understand verbs the way the Bulgarians do.

Tip 4: Learn the Pronunciation Now

Don't delay! We've dedicated an entire lesson series to pronunciation because it's that important in Bulgarian. It doesn't matter how well you know the grammar, if you don't pronounce it right, the Bulgarians won't understand you.

Tip 5: Watch Out for Stressed or Not-stressed Vowels

In Bulgarian, the length of the vowels differs depending on whether they are stressed or unstressed. Unstressed "�," "�," "�," and "" tend to be shorter and weaker than their stressed counterparts. You know that you have mastered the language when you know where to put the stress in the Bulgarian words. This is one of the most difficult aspects for foreigners to master because the differences are so minute that most don't even notice there's a difference. But the Bulgarians notice. It's one of the first things that tell Bulgarians that you are not native. The good news is that with a bit of practice, knowing when a vowel should be stressed or not is easy.

Examples:

The stress moves to the second syllable:

Bulgarian "English"


myj (��) "man"

myjyt (��) "the man"

LESSON NOTES

All About S1 #13Top 5 Phrases Your Teacher Will

Never Teach You

CONTENTS

2 Grammar

# 13


BULGARIANPOD101.COM ALL ABOUT S1 #13 - TOP 5 PHRASES YOUR TEACHER WILL NEVER TEACH YOU 2

GRAMMAR

The Focus of This Lesson is Common Bulgarian Expressions That You Might Not Learn From a Bulgarian Teacher.

Phrase One: Chakai malko ("Wait a minute.")

Chakai malko literally translates to "Wait for a while," and means "Wait a minute."

Phrase Two: Kakvo stava? ("What's going on?")

Kakvo stava? is an expression that means "What's going on?" Literally, it means "What is happening?" We typically use it in situations where something disagreeable or unpleasant has happened.

Phrase 3: Jalko ("Poor thing")

Jalko literally means "poor (thing)" and we use it like the English expression "It's a pity." You can use it when you are disappointed with something.

Phrase Four: Seriozno? ("Speak seriously")

Seriozno? literally translates to "seriously," but is an expression we use with a tone of disbelief and can be roughly interpreted to mean "Really? Tell the truth." We usually use it in a playful setting and the tone of voice gives it a similar meaning to "You're kidding!" in English.

Phrase Five: Kak e? ("What's up")

Kak e? literally means "How is it?" and is a casual greeting used among friends. It is very similar in feeling and use to the English phrase "What's up?"

LESSON NOTES

All About S1 #14Top 5 Classroom Phrases in

Bulgarian

CONTENTS

2 Grammar

# 14


BULGARIANPOD101.COM ALL ABOUT S1 #14 - TOP 5 CLASSROOM PHRASES IN BULGARIAN 2

GRAMMAR

The Focus of this Lesson is Useful Bulgarian Phrases For the Classroom

Here are the phrases for this lesson:

Phrase One: Kakvo oznachava...? ("What means...?")

Kakvo oznachava...? is a written phrase that literally translates to "What means...?" This is a very useful phrase in the classroom because you can ask your teacher what certain words, ideas, or places mean in Bulgarian. You would use this phrase by first stating, Kakvo oznachava, and then adding the word you want to know.

For Example:

1. Kakvo oznachava obuvka? Literally, "What means obuvka?" "What does obuvka mean?" (Obuvka means "shoe")

2. Kakvo oznachava jenya? Literally, "What means jenya?" "What does jenya mean?" (Jenya means "to marry")

3. Kakvo oznachava spri? Literally, "What means spri?" "What does spri mean?" (Spri means "stop")

Phrase Two: Molya otvorete uchebnicite si ("Please open your textbooks.")

Otvorete uchebnicite si literally means "Open your textbooks," and Molya means "please." Your teacher might use this phrase to tell the class to open their textbooks to begin reading.

Phrase Three: Ne razbiram ("I didn't understand.")

Ne razbiram literally means "I don't understand." You would use this phrase if your teacher explains something or says something that you didn't understand. Bulgarian teachers like it when you use Bulgarian to interact in the classroom, even if they have to explain things in

BULGARIANPOD101.COM ALL ABOUT S1 #14 - TOP 5 CLASSROOM PHRASES IN BULGARIAN 3

English afterward.

Phrase Four: Oshte vednyj ("One more time.")

Oshte vednyj literally translates to "more one time," but it means "one more time" or "again." You can expect your teacher to say this when they want you to repeat something.

Phrase Five: Razbrahte li? ("Understood?", formal)

Razbrahte li? literally means "Did you understand?" Teachers use this question to make sure the students understand what they are explaining.

LESSON NOTES

All About S1 #15Top 5 Useful Bulgarian Phrases

From Your Hosts!

CONTENTS

2 Grammar

# 15


BULGARIANPOD101.COM ALL ABOUT S1 #15 - TOP 5 USEFUL BULGARIAN PHRASES FROM YOUR HOSTS! 2

GRAMMAR

The Focus of This Lesson is the Top 5 Useful Phrases from Your Hosts

Phrase One: Kak si? ("How are you doing?")

This phrase means "How ya doin'?" It is very normal slang, and you might hear it even in more formal settings. Its longer form is Kak si naposledyk? which means, "How are you these days?"

Phrase Two: Dobre sym ("I'm good.")

This phrase means "I'm good." It's a very casual phrase but not quite slang.

Phrase Three: Kyde e ("Where is...?")

This phrase means "Where is...?" It has a more formal equivalent in Kyde se namira...? but you normally use Kyde e...? for things you are having difficulty finding.

Phrase Four: Tochno taka ("Exactly.")

Literally, this phrase translates to "Exactly this way." We use Tochno taka constantly and it acts as a non-committal confirmation of what was said. A related and equally ambiguous phrase is Tochno. Literally, it translates to "Exactly," but somehow, it means "Right." This phrase is used in a conversation as your response when you are listening to a story, agree with it, and understand well what is being said.

Phrase Five: Nali ("Isn't it?")

The last phrase is Nali? This means "Isn't it?" or "Right?" Bulgarians want to make sure you understand them, so they use Nali? to see if their listeners agree with what they are saying.

LESSON NOTES

Pronunciation S1 #1Basic Bulgarian Consonant Sounds

CONTENTS

2 Grammar

# 1


BULGARIANPOD101.COM PRONUNCIATION S1 #1 - BASIC BULGARIAN CONSONANT SOUNDS 2

GRAMMAR

The Focus of This Lesson is Syllables and Native Consonant Sounds That Make Up the

Bulgarian Language

Introduction

Let's first take a look at how Bulgarian sounds work. In Bulgarian, we use the Cyrillic

alphabet. The Bulgarian alphabet consists of twenty consonant sounds ([�], [�], [�], [�], [�], [�], [�], [�], [], [], [�], [�], [ ], [�], [�], [�], [�], [�], [�], [�], and there are also composed sounds like

[��], which are not part of the alphabet, formed by two consonants in some words like "join" or

"edge"), and six vowels ([�], [�], [�], [�], [�], [�]). There are also two semivowels, [�] and [�], which are usually combined with vowels. Bulgarian has two compound sounds that are also

included in the letters of the alphabet. They are [�] and [�]. Altogether, we have thirty letters of

the alphabet. In Bulgarian, there are words like the English word "strength," which have

clusters of three or more consonants. But in Bulgarian the maximum phonological structure of

the syllable can be summarised as CCCVCCC. There are various syllable types; the more

complex ones are, for example, CCVC, CCCVC, and CCVCCC. The simple ones are of the

CVC type, for example.

Examples of Bulgarian Words

C=consonant V=vowel


Syllable

Combination

��bryag "shore" CCVC

��strah "fear" CCCVC

��sfinks "sphinx" CCVCCC

��dom "home" CVC

Consonants

1.

[�] (b) as in "bus"


2.

[�] (v) as in "very"

3.

[�] (g) as in "good"

4.

[�] (d) as in "dog"

5.

[�] (j) as s in "leisure"

6.

[�] (z) as in "zoo"

7.

[�] (k) as in "kick"

8.

[�] (l) as in "love"

9.

[] (m) as in "many"

10.

[] (n) as in "no"

11.

[�] (p) as in "pot"

12.

[�] (r) as in "red"

13.

[ ] (s) as in "sit"

14.

[�] (t) as in "tea"

15.

[�] (f) as in "foot"

16.

[�] (h) as in "heart"

17.

[�] (ts) as in "fits"

18.

[�] (ch) as in "check"

19.

[�] (sh) as in "shut"

20.

[�] (sht) as in "shtick" or the "-shed" in "pushed"

21.

[��] (dj) as in "job" or "John"


22.

[�] (i) as in "instant" or "yes," shorter than the vowel [�]

23.

[�] (i) consonant softening sound, combined with [�] to make "yo" as in "yoyo"

24.

[�] (yu) as in "you"

25.

[�] (ya) as in "yarn"

Pronunciation

Every Bulgarian letter has an English equivalent close enough to give you a clue as to its

pronunciation. If you use the phonetic transcription of the pronunciation as given above, you

can memorize how to pronounce every letter. The stress is very important not only for the

pronunciation, but for the meaning as well.

The bad news is that there is no rule for the position of the stress in Bulgarian. Every word

should be memorized separately. In some words the stress can change its position when

changing the form from singular to plural or when adding a definite article. Also there are

words that change their meaning depending on the stress. But don't worry! In these

pronunciation lessons we are going to give you tips on how to learn and master Bulgarian

pronunciation.

LESSON NOTES

Pronunciation S1 #2Basic Vowels in Bulgarian

CONTENTS

2 Grammar

# 2


BULGARIANPOD101.COM PRONUNCIATION S1 #2 - BASIC VOWELS IN BULGARIAN 2

GRAMMAR

The Focus of This Lesson is Bulgarian Basic Vowels and Diphthongs

Vowels

There are six vowels: "-�," "-�," "-�," "-�," "-�," and "-�."

1. "-�"

Pronounced as [ah] as in "father," never as the [a] in "cat."

For Example:

1. �� ("aroma")

2. � ("I")

2. "-�"

Pronounced like [e] as in "best."

For Example:

1. �� ("deer")

2. � �� ("one")

3. "-�"

Pronounced like [i] as in "igloo."

For Example:

1. �� ("illusion")

BULGARIANPOD101.COM PRONUNCIATION S1 #2 - BASIC VOWELS IN BULGARIAN 3

2. �� ("pin")

4. "-�"

Pronounced like [o] as in "order."

For Example:

1. �� ("lunch")

2. �� ("flame")

5. "-�"

Pronounced like [oo] as in "tool."

For Example;

1. �� ("ear")

2. �� ("street")

6. "-�"

Pronounced like [u] as in "turn."

For Example;

1. �� ("finger")

2. �� ("yellow")

LESSON NOTES

Pronunciation S1 #3Five Special Bulgarian Letters

CONTENTS

2 Grammar

# 3


BULGARIANPOD101.COM PRONUNCIATION S1 #3 - FIVE SPECIAL BULGARIAN LETTERS 2

GRAMMAR

The Focus of This Lesson is Five Special Letters that Look Like English Ones but are Pronounced Differently in Bulgarian

In Bulgarian, there are five letters that look like the English letters but are pronounced

differently. Unlike them, letters like "-�," "-�," and "-�" are direct equivalents of the English "-k,"

"-m," and "-t." The specific five letters that look like English ones but are pronounced

differently can be difficult for a beginner in Bulgarian, so it is better to take a detailed look at

them.

The five special letters are "-�," "-�," "-�," "-�," and "-�." They are pronounced as [v], [n], [r], [s],

and [h].

I. "-�"

1. �� ("to see")

2. �� ("sorry")

Pronounced as [v], for example, [vijdam] "to see" and [syjalyavam] "sorry."

II. "-�"

1. �� (the New Testament)

2. �� (a Bulgarian television network)

Pronounced as [n], for example, [Noviyat Zavet] ("the New Testament"), and [Nova]

("Bulgarian television network").

III. "-�"

1. �� ("rose")

2. �� ("time" or "weather")

BULGARIANPOD101.COM PRONUNCIATION S1 #3 - FIVE SPECIAL BULGARIAN LETTERS 3

Pronounced as [r], for example, [roza] "rose," and [vreme] "time" or "weather."

IV. "-�"

1. ��⇥⇤⌅⇧⌃⌥�� ("specialty")

2. � �� ("last" or "final")

Pronounced as [s], for example, [specialnost] "specialty," and [posleden] "last" or "final."

V. "-�"

1. � � ("people")

2. �� ("laughter")

Pronounced as [h], for example, [hora] "people," and [smyah] "laughter."

LESSON NOTES

Pronunciation S1 #4Regional Bulgarian Pronunciation

CONTENTS

2 Grammar

# 4


BULGARIANPOD101.COM PRONUNCIATION S1 #4 - REGIONAL BULGARIAN PRONUNCIATION 2

GRAMMAR

The Focus of this Lesson is Regional Variations of Bulgarian Pronunciation

The official written Bulgarian is the same for the whole territory of the country, whereas in

spoken Bulgarian, there are several regional variations, which very slightly differ from each

other. They are not official dialects, but "dialect" is the common term used to describe these

variations. The main differences between them are in the ways people pronounce some

vowels, as well as, indeed, some local words used only in particular regions. Prominent

variations are used in the following regions.

Shopski dialect

In the west, mainly in the area surrounding the capitol, Sofia, there is the shopski dialect,

named after the region. Although the Sofia region is considered the area where the highest

percentage of the population speaks the official language, this region still has some specific

ways of pronouncing words that are considered "harder" than other regions. For example,

some words containing the compound sound � can be pronounced with � instead, like

[��, pryasno] and [��, presno], meaning "fresh."

Varnenski dialect

In the northeastern Bulgaria, named after the country's largest sea-port, Varna, there is the

varnenski dialect. Compared to the Sofia region's dialect, it is softer. For example, some

vowels can be changed in a specific way. The word [��, peyka] ("bench") might change to

sound like [pieyka]. Note that this is not the official form and it is considered incorrect

pronunciation.

There is also the so-called plovdivski dialect, spoken in the city of Plovdiv and the area

around it, which actually does not differ much from the dialects around the region of Varna

and the Black Sea.

LESSON NOTES

Pronunciation S1 #5Five Common Bulgarian

Pronunciation Mistakes

CONTENTS

2 Grammar

# 5


BULGARIANPOD101.COM PRONUNCIATION S1 #5 - FIVE COMMON BULGARIAN PRONUNCIATION MISTAKES 2

GRAMMAR

The Focus of This Lesson is the Five Most Common Mistakes People Make When They Pronounce Bulgarian

1. Remember to Trill Your "-R's"!

Remember that in Bulgarian, we don't pronounce the letter "-R" in the same way as it is pronounced in English. We trill it, much like the "-r" in Spanish. One of the ways that people can automatically detect a foreign accent over the phone is by the way you pronounce this particular sound. For example, if you want some traditional Bulgarian alcoholic drink, you ask for rakiya with a trilled "-r." If you asked for rakiya with an English-like "-r," the shopkeepers might have some trouble figuring out what exactly you want!

2. The Bulgarian "L"

There is no great chance that you might learn this incorrectly, but the way the Bulgarians pronounce "L" varies. Many young people often pronounce it as an approximate [w]. This phenomenon, commonly known as �� "�" (lazy "l") in Bulgaria, was first registered in the 1970s and isn't connected to original dialects. Similar developments, termed L-vocalization, have occurred in many languages, including Polish, Serbo-Croatian, Brazilian Portuguese, and certain dialects of English, such as Cockney. When you pronounce "L," make sure you say it as in "call" and not as in "caw."

3. Voiced and Voiceless Consonants

In Bulgarian, a letter that represents a voiced consonant can represent its voiceless counterpart and vice versa. This occurs when it is placed adjacent to a voiceless or voiced consonant, respectively. This also happens when a voiced consonant is in a final syllable, for example, �� /ftornik/ "Tuesday;" � /n��/ "knife;" �� /zgrad�/ "building;" and �� /svadb�/ "wedding."

4. The Stress in Bulgarian

The word stress in Bulgarian is also very important. You can be recognized as non-native speaker by putting the stress on a wrong syllable. You must notice that Bulgarian stress is also distinctive; for example, �'�� /�v��n�/ ("wool") and ��'� /v��na/ ("wave") are only differentiated by stress. The same goes for the words �'�� ("steam") and ��'� ("coin").

BULGARIANPOD101.COM PRONUNCIATION S1 #5 - FIVE COMMON BULGARIAN PRONUNCIATION MISTAKES 3

5. Watch Out for Similar Sounding Words!

In Bulgarian there are many words that sound exactly the same or almost the same but have different meanings. As a beginner in Bulgarian, it can be easy to mix up similar sounding words.

Some infamous examples include,

1.Jena ("woman") vs. jenya ("marry")

2.Kosa ("hair") vs. koza ("goat")

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