Learn how to ask and answer the question, "What time is it?"
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Intro |
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| Jonathan: Hello and welcome to the Absolute Beginner series at BulgarianPod101.com. This is season 1, lesson 19, Being a Serial Latecomer in Bulgaria. I’m Jonathan. |
| Iva: Hello. And I’m Iva! |
| Jonathan: In this lesson you'll learn how to ask and answer what time it is. |
| Iva: This conversation again takes at Martin and Irina’s house; they are preparing to meet Peter. |
| Jonathan: So the conversation is between Martin and Irina. |
| Iva: The speakers are a couple so their speech is informal. |
| Jonathan: OK, let’s listen to the conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
| Ирина: (from the bathroom) Мартине, в колко точно беше срещата с Питър? |
| Мартин: В 10:30 е. |
| Ирина: А сега колко е часът? |
| Мартин: 9:05. Побързай, за да не закъснеем! |
| Ирина: Да-а! Още минутка! |
| Мартин: (walking nervously) Винаги казваш така... а после... |
| Jonathan: Now let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. (slow speed, broken down by syllable) |
| Ирина: (from the bathroom) Мартине, в колко точно беше срещата с Питър? |
| Мартин: В 10:30 е. |
| Ирина: А сега колко е часът? |
| Мартин: 9:05. Побързай, за да не закъснеем! |
| Ирина: Да-а! Още минутка! |
| Мартин: (walking nervously) Винаги казваш така... а после... |
| Jonathan: And now with the English translation. |
| Irina: Martin, what time exactly was the meeting with Peter? |
| Martin: It's at 10:30. |
| Irina: And what's the time now? |
| Martin: 9:05. Hurry up so that we won't be late. |
| Irina: Yee-s! Just one more minute! |
| Martin: (walking nervously) You always say so... and then... |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Jonathan: OK, Iva, let’s talk about time and measuring time in Bulgaria. |
| Iva: I have to say that Bulgarians are quite flexible when it comes to time and engagements, meetings, and etiquette related to time. |
| Jonathan: Do you mean that they’re not punctual? |
| Iva: Well, being late is considered a bad sign if you are in business negotiations or if you want to make a good first impression. |
| Jonathan: What about in other situations? |
| Iva: Well, between friends, being late by 5 to 10 minutes is not an exceptional case and usually the reason for this will be a traffic jam or something similar, which all Bulgarians know very well and won’t get angry about. |
| Jonathan: I see. It happens. |
| Iva: But being later than this will not be so welcome and might be seen as a lack of respect or interest. |
| Jonathan: Of course, letting the other person know that you’ll be late is crucial. |
| Iva: I think that sometimes this is one of the reasons Bulgarians are late – they count too much on being able to inform whoever they’re meeting in advance about their small delay. |
| Jonathan: Yeah, and they say technology is supposed to make our lives easier and faster… |
| Iva: (laughs) But just remember that you should be punctual when you have an official meeting, flight departure, exam, and so on. |
| Jonathan: And don’t be discouraged because even if you are late, a nice apology like we’ve learned in our lessons can help you out a lot! Okay, now let’s move onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Jonathan: Now let’s take a look at the vocabulary in this lesson. The first word we shall see is... |
| Iva: среща |
| Jonathan: meeting; date |
| Iva: среща (slow, broken down by syllable) |
| Iva: среща |
| Iva: час |
| Jonathan: hour |
| Iva: час (slow, broken down by syllable) |
| Iva: час |
| Iva: побързай |
| Jonathan: Hurry up |
| Iva: побързай (slow, broken down by syllable) |
| Iva: побързай |
| Iva: още |
| Jonathan: more |
| Iva: още (slow, broken down by syllable) |
| Iva: още |
| Iva: минута |
| Jonathan: minute |
| Iva: минута (slow, broken down by syllable) |
| Iva: минута |
| Iva: винаги |
| Jonathan: always |
| Iva: винаги (slow, broken down by syllable) |
| Iva: винаги |
| Iva: после |
| Jonathan: then; afterwards |
| Iva: после (slow, broken down by syllable) |
| Iva: после |
| Iva: закъснявам |
| Jonathan: to be late |
| Iva: закъснявам (slow, broken down by syllable) |
| Iva: закъснявам |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| Jonathan: Let’s take a closer look at some of the words and phrases from this lesson. What’s first, Iva? |
| Iva: The first word we have is “Минутка”. |
| Jonathan: It sounds very similar to “minute”. |
| Iva: Yes. It is another diminutive word in Bulgarian used to show that the original word “минута” or “minute” is a very short time. |
| Jonathan: Like saying “Just a minute!” |
| Iva: Exactly. “Минутка”. |
| Jonathan: So basically people use it when they want to say they “won’t be long” or only a short time will pass. |
| Iva: Yes. |
| Jonathan: Ok, what is the next word we have? |
| Iva: “Среща”. |
| Jonathan: What does it mean? |
| Iva: It is the Bulgarian word for “meeting” but also for “date”. |
| Jonathan: OK, how can we tell the difference? |
| Iva: Its general meaning is “meeting” so to avoid misunderstandings people add the Bulgarian words “business” or “official” to the word to distinguish it from the meaning of “date”. |
| Jonathan: OK, so how does that sound in Bulgarian? |
| Iva: “бизнес среща” or “официална среща”. |
| Jonathan: Sounds easy! Listeners, repeat after Iva. |
| Iva: “бизнес среща”; “официална среща”. [pause] |
| Jonathan: OK, what’s the last word? |
| Iva: “Побързай” |
| Jonathan: It sounds like an order. |
| Iva: Yes – it is an imperative form of the verb “бързам”, or “to hurry”. |
| Jonathan: Can you repeat the verb and the form for our listeners? |
| Iva: “бързам”, “Побързай”. |
| Jonathan: Listeners, note that there is prefix which shows the impatience and the desire to push the person to act. |
| Iva: Yes, this prefix “-По” is used with many other verbs so it is useful to be remembered. |
| Jonathan: OK, I think that’s all for the vocabulary points in this lesson, so let’s move on to the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
| Jonathan: Now let’s talk about how we can ask and answer about times in Bulgarian. |
| Iva: We say “В колко часа е ~ [some event]?” when we ask about the time of an event. |
| Jonathan: For example? |
| Iva: “What time is the dinner?” in Bulgarian will sound like this “В колко часа е вечерята?” |
| Jonathan: Could you repeat the Bulgarian sentence again for our listeners please? |
| Iva: “В колко часа е вечерята?” |
| Jonathan: Can you break this down? |
| Iva: First, there is the preposition for asking the time “at” which in Bulgarian is “в”; then the adverb for asking about amounts, “how much” or “колко” in Bulgarian; then the word for “hour”, “часа”; then the auxiliary verb in its appropriate form and at the end, the event you are asking about. |
| Jonathan: OK, with some practice I am sure our listeners will remember this. |
| Iva: Well, sometimes, we can use other verbs instead of the auxiliary verb; for example, the verb “start”. |
| Jonathan: Can you give us an example sentence? |
| Iva: A sentence like “What time does the test start?” in Bulgarian will be “В колко часа започва теста?” |
| Jonathan: And again, listeners, repeat after Iva. |
| Iva: “В колко часа започва теста?” |
| Jonathan: I think for now focusing on the auxiliary verb only will be easier. |
| Iva: OK. |
| Jonathan: So how do we answer this type of question? |
| Iva: A typical answer is just like in English “At [some hour].” |
| Jonathan: How will this sound in Bulgarian? |
| Iva: In Bulgarian that will be “В [hour].” |
| Jonathan: Give us an example, please. |
| Iva: OK, say you ask me about the time of the test and I say “В 10:30 е.” |
| Jonathan: It means “It is at 10:30.” |
| Iva: Yes. In a formal conversation, you would be better off using the preposition and the auxiliary verb so your sentence sounds like the English “It is at [hour] o’clock.” |
| Jonathan: OK, please tell us the Bulgarian version. |
| Iva: In Bulgarian this sentence will be “В 10:30 часа е.” |
| Jonathan: And again for our listeners. |
| Iva: “В 10:30 часа е.” |
| Jonathan: How about asking what the time is? |
| Iva: We put the adverb for asking about amounts, “how much” or “колко” in Bulgarian; then the auxiliary verb in third person singular, in Bulgarian “е”; and then the noun for hour in its form with the definite article – “часът”. |
| Jonathan: If I say... “What time is it?” |
| Iva: ...the Bulgarian will be “Колко е часът?” |
| Jonathan: Simple! |
| Iva: Yes. But remember to practice these and the other examples in our lesson notes! |
| Jonathan: Yes, they will help you master these expressions very quickly! |
| Iva: OK, that’s it for this lesson. |
| Jonathan: Yes, thanks and bye! |
| Iva: Bye-bye! |
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