Bulgarian verbs
Encyclopedia
Bulgarian verbs are the most complicated part of Bulgarian grammar, especially when compared to other Slavic languages. They are inflected for person, number and sometimes gender. They also have lexical aspect (perfective and imperfective), voice, nine tenses
, three moods
,These are the indicative, the imperative and the conditional. Additionally, the inferential is treated as a fourth mood by those linguists who do not include it within the evidential system (e.g. Kutsarov 2007, p. 282-286). And there are a few authors who treat da-forms as constituting a conjunctive mood, but the prevailing opinion is against this view (Kutsarov 2007, p.282, Nitsolova 2008, p. 327) four evidentials and six non-finite verb
al forms. Because the subject of the verb can be inferred from the verb ending, it is often omitted. As there is no infinitive in the contemporary Bulgarian language the basic form of a verb is its present simple tense first person singular form.
s. Of which conjugation a verb determined by the final vowel, in which the verb ends in the third person singular present simple tense. Verbs of the first conjugation end in e, of the second in и and of the third in а or я.
verb is usually translated by two verbs (or sometimes by even three, see below). Perfective verbs can be usually formed from imperfective ones by suffixation or prefixation, but when prefixes (or very rarely suffixes) are used the resultant verb often deviates in meaning from the original. It is better to learn the pairs of verbs by heart because there are not any strict rules and irregularities are very common. Nevertheless many verbs can be grouped according to their stem change:
The verbs from one pair are of different conjugations, for example кажа is from the first conjugation and казвам from the third.
In the past imperfect and the present tense completive verbs cannot stand alone in an independent clause
, in these tenses such verbs are used only in subordinate clauses.
In English there is no difference in meaning between the three types of verbs (they are all translated by one verb), but in Bulgarian there is. Verbs from the first type describe uncompleted actions (for example the verb мета could be roughly translated in English as to be sweeping), verbs form the second describe whole, completed actions. Verbs from the third type are a combination between the first two. Although they are imperfective as the initial ones, they preserve the perfective meaning of the second verbs, they are only grammatically imperfective.
Secondary imperfective verbs are used in cases where it's grammatically incorrect to use perfective verbs (there are tenses, the present tense for example, where perfective verbs cannot stand alone in an independent clause) but one wants to use their meaning, or where the action is complete but repeated over time. See below for examples.
Present tense
Past imperfect
Past aorist
Future tense
Imperfective and perfective verbs are conjugated in the same way.
Verbs form the present tense according to their conjugation. They take the following personal endings:
See Bulgarian verb paradigm
for the full conjugation.
The incorrect pronunciation is considered to be a gross error.
Both imperfective and perfective verbs have past imperfect. They are conjugated in the same way.
Verbs form the past imperfect with the following endings (they are the same for all conjugations):
These endings are added to the past imperfect basis. See Bulgarian verb paradigm
for the full conjugation.
Similarly, as in past imperfect, verbs have past aorist basis to which the following personal endings are added (they are the same for all conjugations):
See Bulgarian verb paradigm
for the full conjugation.
But imperfective verbs both in past imperfect and past aorist can express actions that have long duration and therefore both tenses can be used to say that one action happened at the same time as another. One should always keep in mind that past aorist means that the action began and stopped, and past imperfect that the action was in progress. Compare the sentences (they all contain the imperfective verb играя that expresses an action with some duration, but depending on the tense the sentences have different meaning):
Present perfect is made up of the verb съм, conjugated in present tense, and the past active aorist participle of the main verb. Not only person
(first, second, third) and number
, but also gender
must be taken into account in the process of conjugating. In other words, the corresponding indefinite forms of the participle (masculine, feminine, neuter, singular, plural) are used according to the gender and number of the subject. For the position of the verb съм see word order.
Example (чета, to read):
In contrast with English, in Bulgarian (very rarely) the present perfect can be used even if the moment when the action happened is specified. In such cases the importance of the action or its result is emphasized:
Example (чета, to read):
Rarely the past perfect can be used for actions that happened at an indefinite time in the past but very long ago, especially in sentences containing the phrase "someone sometimes said":
(in Bulgarian бъдеще време) is formed with the particle
ще (derived from the verb ща, "to want") and the present simple tense (ще always stands before the present forms). In contrast with the other tenses negation is not expressed with the particle не, but with the construction няма да + the present tense. Forms with не are also possible but they are found mainly in the poetry.
Example (чета, to read):
The verb съм forms the future in two ways. The first one with its present tense, and the second one with its special future form - бъда. The latter is more common:
(in Bulgarian бъдеще предварително време, future preliminary tense) expresses an action which is to take place in the future before another future action. It is made up of the future tense of the verb съм (in this tense the form with бъда is less common than the usual one) and the past active aorist participle of the main verb which agrees in number and gender with the subject.
Example (чета, to read):
Example (чета, to read):
The verb съм forms the future in the past in two ways. The first one with its present tense, and the second one with бъда (щях да съм and щях да бъда). The latter is more common.
Example (чета, to read):
- че (che) or да (da) (which might both be translated with the relative pronoun
"that"). The verbs remain unchanged.In ordinary sentences, the imperfective aspect
is most often used for the indicative, and the perfective for the subjunctive, but any combination is possible, with the corresponding change in meaning.
The latter is more insisting, since the imperfective is the more immediate construction. Thus:
The imperative
has its own conjugation - usually by adding -и or -ай (-i or -ay) to the root of the verb:
, tense
and modality
, but also for evidentiality
, that is, the source of the information conveyed by them. There is a four-way distinction between the unmarked (indicative) forms, which imply that the speaker was a witness of the event or knows it as a general fact; the inferential, which signals general non-witness information or one based on inference; the renarrative, which indicates that the information was reported to the speaker by someone else; and the dubitative, which is used for reported information if the speaker doubts its veracity. This can be illustrated with the four possible ways of rendering in Bulgarian the English sentence 'The dog ate the fish' (here 'AORPT' denotes the aorist active participle):
Indicative:
Inferential:
Renarrative:
Dubitative:
On a theoretical level, there are alternatives to treating those forms as the four members of a single evidential category
. I. Kutsarov, for example, posits a separate category, which he terms 'type of utterance' (вид на изказването), proper to which is only the distinction between forms, expressing speaker's own statements (indicative, inferential), and forms that retell statements of another (renarrative, dubitative). The inferential is then viewed as one of the moods, and the dubitative - as a renarrative inferential, whose dubitative meaning, albeit more frequent, is only secondary. Another view is presented by G. Gerdzhikov - in his treatment there are two distinctive features
involved - subjectivity and renarrativity. The indicative is unmarked for both, the inferential is marked for subjectivity, the renarrative - for renarrativity, and the dubitative is marked for both subjectivity and renarrativity.
Additionally, there are also a few rare forms for some of the future tenses. In some cases, there are less common forms in which the auxiliary ще remains impersonal instead of being inflected for person and number; thus for the inferential and renarrative future/future in the past rare forms of the type ще съм четя̀л are possible alongside the more common forms of the type щя̀л съм да чета̀, for the inferential future perfect in the past - ще съм бѝл чѐл alongside the usual щя̀л съм да съм чѐл, and for the dubitative future/ future in the past - rare forms of the type ще съм бѝл четя̀л in addition to the more common forms of the type щя̀л съм бѝл да чета̀. Also, the negative form of the dubitative future perfect/future perfect in the past can be either ня̀мало било̀ да съм чѐл, or ня̀мало съм бил да съм чѐл.
(минало свършено деятелно причастие) is used to form the present perfect, in the renarrative and conditional mood
and as an adjective. It is formed by adding -л (this is its masculine indefinite form) to the past aorist basis (first person singular past aorist tensе but without the final х), but additional alterations of the basis are also possible. The indefinite feminine, neuter and plural
forms take respectively the endings -а, -о and -и after the masculine form. The definite
forms are formed from the indefinite by adding the definite article
s -ят/я for masculine participles, та for feminine participles, то for neuter participles and те for plural participles
See Bulgarian verb paradigm
for the full conjugation.
Grammatical tense
A tense is a grammatical category that locates a situation in time, to indicate when the situation takes place.Bernard Comrie, Aspect, 1976:6:...
, three moods
Grammatical mood
In linguistics, grammatical mood is a grammatical feature of verbs, used to signal modality. That is, it is the use of verbal inflections that allow speakers to express their attitude toward what they are saying...
,These are the indicative, the imperative and the conditional. Additionally, the inferential is treated as a fourth mood by those linguists who do not include it within the evidential system (e.g. Kutsarov 2007, p. 282-286). And there are a few authors who treat da-forms as constituting a conjunctive mood, but the prevailing opinion is against this view (Kutsarov 2007, p.282, Nitsolova 2008, p. 327) four evidentials and six non-finite verb
Non-finite verb
In linguistics, a non-finite verb is a verb form that is not limited by a subject and, more generally, is not fully inflected by categories that are marked inflectionally in language, such as tense, aspect, mood, number, gender, and person...
al forms. Because the subject of the verb can be inferred from the verb ending, it is often omitted. As there is no infinitive in the contemporary Bulgarian language the basic form of a verb is its present simple tense first person singular form.
Conjugations
There are three conjugationGrammatical conjugation
In linguistics, conjugation is the creation of derived forms of a verb from its principal parts by inflection . Conjugation may be affected by person, number, gender, tense, aspect, mood, voice, or other grammatical categories...
s. Of which conjugation a verb determined by the final vowel, in which the verb ends in the third person singular present simple tense. Verbs of the first conjugation end in e, of the second in и and of the third in а or я.
Aspect
Bulgarian verbs express lexical aspect (вид). The verbs are either of perfective (глаголи от свършен вид) or imperfective (глаголи от несвършен вид) aspect. The former describe actions in progress (uncompleted actions) and the latter whole completed actions (actions which have a beginning and an end). So in Bulgarian an EnglishEnglish language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
verb is usually translated by two verbs (or sometimes by even three, see below). Perfective verbs can be usually formed from imperfective ones by suffixation or prefixation, but when prefixes (or very rarely suffixes) are used the resultant verb often deviates in meaning from the original. It is better to learn the pairs of verbs by heart because there are not any strict rules and irregularities are very common. Nevertheless many verbs can be grouped according to their stem change:
| Perfective | Imperfective | Perfective | Imperfective | Perfective | Imperfective |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| предложа | предлагам | отговоря | отговарям | кажа | казвам |
| изложа | излагам | изговоря | изговарям | накажа | наказвам |
| сложа | слагам | преговоря | преговарям | предскажа | предсказвам |
| възложа | възлагам | договоря | договарям | докажа | доказвам |
The verbs from one pair are of different conjugations, for example кажа is from the first conjugation and казвам from the third.
In the past imperfect and the present tense completive verbs cannot stand alone in an independent clause
Independent clause
An independent clause is a clause that can stand by itself, also known as a simple sentence. An independent clause contains a subject and a predicate; it makes sense by itself....
, in these tenses such verbs are used only in subordinate clauses.
Secondary imperfective verbs
Very often when a perfective verb is formed from an imperfective one by means of a prefix (or rarely a suffix) this verb can be made again imperfective using a suffix. The resultant verb is called secondary imperfective verb (вторичен несвършен глагол). Here are some examples of such verbs:| Initial imperfective verb | Perfective verb | Secondary imperfective verb | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| мета | измета | измитам | to sweep |
| вадя | извадя | изваждам | to take out |
| лъжа | излъжа | излъгвам | to tell a lie |
| мажа | намажа | намазвам | to spread, to smear |
| уча | науча | научавам | to learn |
| пиша | напиша | написвам | to write |
| чета | прочета | прочитам | to read |
| мърдам | мръдна | мръдвам | to move |
| топя | топна | топвам | to dip |
In English there is no difference in meaning between the three types of verbs (they are all translated by one verb), but in Bulgarian there is. Verbs from the first type describe uncompleted actions (for example the verb мета could be roughly translated in English as to be sweeping), verbs form the second describe whole, completed actions. Verbs from the third type are a combination between the first two. Although they are imperfective as the initial ones, they preserve the perfective meaning of the second verbs, they are only grammatically imperfective.
Secondary imperfective verbs are used in cases where it's grammatically incorrect to use perfective verbs (there are tenses, the present tense for example, where perfective verbs cannot stand alone in an independent clause) but one wants to use their meaning, or where the action is complete but repeated over time. See below for examples.
Contrasting imperfective, perfective and secondary imperfective verbs
Adverbial participle- imperfective verb: Четейки книгата, срещнах непозната дума = "While I was reading the book, I came across an unknown word" (at one single moment of the action I came across an unknown word)
- perfective verb: no adverbial participle
- secondary imperfective verb: Прочитайки книгата, научих много нови неща. = "By reading the book, I learned a lot of new things" (during the whole action I learned a lot, so after I had read the book I knew a lot of new things)
Present tense
- imperfective verb:
- Чета книга = "I read a book, I'm reading a book" (uncompleted action)
- Когато чета книга, се удремвам = "When I read a book, I become sleepy" (While I'm in the middle of the action; uncompleted action)
- Всеки ден чета книга = "I read a book every day" (but this does not necessarily mean that I read a whole book, just a part of it; uncompleted repetitive action)
- perfective verb: Когато прочета книгата, ще ти я върна = "When I finish reading the book, I will give it back to you" (when I have read the whole book; completed action)
- secondary imperfective verb: Всеки ден прочитам една книга = "I read a whole book every day" (I begin reading and I finish reading a book every day; completed repetitive action)
Past imperfect
- imperfective verb:
- Четях книга = "I was reading a book", "I used to read a book" (but not a whole book; uncompleted action)
- Когато четях книгата, телефонът звънна = "When I was reading the book, the phone rang" (uncompleted action)
- Всеки ден четях книга = "I used to read a book every day" (but not a whole book, uncompleted repetitive action)
- perfective verb: Щом прочетях нова книга, започвах да се хваля всекиму = "Whenever I finished reading a new book, I started boasting about it to everyone" (completed repetitive action, notice that the verb is in a dependent clauseDependent clauseIn linguistics, a dependent clause is a clause that augments an independent clause with additional information, but which cannot stand alone as a sentence. Dependent clauses modify the independent clause of a sentence or serve as a component of it...
) - secondary imperfective verb: Всеки ден прочитах една книга = "I used to read a whole book every day" (I used to begin and finish reading a book every day; completed repetitive action, notice that the verb is in an independent clauseIndependent clauseAn independent clause is a clause that can stand by itself, also known as a simple sentence. An independent clause contains a subject and a predicate; it makes sense by itself....
)
Past aorist
- imperfective verb: Вчера четох една книга = "Yesterday, I read a book" (but did not necessarily finish it; uncompleted action)
- perfective verb: Вчера прочетох енда книга = "Yesterday, I finished reading a book" (I read a whole book; completed action)
- secondary imperfective verb: identical with the past imperfect
Future tense
- imperfective verb:
- Ще чета книгата = "I will read the book" (but not necessarily the whole book), "I will be reading the book" (uncompleted action)
- Всеки ден ще чета книгата = "I will read the book every day" (but this does not necessarily mean that I will read the whole book, just a part of it; uncompleted repetitive action)
- perfective verb: Ще прочета книгата = "I will read the whole book just once" (I will begin and I will finish reading the book only one time; single completed action)
- secondary imperfective verb: Ще прочитам книгата всеки ден = "I will read the whole book every day" (I will begin and I will finish reading the book every day; completed repetitive action)
Present Tense (Praesens)
The present tense is used to:- describe an action that is happening at the moment of speaking;
- talk about things that are always true;
- talk about habits or things that happen on a regular basis;
Imperfective and perfective verbs are conjugated in the same way.
Verbs form the present tense according to their conjugation. They take the following personal endings:
| Personal endings | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Person | 1st and 2nd conjugation |
3rd conjugation |
||
| Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | |
| 1st | -а/я | -м | -м | -ме |
| 2nd | -ш | -те | -ш | -те |
| 3rd | - | -ат/ят | - | -т |
See Bulgarian verb paradigm
Bulgarian conjugation
Bulgarian conjugation is the creation of derived forms of a Bulgarian verb from its principal parts by inflection. It is affected by person, number, gender, tense, mood and voice...
for the full conjugation.
Discrepancy between spelling and pronunciation
Although verbs of the first and second conjugation in first person singular end in -а/я, and in third person plural in -ат/ят, they are not pronounced а/йа(/a/, /ja/) and ат/йат (/at/, /jat/), but ъ/йъ (/ɤ/, /jɤ/) and ът/йът (/ɤt/, /jɤt/) instead. This is not valid for verbs of the third conjugation.| Discrepancy between spelling and pronunciation | |
|---|---|
| Correct spelling Incorrect pronunciation |
Correct pronunciation Incorrect spelling |
| чет четт |
чет четт |
| игра играт |
игра играт |
| лет летт |
лет летт |
| мълч мълчт |
мълч мълчт |
The incorrect pronunciation is considered to be a gross error.
Past Imperfect (Imperfectum)
Past Imperfect (Минало несвършено време) is used to talk about a temporary situation that existed at or around a particular time in the past. It also expresses past actions that were frequent, repeated, permanent or always true. Its most common use is in story telling to provide a background to other actions which are usually expressed with verbs in the past aorist. In this use it means that the action had begun and was in progress when the other action(s) happened, we do not know whether it stopped or not.Both imperfective and perfective verbs have past imperfect. They are conjugated in the same way.
Verbs form the past imperfect with the following endings (they are the same for all conjugations):
| Personal endings Past Imperfect |
||
|---|---|---|
| Person | Number | |
| Singular | Plural | |
| First | -х | -хме |
| Second | -ше | -хте |
| Third | -ше | -ха |
These endings are added to the past imperfect basis. See Bulgarian verb paradigm
Bulgarian conjugation
Bulgarian conjugation is the creation of derived forms of a Bulgarian verb from its principal parts by inflection. It is affected by person, number, gender, tense, mood and voice...
for the full conjugation.
Past Aorist (Aoristus)
Past aorist (Минало свършено време) expresses an action that happened at a specific time in the past. Both imperfective and perfective verbs have such tense (there is no difference in their conjugation).Similarly, as in past imperfect, verbs have past aorist basis to which the following personal endings are added (they are the same for all conjugations):
| Personal endings Past Aorist |
||
|---|---|---|
| Person | Number | |
| Singular | Plural | |
| First | -х | -хме |
| Second | - | -хте |
| Third | - | -ха |
See Bulgarian verb paradigm
Bulgarian conjugation
Bulgarian conjugation is the creation of derived forms of a Bulgarian verb from its principal parts by inflection. It is affected by person, number, gender, tense, mood and voice...
for the full conjugation.
Imperfective and perfective verbs
Although imperfective and perfective verbs are conjugated in the same way in the past aorist, there is difference in their meaning. Compare the sentences:| With an imperfective verb | Meaning | With a perfective verb | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| Вчера четох една книга | Yesterday, I read a book but I did not finish it | Вчера прочетох една книга | Yesterday, I finished reading a book/I read a whole book. |
Past Imperfect or Past Aorist
Usually the difference between the two tenses is very clear:- past imperfect is used for habits, things that were always true, actions that happened many times or for background for other actions.
- past aorist is used for single actions that have a beginning and an end.
But imperfective verbs both in past imperfect and past aorist can express actions that have long duration and therefore both tenses can be used to say that one action happened at the same time as another. One should always keep in mind that past aorist means that the action began and stopped, and past imperfect that the action was in progress. Compare the sentences (they all contain the imperfective verb играя that expresses an action with some duration, but depending on the tense the sentences have different meaning):
| Sentence | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Докато децата играеха навън, едно от тях си счупи крака. | While the kids were playing outside one of them broke his/her leg. (играеха is in past imperfect and счупи is a perfective verb in past aorist. This means that at a single moment of their play the kid broke his/her leg) |
| Децата си прекараха чудесно, докато играха навън. | The kids had a great time playing outside. Literal translation: The kids had a great time while they played outside. (прекараха is a perfective verb in past aorist and играха is in past aorist. Since играха is not in past imperfect the sentence means that the kids had a great time during the whole time they played outside, not just at a single moment) |
| Децата играха навън, докато не заваля. | The kids played outside until it started raining. (The action ended that's why играха is in the past aorist, not in the past imperfect) |
| Децата играеха навън. Изведнъж заваля, но продължиха да играят. | The kids were playing outside. Suddenly, it started raining but they continued to play. (The action did not end so играеха cannot be in the past aorist) |
Present Perfect (Perfectum)
Present perfect (in Bulgarian минало неопределено време, past indefinite tense) expresses an action which happened in the past, but the precise moment when it happened is not specified. It is either not known or not important (in contrast with past aorist). What is important is the result of the action. The tense has a lot in common with the English present perfect.Present perfect is made up of the verb съм, conjugated in present tense, and the past active aorist participle of the main verb. Not only person
Grammatical person
Grammatical person, in linguistics, is deictic reference to a participant in an event; such as the speaker, the addressee, or others. Grammatical person typically defines a language's set of personal pronouns...
(first, second, third) and number
Grammatical number
In linguistics, grammatical number is a grammatical category of nouns, pronouns, and adjective and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions ....
, but also gender
Grammatical gender
Grammatical gender is defined linguistically as a system of classes of nouns which trigger specific types of inflections in associated words, such as adjectives, verbs and others. For a system of noun classes to be a gender system, every noun must belong to one of the classes and there should be...
must be taken into account in the process of conjugating. In other words, the corresponding indefinite forms of the participle (masculine, feminine, neuter, singular, plural) are used according to the gender and number of the subject. For the position of the verb съм see word order.
Example (чета, to read):
Present Perfect |
|||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number | First person | Second person | Third person | ||||||
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | |
| Singular | чел съм | чела съм | чело съм | чел си | чела си | чело си | чел е | чела е | чело е |
| Plural | чели сме | чели сте | чели са | ||||||
In contrast with English, in Bulgarian (very rarely) the present perfect can be used even if the moment when the action happened is specified. In such cases the importance of the action or its result is emphasized:
- Снощи до два часа съм гледал телевизя и тази сутрин съм станал в шест, затова съм изключително изтощен. = "Last night, I watched TV until 2 o'clock and this morning, I got up at six, so I'm extremely exhausted."
Past Perfect
Past perfect (in Bulgarian минало предварително време, "past preliminary tense") expresses an action that happened before another past action. It is made up of the past tense of съм and the past active aorist participle of the main verb. Again as in present perfect the participle agrees in number and gender with the subject. For the position of the verb съм see word order.Example (чета, to read):
Past Perfect |
|||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number | First person | Second person | Third person | ||||||
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | |
| Singular | бях чел | бях чела | бях чело | бе(ше) чел | бе(ше) чела | бе(ше) чело | бе(ше) чел | бе(ше) чела | бе(ше) чело |
| Plural | бяхме чели | бяхте чели | бяха чели | ||||||
Rarely the past perfect can be used for actions that happened at an indefinite time in the past but very long ago, especially in sentences containing the phrase "someone sometimes said":
- Някой някога беше казал, че любовта ще спаси света. = "Someone sometimes said that love will save the world."
Future Tense (Futurum primum)
The future tenseFuture tense
In grammar, a future tense is a verb form that marks the event described by the verb as not having happened yet, but expected to happen in the future , or to happen subsequent to some other event, whether that is past, present, or future .-Expressions of future tense:The concept of the future,...
(in Bulgarian бъдеще време) is formed with the particle
Grammatical particle
In grammar, a particle is a function word that does not belong to any of the inflected grammatical word classes . It is a catch-all term for a heterogeneous set of words and terms that lack a precise lexical definition...
ще (derived from the verb ща, "to want") and the present simple tense (ще always stands before the present forms). In contrast with the other tenses negation is not expressed with the particle не, but with the construction няма да + the present tense. Forms with не are also possible but they are found mainly in the poetry.
Example (чета, to read):
Future Tense |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Person | Number | |||
| Singular | Plural | |||
| Positive | Negative | Positive | Negative | |
| First | ще чета | няма да чета | ще четем | няма да четем |
| Second | ще четеш | няма да четеш | ще четете | няма да четете |
| Third | ще чете | няма да чете | ще четат | няма да четат |
The verb съм forms the future in two ways. The first one with its present tense, and the second one with its special future form - бъда. The latter is more common:
Future Tense of съм |
||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Person | Number | |||||||
| Singular | Plural | |||||||
| Positive | Negative | Positive | Negative | |||||
| First | ще съм | ще бъда | няма да съм | няма да бъда | ще сме | ще бъдем | няма да сме | няма да бъдем |
| Second | ще си | ще бъдеш | няма да си | няма да бъдеш | ще сте | ще бъдете | няма да сте | няма да бъдете |
| Third | ще е | ще бъде | няма да е | няма да бъде | ще са | ще бъдат | няма да са | няма да бъдат |
Future Perfect (Futurum Secundum exactum)
Future perfectFuture Perfect
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(in Bulgarian бъдеще предварително време, future preliminary tense) expresses an action which is to take place in the future before another future action. It is made up of the future tense of the verb съм (in this tense the form with бъда is less common than the usual one) and the past active aorist participle of the main verb which agrees in number and gender with the subject.
Example (чета, to read):
Future Perfect |
|||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Person | Gender | Number | |||||||
| Singular | Plural | ||||||||
| Positive | Negative | Positive | Negative | ||||||
| First | Masculine | ще съм чел | ще бъда чел | няма да съм чел | няма да бъда чел | ще сме чели | ще бъдем чели | няма да сме чели | няма да бъдем чели |
| Feminine | ще съм чела | ще бъда чела | няма да съм чела | няма да бъда чела | |||||
| Neuter | ще съм чело | ще бъда чело | няма да съм чело | няма да бъда чело | |||||
| Second | Masculine | ще си чел | ще бъдеш чел | няма да си чел | няма да бъдеш чел | ще сте чели | ще бъдете чели | няма да сте чели | няма да бъдете чели |
| Feminine | ще си чела | ще бъдеш чела | няма да си чела | няма да бъдеш чела | |||||
| Neuter | ще си челo | ще бъдеш челo | няма да си челo | няма да бъдеш челo | |||||
| Third | Masculine | ще е чел | ще бъде чел | няма да е чел | няма да бъде чел | ще са чели | ще бъдат чели | няма да са чели | няма да бъдат чели |
| Feminine | ще е чела | ще бъде чела | няма да е чела | няма да бъде чела | |||||
| Neuter | ще е чело | ще бъде чело | няма да е чело | няма да бъде чело | |||||
Past Future Tense
Past future tense or future in the past (in Bulgarian бъдеще време в миналото, future tense in the past) expresses an action which was to be completed in the past but was future as regards another past action. It is made up of the past imperfect of the verb ща "will, want", the particle да "to" and the present tense of the main verb. Negation is expressed with the construction нямаше да + the present tense, although forms with не are also possible but found mainly in the poetry.Example (чета, to read):
Past Future Tense |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Person | Number | |||
| Singular | Plural | |||
| Positive | Negative | Positive | Negative | |
| First | щях да чета | нямаше да чета | щяхме да четем | нямаше да четем |
| Second | щеше да четеш | нямаше да четеш | щяхте да четете | нямаше да четете |
| Third | щеше да чете | нямаше да чете | щяха да четат | нямаше да четат |
The verb съм forms the future in the past in two ways. The first one with its present tense, and the second one with бъда (щях да съм and щях да бъда). The latter is more common.
Past Future Perfect
Past future perfect or future perfect in the past (in Bulgarian бъдеще предварително време в миналото, future preliminary tense in the past) expresses a past action which is future with respect to a past action which itself is prior to another past action. It is made up of the past imperfect of ща "will, want", the particle да "to", the present tense of the verb съм "be" (in other words, the past future tense of съм, but not the form with бъда) and the past active aorist participle of the main verb, which agrees in number and gender with the subject.Example (чета, to read):
Past Future Perfect |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Person | Gender | Number | |||
| Singular | Plural | ||||
| Positive | Negative | Positive | Negative | ||
| First | Masculine | щях да съм чел | нямаше да съм чел | щяхме да сме чели | нямаше да сме чели |
| Feminine | щях да съм чела | нямаше да съм чела | |||
| Neuter | щях да съм чело | нямаше да съм чело | |||
| Second | Masculine | щеше да си чел | нямаше да си чел | щяхте да сте чели | нямаше да сте чели |
| Feminine | щеше да си чела | нямаше да си чела | |||
| Neuter | щеше да си челo | нямаше да си челo | |||
| Third | Masculine | щеше да е чел | нямаше да е чел | щяха да са чели | нямаше да са чели |
| Feminine | щеше да е чела | нямаше да е чела | |||
| Neuter | щеше да е чело | нямаше да е чело | |||
Voice
The voice in Bulgarian adjectives is presented not through the auxiliary verb, as it is in English ("I have eaten" - active; "I was eaten" - passive), but rather by the ending on the past participle; the auxiliary remains съм ("to be"):- ActiveActive voiceActive voice is a grammatical voice common in many of the world's languages. It is the unmarked voice for clauses featuring a transitive verb in nominative–accusative languages, including English and most other Indo-European languages....
- ударил съм... - udaril sum... - I have hit... - Passive - ударен съм - udaren sum - I have been hit
-
- See also Participles, below.
Mood
Modal distinctions in subordinate clauses are expressed not through verb endings, but through the choice of complementizerComplementizer
In linguistics , a complementizer is a syntactic category roughly equivalent to the term subordinating conjunction in traditional grammar. For example, the word that is generally called a complementizer in English sentences like Mary believes that it is raining...
- че (che) or да (da) (which might both be translated with the relative pronoun
Relative pronoun
A relative pronoun is a pronoun that marks a relative clause within a larger sentence. It is called a relative pronoun because it relates the relative clause to the noun that it modifies. In English, the relative pronouns are: who, whom, whose, whosever, whosesoever, which, and, in some...
"that"). The verbs remain unchanged.In ordinary sentences, the imperfective aspect
Grammatical aspect
In linguistics, the grammatical aspect of a verb is a grammatical category that defines the temporal flow in a given action, event, or state, from the point of view of the speaker...
is most often used for the indicative, and the perfective for the subjunctive, but any combination is possible, with the corresponding change in meaning.
- eg iskam da stanesh (perfective) / iskam da stavash (imperfective) - i want you to get up.
The latter is more insisting, since the imperfective is the more immediate construction. Thus:
- Indicative - че -
- e.g. знам, че си тук - znam, che si tuk - I know that you are here;
- SubjunctiveSubjunctive moodIn grammar, the subjunctive mood is a verb mood typically used in subordinate clauses to express various states of irreality such as wish, emotion, possibility, judgment, opinion, necessity, or action that has not yet occurred....
- да -- e.g. настоявам да си тук - nastoyavam da si tuk - I insist that you be here.
The imperative
Imperative mood
The imperative mood expresses commands or requests as a grammatical mood. These commands or requests urge the audience to act a certain way. It also may signal a prohibition, permission, or any other kind of exhortation.- Morphology :...
has its own conjugation - usually by adding -и or -ай (-i or -ay) to the root of the verb:
- e.g. sit - сядам → сядай (syadam → syaday – imperfectiveImperfective aspectThe imperfective is a grammatical aspect used to describe a situation viewed with internal structure, such as ongoing, habitual, repeated, and similar semantic roles, whether that situation occurs in the past, present, or future...
), or седна → седни (sedna → sedni – perfectivePerfective aspectThe perfective aspect , sometimes called the aoristic aspect, is a grammatical aspect used to describe a situation viewed as a simple whole, whether that situation occurs in the past, present, or future. The perfective aspect is equivalent to the aspectual component of past perfective forms...
).
Conditional mood
The so called conditional refers to a possible action, which is usually intentional and under the control of a subject. It is formed by a special formHistorically, it is the aorist form. of the auxiliary 'съм' (to be), and the aorist active participle of the main verb:| First person | Second person | Third person | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | |
| Singular | бѝх чѐл | бѝх чѐла | бѝх чѐло | бѝ чѐл | бѝ чѐла | бѝ чѐло | бѝ чѐл | бѝ чѐла | бѝ чѐло |
| Plural | бѝхме чѐли | бѝхте чѐли | бѝха чѐли | ||||||
Evidentials
Bulgarian verbs are inflected not only for aspectGrammatical aspect
In linguistics, the grammatical aspect of a verb is a grammatical category that defines the temporal flow in a given action, event, or state, from the point of view of the speaker...
, tense
Grammatical tense
A tense is a grammatical category that locates a situation in time, to indicate when the situation takes place.Bernard Comrie, Aspect, 1976:6:...
and modality
Linguistic modality
In linguistics, modality is what allows speakers to evaluate a proposition relative to a set of other propositions.In standard formal approaches to modality, an utterance expressing modality can always roughly be paraphrased to fit the following template:...
, but also for evidentiality
Evidentiality
In linguistics, evidentiality is, broadly, the indication of the nature of evidence for a given statement; that is, whether evidence exists for the statement and/or what kind of evidence exists. An evidential is the particular grammatical element that indicates evidentiality...
, that is, the source of the information conveyed by them. There is a four-way distinction between the unmarked (indicative) forms, which imply that the speaker was a witness of the event or knows it as a general fact; the inferential, which signals general non-witness information or one based on inference; the renarrative, which indicates that the information was reported to the speaker by someone else; and the dubitative, which is used for reported information if the speaker doubts its veracity. This can be illustrated with the four possible ways of rendering in Bulgarian the English sentence 'The dog ate the fish' (here 'AORPT' denotes the aorist active participle):
Indicative:
| Ку̀чето | изя̀де | рѝбата |
| kučeto | izjade | ribata |
| dog-DEF | eat.AOR-3sg | fish-DEF |
- "I know from my own observation that the dog ate the fish."
Inferential:
| Ку̀чето | е | изя̀ло | рѝбата |
| kučeto | e | izjalo | ribata |
| dog-DEF | be.3sg | eat.AORPT-Nsg | fish-DEF |
- "The dog must have eaten the fish." (The speaker did not witness it, but inferred it, for example, from the fact that the fish was misssing and there were a pile of fish bones by the kennel.)
Renarrative:
| Ку̀чето | изя̀ло | рѝбата |
| kučeto | izjalo | ribata |
| dog-DEF | eat.AORPT-Nsg | fish-DEF |
- "I've been told that the dog ate the fish."
Dubitative:
| Ку̀чето | било̀ | изя̀ло | рѝбата |
| kučeto | bilo | izjalo | ribata |
| dog-DEF | be.AORPT-Nsg | eat.AORPT-Nsg | fish-DEF |
- "I've been told that the dog ate the fish, but I doubt it." (Alternatively, this can be taken to imply that the speaker has heard about it from someone else, who in turn was not a witness of the event).
On a theoretical level, there are alternatives to treating those forms as the four members of a single evidential category
Grammatical category
A grammatical category is a semantic distinction which is reflected in a morphological paradigm. Grammatical categories can have one or more exponents. For instance, the feature [number] has the exponents [singular] and [plural] in English and many other languages...
. I. Kutsarov, for example, posits a separate category, which he terms 'type of utterance' (вид на изказването), proper to which is only the distinction between forms, expressing speaker's own statements (indicative, inferential), and forms that retell statements of another (renarrative, dubitative). The inferential is then viewed as one of the moods, and the dubitative - as a renarrative inferential, whose dubitative meaning, albeit more frequent, is only secondary. Another view is presented by G. Gerdzhikov - in his treatment there are two distinctive features
Feature (linguistics)
A feature is a concept applied to several fields of linguistics, typically involving the assignment of binary or unary conditions which act as constraints.-In phonology:...
involved - subjectivity and renarrativity. The indicative is unmarked for both, the inferential is marked for subjectivity, the renarrative - for renarrativity, and the dubitative is marked for both subjectivity and renarrativity.
Forms
An evidential for a given tense is formed by taking the past active participle of the verb (or auxiliary, if there is one) of the corresponding indicative tense, and adding a form of the auxiliary verb съм (to be). For the inferential and the renarrative it is its present tense form, which, however, is omitted in the 3rd person of the renarrative; hence inferential and renarrative forms are generally not distinguished in the 1st and 2nd person. The dubitative is formed from the renarrative by adding the past active participle of the verb съм (to be). An example paradigm is given in the following table. Given for reference are some tenses of the indicative (these are the imperfect, aorist, perfect, future in the past and future perfect in the past). Whenever there are participles involved, they are given in their masculine form, but they have different forms for the three genders in the singular.Exceptions are the auxiliary ня̀мало in all negative future and future perfect forms, and ня̀мало било̀ in the negative future (perfect) dubitative, which always remain in the neuter singular.| Tense | Person and Number |
Evidential | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indicative | Inferential There are inferential forms only for the past tenses - imperfect, aorist, past perfect and future (perfect) in the past (Nitsolova 2008, p. 353). Thus, while the renarrative form четя̀л can have both present and imperfect meaning, the corresponding inferential четя̀л е can only be imperfect. | Renarrative | Dubitative | |||
| Present and Imperfect |
1sg | четя̀х | четя̀л съм | четя̀л съм | бѝл съм четя̀л | |
| 2sg | четѐше | четя̀л си | четя̀л си | бѝл си четя̀л | ||
| 3sg | четѐше | четя̀л е | четя̀л | бѝл четя̀л | ||
| 1pl | четя̀хме | четѐли сме | четѐли сме | билѝ сме четѐли | ||
| 2pl | четя̀хте | четѐли сте | четѐли сте | билѝ сте четѐли | ||
| 3pl | четя̀ха | четѐли са | четѐли | билѝ четѐли | ||
| Aorist | 1sg | чѐтох | чѐл съм | чѐл съм | бѝл съм чѐл | |
| 2sg | чѐте | чѐл си | чѐл си | бѝл си чѐл | ||
| 3sg | чѐте | чѐл е | чѐл | бѝл чѐл | ||
| 1pl | чѐтохме | чѐли сме | чѐли сме | билѝ сме чѐли | ||
| 2pl | чѐтохте | чѐли сте | чѐли сте | билѝ сте чѐли | ||
| 3pl | чѐтоха | чѐли са | чѐли | билѝ чѐли | ||
| Perfect and Past Perfect |
1sg | чѐл съм | бѝл съм чѐл | бѝл съм чѐл | бѝл съм чѐл | |
| 2sg | чѐл си | бѝл си чѐл | бѝл си чѐл | бѝл си чѐл | ||
| 3sg | чѐл е | бѝл е чѐл | бѝл чѐл | бѝл чѐл | ||
| 1pl | чѐли сме | билѝ сме чѐли | билѝ сме чѐли | билѝ сме чѐли | ||
| 2pl | чѐли сте | билѝ сте чѐли | билѝ сте чѐли | билѝ сте чѐли | ||
| 3pl | чѐли са | билѝ са чѐли | билѝ чѐли | билѝ чѐли | ||
| Future and Future in the Past |
pos. | 1sg | щя̀х да чета̀ | щя̀л съм да чета̀ | щя̀л съм да чета̀ | щя̀л съм бѝл да чета̀ |
| 2sg | щѐше да четѐш | щя̀л си да четѐш | щя̀л си да четѐш | щя̀л си бѝл да четѐш | ||
| 3sg | щѐше да четѐ | щя̀л е да четѐ | щя̀л да четѐ | щя̀л бѝл да четѐ | ||
| 1pl | щя̀хме да четѐм | щѐли сме да четѐм | щѐли сме да четѐм | щѐли сме билѝ да четѐм | ||
| 2pl | щя̀хте да четѐте | щѐли сте да четѐте | щѐли сте да четѐте | щѐли сте билѝ да четѐте | ||
| 3pl | щя̀ха да чета̀т | щѐли са да чета̀т | щѐли да чета̀т | щѐли билѝ да чета̀т | ||
| neg. | 1sg | ня̀маше да чета̀ | ня̀мало съм да чета̀ | ня̀мало (съм) да чета̀ | ня̀мало било̀ да чета̀ | |
| 2sg | ня̀маше да четѐш | ня̀мало си да четѐш | ня̀мало (си) да четѐш | ня̀мало било̀ да четѐш | ||
| 3sg | ня̀маше да четѐ | ня̀мало е да четѐ | ня̀мало да четѐ | ня̀мало било̀ да четѐ | ||
| 1pl | ня̀маше да четѐм | ня̀мало сме да четѐм | ня̀мало (сме) да четѐм | ня̀мало било̀ да четѐм | ||
| 2pl | ня̀маше да четѐте | ня̀мало сте да четѐте | ня̀мало (сте) да четѐте | ня̀мало било̀ да четѐте | ||
| 3pl | ня̀маше да чета̀т | ня̀мало са да чета̀т | ня̀мало да чета̀т | ня̀мало било̀ да чета̀т | ||
| Future Perfect and Future Perfect in the Past |
pos. | 1sg | щя̀х да съм чѐл | щя̀л съм да съм чѐл | щя̀л съм да съм чѐл | щя̀л съм бѝл да съм чѐл |
| 2sg | щѐше да си чѐл | щя̀л си да си чѐл | щя̀л си да си чѐл | щя̀л си бѝл да си чѐл | ||
| 3sg | щѐше да е чѐл | щя̀л е да е чѐл | щя̀л да е чѐл | щя̀л бѝл да е чѐл | ||
| 1pl | щя̀хме да сме чѐли | щѐли сме да сме чѐли | щѐли сме да сме чѐли | щѐли сме билѝ да сме чѐли | ||
| 2pl | щя̀хте да сте чѐли | щѐли сте да сте чѐли | щѐли сте да сте чѐли | щѐли сте билѝ да сте чѐли | ||
| 3pl | щя̀ха да са чѐли | щѐли са да са чѐли | щѐли да са чѐли | щѐли билѝ да са чѐли | ||
| neg. | 1sg | ня̀маше да съм чѐл | ня̀мало съм да съм чѐл | ня̀мало (съм) да съм чѐл | ня̀мало било̀ да съм чѐл | |
| 2sg | ня̀маше да си чѐл | ня̀мало си да си чѐл | ня̀мало (си) да си чѐл | ня̀мало било̀ да си чѐл | ||
| 3sg | ня̀маше да е чѐл | ня̀мало е да е чѐл | ня̀мало да е чѐл | ня̀мало било̀ да е чѐл | ||
| 1pl | ня̀маше да сме чѐли | ня̀мало сме да сме чѐли | ня̀мало (сме) да сме чѐли | ня̀мало било̀ да сме чѐли | ||
| 2pl | ня̀маше да сте чѐли | ня̀мало сте да сте чѐли | ня̀мало (сте) да сте чѐли | ня̀мало било̀ да сте чѐли | ||
| 3pl | ня̀маше да са чѐли | ня̀мало да са чѐли | ня̀мало да са чѐли | ня̀мало било̀ да са чѐли | ||
| Indicative | Inferential | Renarrative | Dubitative | |||
Additionally, there are also a few rare forms for some of the future tenses. In some cases, there are less common forms in which the auxiliary ще remains impersonal instead of being inflected for person and number; thus for the inferential and renarrative future/future in the past rare forms of the type ще съм четя̀л are possible alongside the more common forms of the type щя̀л съм да чета̀, for the inferential future perfect in the past - ще съм бѝл чѐл alongside the usual щя̀л съм да съм чѐл, and for the dubitative future/ future in the past - rare forms of the type ще съм бѝл четя̀л in addition to the more common forms of the type щя̀л съм бѝл да чета̀. Also, the negative form of the dubitative future perfect/future perfect in the past can be either ня̀мало било̀ да съм чѐл, or ня̀мало съм бил да съм чѐл.
Past active aorist participle
Past active aorist participleParticiple
In linguistics, a participle is a word that shares some characteristics of both verbs and adjectives. It can be used in compound verb tenses or voices , or as a modifier...
(минало свършено деятелно причастие) is used to form the present perfect, in the renarrative and conditional mood
Conditional mood
In linguistics, the conditional mood is the inflectional form of the verb used in the independent clause of a conditional sentence to refer to a hypothetical state of affairs, or an uncertain event, that is contingent on another set of circumstances...
and as an adjective. It is formed by adding -л (this is its masculine indefinite form) to the past aorist basis (first person singular past aorist tensе but without the final х), but additional alterations of the basis are also possible. The indefinite feminine, neuter and plural
Plural
In linguistics, plurality or [a] plural is a concept of quantity representing a value of more-than-one. Typically applied to nouns, a plural word or marker is used to distinguish a value other than the default quantity of a noun, which is typically one...
forms take respectively the endings -а, -о and -и after the masculine form. The definite
Definite Article
Definite Article is the title of British comedian Eddie Izzard's 1996 performance released on VHS. It was recorded on different nights at the Shaftesbury Theatre...
forms are formed from the indefinite by adding the definite article
Definite Article
Definite Article is the title of British comedian Eddie Izzard's 1996 performance released on VHS. It was recorded on different nights at the Shaftesbury Theatre...
s -ят/я for masculine participles, та for feminine participles, то for neuter participles and те for plural participles
- See also Voice above
See Bulgarian verb paradigm
Bulgarian conjugation
Bulgarian conjugation is the creation of derived forms of a Bulgarian verb from its principal parts by inflection. It is affected by person, number, gender, tense, mood and voice...
for the full conjugation.