Learn what ми means when you're talking about yourself
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Eric: Hi everyone, and welcome back to BulgarianPod101.com. This is Intermediate Season 1 Lesson 5 - Are You Spoiled for Choice in Bulgaria? Eric here. |
| Tina: Здравейте. I'm Tina. In this lesson, you’ll learn what ми means when you’re talking about yourself. |
| Eric: The conversation takes place at a pub over a drink at the end of the day. |
| Tina: It's between Kalin and Raya. |
| Eric: The speakers are friends, so they'll be using informal Bulgarian. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Рая: Здрасти! Как си? Изглеждаш нещо доста унил? |
| Калин: Оф, още си търся работа за лятото. Пак бях на интервю и сега много се колебая какво да правя... |
| Рая: Кажи, какво има? |
| Калин: Хареса ми една позиция на круизен кораб. Какво по-добро от това да пътувам през лятото до места, където никога не съм бил? |
| Рая: Да, ама на тези пътувания не ходят ли само възрастни? |
| Калин: Е, да... Предложиха ми и друго - стаж в агенцията, където бях. Работата е по специалността ми и ще е добра възможност за след това... |
| Рая: Какво толкова му мислиш? Това е само за през лятото. Важното е да изкараш някакви пари, нали? |
| Калин: Да, и това е вярно. На кораба парите са добри, но условията изглеждат малко мизерни, а и трябва да се плаща за настаняването. |
| Рая: Сериозно? Но пък ще видиш нови места... |
| Калин: Така е. Но е работа, няма да имам много свободно време. Уф, какво да правя... |
| Eric: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Raya: Hi, what's up with you? You look quite dejected. |
| Kalin: Oh, I’m still looking for a summer job. I went to an interview again and now I am quite undecided about what to do... |
| Raya: Tell me, what's going on? |
| Kalin: I liked one position on a cruise ship. What could be better than travelling during the summer to places I've never been to before? |
| Raya: Yes, but aren't the only people who go on these trips the elderly? |
| Kalin: Well, yeah. I was also offered something else—an internship at the agency I went to. The work is related to my major and it would be a good opportunity for afterwards... |
| Raya: So why are you thinking so much then? This is just for the summer. The important thing is that you earn some money, isn't it? |
| Kalin: Yes, that's true as well. The money on the ship would be good, but the conditions look a bit wretched, and I need to pay for the accommodation. |
| Raya: Seriously? But you will see new places... |
| Kalin: That's true. But it is work, I wouldn’t have much free time. Ugh, what should I do… |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Eric: Tina, in the dialogue they were talking about earning money and not making money, because in Bulgaria there’s a difference between making money and earning money, right? |
| Tina: That’s right and it dates back to Bulgaria’s past. As you may know, after World War II people in Bulgaria were allowed to possess only very limited amounts of property and were not allowed to develop their own businesses. The only available jobs were the ones at the state-owned enterprises and they used to be highly stable. |
| Eric: In 1989 things changed – the possession of land and property was restored, and the political system changed to democracy. |
| Tina: Right. |
| Eric: Unfortunately the changes happened suddenly and without transparency, so many people took advantage of the situation to make money, which made the first 10 years politically and economically turbulent. |
| Tina: That’s why the expression “making money” правя пари came to be associated with quick or shady gains and profits, and for quite a long time had a negative meaning, while “earning money” изкарвам пари is often associated with hard and decent work. |
| Eric: That’s interesting. Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Eric: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Tina: изглеждам [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to look, to appear, to seem |
| Tina: изглеждам[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Tina: изглеждам [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Tina: доста [natural native speed] |
| Eric: quite, pretty |
| Tina: доста[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Tina: доста [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Tina: унил [natural native speed] |
| Eric: dejected, low-spirited |
| Tina: унил[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Tina: унил [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Tina: колебая се [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to hesitate, to be undecided |
| Tina: колебая се[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Tina: колебая се [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Tina: изкарвам [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to earn, to bring out, to have |
| Tina: изкарвам[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Tina: изкарвам [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Tina: възрастен [natural native speed] |
| Eric: adult, grown-up |
| Tina: възрастен[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Tina: възрастен [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have... |
| Tina: друг [natural native speed] |
| Eric: another, some other |
| Tina: друг[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Tina: друг [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have... |
| Tina: специалност [natural native speed] |
| Eric: major, specialty |
| Tina: специалност[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Tina: специалност [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Tina: мизерен [natural native speed] |
| Eric: miserable, wretched |
| Tina: мизерен[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Tina: мизерен [natural native speed] |
| Eric: And last.. |
| Tina: свободно време [natural native speed] |
| Eric: free time |
| Tina: свободно време[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Tina: свободно време [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Eric: Let's have a closer look at some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Tina: възрастните |
| Eric: meaning "adults,” or “elderly people." |
| Tina: възрастните is the plural definite form of the adjective възрастен, |
| Eric: meaning "grown-up, elderly." This term can be used in two contexts. The first is when referring to people who are around the age of your parents or generally referring to the grown-up population, meaning "adults." The second one is a more respectful form when referring to people around the age of your grandparents. |
| Tina: as in възрастните хора - "the elderly people." |
| Eric: Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Tina: Sure. For example, you can say.. Възрастните често забравят, че и те са били деца. |
| Eric: ..which means "Adults often forget that they also used to be children." Okay, what's the next phrase? |
| Tina: правя пари |
| Eric: meaning "to make money." |
| Tina: правя alone means "to do, to make." |
| Eric: This phrase has two distinct connotations. |
| Tina: Right. The first one refers to non-regular work activities, such as a part-time job, or an entrepreneurial way of earning money. |
| Eric:And the second one? |
| Tina: The second one is the meaning we've already talked about, and it has a slightly negative connotation implying that the earnings or profit come from not fully legal activities like the gray economy and money from corruption. |
| Eric: Can you give us an example using the second connotation? |
| Tina: Sure. For example, you can say.. Той се включи в политиката, за да може да прави още по-големи пари. |
| Eric: .. which means "He got into politics so that he can make even more money." Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Eric: In this lesson you'll learn about personal pronouns in dative form and how to use them when you’re talking about yourself. Tina, can you give us some examples from the dialogue? |
| Tina: Sure, there are several places where ми was used, for example, Kalin says Хареса ми една позиция за круизен кораб. |
| Eric: meaning “I liked one position on a cruise ship.” |
| Tina: Raya asks Какво толкова му мислиш? |
| Eric: meaning “So why are you thinking so much then?” In Lesson 1, we introduced the personal pronouns in the nominative. In this lesson we’ll see their form in the dative. |
| Tina: For example, for the first person singular the full form is (на) мен/мене and the short form is ми and it can be translated as “to me.” In the second person singular, the full form is ((на) теб/тебе and the short form is ти and can be translated as “to you.” |
| Eric: Listeners, be sure to check out the complete list in the lesson notes. A good tip is that you can always double-check it with the questions "Whom?" or “To whom?” There are also a few points to keep in mind when you’re using the personal pronouns in dative. |
| Tina: Right. When I said the full form for the first person singular, I also mentioned мене. This is the old form of the pronoun, which is considered archaic and is not used anymore. |
| Eric: However, you might come across it in literature from the late 19th and early 20th century. |
| Tina: The archaic form has been substituted by the one using the preposition на, so we get на мен or на мене. |
| Eric: Another thing is that the personal pronouns are often used in double combined form. |
| Tina: So you might hear на мене ми or на вас ви or на тях им. Keep in mind that the full and the short form can often be used alternately and independently. However, the most preferred forms are either the short or the double ones. |
| Eric: Let’s give some examples of sentences where the pronouns can be used alternatively. |
| Tina: Sure, for example, we can say either Какво ви подариха на вас за сватбата? or Какво ви подариха за сватбата? |
| Eric: Both meaning “What did you get as presents for the wedding?” |
| Tina: When you say “Thank you,” you can actually use three versions- Благодаря Ви, На Вас Ви благодаря, or Благодаря на Вас. |
| Eric: If the sentence starts with the personal pronoun form in dative, the double form is always used. |
| Tina: Within the sentence, Bulgarians prefer either the short or the double form, and much more rarely you will see and hear the full form in use. |
| Eric: Here is a final point. As you might have noticed, the position of the personal pronoun changes according to the form being used and the type of sentence. |
| Tina: In declarative sentences, the short or full forms are positioned after the verb, but if you use the double form, you start the sentence with it. Here’s a sentence from the dialogue - Хареса ми една позиция за круизен кораб. It can also be На мене ми хареса една позиция за круизен кораб. |
| Eric: In both cases, it means “I liked one position on a cruise ship.” |
| Tina: Finally remember that in questions, the full forms are used after the verb, but the short forms are positioned in front. The double one gets divided, and the verb gets “embraced” by the personal pronoun. |
| Eric: Okay, let’s conclude this lesson with some sentences that use the personal pronouns in the dative. |
| Tina: Не помня какво ми каза. |
| Eric: "I do not remember what you told me." |
| Tina: На мене ми забраниха да излизам от стаята. |
| Eric: "They forbade me to leave the room” or “I was forbidden to leave the room." |
| Tina: Донесоха ми книга с хайку от Япония. |
| Eric:"They brought me a book of haiku from Japan." |
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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