Learn about diminutives in Bulgarian
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Intro |
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| Michael: What are diminutives and how are they formed in Bulgarian? |
| Yana: And are they commonly used? |
| Michael: At BulgarianPod101.com, we hear these questions often. Imagine the following situation: Aleksandra is taking a walk with her 4-year-old child. She points out a cute kitten to her daughter and says, |
| "Look at the kitten!" |
| Aleksandra Borisova: Виж това котенце! (Vizh tova kotentse!) |
| Dialogue |
| Aleksandra Borisova: Виж това котенце! (Vizh tova kotentse!) |
| Marta Borisova: Колко сладичко! (Kolko sladichko!) |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| Aleksandra Borisova: Виж това котенце! (Vizh tova kotentse!) |
| Michael: "Look at the kitten!" |
| Marta Borisova: Колко сладичко! (Kolko sladichko!) |
| Michael: "How cute!" |
Lesson focus |
| Michael: In Bulgarian, words can change shape in order to convey extra information about the size or the appearance of something, or the way the speaker feels. This phenomenon is achieved by adding certain suffixes to the words. There are different types of alteration, but, in this lesson, we’ll focus on |
| Yana: умалителни думи (umalitelni dumi) |
| Michael: “diminutives”, which allow for describing something as smaller, and more often to show affection. The most common suffixes used for creating diminutives in Bulgarian are: |
| Yana: -ец, -ѐ, -ле, -че (-ets, -è, -le, -che) |
| Michael: These change for feminine words into |
| Yana: -ица, -чица, -ка, -ичка (-itsa, -chitsa, -ka, -ichka) |
| Michael: and for neuter words into |
| Yana: -це, -енце, -ице, -ичко (-tse, -entse, -itse, -ichko) |
| [Recall 1] |
| Michael: Let’s see the diminutives from this lesson’s conversation. Do you remember how Aleksandra says "Look at the kitten?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Yana as Aleksandra Borisova: Виж това котенце! (Vizh tova kotentse!) |
| Michael: Here, the diminutive is |
| Yana: котенце (kotentse) |
| Michael: which means “kitten” and comes from |
| Yana: коте (kote) |
| Michael: meaning “baby cat.” The diminutive version of the noun here indicates smallness and, more likely, cuteness. To form the diminutive, first you need to explore the gender of the noun. In this case, the noun is in neuter form ending with a vowel. In this case, there is no need to drop any suffixes, just add the suffix |
| Yana: -нце (-ntse), as in котенце (kotentse). |
| [Recall 2] |
| Michael: Now, let’s take a look at our second sentence. Do you remember how the little kid says "How cute?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Yana as Marta Borisova: Колко сладко! (Kolko sladichko!) |
| Michael: Here, the diminutive is |
| Yana: сладичко (sladichko) |
| Michael: which comes from |
| Yana: сладко (sladko) |
| Michael: meaning “sweet” or “lovable.” The diminutive version indicates endearment and appreciation. Also, in this case, the suffix is |
| Yana: -ичко (-ichko) |
| Michael: The feminine version would be |
| Yana: сладичка (sladichka) |
| Michael: Now, let’s see examples for the other suffixes. |
| Yana: масичка (masichka) |
| Michael: This means “little table” and comes from |
| Yana: маса (masa) |
| Michael: meaning “table”. Did you recognise the diminutive suffix for feminine nouns? |
| Yana: -ичка (-ichka) |
| Michael: Let’s form an example sentence with this: |
| Yana: Детенцето взе столче и седна на масичката. (Detentseto vze stolche i sedna na masichkata). |
| Michael: “The little child took a little chair and sat at the little table.” Here, the speaker wants to point out the smallness and cuteness of everything—the child and the furniture. In this example, we used nouns from the three different genders. In their non-diminutive forms, they are: |
| Yana: дете (dete) |
| Michael: a neuter noun meaning ‘child”, |
| Yana: стол (stol) |
| Michael: a masculine noun meaning “chair” and |
| Yana: маса (masa) |
| Michael: our original feminine noun meaning “table”. Did you notice how they changed into their diminutive forms when we added the gender corresponding suffixes? |
| Yana: -енце, -че, -ичка (-entse, -che, -ichka) |
| Michael: This is how we got |
| Yana: детенце, столче, масичка (detentse, stolche, masichka) |
| [Summary] |
| Michael: In this lesson, you learned that in Bulgarian you can modify words in order to convey extra information and connotation about what you’re talking about or the way you feel about it. Diminutives are modified words that describe something as smaller or cuter. In Bulgarian, the most common suffixes to form diminutives are: |
| Yana: -ец, -ѐ, -ле, -че (-ets, -è, -le, -che) |
| Michael: for masculine nouns, |
| Yana: -ица, -чица, -ка, -ичка (-itsa, -chitsa, -ka, -ichka) |
| Michael: for feminine nouns and |
| Yana: -це, -енце, -ице, -ичко (-tse, -entse, -itse, -ichko) |
| Michael: for neuter nouns. |
| Review |
| Michael: Let's review. Respond to the prompts by speaking aloud. Then, repeat after the native speaker, focusing on pronunciation. |
| Do you remember how to say "Look at the kitten?" |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Yana as Aleksandra Borisova: Виж това котенце! (Vizh tova kotentse!) |
| Michael: Listen again and repeat. |
| Yana as Aleksandra Borisova: Виж това котенце! (Vizh tova kotentse!) |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Yana as Aleksandra Borisova: Виж това котенце! (Vizh tova kotentse!) |
| Michael: And do you remember how to say "How cute?" |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Yana as Marta Borisova: Колко сладичко! (Kolko sladichko!) |
| Michael: Listen again and repeat. |
| Yana as Marta Borisova: Колко сладичко! (Kolko sladichko!) |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Yana as Marta Borisova: Колко сладичко! (Kolko sladichko!) |
| Expansion |
| Michael: It is interesting to mention that, once you turn a masculine noun into its diminutive form, it changes its gender to neuter. Here’s an example with the word “nose” or |
| Yana: нос (nos). |
| Michael: It is a masculine noun. When we change it to its diminutive |
| Yana: носле (nosle) |
| Michael: we have a neuter noun meaning “little nose”. It is also interesting to mention that a single noun can have more than one diminutive form in Bulgarian. Let’s take that last noun and try it out. If you want to say “little nose,” you can use |
| Yana: носле (nosle) |
| Michael: but also |
| Yana: носленце (noslentse) |
| Michael: Did you spot the suffixes? Looks like there can be a diminutive of the diminutive in Bulgarian! |
Outro |
| Michael: Do you have any more questions? We’re here to answer them! |
| Yana: До скоро! |
| Michael: See you soon! |
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