Learn how to show your appreciation
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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 3, Showing Gratitude in Bulgarian. I’m Jonathan. |
| Iva: Здрасти. And I’m Iva! |
| Jonathan: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to show your appreciation for something. |
| Iva: Yes, we are going to learn how Bulgarians say “thank you”. |
| Jonathan: So, Iva, where does this conversation take place? |
| Iva: It is at the house of one of the speakers, and a guest has just arrived. |
| Jonathan: And again the conversation is between 2 people. |
| Iva: This time the speakers know each other so their overall tone is informal. But since it is a special occasion, a visit, some of the expressions are formal. |
| Jonathan: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUES |
| (natural, native speed) |
| Jonathan: Добре дошъл, заповядай! |
| Iva: Благодаря. Това е малък подарък от мен, заповядай! |
| Jonathan: О, много благодаря! |
| Iva: Няма защо. |
| Jonathan: Now let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Jonathan: Добре дошъл, заповядай! |
| Iva: Благодаря. Това е малък подарък от мен, заповядай! |
| Jonathan: О, много благодаря! |
| Iva: Няма защо. |
| Jonathan: And Now with the English translation. |
| Iva: Добре дошъл, заповядай! |
| Jonathan: Welcome. Please come in! |
| Iva: Благодаря. Това е малък подарък от мен, заповядай! |
| Jonathan: Thanks. This is a small gift from me, please take it! |
| Iva: О, много благодаря! |
| Jonathan: Oh, thank you very much! |
| Iva: Няма защо. |
| Jonathan: You're welcome. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Jonathan: So Iva, how important is it to know how to say “thanks” in Bulgaria? |
| Iva: Bulgarians consider saying “Thank you” as an important part of their manners. It’s very clear when you see how complex the meaning of the two words that make up “Благодаря” are. |
| Jonathan: So what is their meaning? |
| Iva: Some see the meaning of “благо” as a philosophical one, like “prosperity”, “well-being”, “(common) good” and others – because the direct and more ancient translation of it is “sweet”. |
| Jonathan: Interesting! |
| Iva: It is even sometimes used as a substitute for the contemporary word for “sweet” – “сладко”. |
| Jonathan: Well, with such a deep meaning, our listeners are sure to remember it! |
| Iva: Make sure to use “Благодаря” often and when necessary, and you will notice how Bulgarians accept you as one of them. |
| Jonathan: Saying “I present you with prosperity/sweetness” is already a very kind way to show your appreciation. |
| Iva: When invited for a dinner or when receiving small gift, sometimes it is just enough to say “Благодаря” so that your hosts will be pleasantly surprised and pleased to have you visit. |
| Jonathan: So “Благодаря” is one of the most important words to start your Bulgarian with! Okay, now let’s move onto the vocab. |
| VOCABULARY |
| Jonathan: Now let’s take a look at the vocabulary in this lesson. The first word we shall see is... |
| Iva: Добре дошъл |
| Jonathan: Welcome |
| Iva: Добре дошъл (slow, broken down by syllable) |
| Iva: Добре дошъл |
| Iva: Заповядай |
| Jonathan: Come in |
| Iva: Заповядай (slow, broken down by syllable) |
| Iva: Заповядай |
| Iva: малък |
| Jonathan: small |
| Iva: малък (slow, broken down by syllable) |
| Iva: малък |
| Iva: подарък |
| Jonathan: gift; present |
| Iva: подарък (slow, broken down by syllable) |
| Iva: подарък |
| Iva: Много благодаря |
| Jonathan: Thank you very much |
| Iva: Много благодаря (slow, broken down by syllable) |
| Iva: Много благодаря |
| Iva: Няма защо |
| Jonathan: You’re welcome |
| Iva: Няма защо (slow, broken down by syllable) |
| Iva: Няма защо |
| Iva: много |
| Jonathan: Many; much |
| Iva: много (slow, broken down by syllable) |
| Iva: много |
| Iva: благодаря |
| Jonathan: thank you |
| Iva: благодаря(slow, broken down by syllable) |
| Iva: благодаря |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES from the Dialogue |
| Jonathan: Let’s take a closer look at some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Iva: The first one is "Добре дошъл". It is used when people welcome guests in their house, to an event, and generally when welcoming foreigners to Bulgaria. |
| Jonathan: So its general meaning is “Welcome”. |
| Iva: That’s right. |
| Jonathan: What else can you tell us about this phrase? |
| Iva: Well, it’s composed of the adverb “добре” and the past participle “дошъл”. That’s why it changes its form in the different genders and in the plural. |
| Jonathan: I see. When she is “welcome” or when they are “welcome”. |
| Iva: Exactly. |
| Jonathan: That was easy. What’s next? |
| Iva: “Заповядай”. It means both something like “Help yourself” regarding food, for example and “Please have it” when giving a present but it is also used when inviting people to enter a house etc. |
| Jonathan: Like in our dialogue – “Come in”. |
| Iva: Yes. You will learn the different occasions of usage with more experience in Bulgarian. |
| Jonathan: So, listeners, for now just remember the phrase “Заповядай”. |
| Iva: And its formal version “Заповядайте”. If you are foreigner in Bulgaria that will be the phrase you will hear more often because it is the polite one for guests. |
| Jonathan: OK, got it! |
| Iva: And finally, we have “Няма защо”. |
| Jonathan: What does it mean exactly? |
| Iva: It basically means “You are welcome” so it usually follows words of thanks. A more literal meaning is something like “It is nothing (special)” or “Don’t mention it.” |
| Jonathan: When do we use it? |
| Iva: It is considered a polite expression but sometimes people will skip saying it in more informal situations. |
| Jonathan: But we had it in our dialogue. |
| Iva: Yes, because it was a situation where someone gave a small present and was thanked for it, so this phrase is natural. |
| Jonathan: I see. With that, let’s go onto the grammar. |
| GRAMMAR POINT |
| Jonathan: The focus of this lesson is showing your appreciation by saying “thank you” in Bulgarian. |
| Iva: And the most common – or the most standard way – to do this in Bulgarian is to say “Благодаря”. |
| Jonathan: As we said, its literal meaning is something like “I present a good/sweet thing” but it has lost this connotation. |
| Iva: Yes, it just means “Thank you”. |
| Jonathan: What if you want to say “Thank you very much?”. |
| Iva: You have to add the adverb “много” which means “many” or “much”. |
| Jonathan: So, the phrase will be… |
| Iva: “Много благодаря”. |
| Jonathan: Okay, here is a question for you. If you want to thank your friend, would you say his or her name? |
| Iva: No, it is not necessary. You will say “Много ти благодаря”. |
| Jonathan: And the “ти” means? |
| Iva: “you”. |
| Jonathan: How about in a formal situation, what would you say? |
| Iva: “Много Ви благодаря”. |
| Jonathan: What does “Ви” means? |
| Iva: It is the plural form of the pronoun “you” when using formal speech. |
| Jonathan: And it is written with a capital letter because of this, right? |
| Iva: Yes. But use a simple “Благодаря” in all the cases when you are not sure how formal the situation is. |
| Jonathan: Ok, got it. Does that apply to the informal situations too? |
| Iva: Ah, that’s another case. Bulgarians use the French word but in its Bulgarian version. |
| Jonathan: What is it? |
| Iva: “Мерси”. |
| Jonathan: It sounds quite different! |
| Iva: Yes, it is because of the hard Slavic “-r”. |
| Jonathan: OK. Listeners, listen and repeat. |
| Iva: “Мерси”. |
| Jonathan: That should be quite easy to learn. How often would you use it? |
| Iva: Hmm, actually young people use it more often than elderly and even sometimes in the countryside “Мерси” might sound inappropriate. |
| Jonathan: But many people use it because it is considered to be more convenient than “Благодаря”, right? |
| Iva: That’s right. |
| Jonathan: OK, to repeat all of them… first.. |
| Iva: Just a simple “Благодаря”. |
| Jonathan: And “Thank you very much”. |
| Iva: “Много благодаря”. |
| Jonathan: And “Thank YOU very much”. |
| Iva: “Много ти благодаря” for the plain and “Много Ви благодаря” for the polite form. |
Outro |
| Jonathan: OK, Iva, “Мерси” for this lesson. |
| Iva: Nice! Thanks to you too. Until next time! |
| Jonathan: Bye everyone! |
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