Learn how to ask if someone can speak a certain language
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Becky: Hello and welcome back to BulgarianPod101.com. This is Lower Beginner, season 1, lesson 4 - Where Did You Learn to Speak Bulgarian? Becky here. |
| Iva: Zdravei And I’m Iva! |
| Becky: In this lesson, you'll learn how to ask about someone’s studies. |
| Iva: The conversation takes place on a plane. |
| Becky: It’s between Maria and James. |
| Iva: The speakers are getting to know each other, and they’re using informal language now. |
| Becky: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Becky: Since we’re on the topic, let’s talk about Bulgarian schools and the education system. What can you tell us, Iva? |
| Iva: Well, full-time education is mandatory for all children aged between 7 and 16, but children who are 6 can be enrolled in school, if their parents decide to do that. |
| Becky: Education in Bulgaria is free, right? |
| Iva: Yes. Except for the non-state-owned higher education schools, colleges, and universities. |
| Becky: I see. |
| Iva: The Bulgarian school year starts on September 15th. |
| Becky: When does it end? |
| Iva: It ends in May or June, depending on the grade level of the students. |
| Becky: Anything else? |
| Iva: There are two terms, with Christmas, Easter and long summer holidays. |
| Becky: And the educational system has 12 grades. |
| Iva: Yes. That’s right. |
| Becky: Okay, now let’s take a look at the vocab. |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Becky: Let’s take a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Iva: Number one is “Популярен”. |
| Becky: That sounds like “being number one.” |
| Iva: Yes. It is the Bulgarian adjective meaning “popular”, like among people and also related to pop culture. |
| Becky: The adjective has different forms in the feminine, neutral, and plural. |
| Becky: Can you tell us the forms? |
| Iva: They are “популярна”, “популярно”, and “популярни.” |
| Becky: Ok, what’s the next word? |
| Iva: “Прекарвам си” |
| Becky: This is a Bulgarian phrase meaning “I spend my”, so it usually means “spend my time”, or expresses how someone is feeling in a certain situation. |
| Becky: Like “I am having good time”? |
| Iva: Yes. For example, “I am having fun” in Bulgarian will be “Прекарвам си весело”. |
| Becky: OK. And what’s the last word? |
| Iva: “Съквартирант”. |
| Becky: This is the Bulgarian noun used for “roommate”, right? |
| Iva: Yes, but when you use it for women, the form changes in feminine, “съквартирантка”. |
| Becky: That’s easy! |
| Iva: When talking about many roommates, we say “съквартиранти” if they are all males, and “съквартирантки” if they are all females. |
| Becky: What if they are a group of both males and females? |
| Iva: Then you say “съквартиранти”. |
| Becky: OK, that was helpful! Now onto the grammar. |
| GRAMMAR POINT |
| Becky: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to talk about someone’s studies. |
| Iva: To ask where someone studied a subject, for example a language, you use the phrase “Къде си учил~(something)?” |
| Becky: This literally means ‘Where did you study (something)?’ Can you break that down for us? |
| Iva: It is composed of the adverb “къде”, meaning “where”, then the auxiliary verb in the second person singular, “си”, or the same verb in the second person plural, “сте” when it’s formal. And finally, the verb “study” in the past tense, “учил”. |
| Becky: And you have different forms for the formal and the informal language? |
| Iva: Yes. Also, when you ask a woman or a kid the same question, you need to make the verb agree with the gender, so we will say “Къде си учила~(something)?” and “Къде си учило~(something)?”. |
| Becky: For the woman or the child, respectively. |
| Iva: And in the same way, when you’re using the second person plural in formal speech, or when you’re talking to many people, you have to change the phrase like this: “Къде сте учили~(something)?” |
| Becky: Ah, I see. Note that in Bulgarian, neuter is used for kids and pets, but sometimes people consider it impolite to speak to small children using words in neuter. So it’s better to ask their names, and see if they are boys or girls, right? |
| Iva: Definitely! |
| Becky: Iva,can you repeat all the forms for our listeners? |
| Iva: Sure thing. |
| Becky: In order, here are the masculine, feminine, neuter and plural forms. |
| Iva: (masculine) “Къде си учил~(something)?”, (feminine) “Къде си учила~(something)?”, (neuter) “Къде си учило~(something)?”, and (plural) “Къде сте учили~(something)?” |
| Becky: Great! Finally, we should say that adding a place of study or particular school is very common in Bulgaria, when you’re asking about studying a language or graduating from a certain school. How does this change the sentence, Iva? |
| Iva: For the first case, you can add a language name, and for the second name, you don’t need to add anything. |
| Becky: OK… |
| Iva: Asking “Къде си учил?” might mean “Where did you study?” or “Which school did you graduate?” in a more informal context. |
| Becky: But note that when you’re asking about studying something and studying at a place, there are some difference in the possible formats of the phrase, right Iva? |
| Iva: Yes, for example when asking “Where did you learn to dance?” you will use the same phrase, “Къде си учил да танцуваш?” but in English we will use “learn”, not “study”. |
| Becky: So there’s only one verb for that in Bulgarian? |
| Iva: Yes. Both English verbs can be expressed with “уча”. |
| Becky: That makes it easier! |
| Iva: Yes, I think so! |
| Becky: Now listeners, be sure to check the lesson notes to reinforce what you’ve learned in this lesson. |
| Iva: Yes. And we’ll see you next time! |
Outro |
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| Becky: Thanks for listening, bye! |
| Iva: Bye. |
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