Learn how to greet each other
Now Playing: Lesson Audio
Get a breakdown of the dialogue and translations instantly with the Premium line-by-line Audio. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
Intro |
|---|
| Jonathan: Hello and welcome to the Absolute Beginner series at BulgarianPod101.com. This is season 1, lesson 1, First Encounters in Bulgarian. I’m Jonathan. |
| Iva: And I’m Iva! |
| Jonathan: Together we will guide you through the first steps in Bulgarian. |
| Iva: That’s right. So get ready and … enjoy! |
| Jonathan: Yes, because it is fun to learn Bulgarian. |
| Iva: And we’re here to make your absolute beginner experience easy and productive! Okay, Jonathan, what do we have first? |
| Jonathan: In this lesson you'll learn how to say "hello" in Bulgarian in the daytime. |
| Iva: This conversation takes place on the street. |
| Jonathan: The conversation is between two people. |
| Iva: The speakers know each other but their relationship is formal, so they’ll be speaking formal Bulgarian. |
| Jonathan: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUES |
| [during the day] |
| Jonathan: Добър ден. |
| Iva: Добър ден. |
| Jonathan: Как сте? |
| Iva: Добре съм, благодаря. |
| Jonathan: Now let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. (slow speed, broken down by syllable) |
| [during the day] |
| Jonathan: Добър ден. |
| Iva: Добър ден. |
| Jonathan: Как сте? |
| Iva: Добре съм, благодаря. |
| Jonathan: And Now with the English translation. |
| Iva: Добър ден. |
| Jonathan: Hello. |
| Iva: Добър ден. |
| Jonathan: Hello. |
| Iva: Как сте? |
| Jonathan: How are you? |
| Iva: Добре съм, благодаря. |
| Jonathan: Fine, thanks. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Jonathan: OK, so now it is time for some more information about Bulgarian culture. |
| Iva: Yes. Bulgarians like to greet each other on the street when they are close acquaintances or friends. |
| Jonathan: It is also a very typical thing to see in the countryside, right Iva? |
| Iva: Yep! People would stop by to talk to their friends and ask them how they feel, or just to say politely hello and have short conversation. |
| Jonathan: So what would you say in this situation? |
| Iva: In this case we usually use the expression “Как сте?/Как си?”. |
| Jonathan: Remember that when talking to elderly people, it is considered polite to use the second person plural form of the phrase. |
| Iva: ...and other phrases like “Добър ден” and “благодаря” instead of their informal versions “Здравей/Здрасти” and “мерси”. |
| Jonathan: In our formal situation the speakers use the second person plural to express their respect for each other. Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB |
| Jonathan: Now let’s take a look at the vocabulary in this lesson. The first word we shall see is... |
| Iva: Добър ден |
| Jonathan: Hello |
| Iva: Добър ден (slow, broken down by syllable) |
| Iva: Добър ден |
| Iva: Как сте |
| Jonathan: How are you? |
| Iva: Как сте (slow, broken down by syllable) |
| Iva: Как сте |
| Iva: Добре съм |
| Jonathan: I’m fine |
| Iva: Добре съм (slow, broken down by syllable) |
| Iva: Добре съм |
| Iva: Благодаря |
| Jonathan: Thank you |
| Iva: Благодаря (slow, broken down by syllable) |
| Iva: Благодаря |
| Iva: съм |
| Jonathan: I am |
| Iva: съм (slow, broken down by syllable) |
| Iva: съм |
| Iva: добре |
| Jonathan: fine |
| Iva: добре (slow, broken down by syllable) |
| Iva: добре |
| Iva: как |
| Jonathan: how |
| Iva: как (slow, broken down by syllable) |
| Iva: как |
| Iva: ден |
| Jonathan: day |
| Iva: ден (slow, broken down by syllable) |
| Iva: ден |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| Jonathan: Let’s take a closer look at some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Iva: Yes, in addition to their meaning, we will explain some information about their forms and usage. |
| Jonathan: The first word from this dialogue is… |
| Iva: "Добър ден"! |
| Jonathan: This is one of the most important phrases in Bulgarian. |
| Iva: Yes, you will hear this every day. |
| Jonathan: It can be used both with people you know or people you are meeting for the first time. |
| Iva: Literally it means "Good day" so that’s why it’s used in the daytime. |
| Jonathan: There are other expressions used to greet people in the morning and in the evening... |
| Iva: But for now, just remember “Добър ден”. |
| Jonathan: It’s the most common way to greet people in Bulgaria. What’s next, Iva? |
| Iva: “Добре съм” which means “I am fine” or "I am well". |
| Jonathan: This phrase naturally follows the question “How are you” in Bulgarian. |
| Iva: In Bulgarian, “how are you” is “Как сте?” for the formal and “Как си?” for the informal question. Как сте? for formal and Как си? for informal. |
| Jonathan: Ok, so make sure you listen out for this question! Can you tell us more about the phrase “I am fine”? |
| Iva: The adverb "добре" means “fine”, “well”, “OK” and sometimes can be the only answer to the question “How are you?”. |
| Jonathan: So how does that sound? |
| Iva: For example, you answer the informal question “Как си?” with just one word- “Добре!” |
| Jonathan: It can be used among friends, right? |
| Iva: Yes, it can be used in conversation as an affirmative “OK”, like in English. |
| Jonathan: That’s right! And the last one we’ll talk about is… |
| Iva: “Благодаря” meaning “thank you”. |
| Jonathan: Another very useful Bulgarian word! |
| Iva: Indeed, do not forget to use it often. |
| Jonathan: Yes, it will help you in so many ways. |
| Iva: Bulgarians never forget to say “Thank you.” |
| Jonathan: And this one is mostly used in formal speech but can be used in the informal too. |
| Iva: That’s right. Its informal substitute is “Мерси”. |
| Jonathan: Oh, that sounds familiar! |
| Iva: I know, but we are going to talk about it in detail in our next lesson! |
| Jonathan: Ok, let’s move on to the grammar! |
| GRAMMAR POINT |
| Jonathan: The focus of this lesson is how to greet people in the daytime in Bulgaria. |
| Iva: And ask them how they are feeling. |
| Jonathan: Yes, so “How are you” in Bulgarian is… |
| Iva: “Как сте?” |
| Jonathan: "How are you" or "How you are feeling"? There are several phrases used to ask how someone is feeling in Bulgarian, just as in English. |
| Iva: But let's just focus on the usage of “Как сте” in this lesson. |
| Jonathan: Okay, (name). Give us an example. |
| Iva: Here it is – “Как сте днес?” It means... |
| Jonathan: How are you today? |
| Iva: And it is formal. |
| Jonathan: Because the verb is in its polite form. |
| Iva: “Как си, мило?” |
| Jonathan: Means “How are you, dear?” There's no difference in the meaning of the phrase. Just remember that the verb changes its form from “сте” to “си”. |
| Iva: The first one “сте” is the second person plural and the second one, “си” is the second person singular of the auxiliary verb. |
| Jonathan: OK. Here's a question for you. If you were visiting a friend in the hospital after he’d had an accident, what would you say? |
| Iva: “Как си след злополуката?” |
| Jonathan: Which means “How are you after the accident?” |
| Iva: I hope I won’t have to ask any of my friends this question though! |
| Jonathan: OK, OK, sorry! Next you'll learn how to ask how someone is (feeling) in a formal situation. Let’s say you are asking Mr. Petrov. |
| Iva: That will be “Как сте, господин Петров?” It is formed using a phrase you already know plus the name of the person. |
| Jonathan: It means “How are you, Mr. Petrov?” right? |
| Iva: Yes, Petrov is one of the common family names in Bulgarian. |
| Jonathan: So what is the usual way to reply to this question? |
| Iva: Quite often the answer is “Добре съм”. x2 |
| Jonathan: It used in the same way as the English because it means “I’m fine/I’m OK.” |
| Iva: Still, when the partner in the conversation is not feeling well other expressions can be used to replace the otherwise typical answer “Добре съм.” |
| Jonathan: Can you just mention some of them? |
| Iva: “Горе-долу”, meaning “So-so.” |
| Jonathan: In that case the verb can be omitted. |
| Iva: Yes, that’s right. |
| Jonathan: Let's recap this lesson. You want ask someone “How he/she is?” What would you say? |
| Iva: If he or she is your friend? |
| Jonathan: Yes. |
| Iva: “Как си?” |
| Jonathan: And how about if this is your boss, for example. |
| Iva: “Как сте?” |
Outro |
| Jonathan: OK. That's all for this lesson. In the lesson notes, you can find more details about this expression. So be sure to read them. |
| Iva: Yes, please! OK, see you next time! |
| Jonathan: Bye everyone! |
Comments
HideHi everyone,
How are you doing today? Could you answer the question in Bulgarian?
Hello Anissa!
You are doing great with the answer of this question. Just please pay attention that it should be добре сЪм and not добре сам.
I see you probably downloaded the Bulgarian phonetic keyboard. It is very similar to the English one on purpose, as it is aimed at people who haven’t studied typing at school (like me 😇) and foreigners. The standard Bulgarian keyboard is completely different and is consistent with Bulgarian words. It is used by people who type a lot in their work since you can type faster using it and the 10 finger method.
Let us know if you have any questions.
Kind regards,
Viktoria
Team BulgarianPod101.com
добре сам, благодаря. как сте?
Wow, I just searched how to download my keyboard on mac and it is surprisingly similar to the english keyboard. I got stuck on the "ya" but I'm happy it's a easy enough muscle memory transfer!
I'm hope to comment more often!
Hello Alvaro,
Most of Bulgarian sentences follow the Subject+Verb+Object structure, as in I am fine which should be Az sum dobre
In this case, when you omit the subject Az, the word order changes to Dobre sum. (Sum dobre is not correct).
With other verbs (different from to be), the word order doesn’t change when you omit the subject, e.g. Az obicham sladoled. = Obicham sladoled. (I like ice-cream.)
You can read more about the word order here: https://www.bulgarianpod101.com/blog/2020/08/07/bulgarian-word-order/#1
Kind regards,
Viktoria
Team BulgarianPod101.com
Hello, I have a question. For "I am fine" can you also say: Az sum dobre and sum dobre, or can you only say dobre sum? I would lie to know a bit about the word order
Hi,
Thank you for answering our question! I hope next time you will be at least Много добре or Супер. :)
Please keep your interest towards Bulgarian!
Cheers,
Viktoria
Team BulgarianPod101.com
Здравейте gul,
Thank you very much for your like! We hope you enjoy studying with us.😇
Feel free to contact us if you have any questions.
Kind regards,
Левенте (Levente)
Team BulgarianPod101.com
👍
Hi Sandra,
Thank you for your question.
Unfortunately, at the moment the Flashcards are only available on the site version.
Let us know if you have any further questions.👍
Cheers,
Lena
Team BulgarianPod101.com
Were can I find the flashcards on the app? To study with them on my computer is no problem, but when I try to work with the app on my phone I cannot find them. Is this no option there or is it?
Blagodarja
Hi Jan,
You did great and you did it on your own! That’s praiseworthy provided that you have Google translate at your fingertips :).
Just keep in mind that “Как си?” is the informal version and “Как сте?” is the formal version of the same question.
Sincerely,
Viktoria
здрасти! Добре съм, как сте?
(trying this without looking things up haha😄)
Hi Jeffrey,
I see you are determined to learn the language. It might be more difficult provided that this is the first Slavic language you learn but I am sure you will make it. Things will become easier after some point, that’s for sure. BulgarianPod provides very useful resources for this purpose. If you want to read books for children for a change, you can find some on amazon and ebay. Please remember that language for children may sometimes be more difficult to understand so the books should probably be adapted. I hope this helps.
Kind regards,
Viktoria
Team BulgarianPod101.com
I decided that I might one day retire and live in Bulgaria, so I have to learn the language may as well start now, its difficult for me because I have not studied a Slavic language before, but I am enjoying the challenge, thankyou for providing this as I have looked very hard for ways to learn Bulgarian, and have found no other sites, or resources for this, I bought 4 audio books and they are all from your site and I've listened for a couple hundred hours, and I know only about 200 words so far. but I feel it will all fall together eventually.. I wondered if you can tell me a place I could Order Childrens books in bulgarian so I can maybe learn to read it easier?
Hi Bruce,
Please check out these lessons to improve your Bulgarian pronunciation:
Basic Bulgarian Pronunciation
https://www.bulgarianpod101.com/lesson/all-about-4-basic-bulgarian-pronunciation/
Sound Like a Native: Bulgarian Pronunciation
https://www.bulgarianpod101.com/lesson-library/how-to-sound-like-a-native-bulgarian-pronunciation/
Feel free to let us know if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
Cristiane
Team BulgarianPod101.com
Hi! I speak cantonese from Hong Kong. Bulgarian is interesting. But the pronunciation of Bulgarian make me feel difficult.
Hi Nelly,
thank you for posting. Unfortunately, I cannot get exactly your sentence.
инструмент / instrument, is in masculine in Bulgarian, therefore it would be more correct to say
един музикален инструмент
гаранциа / guarantee is in feminine, and you can say
една гаранция
Kind regards,
Tina
Team BulgarianPod101.com
днес гаранциа как е едно музикален инструмент.
Hi Nazim,
съм is 1st person singular form of the verb "to be". Аз means "I", so Аз съм is "I am". As the verb in Bulgarian changes in person and number, you can usually skip the personal pronoun and still convey the right meaning. It is a bit tricky with the 1st person singular as it sounds weird sometimes, but it is quite ok to say "Добре съм." (I) am fine.
"Аз съм ученик" means "I am a student"
Аз - I
съм - am
ученик - a student.
"a" in "a student" is a peculiarity of the English language and does not have an equivalent in Bulgarian.
Kind regards,
Tina
Team BulgarianPod101.com
Hi Osvaldo,
Thank you for posting!
In case of any questions, please don't hesitate to contact us.
Sincerely,
Cristiane
Team BulgarianPod101.com
Добре съм, благодаря!