Learn 10 questions you should know
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| Hi everyone and welcome to a new episode of BulgarianPod101.com, the best way to learn the Bulgarian language with your host here Daria. |
| Today, I am eager to share with you 10 Questions You Should Know. |
| And why have I picked those? You will see why. Here is some explanation at the end of every question and sample answer you are going to get. So if you are ready to start, let’s go. |
| 1. Как се казвате? |
| (Kak se kazvate?) |
| “What's your name?” |
| Here is the first question. |
| Как се казвате? |
| (Kak se kazvate?) |
| “What's your name?” |
| Great. Pay attention that казвате? (kazvate?) is actually a formal way to say, to ask for somebody’s name, казвате? (kazvate?) |
| The informal way and first-person of the verb казвам се (kazvam se) is казваш? (kazvash?) |
| Как са казваш? |
| (Kak sa kazvash?) |
| You can ask this to somebody if you are familiar with. |
| How to reply? Very simple. |
| казвам се Даря. |
| (kazvam se Darya.) |
| “My name is Darya.” |
| Very simple and you can also say, |
| Аз съм Даря. |
| (Az sam Darya.) |
| I am Daria. |
| Various, various name. You can even forget the verb part and just reply with your name. As simple as that. |
| 2. Как сте? |
| (Kak ste?) |
| “How are you?” |
| The next question you should know actually logically follows the first one. |
| Как сте? |
| (Kak ste?) |
| “How are you?” |
| Right after you ask for somebody’s name, let’s ask how do they feel. Again with this one, remember that Как сте? is a formal way to ask a person or you can ask multiple persons, multiple people, personas. |
| Okay great. Как сте? (Kak ste?) turns into Как си? (Kak si?) This is the informal way of asking how are you? |
| And how do you reply? Here is a sample. |
| Добре съм, благодаря. |
| (Dobre sam, blagodarya.) |
| “I am fine, thank you.” |
| It’s a good thing to add the благодаря (blagodarya) at the end. It really gives, gives a hint that you are a human being. I encourage you to use благодаря (blagodarya) as often as you can because in my culture, we don’t get to use it a lot. |
| 3. Откъде си? |
| (Otkyde si?) |
| “Where are you from?” |
| Great. Now that you have found out what’s the person’s name and how do they feel, you can ask them, |
| Откъде си? |
| (Otkyde si?) |
| “Where are you from?” |
| And a possible answer to this could be, |
| От София. |
| (Ot Sofiya.) |
| “From Sofia.” |
| You can change the location and turn it into Plovdiv, Varna, Ruse, Burgas, or whatever town you are from but this is how you can ask a Bulgarian person. |
| Откъде си? |
| (Otkyde si?) |
| “Where are you from?” |
| 4. Кога е рожденият ти ден? |
| (Koga e rojdeniyat ti den?) |
| “When is your birthday?” |
| Another question I really like to ask people because I am so interested in astrology that I would like right away to know everybody’s zodiac sign. Maybe that makes me a little bit prejudiced but hey, I bond with some science and some not. So I have to watch out for those people. So I will ask, |
| Кога е рожденият ти ден? |
| (Koga e rojdeniyat ti den?) |
| “When is your birthday?” |
| It’s a phrase that needs a little bit of practice because of a lot of /j/,/d/ sounds but you will get to it very quickly, I am sure. And how do you reply to that? |
| If you don’t want to give away your birthday, you can just reply by giving your month of birth. |
| For example, I am born in February. So I would answer, |
| През февруари. |
| (Prez fevruari.) |
| It’s very similar to February. |
| (Fevruari) |
| Just a little bit of a trick over there in pronunciation, but that means, “in February” and I indeed was born in February. This makes me an Aquarius. |
| 5. Къде живееш? |
| (Kyde jiveesh?) |
| “Where do you live?” |
| So after you’ve learned the person’s birthday but before you ask them straight for their bank account number, you can ask them this. |
| Къде живееш? |
| (Kyde jiveesh?) |
| “Where do you live?” |
| And of course, they would try to get around the answer. So you may get an answer like this. |
| Живея с приятели. |
| (Zhiveya s priyateli.) |
| “I live with friends.” |
| Of course, this means, leave me alone and don’t ask me any more questions please but hey, it’s better to live with friends by the way than with your family. It shows that you are taking responsibility for your adult life. So great that you’re living with friends. |
| 6. Къде работиш? |
| (Kyde rabotish?) |
| “Where do you work?” |
| One of the favorite questions somebody would ask you of course because they try you know to figure out what social class you belong to or how much money you make. Of course, they would ask you this. |
| Къде работиш? |
| (Kyde rabotish?) |
| “Where do you work?” |
| To which you can of course create your own story if you don’t like to deal with nosy people but if you truly would like to answer honestly, tell whatever you work but here is a way of saying it. |
| В една туристическа агенция. |
| (V edna turisticheska agentsiya.) |
| I think you almost thought of what exactly this means in English. It means, |
| “In a travel agency.” |
| “In a tourist agency.” Yes. |
| So if you work for example in a bank, you can say, |
| В една банка. |
| (V edna banka.) |
| Or if you don’t work at all, you can say, |
| I am a happy person. |
| 7. Какъв е телефонният ти номер? |
| (Kakav e telefonniyat ti nomer?) |
| “What's your phone number?” |
| Some people would like to know a lot of things about you. So they may ask you. |
| Какъв е телефонният ти номер? |
| (Kakav e telefonniyat ti nomer?) Uh huh! |
| “What's your phone number?” |
| Of course, if it’s a very important business connection, you would give your phone number to this person that you’re talking to. However, if it’s just a random person who is trying to interfere in your life, this is how you reply. |
| Предпочитам да не го давам на непознати. |
| (Predpochitam da ne go davam na nepoznati.) |
| “I prefer not giving it to strangers.” |
| I think that you would agree with me on this one. |
| 8. Къде сте учили български език? |
| (Kade ste uchili balgarski ezik?) |
| “Where did you learn Bulgarian?” |
| Great guys. So you’re in a party with Bulgarian people and you are impressing them with the Bulgarian language you’ve already learned. So it’s natural that somebody should ask you. |
| Къде сте учили български език? |
| (Kade ste uchili balgarski ezik?) |
| “Where have you learned Bulgarian?” |
| Great. So be prepared for this question. So when this question comes, here is how you answer. |
| На летен лагер в Родопите. |
| (Na leten lager v Rodopite.) |
| My favorite mountain, Rhodope. This literally translates as, |
| “In a summer camp in the Rhodope mountains.” |
| Great. This is a good way to learn Bulgarian right over there. Another good way is to comment on this channel. I learned Bulgarian with BulgarianPod101.com and if somebody asks you, |
| Къде сте учили български език? (Kade ste uchili balgarski ezik?) |
| You can say, С BulgarianPod101.com |
| (S BulgarianPod101.com) |
| Which literally is our name with the S in the front. |
| 9. Харесвате ли българската кухня? |
| (Haresvate li balgarskata kuhnya?) |
| “Do you like Bulgarian food?” |
| And of course, a conversation with the Bulgarian person would not be complete without them asking you about our food. How do you find it? So, a Bulgarian person may ask you. |
| Харесвате ли българската кухня? |
| (Haresvate li balgarskata kuhnya?) |
| “Do you like Bulgarian food?” |
| What do you think the answer should be? |
| Please never tell a Bulgarian person you don’t like the Bulgarian cuisine. Even if you don’t like it, we take pride in everything that is Bulgarian for some reason. So also this is a very good shortcut to insult the Bulgarian. Tell them you don’t like their food. However, for the purposes of making friendship, here is how you should answer the question. |
| Абсолютно, обожавам я. |
| (Absolyutno, obozhavam ya.) |
| “Definitely yes, I love it.” |
| You love it and they will love you for loving it. |
| 10. Били ли сте в България? |
| (Bili li ste v Balgariya?) |
| “Have you been to Bulgaria?” |
| The next question may come into conversation if you are outside of Bulgaria somewhere and you meet Bulgarian people or anybody who would like to ask about our country. So the question would be, |
| Били ли сте в България? |
| (Bili li ste v Balgariya?) |
| “Have you been to Bulgaria?” |
| And in case this conversation is not happening in my country, you can reply, |
| Не, никога, но много бих искала. |
| (Ne, nikoga, no mnogo bih iskala.) |
| This means, |
| “No, never, but I would like to very much.” |
| However, pay attention that this phrase, |
| много бих искала |
| mnogo bih iskala |
| “I would like to very much.” Is only if you are a female saying it. |
| If you are a male saying it, you should say, |
| много бих искал |
| (mnogo bih iskal) |
| “I would like to very much.” |
| So there is just one letter difference but it makes the whole change of gender over there. |
| And so this is the end of today’s episode of BulgarianPod101.com, you’ve learned 10 Questions You Should Know in the Bulgarian language. |
| Довиждане и благодаря! |
| (Dovizhdane i blagodarya!) |
| Goodbye and thank you! |
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