Learn how to use the infinitive form of the verb to talk about what you want
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Eric: Hi everyone, and welcome back to BulgarianPod101.com. This is Intermediate Season 1 Lesson 7 - Deciding what to Order at a Bulgarian Restaurant. Eric here. |
| Tina: Здравейте. I'm Tina. |
| Eric: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to make the definite form of the noun when you’re discussing a menu. The conversation takes place at a restaurant. |
| Tina: It's between a restaurant staff member and Raya. |
| Eric: The speakers are strangers, so they'll be using formal and informal Bulgarian. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Васил: Какво ще кажете, нека да поръчваме? Райче, кажи ти първо. |
| Рая: Така, искам да попитам в мексиканската салата освен зеленчуците, има ли някакъв сос? |
| Служител в ресторант: Да, червен пикантен сос. |
| Рая: В него има ли мляко, майонеза? Постя и не мога да ям нищо с животински произход. |
| Служител в ресторант: Сосът е с майонеза. Желаете ли да не го слагаме? |
| Рая: Не, просто го заменете с обикновен кетчуп. Също така ще искам едни задушени картофи и накрая - плодова салата. |
| Служител в ресторант: Разбира се, нещо друго желаете ли? |
| Рая: Това ще бъде... Само, картофите как ги задушавате? |
| Служител в ресторант: Обикновено, в масло... |
| Рая: О, не мога да ги ям тогава. Може ли да ги направите с олио? |
| Служител в ресторант: Разбира се, няма проблем. Ще бъдат в олио. |
| Рая: Ще съм Ви много благодарна. |
| Eric: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Vasil: What do you say, let's order! Raiche, go first. |
| Raya: Well, I'd like to ask... In the Mexican salad, is there any sauce besides the vegetables? |
| Restaurant staff: Yes, a spicy red sauce. |
| Raya: Is there any milk or mayonnaise in it... I am fasting and I cannot eat anything of animal origin. |
| Restaurant staff: There is mayonnaise in the sauce. Would you like us to not put it in? |
| Raya: No, just replace it with plain ketchup. Also, I would like some steamed potatoes, and at the end—a fruit salad. |
| Restaurant staff: I got it. Would you like anything else? |
| Raya: That would be all... Just, how do you stew the potatoes? |
| Restaurant staff: Normally, with butter... |
| Raya: Oh, I cannot eat them then. Can you have them cooked in oil? |
| Restaurant staff: Of course, no problem at all. They will be done in oil. |
| Raya: I would be very grateful. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Eric: Tina, in the dialogue we heard about fasting. Is that related to religion? |
| Tina: Yes, it is. The traditional religion in Bulgaria, mentioned even in the Constitution, is Eastern Orthodox Christianity. It was adopted as the official religion in the Bulgarian state in the year 865. |
| Eric: The Eastern Orthodox Church is considered the second largest Christian community in the world. |
| Tina: Right, the schism between the Eastern Orthodox and Western Catholic Church happened in 1054. |
| Eric: How do you say "separation of the Christian church" in Bulgarian? |
| Tina: разделение на християнската църква |
| Eric: Listeners, to learn more about the differences between these two major sects, be sure to check out the lesson notes. |
| Tina: However, let’s remember here that one of the biggest similarities is that both Churches consider Easter and Christmas to be the most important celebrations. So to go back to your first question, according to the Christian belief, part of the celebration of a holiday is the preparation for it. |
| Eric: The preparation is both in body and spirit, and requires the believers to fast, that is, to refrain from eating certain foods, and to repent and confess their wrongdoings. Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Eric: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Tina: нека [natural native speed] |
| Eric: let |
| Tina: нека[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Tina: нека [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Tina: поръчвам [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to order |
| Tina: поръчвам[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Tina: поръчвам [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Tina: пикантен [natural native speed] |
| Eric: spicy, hot |
| Tina: пикантен[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Tina: пикантен [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Tina: желая [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to wish, to desire |
| Tina: желая[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Tina: желая [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Tina: заменям [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to replace, to exchange |
| Tina: заменям[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Tina: заменям [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Tina: обикновен [natural native speed] |
| Eric: simple, plain, usual |
| Tina: обикновен[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Tina: обикновен [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Tina: задушавам [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to stew, to steam, to choke, to suffocate |
| Tina: задушавам[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Tina: задушавам [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Tina: направям [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to do, to make |
| Tina: направям[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Tina: направям [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Tina: обикновено [natural native speed] |
| Eric: usually, normally |
| Tina: обикновено[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Tina: обикновено [natural native speed] |
| Eric: And last.. |
| Tina: благодарен [natural native speed] |
| Eric: thankful, grateful |
| Tina: благодарен[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Tina: благодарен [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 phrase is.. |
| Tina: може ли |
| Eric: meaning "could you please.." |
| Tina: може is the singular third person conjugation of the verb мога, which is "can," and ли is the particle that helps us build simple questions in Bulgarian. |
| Eric: The phrase is used most often in two particular situations. First, when asking for permission, and second, when asking someone else to do something for you. Can you give us an example using this phrase? |
| Tina: Sure. For example, you can say.. Може ли да изляза с Петя след като приключа с домашните си? |
| Eric: ..which means "Can I go out with Petya after I finish my homework?" |
| Tina: Here's another- Може ли да ми донесеш чаша сок? |
| Eric: meaning "Would you please bring me a cup of juice?" Okay, what's the next word? |
| Tina: нека |
| Eric: meaning "let, may." |
| Tina: нека is a modal particle that expresses a wish. You can hear it in the expression Нека му е! |
| Eric: Which means "It serves him right!" and has a rather negative meaning. |
| Tina: му is the short personal pronoun in dative, third person, masculine, and е is the third person singular present conjugation form of the verb съм, or "to be." |
| Eric: When is this expression used? |
| Tina: You use it in situations when something negative has happened to someone and the speaker wants to imply that the person deserved it. |
| Eric: What if the person is a woman? |
| Tina: Then the respective personal pronoun in dative will be used so you get Нека й е!, which means "Serves her right!" If we're talking about ourselves, it's Нека ни е!, "Serves us right!" Please remember that this phrase is used only in informal situations. |
| Eric: Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Tina: Sure. For example, you can say.. Не протестирахме, когато трябваше, и сега, нека ни е! Няма да има увеличение на заплатите. |
| Eric: .. which means "We didn't protest when we should have and now it serves us right! There will be no increase in the salary." Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Eric: In this lesson you'll learn how to make the definite form of the noun while mastering how to discuss a menu. When discussing a menu or ordering meals, we might use a lot of nouns. |
| Tina: You will learn how to use the definite and indefinite form of nouns and how to create the definite form according to the three genders of the nouns. |
| Eric: As you already know, all nouns in Bulgarian have gender - masculine, feminine or neuter. The indefinite form of the noun in singular is the one that you will see in the dictionary. |
| Tina: Unlike English or German for example, the definite form of the Bulgarian noun is made by adding a suffix to the noun. It changes according to the word's function in the sentence and is different for the different genders and the specific ending of the words. |
| Eric: There is no particular word used as an indefinite article in Bulgarian, because it is quite often omitted in the sentence. If one is explicitly necessary, then the respective forms of the cardinal number one are used. |
| Tina: The masculine form is един, the feminine form is една, the neuter form is едно, and the plural form is едни. |
| Eric: You use these in two cases. First, when you need to specify that there was exactly one person or thing that you are talking about, or when you want to show a slight disregard for the object you are talking about. |
| Tina: For example, Качих се в един автобус, без да обърна внимание на номера, и се озовах на непознато място. |
| Eric: “I got on a bus without paying attention to its number, and I ended up in an unfamiliar place.” In this case, the bus itself is not such an important part of the story. The point is that the result occurred because of a lack of attention. Tina, what was the plural form you mentioned? |
| Tina: The plural form is used to slightly disparage the object, or in the expression “Some of the best or worst...”, for example Едни/Някои от най-красивите места в България са .... |
| Eric: which means “Some of the most beautiful places in Bulgaria are…”. |
| Tina: in this case, the plural form of the indefinite pronoun някои “some, any” can be used, which is also preferred in formal speech. |
| Eric: What's the rule for choosing between the definite and indefinite forms? |
| Tina: Generally in Bulgarian, we use the indefinite form of the noun when we introduce the object or when we have not mentioned it in the conversation before. |
| Eric: And the definite form? |
| Tina: We use the definite form when we talk about a subject that has already been introduced or to point out a specific object. |
| Eric: Let’s take a look at the definite form according to the gender. Let’s start with the masculine. |
| Tina: Usually nouns have only one definite form, but there is one exception, because some of the singular nouns in masculine have two definite forms! When used as a subject of a sentence, some of the masculine nouns end in -ът/-ят. In all other instances, they use their ordinary definite form. |
| Eric: As far as formation goes, the definite form of the nouns in masculine depends on the way they end - whether it is a vowel or consonant. |
| Tina: Masculine nouns ending in a vowel have only one definite form. If they end in the vowels -а or -я, the definite form is made by adding -та, as in баща - бащата |
| Eric: which respectively mean “a father” and “the father” |
| Tina: If they end in the vowel -о, the definite form is made by adding -то as a suffix to the noun as in дядо and дядото |
| Eric: which respectively mean “a grandfather” and “the grandfather” |
| Tina: Masculine nouns ending in a consonant have two definite forms. For now it’s enough to say that their definite forms would end either in -ът/а or -ят/я respectively. |
| Eric: Listeners, we recommend you try to learn them by heart. |
| Tina: For example, сос meaning “sauce,” can become сосът or соса in the definite form. |
| Eric: Let’s see the feminine nouns now. |
| Tina: These are simpler. The definite form of all nouns in feminine is made by adding -та to the end of the noun. For example, салата and салатата, |
| Eric: Which translate into “a salad” and “the salad.” What about the nouns in neuter? |
| Tina: The definite form of all nouns in neuter is made by adding -то at the end of the noun. For example, мляко and млякото. |
| Eric: Which translates into “milk” and “the milk.” |
| Tina: Here is another масло and маслото |
| Eric: “butter” and “the butter.” |
| Tina: Finally, the definite form of the nouns in plural depends on the vowel they end in. If they end in -e or -и, then the definite form ending is -те; if they end in -о or -а, then the definite form ending is -та |
| Eric: Please give us an example for both cases. |
| Tina: зеленчуци and зеленчуците |
| Eric: “vegetables” and “the vegetables” |
| Tina: копчета and копчетата |
| Eric: “buttons” and “the buttons.” Let’s wrap up this lesson with a couple of sample sentences. |
| Tina: Ще ми подадеш ли менюто? |
| Eric: "Would you pass the menu?" |
| Tina: Опитвали ли сте десертите тук? |
| Eric: "Have you ever tried the desserts here?" |
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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