Learn how to use adjectives to describe people and their behavior
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Eric: Hi everyone, and welcome back to BulgarianPod101.com. This is Intermediate Season 1 Lesson 21 - There's Always Something to Complain About in Bulgaria. Eric Here. |
| Tina: Здравейте. I'm Tina. |
| Eric: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to use adjectives to describe people and their behaviors. The conversation takes place in a car. |
| Tina: It's between Andrey and Rositsa. |
| Eric: The speakers are friends, so they will use informal Bulgarian. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Андрей: (на улицата, бибиткане, отваря се врата на кола) Здрасти, Роси! Влизай в колата. Най-сетне да се видим. |
| Росица: Да, вече 2 седмици само уговорки. Но с моите смени и твоя пълен график... |
| Андрей: Важното е, че успяхме да се видим. Направих резервация в новия ресторант с тераса към сградата на Народното събрание. |
| Росица: Супер. Наскоро колеги споменаха за него. Кажи сега, как са нещата при теб? |
| Андрей: Остави... Имам нова стажантка. Много е ентусиазирана, пълна е с енергия, умно момиче, но малко педант. |
| Росица: Ех, и ти все ще намериш да си недоволен от нещо. Звучи добре... |
| Андрей: Добре, ама докато ме е нямало, ми е напълнила графика. Не ми е оставила никакво време за обяд. И ми е преподредила нещата. Нищо не мога да намеря сега. |
| Росица: И се оплакваш... |
| Андрей: Стига за мен, как са нещата при теб. |
| Росица: Ами, и при нас има няколко стажанта. Този, който е в моята смяна, е много съвестно момче. |
| Андрей: Кажи за него. |
| Росица: Прецизен е, има добра концентрация... И се справя много добре с пътниците. Доста е симпатичен, страхотно успява да се справя с жалби... |
| Eric: Listen to the conversation with the English translation |
| Andrey: (in the street, sound of a car horn and car door opening) Hi, Rossi! Jump in the car. Finally, we see each other. |
| Rositsa: Yeah, all this talking on the phone for two weeks. But with my shifts and your full schedule... |
| Andrey: The important thing is that we are finally meeting. I made a reservation at the new restaurant with a terrace overlooking the National Assembly building. |
| Rositsa: Cool. My colleagues mentioned it recently. Tell me now, how are things with you? |
| Andrey: Let's not talk about it... I have a new intern. She is a very driven girl, full of energy, smart, but a little pedant. |
| Rositsa: Hm, you will always find something to be not happy with. It sounds good... |
| Andrey: Okay, but while I was away, she managed to completely fill in my schedule. She has not left me any time for lunch even. And she has rearranged my things. I cannot find anything now. |
| Rositsa: And you continue to complain... |
| Andrey: Enough about me, how are you doing? |
| Rositsa: Well, there are a few trainees with us as well. The one in my shift, he is a very thorough boy. |
| Andrey: Tell me about him. |
| Rositsa: He is very exact, has good concentration... And he is very good with the passengers. He is quite nice and is awesome at handling complaints... |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Eric: Tina, what can you tell us about friendship in Bulgaria? |
| Tina: Bulgarians are considered generally friendly and hospitable people, and they will easily talk about private matters. Therefore, making friends is pretty easy in Bulgaria, though people in the big cities have started to become more reserved. |
| Eric: When are the most long-lasting friendships usually born? |
| Tina: People can obviously become close friends at any stage of their life, but usually the most sincere and long-lasting friendships are built during the childhood and high-school years. Most of the friendships made during university years are related to the professional network. |
| Eric: In another lesson, we have already said that in general, Bulgarians readily talk with strangers, also about private matters... |
| Tina: That’s right, so keep in mind that talking about personal matters doesn’t always express close friendship feelings. |
| Eric: What’s the Bulgarian for "lifelong friendship?" |
| Tina: дългогодишно приятелство |
| Eric: Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Eric: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Tina: уговорка [natural native speed] |
| Eric: arrangement, appointment |
| Tina: уговорка[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Tina: уговорка [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Tina: график [natural native speed] |
| Eric: schedule |
| Tina: график[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Tina: график [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Tina: стажант [natural native speed] |
| Eric: trainee, intern |
| Tina: стажант[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Tina: стажант [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Tina: ентусиазиран [natural native speed] |
| Eric: enthusiastic, excited |
| Tina: ентусиазиран[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Tina: ентусиазиран [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Tina: умен [natural native speed] |
| Eric: clever, smart |
| Tina: умен [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Tina: умен [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Tina: педант [natural native speed] |
| Eric: pedantic person |
| Tina: педант[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Tina: педант [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Tina: недоволен [natural native speed] |
| Eric: dissatisfied, displeased |
| Tina: недоволен[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Tina: недоволен [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Tina: съвестен [natural native speed] |
| Eric: conscientious |
| Tina: съвестен[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Tina: съвестен [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Tina: справям се [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to cope, manage to |
| Tina: справям се[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Tina: справям се [natural native speed] |
| Eric: And last.. |
| Tina: симпатичен [natural native speed] |
| Eric: nice, sympathetic |
| Tina: симпатичен[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Tina: симпатичен [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Eric: Let's have a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first phrase is.. |
| Tina: как са нещата? |
| Eric: meaning "how is everything going?" |
| Tina: как is the question word "how", са is the 3rd person plural of the verb "to be", and нещата is the plural definite form of the noun нещо meaning "something". |
| Eric: This phrase is quite colloquial and often used between friends. |
| Tina: It is often used to start a conversation in an informal environment. |
| Eric: Can you give us an example using this phrase? |
| Tina: Sure. For example, you can say.. Здрасти, как си? Как са нещата? |
| Eric: ..which means "Hi, how are you? How is everything going?" |
| Tina: It can also be used in a business setting between colleagues, as an invitation for an update, especially when something is in the process of preparation. It can be followed by the question По план ли върви всичко? |
| Eric: Which means "Is everything according to the plans?" Okay, what's the next word? |
| Tina: преподреждам |
| Eric: meaning "to reclassify, to reorder" |
| Tina: This is an imperfective verb and it has the prefix пре- which means "re-", to do something again. |
| Eric: In Bulgarian when the “re-” verb is used instead of the basic one, and when it is referring to the actions of other people, the speaker very often expresses slight disagreement and annoyance. |
| Tina: Right, if the speaker expresses the simple fact that something happened again, then they might prefer the basic verb followed by отново, the adverb "again." |
| Eric: Can you give us an example using this verb? |
| Tina: Sure. For example, you can say.. Трябваше да извадя нещо от дъното на куфара и да преподредя целия багаж. |
| Eric: .. which means "I had to take something from the bottom of the suitcase and had to rearrange the entire luggage." Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Eric: In this lesson, you'll learn how to use adjectives to describe people and their behavior. When we are describing people and commenting on their behavior, we often compare them to others or distinguish them as the best or worst. In these cases, it is good to know the comparative and superlative forms of the adjectives. |
| Tina: Comparative and superlative forms in Bulgarian are applicable to adjectives to compare one thing to another, and to adverbs that originate from adjectives. |
| Eric: How are the comparative and the superlative forms created? |
| Tina: The comparative form is created by adding the prefix по- before the adjective or adverb, and the superlative forms are created by adding the prefix най- before the adjective or adverb. |
| Eric: Both forms are graphically separated from the adjective by a hyphen when written. Could you give us some examples? |
| Tina: по-бърз |
| Eric: meaning “faster”, |
| Tina: по-красив |
| Eric: meaning “more beautiful”, |
| Tina: най-високият |
| Eric: meaning “the highest.” All these words are written with an hyphen. |
| Tina: The only exception is the adverb повече “more”, which is written as one word. |
| Eric: Now let’s take a look at how to use these forms. |
| Tina: Instead of the comparative word "than" in English, the preposition от “from” is used in Bulgarian. |
| Eric: What about the superlative? |
| Tina: In the superlative form, the preposition сред meaning “among” can be used to indicate that the person or object is “the most” among a group of people or objects. |
| Eric: Let’s choose an adjective and see all the possible forms. |
| Tina: Let’s consider тих |
| Eric: Which means “quiet” |
| Tina: The comparative is по-тих and the superlative is най-тих. |
| Eric: Similarly, we can form the comparative and the superlative for the adverb. |
| Tina: Right, тихо, which means “quietly,” becomes по-тихo in the comparative form and най-тихo in the superlative form. |
| Eric: How can you negate these forms? |
| Tina: Unlike English, the negative comparative form in Bulgarian is not so popular and it is expressed by another formula. For example не тъй добър както |
| Eric: meaning “not so good as”, |
| Tina: or you can just use the antonym adjective, по-лош |
| Eric: meaning “worse”, |
| Tina: or по-некачествен |
| Eric: “of less quality”. Ok, can you give us some sample sentences using the comparative and superlative forms? |
| Tina: Той е по-симпатичен от брат си. |
| Eric: Literally, "He's more cute than his brother." |
| Tina:Tя не е тъй коректна, както майка си. |
| Eric: "She's less accurate than her mother." |
| Tina: Тя е най-красивата жена, която познавам. |
| Eric: “She is the most beautiful woman I know.” |
| Tina: Although they are rather exceptional, the comparative and superlative can be used with other grammatical forms such as verbs or nouns, but this happens more in the spoken language than in written. |
| Eric: Can you give us an example? |
| Tina: For example, you can hear Най обичам да изкарвам лятото на море. instead of Най-много обичам да изкарвам лятото на море. |
| Eric: They both mean “What I love the most is to spend the summer at the seaside.” But the first version is colloquial. |
| Tina: Here is an example with a noun, Днес той беше по в настроение. instead of Днес той беше в по-добро настроение. |
| Eric: They both mean “He was in a better mood today.” but the first version is colloquial. |
Outro |
| Eric: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye! |
| Tina: До скоро! |
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