No noun cases
Nouns keep one form whatever their role in the sentence; prepositions do the work. Only pronouns still change (аз, мен, ми), and a vocative survives in calls like Иване! and мамо!
Давам книгата на Мария.I give the book to Maria.
Български език
About the Bulgarian language
Bulgarian is a South Slavic language written in Cyrillic, the official language of Bulgaria and one of the official languages of the European Union. It was the first Slavic language to be written down, and its grammar took a different road from its relatives: no noun cases, an article on the end of the word, and verbs that say whether you saw something yourself.
Family tree
Bulgarian belongs to the Slavic branch of the Indo-European family. Its closest relative is Macedonian; the two form the eastern group of the South Slavic languages.
- Indo-European
- Balto-Slavic
- BalticLithuanian, Latvian
- Slavic
- East SlavicRussian, Ukrainian, Belarusian
- West SlavicPolish, Czech, Slovak
- South Slavic
- Western South SlavicSerbo-Croatian, Slovene
- Eastern South Slavic
- Bulgarian
- Macedonian
- Balto-Slavic
History
From the first Slavic alphabet to the third official alphabet of the EU.
- 860s
The Glagolitic script
Cyril and Methodius create the first Slavic alphabet for their mission to Great Moravia.
- 886
A school in Pliska
Their disciples reach Bulgaria and Prince Boris I founds a literary school, which moves to the capital Preslav in 893.
- c. 900
Cyrillic takes shape
Scholars of the Preslav school adapt the Greek uncial script to Slavic sounds. This is the Cyrillic alphabet.
- 9th to 11th c.
Old Bulgarian
Old Church Slavonic, the first Slavic language attested in writing, becomes the literary language of the Slavs.
- 12th to 15th c.
Middle Bulgarian
The official language of the Second Bulgarian Empire. The genitive, locative and instrumental cases disappear from the language.
- 16th c. on
Modern Bulgarian
In the 19th century, during the National Revival, a standard language forms on the eastern dialects.
- 1899
First official spelling
The Drinov and Ivanchev orthography, with 32 letters, is made official after independence.
- 1945
Spelling reform
The letters ѣ and ѫ are dropped, leaving the 30-letter alphabet used today.
- 2007
Cyrillic in the EU
Bulgaria joins the European Union on 1 January and Cyrillic becomes its third official alphabet, after Latin and Greek.
Compared to a language you know
What you can carry over depends on where you start: the alphabet and vocabulary from other Slavic languages, grammar from Bulgaria's Balkan neighbours.
I already speak
Russian and BulgarianClose
- Same Cyrillic alphabet with small differences: Bulgarian has no ы or э, and ъ is a full vowel.
- A large share of everyday and literary vocabulary is recognisably the same.
- The big difference: Russian has six noun cases and no articles; Bulgarian has articles and no noun cases.
How hard is it?
For English speakers the US Foreign Service Institute places Bulgarian in category III, the same group as Russian, Polish and Greek: about 44 weeks, or 1100 class hours, of full-time study to reach professional working proficiency. The alphabet takes days, not months; the verbs take longest.
What makes it unusual
Four features that set Bulgarian apart from most other Slavic languages. Tap an example to hear it.
The article goes on the end
There is no separate word for "the". It is a suffix, as in Romanian or the Scandinavian languages.
книга, книгатаa book, the book
дете, дететоa child, the child
No infinitive
Where English says "to go", Bulgarian uses да and a conjugated verb.
Искам да отида.I want to go. (literally: I want that I go)
The renarrative
Verbs show whether you saw something yourself or only heard about it.
Той беше в София.He was in Sofia. (I know it)
Той бил в София.He was in Sofia, apparently. (I was told)
