Learn how to ask for directions
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Becky: Hello and welcome back to BulgarianPod101.com. This is Lower Beginner, season 1, lesson 5 - Arranging to Meet in Bulgaria. I’m Becky. |
| Iva: Zdravei And I’m Iva! |
| Becky: In this lesson you'll learn how to ask about directions in Bulgarian. |
| Iva: This conversation takes place at the airport. |
| Becky: It’s between Maria and James. |
| Iva: They are using informal language. |
| Becky: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Becky: So we heard about Hotel Pliska, which is one of the famous business hotels in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia. |
| Iva: And there are some more hotels you could try, such as the Sheraton Sofia Hotel Balkan, Grand Hotel Sofia, Kempinski Hotel Zografski Sofia, the Rodina, Arena Di Serdica, and others. |
| Becky: What makes these hotels special? |
| Iva: Well, these are all famous and comfortable places. But two other hotels, the Metropolitan and the Pliska, are closer to the airport, making them more convenient for people staying for a short period. |
| Becky: I see. That’s why James is staying at Hotel Pliska. |
| Iva: Exactly. |
| Becky: What else can you tell us about hotels in Sofia? |
| Iva: There are also many new private hotels that are smaller, but still offer similar quality and more reasonable prices. |
| Becky: How can the listeners find information about those hotels? |
| Iva: Check previous customers’ comments online, and choose which location you’d like to stay in. |
| Becky: Because there are hundreds all around the capital… |
| Iva: And the country too! |
| Becky: OK, that was helpful - keep those tips in mind, listeners. 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: First up, we have “Пристигам”. |
| Becky: This is a Bulgarian verb used to express the action of arrival. |
| Iva: Yes. It can be used with any kind of place – bus stops, train stations, airports and so on. |
| Becky: OK. |
| Iva: It’s made up of the prefix “при”, which means something like “at”, and the original verb “стигам”, meaning “to reach”. |
| Becky: What comes next? |
| Iva: “Поговорим” is a Bulgarian verb meaning “to talk”, but “to chat” is closer to its meaning. |
| Becky: So I guess usually people use it among friends? |
| Iva: Yep. That is why it sounds a bit strange if you use it in a formal situation. |
| Becky: Ok, so what should you use in that case? |
| Iva: Well, it’s derived from the verb “to talk”, “говоря”. |
| Becky: So you use that in formal cases? |
| Iva: Yes. |
| Becky: Ok, what’s our last word? |
| Iva: “Време” is a Bulgarian noun meaning both “time” and “weather”. |
| Becky: You can tell the difference by the context. Repeat it for our listeners, please Iva. |
| Iva: “Време”.[pause] Only the usage of the noun as “time” can have a plural form, though. |
| Becky: And how does that sound? |
| Iva: The plural is “времената”, which shows that the noun is originally in neuter. |
| Becky: OK, thanks! Now let’s move onto the grammar. |
| GRAMMAR POINT |
| Becky: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to talk about directions. This is a very important grammar point! |
| Iva: It is! In Bulgarian, when people ask about direction, they usually use this format - “Как да стигна до~ (place)?” |
| Becky: Please break this down for us, Iva. |
| Iva: In this expression, the word “как” means “how” in English; “да стигна” means “to reach” where the verb “стигам” is in its first person infinitive form. Then we have the preposition “до”, meaning “to” in English. |
| Becky: So altogether we have..? |
| Iva: “Как да стигна до~ (place)?” |
| Becky: This is an expression that can be used for both formal and informal situations, right? |
| Iva: Well, if you want to be more polite and you’re asking a stranger, it’s better to add the Bulgarian phrase used to say “Excuse me”. That’s “Извинете...” for the formal speech and “Извинявай...” for the informal, or just the universal “Извинявам се...” when you’re literally saying “I excuse myself…” which can be used in any situation. |
| Becky: So how will that sound? |
| Iva: The whole expression becomes - “Извинявам се, как да стигна до~ (place)?” which means “Excuse me, how can I reach~ (place)?” |
| Becky: And you can add any kind of place when you’re asking this question, even just the name of the place? |
| Iva: Yep! |
| Becky: Great, and how can you answer this question? |
| Iva: The answer usually consists of instructions like “С автобус номер ~ (bus number)...” meaning “With bus number~ (bus number)...” or “Като тръгнете по улица~ (name of street)…” meaning “When you go down~ (name of street)…” and other similar expressions. |
| Becky: Can you just repeat the question again? |
| Iva: Of course. Here it is: “Извинявам се, как да стигна до~ (place)?” |
| Becky: OK. What else do we need to talk about? |
| Iva: You can also ask the same question without using the first person singular form of the verb “to reach”, “да стигна”. Except now it’s the neutral form, which means something like “it is possible to reach”. In Bulgarian, it’s “Как се стига до~ (place)?” |
| Becky: It has the same meaning, so you can use both expressions. OK. Is that all? |
| Iva: You can add more detail to your question, like “by bus” or “by foot”, which in Bulgarian are “с автобус” and “пеша” respectively. |
| Becky: Ok, I think that does it for this lesson. Make sure you check the lesson notes, listeners. |
Outro |
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| Iva: And we’ll see you in our next lesson. |
| Becky: See you then, bye! |
| Iva: Bye-bye! |
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