Learn how to use the verb "to be" in the past and present tense
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Matt: Hello and welcome back to BulgarianPod101.com. This is Beginner, season 1, lesson 21 - Can People Change in Bulgaria? My name is Matt. |
| Tina: Здравейте! And I’m Tina! |
| Matt: In this lesson, you'll learn how to express a state of change in Bulgarian. |
| Tina: The following conversation takes place in the house of two of the main characters, Elena and Nikolay. |
| Matt: They use informal speech because they are spouses. Let’s listen to the conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| Елена: Ники, забелязваш ли, че напоследък Кирил се промени? |
| Николай: Мда, беше доста несериозен... |
| Елена: Но сега е наистина старателен и мотивиран. |
| Николай: Защо ли? |
| Елена: Не знам, но искам да го зарадваме с нещо. |
| Николай: Той нали беше фен на бойните изкуства... |
| Елена: Той все още е, но сега няма време за това. |
| Matt: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Елена: Ники, забелязваш ли, че напоследък Кирил се промени? |
| Николай: Мда, беше доста несериозен... |
| Елена: Но сега е наистина старателен и мотивиран. |
| Николай: Защо ли? |
| Елена: Не знам, но искам да го зарадваме с нещо. |
| Николай: Той нали беше фен на бойните изкуства... |
| Елена: Той все още е, но сега няма време за това. |
| Matt: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| Елена: Ники, забелязваш ли, че напоследък Кирил се промени? |
| Matt: Niki, did you notice that Kiril has changed recently? |
| Николай: Мда, беше доста несериозен... |
| Matt: Yeah, he used to be quite irresponsible. |
| Елена: Но сега е наистина старателен и мотивиран. |
| Matt: But now he is really studious and motivated. |
| Николай: Защо ли? |
| Matt: Why is that? |
| Елена: Не знам, но искам да го зарадваме с нещо. |
| Matt: I don't know but I want to do something to make him happy. |
| Николай: Той нали беше фен на бойните изкуства... |
| Matt: He used to be a martial arts fan, right... |
| Елена: Той все още е, но сега няма време за това. |
| Matt: He still is, but he doesn’t have time for that now. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Matt: In this dialogue, they were talking about their son Kiril and his affection towards martial arts. |
| Tina: I suppose this may sound surprising to non-Bulgarians. |
| Matt: A little, but I’ve heard that martial arts are quite popular in Bulgaria. |
| Tina: That’s right. Karate, judo, aikido, jiu jitsu, kung fu and kickboxing are especially popular, to name a few. Bulgarians are also into boxing and wrestling. Men in particular like to train themselves in order to be able to defend themselves in dangerous situations. |
| Matt: Children are also encouraged to start practicing martial arts as a type of sports activity during childhood, right? |
| Tina: Right, but I think there’s another reason for the popularity of martial arts. |
| Matt: What’s that? |
| Tina: Sometimes, the interest in martial arts originates from an interest in Eastern cultures and their language. Quite often, people who practice martial arts also learn Asian languages. |
| Matt: Ah, that makes sense. Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Matt: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| : The first word we’ll look at is: |
| Tina: променям се [natural native speed] |
| Matt: to change oneself |
| Tina: променям се [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Tina: променям се [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Tina: несериозен [natural native speed] |
| Matt: frivolous |
| Tina: несериозен [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Tina: несериозен [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Tina: старателен [natural native speed] |
| Matt: careful |
| Tina: старателен [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Tina: старателен [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Tina: мотивиран [natural native speed] |
| Matt: motivated |
| Tina: мотивиран [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Tina: мотивиран [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Tina: зарадвам [natural native speed] |
| Matt: to make someone happy |
| Tina: зарадвам [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Tina: зарадвам [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Tina: фен [natural native speed] |
| Matt: fan |
| Tina: фен [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Tina: фен [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Tina: бойно изкуство [natural native speed] |
| Matt: martial art |
| Tina: бойно изкуство [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Tina: бойно изкуство [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Tina: забелязвам [natural native speed] |
| Matt: to notice |
| Tina: забелязвам [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Tina: забелязвам [natural native speed] |
| : And Last: |
| Tina: защо [natural native speed] |
| Matt: why |
| Tina: защо [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Tina: защо [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Matt: Let’s take a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Tina: The first word is “Напоследък”. |
| Matt: This is an adverb that means “recently” or “lately”. |
| Tina: You often use it at the beginning of the sentence when you’re explaining something. |
| Matt: Listeners, note that it can be used in other parts of the sentence too. Ok, what’s next? |
| Tina: The next word is “Доста” |
| Matt: This is an adverb that means “quite”, “rather”, “somewhat”, “well”, and so on. |
| Tina: It’s used with other adverbs or with adjectives like in “доста добре” and “доста сериозен” |
| Matt: which mean “quite good” and “pretty serious”. Can you repeat those again? |
| Tina: Sure! “доста добре” and “доста сериозен” |
| Matt: What’s the next word? |
| Tina: Next we have.. “Сега” |
| Matt: This adverb means “now”, “at present”, or “today”. Besides being used this way, you can hear it in everyday speech when someone urges someone else to do something and that person replies.. |
| Tina: “Сега!” |
| Matt: meaning something like “Right away!” Okay, now onto the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
| Matt: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to talk about the past and present using the verb “to be”. In the dialogue, Nikolay and Elena talk about their son and how he has changed. |
| Tina: And they use the auxiliary verb “to be”, which in Bulgarian is “съм”, and some adjectives to describe how he changed. |
| Matt: First, they say he was quite irresponsible, but now he has became motivated and studious. |
| Tina: This kind of expression sounds like the following in Bulgarian- “Той беше [adjective], но сега е [adjective]”. |
| Matt: Here you could use any other pronoun, and the verb would remain the same. But listeners, remember that the adjective would change accordingly. |
| Tina: That’s right. |
| Matt: Can you repeat the sentence, Tina? |
| Tina: “Той беше [adjective], но сега е [adjective]”. |
| Matt: Ok, but we’re talking about Kiril, right? |
| Tina: Yes. If we were talking about a girl instead, we would say “Тя беше несериозна, но сега е мотивирана”. |
| Matt: Be careful here, listeners! |
| Tina: I’ll repeat the female version - “Тя беше несериозна, но сега е мотивирана”. |
| Matt: Here it’s important to learn how to conjugate the auxiliary verb. The present tense shouldn’t be new for the listeners, but just as a refresher, please repeat after Tina. |
| Tina: аз съм |
| Matt: I am |
| Tina: ти си |
| Matt: you are |
| Tina: той е, тя е,то е |
| Matt: he is, she is, it is |
| Tina: ние сме |
| Matt: we are |
| Tina: вие сте |
| Matt: you are |
| Tina: те са |
| Matt: “they are.” Okay, that’s all of them! And now, let’s go through the past tense. |
| Tina: аз бях |
| Matt: I was |
| Tina: ти беше |
| Matt: you were |
| Tina: той бе, тя бе, то бе |
| Matt: he was, she was, it was |
| Tina: ние бяхме |
| Matt: we were |
| Tina: вие бяхте |
| Matt: you were |
| Tina: те бяха |
| Matt: they were. Please check the lesson notes for specific examples of the usage! |
Outro |
| Matt: Well, that’s all for this lesson. Thanks for listening, and we’ll see you next time. Bye! |
| Tina: “Чао-чао!” |
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