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Lesson Transcript

Здрасти, аз се казвам Ива. Hi everybody! I’m Iva.
Welcome to BulgarianPod101.com’s “Български в три минути”. The fastest, easiest, and most fun way to learn Bulgarian.
In the last lesson, we learned the phrase Извинете, говорите ли английски? "Excuse me, do you speak English?" We mentioned the word извинете which means "excuse me" in formal Bulgarian.
In this lesson we’re going to learn how to use извинете and other words when apologizing in Bulgarian.
We should use извинете in formal situations, such as when we are ordering something in bars or restaurants. For example:
Извинете, едно кафе, моля. "Excuse me, a coffee please."
We can also use it when asking a question:
Извинете, къде се намира храм Александър Невски? "Excuse me, where is the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral?"
Sometimes we also hear people say ако обичате, which means the same thing when you want to draw somebody's attention. We only use this phrase in formal speech.
[slowly] Ако обичате.
The informal way to say "excuse me" is Извинявай
[slowly] извинявай.
Just like извинете, we can use извинявай when asking a question, or when apologizing.
We can also use the word прощавай. You might hear this phrase translated as “forgive me” in English, but it’s not formal or strong at all. Bulgarian people use it in very casual situations. Its formal version in second person plural is прощавайте.
All of these phrases can be used for either “excuse me” or “I’m sorry.” But if you really want to apologize for something, it might be better to use a different phrase.
That phrase is съжалявам. It means “I am sorry.” and can be used in both formal and informal situations.
[slowly] Съжалявам.
This verb is in the first person singular form. So it basically means “I am sorry”. You can use this expression any time you wish to apologize.
Now it’s time for Iva’s Insights.
Please remember that in Bulgaria if you accidentally bump into someone, we don’t say “I am sorry,” съжалявам; instead we say извинете, "excuse me" or прощавайте, "forgive me."
Are you are able to count in Bulgarian? In the next lesson we will learn the numbers in Bulgarian from one to ten!
I'll be waiting for you in our next Български в три минути lesson.
Останете на линия за следващия урок!

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