Learn how to talk about doing a habitual action
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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 21, A Banana-Loving Bulgarian Baby. I’m Jonathan. |
| Iva: Hello. And I’m Iva! |
| Jonathan: In this lesson you'll learn how to talk about habitual actions. |
| Iva: This conversation again takes place at Peter’s house. |
| Jonathan: It’s between Martin, Irina and Peter; they are talking about Peter’s daughter Sarah. |
| Iva: The speakers already know each other so their speech is informal. |
| Jonathan: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
| (Sarah cries.) |
| Ирина: О, Сара, гладна ли си? Питър, Сара яде ли банани? |
| Питър: Да, яде. Сара много обича банани. |
| Ирина: Така ли? Ето, Сара, заповядай. |
| (Sarah laughs.) |
| (Dog whines.) |
| Мартин (far away): Питър, Шаро яде ли банани? |
| Jonathan: Now let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. (slow speed, broken down by syllable) |
| (Sarah cries.) |
| Ирина: О, Сара, гладна ли си? Питър, Сара яде ли банани? |
| Питър: Да, яде. Сара много обича банани. |
| Ирина: Така ли? Ето, Сара, заповядай. |
| (Sarah laughs.) |
| (Dog whines.) |
| Мартин (far away): Питър, Шаро яде ли банани? |
| Jonathan: And now with the English translation. |
| (Sarah cries) |
| Irina: Oh, Sarah, are you hungry~? |
| :Peter, does Sarah eat bananas? |
| Peter: Yes, she does. Sarah loves bananas! |
| Irina: Oh, really? Okay, Sarah. Here you go. |
| (Sarah laughs) |
| (Dog whines) |
| Martin (far away): Peter, does Sharo eat bananas? |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Jonathan: OK, let’s talk a little about Bulgarian eating habits. |
| Iva: That’s a good idea because asking what Bulgarians like and talking about what you like is a great way to practice the grammar from this lesson! |
| Jonathan: So Iva, what do Bulgarians like to eat most often? |
| Iva: Bulgarians love lyutenitsa, yogurt, and hot peppers. |
| Jonathan: Would you find these three things on every Bulgarian table? |
| Iva: Yes, definitely. The first one, lyutenitsa is similar to ketchup but has more vegetables, and it’s quite often homemade. |
| Jonathan: One more typical thing – Bulgarians will have bread on their table so be prepared to eat bread with almost every dish. |
| Iva: Of course, using what you have learned from the previous lessons, you can say that you do not like it, if you need to. |
| Jonathan: How about the yogurt? Tell us more about it! |
| Iva: One important point about the yogurt – Bulgarians actually eat it almost every day, if not every day. And again, sometimes it is made at home because of the Lactobacillus Bulgaricus, which is a special feature of the region. |
| Jonathan: It’s famous! |
| Iva: Also note that yogurt is not considered a dessert or a light meal; more often it is included in main dishes as a topping, and as the main ingredient of soups, salads and sandwiches. |
| Jonathan: A yogurt sandwich sounds interesting - I hope I can try one someday! Okay, now 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: гладен |
| Jonathan: hungry |
| Iva: гладен (slow, broken down by syllable) |
| Iva: гладен |
| Iva: ям |
| Jonathan: to eat |
| Iva: ям (slow, broken down by syllable) |
| Iva: ям |
| Iva: банан |
| Jonathan: banana |
| Iva: банан (slow, broken down by syllable) |
| Iva: банан |
| Iva: много |
| Jonathan: very much, a lot |
| Iva: много (slow, broken down by syllable) |
| Iva: много |
| Iva: обичам |
| Jonathan: to like; to love |
| Iva: обичам (slow, broken down by syllable) |
| Iva: обичам |
| Iva: ето |
| Jonathan: Here you are |
| Iva: ето (slow, broken down by syllable) |
| Iva: ето |
| Iva: заповядай |
| Jonathan: Help yourself |
| Iva: заповядай (slow, broken down by syllable) |
| Iva: заповядай |
| Iva: така ли? |
| Jonathan: Is that so? |
| Iva: така ли? (slow, broken down by syllable) |
| Iva: така ли? |
| 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: First we have “Гладен”. |
| Jonathan: What does that mean? |
| Iva: It is the Bulgarian adjective for the English “hungry”; this form is in the masculine. |
| Jonathan: So like other Bulgarian adjectives, it has masculine, feminine and neutral forms, as well as a plural form. |
| Iva: That’s right. These are – “гладен”, “гладна”, “гладно”, and “гладни”. |
| Jonathan: Iva, could you repeat these for our listeners? |
| Iva: “гладен”, “гладна”, “гладно”, and “гладни”. Just note that the neutral form can be used when talking about babies or pets/animals. |
| Jonathan: OK, that’s useful to know. What’s next? |
| Iva: “Ям”. |
| Jonathan: That’s the verb “to eat”, right? |
| Iva: Yes! Like the other Bulgarian verbs, its form changes when we conjugate the verb. Here are the variations – “ям”, “ядеш”, “яде”, “ядем”, “ядете”, “ядат”. |
| Jonathan: Can you repeat those? Listeners, repeat after Iva. |
| Iva: “ям”, “ядеш”, “яде”, “ядем”, “ядете”, “ядат”. |
| Jonathan: What’s special about this verb? |
| Iva: Well, one thing for example, is that the word for “meal” originated from this verb – “ядене”, and it literally means “eating”. |
| Jonathan: OK. “meal” or “eating” and..? |
| Iva: “ядене”. |
| Jonathan: What is the last word we have? |
| Iva: “Банан”. |
| Jonathan: I know this one! |
| Iva: Good job! It’s the Bulgarian word for the English noun “banana”. |
| Jonathan: Easy to remember! Can you give us some similar examples? |
| Iva: OK, here are some words for fruits: “lemon”/”лимон”, “cherry”/”череша”, “grapefruit”/”грейпфрут”, “kiwi”/”киви”, and “cassis”/”касис”. |
| Jonathan: They are really similar! |
| Iva: Yep, they sure are! |
| Jonathan: OK, now let’s go to the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
| Jonathan: In this lesson, we are going to learn how to ask about someone doing a habitual action in Bulgarian. |
| Iva: The way we compose these questions is as follows: first we put the subject (noun or pronoun); then we put the verb in its appropriate form (third person singular or plural); after that we use the particle for asking questions in Bulgarian, “ли”; and at the end we put the direct object. |
| Jonathan: I think we need an example. |
| Iva: For example, we may ask the question “Does he play golf?” in English. |
| Jonathan: And in Bulgarian that will be..? |
| Iva: In Bulgarian this will sound like this: “Той играе ли голф?” |
| Jonathan: Can you repeat them for our listeners, please? |
| Iva: Yes, “Does he play golf?” - “Той играе ли голф?” |
| Jonathan: OK, this sentence is using the third person singular form of the verb “to play” or “играя” in Bulgarian. |
| Iva: “играе.” The same sentence, when asked about two or more people, will sound like this in Bulgarian: “Те играят ли голф?” |
| Jonathan: “Do they play golf?” Listeners, repeat after Iva. |
| Iva: “Те играят ли голф?” [pause] |
| Jonathan: As you can see, this is a question about preference, activities that are performed often, habitual actions, and so on. |
| Iva: Yes, but we need to know how to tell if it is about habitual action and not an action done in the present. |
| Jonathan: Because in Bulgarian the sentences might sound the same but in English we can have “Do they play golf?” and “Are they playing golf?” |
| Iva: Yes. The Bulgarian sentences will all be the same - “Те играят ли голф?” |
| Jonathan: How can we tell the difference? |
| Iva: In order to be able to tell the difference between these two in Bulgarian, take note of the context these kinds of questions are asked in. |
| Jonathan: I see. You can tell easily if you pay attention to whether it is about habitual actions,and not an action being done at that moment. |
| Iva: Like the example from this lesson, “Peter, does Sarah eat bananas?” |
| Jonathan: Could you repeat the Bulgarian for our listeners? |
| Iva: Yes, “Питър, Сара яде ли банани?” |
| Jonathan: Yes, in this case we know that the question is if Sarah likes bananas, not if she’s eating one at that moment. |
| Iva: Exactly. |
| Jonathan: What else can you tell us? |
| Iva: Well, this type of telling information about habitual actions usually includes the Bulgarian verb “обичам” which you should already know, means “to like” or “to love”. |
| Jonathan: As far as I remember, it’s used to express any type of favorite activity, hobby or ability in Bulgarian. |
| Iva: Yes, that’s right. |
| Jonathan: Can you give us an example? |
| Iva: “Ядеш ли люти чушки?” And “Обичаш ли люти чушки”. |
| Jonathan: The first one is “Do you eat chili peppers?” and the second one – “Do you like chili peppers?” |
| Iva: Yes! Both have the same meaning actually. |
| Jonathan: OK, listeners, you’ll find many more useful examples in the lesson notes, so be sure to check those out. That’s all from us for now! |
| Iva: I hope you enjoyed this lesson. |
| Jonathan: See you next time! |
| Iva: Bye everyone! |
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