Learning a new language is like building a new house—you need to have a solid foundation to build upon. 

If you’re new to the Bulgarian language, then you’re in the right place! 

BulgarianPod101 has prepared this comprehensive list of the most basic Bulgarian words for beginners. By learning these essential words along with their pronunciation, you’re giving yourself a proper base upon which you can start accumulating new language skills. 

Once you’re comfortable using most of these words, you can proceed further with your studies and start picking up even more advanced words. 

There are a few strategies that can help you memorize these words more easily:

• Write these words on labels and place them on the corresponding items in your home. This way, you can see them each time you use the item. 
• Make long lists that have the Bulgarian words on one side of the paper and their meaning on the other side, and try to memorize them several days in a row. After getting used to them, try to practice them at least once a week to save them in your long-term memory.
• Use flashcards and think of a fun game to play with them; people memorize much easier while playing games.

Are you ready to start? Let’s look at the most common Bulgarian words for beginners!

Table of Contents

1. Bulgarian Pronouns: Saying Me and You
2. Let’s Count to 10 in Bulgarian
3. The Most Common Noun Categories
4. Bulgarian Verbs: Add More Activity to Your Knowledge
5. Describe Emotions with Bulgarian Adjectives
6. Bulgarian Conjunctions
7. Other Must-know Bulgarian Words
8. How BulgarianPod101 Can Help You Learn the Bulgarian Language

1. Bulgarian Pronouns: Saying Me and You

The first set of words you should add to your Bulgarian vocabulary are the pronouns. These words will allow you to talk about yourself, refer to others, and have conversations about places or objects—even if you don’t know the exact word for what you’re talking about! 

There are four pronoun categories we’ll look at: 

• Personal pronouns
• Demonstrative pronouns
• Interrogative pronouns
• Question words

Personal Pronouns

There are nine personal pronouns in the Bulgarian language. In a sentence, a personal pronoun takes the place of a noun. Here’s an example: 

• Мария обича да работи.
  Mariya obicha da raboti.
  Maria loves to work.

• Тя обича да работи.
  Tya obicha da raboti.
  She loves to work.

Person	Bulgarian pronoun	Bulgarian pronunciation	English
1st person sg.	аз	az	I
2nd person sg.	ти / Вие	ti / Vie	you (casual / formal)
3rd person sg.	той / тя / то	toy / tya / to	he / she / it
1st person pl.	ние	nie	we
2nd person pl.	вие	vie	you
3rd person pl.	те	te	they

Demonstrative Pronouns

Demonstrative pronouns are helpful when you need to ask about a specific item that you don’t know the name of: 

Какво е това?  Kakvo e tova? What is this? Това е кола. Tova e kola. This is a car.

Какво е онова?  Kakvo e onova? What is that? Онова е стол. Onova e stol. That is a chair.

Car and chair could be replaced with any other noun. 

→ Why not try it yourself? Answer the questions above by replacing the objects with some of the nouns listed in the section of this article titled: The Most Common Noun Categories.

Now, here are the Bulgarian demonstrative pronouns:

Number	Bulgarian pronoun	Bulgarian pronunciation	English
Singular	този тази това	tozi tazi tova	this (masculine) this (feminine) this (neuter)
Singular	онзи онази онова	onzi onazi onova	that (masculine) that (feminine) that (neuter)
Plural	тези	tezi	these
Plural	онези	onezi	those

* As you may have already noticed, only the singular demonstrative pronouns are classified by gender. In plural, they have only one form.

Interrogative Pronouns

Interrogative pronouns make it easy for us to ask questions, so it’s useful to learn the most common ones early on. Please note that, unlike interrogative pronouns in English, those in Bulgarian are classified by gender and number. Let’s see some examples: 

#1 Who?

Number	Bulgarian pronoun	Bulgarian pronunciation	English
Singular Plural	кой коя кое кои	koy koya koe koi	who (masculine) who (feminine) who (neuter) who (plural)

In the following examples, the demonstrative pronouns we mentioned earlier are used along with the interrogative pronouns:

• Кой е този човек?
  Koy e tozi chovek?
  Who is this person?

• Кои са тези хора?
  Koi sa tezi hora?
  Who are these people?

* Note that the gender/number of the interrogative pronoun is determined by the noun it’s used with. Човек is masculine, so the masculine form of “who” is used: кой. In the second example, хора is plural so we use the plural form of “who,” which is кои. The same rule also applies to the following interrogative pronouns.

#2 What?

Number	Bulgarian pronoun	Bulgarian pronunciation	English
Singular Plural	какъв каква какво какви	kakav kakva kakvo kakvi	what (masculine) what (feminine) what (neuter) what (plural)

• Каква е тази кола?
  Kakva e tazi kola?
  What is this car?

• Какви са студентите?
  Kakvi sa studentite?
  What are the students like?

#3 Whose?

Number	Bulgarian pronoun	Bulgarian pronunciation	English
Singular Plural	чий чия чие чии	chiy chiya chie chii	whose (masculine) whose (feminine) whose (neuter) whose (plural)

• Чия е тази книга?
  Chiya e tazi kniga?
  Whose book is this?

• Чии са тези книги?
  Chii sa tezi knigi?
  Whose books are these?

Question Words

Unlike interrogative pronouns, Bulgarian question words have only one form; they do not change for gender or number. This means they’re easier to learn! 

Bulgarian question word	Bulgarian pronunciation	English
как	kak	how
къде	kadе	where
кога	kоga	when
защо	zashto	why
колко	kolko	how many/much
накъде	nakade	where to
откъде	otkade	where from

• Накъде отиваш?
  Nakade otivash?
  Where are you going (to)?

• Откъде идваш?
  Otkade idvash?
  Where do you come from?

Can’t wait to start asking questions in Bulgarian? Then make sure to study our vocabulary list Top 25 Bulgarian Questions You Need to Know.

2. Let’s Count to 10 in Bulgarian

Numbers are another essential component of Bulgarian for beginners. We use numbers every single day, whether we’re jotting down a phone number or checking prices at the grocery store. To get a nice headstart, study the list below! 

Number	Bulgarian	Pronunciation	English
0	нула	nula	zero
1	едно	edno	one
2	две	dve	two
3	три	tri	three
4	четири	chetiri	four
5	пет	pet	five
6	шест	shest	six
7	седем	sedem	seven
8	осем	osem	eight
9	девет	devet	nine
10	десет	deset	ten

Let’s practice them with a phone number:

+359 / 896 544-271

три пет девет / осем девет шест   пет четири четири  – две седем едно
tri pet devet / osem devet shest      pet chetiri chetiri – dve sedem edno

3. The Most Common Noun Categories

Once you have the pronouns and numbers down, you should focus your efforts on picking up as many nouns as you can. Nouns are a crucial set of Bulgarian beginner words to learn, as they can be used alone to get an urgent point across or used with a verb to form a complete thought.

Below, we’ve grouped the most essential nouns into categories for your convenience.

Time

No.	Bulgarian	Pronunciation	English
1	час	chas	hour
2	минута	minuta	minute
3	секунда	sekunda	second
4	ден	den	day
5	седмица	sedmitsa	week
6	месец	mesets	month
7	година	godina	year
8	сутрин	sutrin	morning
9	следобед	sledobed	afternoon
10	вечер	vecher	evening
11	понеделник	ponedelnik	Monday
12	вторник	vtornik	Tuesday
13	сряда	sryada	Wednesday
14	четвъртък	chetvartak	Thursday
15	петък	petak	Friday
16	събота	sabota	Saturday
17	неделя	nedelya	Sunday
18	време	vreme	time
19	часовник	chasovnik	clock

→ You can find several more time-related words and phrases on BulgarianPod101.com!

People

No.	Bulgarian	Pronunciation	English
1	професия	profesiya	profession
2	господин / г-н	gospodin / g-n	Mr.
3	госпожа / г-жа	gospozha / g-zha	Mrs.
4	госпожица / г-ца	gospozhitsa	Miss
5	роднина	rodnina	relative
6	семейство	semeystvo	family
7	приятел	priyatel	friend
8	баща	bashta	father
9	майка	mayka	mother
10	брат	brat	brother
11	сестра	sestra	sister
12	баба	baba	grandmother
13	дядо	dyado	grandfather
14	чичо	chicho	uncle
15	леля	lelya	aunt
16	братовчед	bratovched	cousin (male)
17	братовчедка	bratovchedka	cousin (female)
18	съпруг	saprug	husband
19	съпруга	sapruga	wife

Places Around Town

No.	Bulgarian	Pronunciation	English
1	център	tsentar	city center
2	квартал	kvartal	borough
3	магазин	magazin	shop
4	училище	uchilishte	school
5	болница	bolnitsa	hospital
6	община	obshtina	municipality
7	аптека	apteka	pharmacy
8	парк	park	park
9	университет	universitet	university
10	библиотека	biblioteka	library
11	църква	tsarkva	church
12	град	grad	city
13	столица	stolitsa	capital
14	държава	darzhava	country

School/Office Essentials

No.	Bulgarian	Pronunciation	English
1	тетрадка	tetradka	notebook
2	учебник	uchebnik	textbook
3	химикал	himikal	pen
4	молив	moliv	pencil
5	гума	guma	eraser
6	линия	liniya	ruler
7	папка	papka	folder
8	стол	stol	chair
9	бюро	byuro	desk
10	компютър	kompyutar	computer
11	клавиатура	klaviatura	keyboard
12	мишка	mishka	mouse
13	екран	ekran	screen
14	лаптоп	laptop	laptop
15	дъска	daska	board
16	маркер	marker	marker
17	пастел	pastel	crayon
18	рафт	raft	shelf

Body Parts

No.	Bulgarian	Pronunciation	English
1	око	oko	eye
2	ухо	uho	ear
3	уста	usta	mouth
4	глава	glava	head
5	коса	kosa	hair
6	зъб	zab	tooth
7	ръка	raka	hand
8	пръст	prast	finger / toe
9	лакът	lakat	elbow
10	рамо	ramo	shoulder
11	корем	korem	abdomen
12	крак	krak	leg
13	мускул	muskul	muscle
14	нокът	nokat	nail
15	нос	nos	nose
16	брадичка	bradichka	chin
17	гръб	grab	back
18	кръст	krast	waist
19	бедро	bedro	thigh
20	врат	vrat	neck

→ You can further expand your vocabulary with this list of 20 body parts in Bulgarian. 

Food

No.	Bulgarian	Pronunciation	English
1	храна	hrana	food
2	хляб	hlyab	bread
3	месо	meso	meat
4	яйце	yaytse	egg
5	сирене	sirene	cheese
6	кашкавал	kashkaval	yellow cheese
7	мляко	mlyako	milk
8	плод	plod	fruit
9	зеленчук	zelenchuk	vegetable
10	ябълка	yabalka	apple
11	круша	krusha	pear
12	портокал	portokal	orange
13	мандарина	mandarina	tangerine
14	диня	dinya	watermelon
15	пъпеш	papesh	melon
16	ягода	yagoda	strawberry
17	череша	cheresha	cherry
18	малина	malina	raspberry
19	морков	morkov	carrot
20	картоф	kartof	potato
21	зеле	zele	cabbage
22	тиква	tikva	pumpkin
23	цвекло	tsveklo	beets
24	карфиол	karfiol	cauliflower
25	броколи	brokoli	broccoli

→ See our free vocabulary list of Bulgarian words for food and ingredients if you would like to dig deeper.

4. Bulgarian Verbs: Add More Activity to Your Knowledge

There are many different verbs that Bulgarian beginners will benefit from learning early on. We’ve created two lists: one for verbs you might use to describe your daily routine and another for miscellaneous verbs you’ll hear often.

Daily Routine Verbs

No.	Bulgarian	Pronunciation	English
1	събуждам се	sabuzhdam se	wake up
2	ставам	stavam	get up
3	мия се	miya se	wash up
4	закусвам	zakusvam	have breakfast
5	обядвам	obyadvam	have lunch
6	вечерям	vecheryam	have dinner
7	работя	rabotya	work
8	уча	ucha	study
9	отивам	otivam	go
10	връщам се	vrashtam se	return
11	пазарувам	pazaruvam	shop
12	купувам	kupuvam	buy
13	обличам	oblicham	dress
14	събличам	sablicham	undress
15	обувам	obuvam	put on shoes
16	събувам	sabuvam	take off shoes
17	мисля	mislya	think
18	мечтая	mechtaya	dream
19	творя	tvorya	create
20	готвя	gotvya	cook
21	чистя	chistya	clean
22	прибирам	pribiram	clean up
23	разхвърлям	razhvarlyam	scatter
24	слушам	slusham	listen
25	гледам	gledam	watch

Other Common Verbs

No.	Bulgarian	Pronunciation	English
1	чета	cheta	read
2	пиша	pisha	write
3	вземам	vzemam	pick up
4	обичам	obicham	love
5	харесвам	haresvam	like
6	мразя	mrazya	hate
7	давам	davam	give
8	правя	pravya	do
9	ходя	hodya	walk
10	разхождам се	razhozhdam se	take a walk
11	карам	karam	drive
12	пия	piya	drink
13	ям	yam	eat
14	питам	pitam	ask
15	отговарям	otgovaryam	answer
16	усмихвам се	usmihvam se	smile
17	търся	tarsya	look for
18	намирам	namiram	find
19	бягам	byagam	run
20	разбирам	razbiram	understand
21	показвам	pokazvam	show
22	научавам	nauchavam	learn
23	говоря	govorya	speak
24	мълча	malcha	keep silent
25	искам	iskam	want

→ BulgarianPod101 provides you with a useful list of the 50 most common Bulgarian verbs along with their pronunciation and translation.

5. Describe Emotions with Bulgarian Adjectives

Learning the most popular Bulgarian adjectives will allow you to describe different people, things, feelings, and emotions more easily. We’ve divided them into four different groups.

Adjectives that describe people

All the adjectives in this section are presented in two forms; the first form is masculine and the second is feminine. For example:

• красив мъж (krasiv mazh) – handsome man
• красива жена (krasiva zhena) – beautiful woman

No.	Bulgarian	Pronunciation	English
1	красив / красива	krasiv / krasiva	beautiful
2	симпатичен / симпатична	simpatichen / simpatichna	cute
3	мил / мила	mil / mila	kind
4	добър / добра	dobar / dobra	good
5	висок / висока	visok / visoka	tall
6	нисък / ниска	nisak / niska	short
7	строен / стройна	stroen / stroina	slender
8	дебел / дебела	debel / debela	fat
9	слаб / слаба	slab / slaba	slim
10	умен / умна	umen / umna	clever
11	глупав / глупава	glupav / glupava	stupid
12	работлив / работлива	rabotliv / rabotliva	hardworking
13	мързелив / мързелива	marzeliv / marzeliva	lazy

Adjectives that describe objects

All the adjectives in this section are presented in three forms: masculine, feminine, and neuter. Unlike in the English language, nouns in Bulgarian are assigned grammatical gender and the adjective used with that noun must agree with it in gender. For example:

• голям стол (golyam stol) – big chair
• голяма топка (golyama topka) – big ball
• голямо легло (golyamo leglo) – big bed

No.	Bulgarian	Pronunciation	English
1	голям / голяма / голямо	golyam / golyama / golyamo	big
2	малък / малка / малко	malak / malka / malko	small
3	дълъг / дълга / дълго	dalag / dalga / dalgo	long
4	къс / къса / късо	kas / kasa / kaso	short
5	пъстър / пъстра / пъстро	pastar / pastra / pastro	colorful
6	широк / широка / широко	shirok / shiroka / shiroko	wide
7	стъклен / стъклена / стъклено	staklen / staklena / stakleno	glass / made of glass
8	метален / метална / метално	metalen / metalna / metalno	metal / made of metal
9	чуплив / чуплива / чупливо	chupliv / chupliva / chuplivo	fragile
10	нов / нова / ново	nov / nova / novo	new
11	стар / стара / старо	star / stara / staro	old

Adjectives that describe emotions

All the adjectives in this section are presented in two forms: masculine and feminine. It will be useful to know both forms as emotions are usually attributed to people. For example:

• щастлив мъж (shtastliv mazh) – happy man
• щастлива жена (shtastliva zhena) – happy woman

But you should still keep in mind that some person-related words are neuter gender. For example:

→ момче (momche) – boy
→ момиче (momiche) – girl

In the case of the first adjective in the table below, you could easily make the appropriate neuter form of the adjective by changing the ending “-a” from the feminine form to “-o.” For example:

• щастливо момче (shtastlivo momche) – happy boy
• щастливо момиче (shtastlivo momiche) – happy girl

No.	Bulgarian	Pronunciation	English
1	щастлив / щастлива	shtastliv / shtastlivа	happy
2	весел / весела	vesel / vesela	cheerful
3	тъжен / тъжна	tazhen / tazhna	sad
4	замислен / замислена	zamislen / zamislena	thoughtful
5	угрижен / угрижена	ugrizhen / ugrizhena	worried
6	самотен / самотна	samoten / samotna	lonely
7	изненадан / изненадана	iznenadan / iznenadana	surprised
8	усмихнат / усмихната	usmihnat / usmihnata	smiling

Adjectives that describe the weather

We present here only the form for neuter gender, because the word време (vreme), or “weather,” is a neuter noun in Bulgarian. For this reason, when describing the weather outside, we use only adjectives in neuter form. 

Examples:

• слънчево време (slanchevo vreme) – sunny weather
• Навън е слънчево. (Navan e slanchevo.) – It is sunny outside.

No.	Bulgarian	Pronunciation	English
1	слънчево	slanchevo	sunny
2	дъждовно	dazhdovno	rainy
3	облачно	oblachno	cloudy
4	ветровито	vetrovito	windy
5	хубаво	hubavo	nice
6	снежно	snezhno	snowy
7	мрачно	mrachno	gloomy

→ Head over to our list of the top 15 weather conditions for even more practical words!

6. Bulgarian Conjunctions

Conjunctions are short words that link together, oppose, or separate other words or phrases in the sentence. Here are some Bulgarian conjunctions that are useful to know:

No.	Bulgarian	Pronunciation	English
1	и	i	and
2	но	no	but
3	а	a	but
4	или	ili	or
5	обаче	obache	however
6	защото	zashtoto	because
7	въпреки че	vapreki che	although / even though
8	тъй като	tay kato	as

Here are a few samples of their usage:

• Не исках да те обидя, а да ти покажа грешката.
  Ne iskah da te obidya, a da ti pokazha greshkata.
  I didn’t want to offend you, but I just wanted to show you the mistake.

• Аз те обичам, въпреки че понякога не слушаш.
  Az te obicham, vapreki che ponyakoga ne slushash.
  I love you, even though sometimes you don’t listen to me.

If you’re looking for even more practical everyday Bulgarian words for absolute beginners, check out our list of 100 core Bulgarian words and get studying!

7. Other Must-know Bulgarian Words

To conclude, let’s look at a few helpful lists of Bulgarian beginner words related to the local culture!

Bulgarian National Holidays

Here are some of the most common Bulgarian holidays:

No.	Bulgarian	Pronunciation	English
1	Нова година	nova godina	New Year’s Day
	Celebrated on January 1
2	Свети Валентин	sveti valentin	St. Valentine’s Day
	Celebrated on February 14
3	Денят на Освобождението на България	denyat na osvobozhdenieto na balgaria	The Day of Liberation of Bulgaria
	Celebrated on March 3
4	Денят на жената	denyat na zhenata	Women’s Day
	Celebrated on March 8
5	Великден	velikden	Easter
	Celebrated on a different date each year
6	Денят на труда	denyat na truda	Labor Day
	Celebrated on May 1
7	Денят на българската писменост	denyat na balgarskata pismenost	The Day of Bulgarian Culture and Literacy
	Celebrated on May 24
8	Денят на народните будители	denyat na narodnite buditeli	The Day of the People’s Awakeners
	Celebrated on November 1
9	Бъдни вечер	badni vecher	Christmas Eve
	Celebrated on December 24
10	Коледа	koleda	Christmas
	Celebrated on December 25

→ In this lesson from BulgarianPod101, you’ll learn even more about Bulgarian national holidays.

Must-try Foods in Bulgaria

If you visit a Bulgarian restaurant, it’s definitely worth knowing the words listed below. These are the must-try dishes that you wouldn’t want to miss during your stay in Bulgaria!

No.	Bulgarian	Pronunciation	English
1	баница	banitsa	banitsa pastry
2	кисело мляко	kiselo mlyako	Bulgarian yogurt
3	таратор	tarator	cold yogurt soup
4	шопска салата	shopska salata	shopska salad
5	луканка	lukanka	type of dry sausage
6	боб чорба	bob chorba	bean soup
7	погача	pogacha	ceremonial bread
8	пълнени чушки с ориз	palneni chushki s oriz	stuffed peppers with rice
9	печено агне	pecheno agne	grilled whole lamb

The Most Popular Bulgarian Cities

You may already have heard about the Bulgarian capital, Sofia, but what are the other major Bulgarian cities you might want to visit? Here’s a list of some popular cities in Bulgaria that are preferred tourist destinations.

No.	Bulgarian	Pronunciation
1	София	Sofia
2	Пловдив	Plovdiv
3	Варна	Varna
4	Бургас	Burgas
5	Велико Търново	Veliko Tarnovo
6	Габрово	Gabrovo
7	Смолян	Smolyan
8	Трявна	Tryavna
9	Банско	Bansko
10	Созопол	Sozopol
11	Балчик	Balchik

→ Learn even more fascinating information about Bulgarian cities and regions in this lesson series prepared by BulgarianPod101.

8. How BulgarianPod101 Can Help You Learn the Bulgarian Language

We believe that this guide to the most common Bulgarian words for beginners will help you build a solid foundation upon which to build your Bulgarian language skills. 

The goal of BulgarianPod101 is to help absolute beginners advance quickly. For this reason, we ensured that this article contained the most essential words in a variety of categories! Once you memorize these words, you should be able to understand native speakers in more beginner-level situations. 

If you create a free lifetime account with us, you’ll gain access to tons of practical lessons that take a fun approach to learning. We even have an entire series of Bulgarian lessons for beginners, which we highly recommend you check out first. 

If you would like to speed up your learning progress even further, you can turn to MyTeacher. This Premium PLUS service allows you to work with a native Bulgarian language expert. He or she will help you learn the basics of vocabulary, grammar, conversations, sentence structure, etc., so you can really start communicating in Bulgarian! 

We’d be happy to hear your feedback about this lesson. Please do not hesitate to share your thoughts with us in the comments below! Which of these words did you find most useful, and what are some words you’d still like to learn?