Learn how to make questions and question tags in Bulgarian
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Intro |
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| Michael: How are questions made in Bulgarian? |
| Yana: And what about question tags? |
| Michael: At BulgarianPod101.com, we hear these questions often. Imagine the following situation: Tanya is asking her neighbors, Mark and Karen, whether they'll join the party at her house. Mark wants to join but seeks confirmation from his wife. |
| "Are you coming to our party?" |
| Tanya Kamenova: Ще дойдете ли на партито ни? (Shte doydete li na partito ni?) |
| Dialogue |
| Tanya Kamenova: Ще дойдете ли на партито ни? (Shte doydete li na partito ni?) |
| Mark Lee: Ще отидем, нали? (Shte otidem, nali?) |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| Tanya Kamenova: Ще дойдете ли на партито ни? (Shte doydete li na partito ni?) |
| Michael: "Are you coming to our party?" |
| Mark Lee: Ще отидем, нали? (Shte otidem, nali?) |
| Michael: "We are coming, aren't we?" |
Lesson focus |
| Michael: In this lesson, you will learn how to form questions in Bulgarian. There are two ways you can do that. The first is by using the interrogative expressions "who," "where," "when," "what," "how," and "how much" followed by the auxiliary form of the verb. For instance, if you want to ask what time it is, you can say, |
| Yana: Колко е часът? (Kolko e chasаt?) |
| Michael: or "What time is it?" Here, the word |
| Yana: Колко (Kolko) |
| Michael: literally means "How much," and is followed by the verb "is." Here's another example: |
| Yana: Къде е срещата? (Kаde e sreshtata?) |
| Michael: This means "Where is the meeting?" Here, we see the interrogative word "where" followed by the verb "is." Now that you know how to form a question using this method, let's move on to the second way of asking a question in Bulgarian. This time, it involves the interrogative particle |
| Yana: ли (li) |
| Michael: This word doesn't mean anything by itself and is used only when you're forming questions. To use it, you only add it right after the verb in the sentence. Let's take this simple sentence as an example: |
| Yana: Той обича сирене. (Toĭ obicha sirene.) |
| Michael: "He loves cheese." In order to turn this into its interrogative or question form, we simply add the interrogative particle after the verb "love." |
| Yana: Той обича ли сирене? (Toi obicha li sirene?) |
| Michael: Just like that and we now have the question "Does he love cheese?" Let's try another one: |
| Yana: Той говори български. (Toi govori balgarski.) |
| Michael: This means "He speaks Bulgarian." To turn this into a question, we simply insert the interrogative particle after the verb "speak." |
| Yana: Той говори ли български? (Toi govori li balgarski?) |
| Michael: "Does he speak Bulgarian?" Perhaps you've noticed, and you would be right, that we only use the above-mentioned particle when forming Yes-No questions. |
| [Summary] |
| Michael: In this lesson, you've learned that there are two primary ways to form questions in Bulgarian. The first one is by using interrogative words like "who," "where," "when," "what," "how," and "how much" followed by the auxiliary form of the verb. The second one is by adding the particle, |
| Yana: ли (li) |
| Michael: right after the verb in the sentence. Now, let's look at some examples starting with |
| Yana: Кой е този мъж? (Koi e tozi mazh?) |
| Michael: "Who is this man?" This is a simple question using the interrogative word "who," or |
| Yana: кой (koi) |
| Michael: followed by the verb and then the subject. One thing you need to remember about the interrogative word used here is that it only works for subjects in the masculine form. If you need to ask information about people or things in the feminine, you will have to use |
| Yana: коя (koya) |
| Michael: such as in this question: |
| Yana: Коя е сестра ти? (Koya e sestra ti?) |
| Michael: or "Who is your sister?" Let's try another example using common questions. |
| Yana: Как е името ти? (Kak e imeto ti?) |
| Michael: This means "What is your name?" Here's another one: |
| Yana: Къде живееш? (Kade zhiveesh?) |
| Michael: This one is "Where do you live?" |
| Yana: Защо си тук? (Zashto si tuk?) |
| Michael: This means "Why are you here?" |
| Yana: Колко далече е това? (Kolko daleche e tova?) |
| Michael: And this one is "How far away is it?" |
| Michael: Let's try another example, but this time, using a Yes-No question. |
| Yana: Играе ли баскетбол? (Igrae li basketbol?) |
| Michael: "Does he play basketball?" Again, when asking a Yes-No question, or asking about actions that are done often, we simply add the interrogative particle, |
| Yana: ли (li) |
| Michael: after the verb. Here's another example: |
| Yana: Искаш ли нещо за ядене? (Iskash li neshto za yadene?) |
| Michael: "Would you like something to eat?" With all these examples, you can see how easy it is to form questions in Bulgarian. |
| Expansion |
| Michael: So far, you have learned two primary ways to ask questions in Bulgarian. There's another way other than these two, and it's with the help of the word |
| Yana: нали (nali) |
| Michael: This is also an interrogative particle, but, this time, it is used when the speaker is expecting an affirmative answer from the person being asked. A question tag, if you will, added to the end of the sentence. For instance, if you want to ask "You won't forget, will you?" you say, |
| Yana: Няма да забравиш, нали? (Nyama da zabravish, nali?) |
| Michael: Here, the interrogative particle in question is placed at the end of the sentence and is equivalent to "will you?" Here's another example: |
| Yana: Нали го знаеш? (Nali go znaesh?) |
| Michael: This translates to "You know him, right?" Here, the interrogative particle acts as the affirmative response "right?" And, for our final example, we have: |
| Yana: Нали знаеш, че той има собствен бизнес? (Nali znaesh, che toi ima sobstven biznes?) |
| Michael: "You know that he has his own business, don't you?" This time, the interrogative particle here translates to "don't you?" And, yes, it's the same thing we observe in our dialogue with the question: |
| Yana: Ще отидем, нали? (Shte otidem, nali?) |
| Michael: or "We are going, aren't we?" with the question tag being "aren't we?" |
| Practice Section |
| Michael: Now, let's practice what we have learned by reviewing the dialogue. Respond to the prompts by speaking aloud. Then, repeat after the native speaker focusing on pronunciation. |
| Do you remember how Tanya Kamenova says "Are you coming to our party?" |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Yana as Tanya Kamenova: Ще дойдете ли на партито ни? (Shte doydete li na partito ni?) |
| Michael: Listen again and repeat. |
| Yana as Tanya Kamenova: Ще дойдете ли на партито ни? (Shte doydete li na partito ni?) |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Yana as Tanya Kamenova: Ще дойдете ли на партито ни? (Shte doydete li na partito ni?) |
| Michael: And do you remember how Mark Lee says "We are coming, aren't we?" |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Yana as Mark Lee: Ще отидем, нали? (Shte otidem, nali?) |
| Michael: Listen again and repeat. |
| Yana as Mark Lee: Ще отидем, нали? (Shte otidem, nali?) |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Yana as Mark Lee: Ще отидем, нали? (Shte otidem, nali?) |
| Expansion |
| Michael: Here's a final tip about asking questions in Bulgarian. When asking questions, always use a rising intonation. This will help place a clear emphasis on the question. The rise should be when you're pronouncing the question word and the auxiliary verb. Your intonation then falls when pronouncing the noun—for instance, when asking, |
| Yana: Къде е партито? (Kade e partito?) |
| Michael: or "Where is the party?" Your intonation should be rising when you're saying, |
| Yana: Къде е (Kade e) |
| Michael: "Where is…" and falls as you say |
| Yana: партито (partito) |
| Michael: or "party." |
Outro |
| Michael: Do you have any more questions? We're here to answer them! |
| Yana: До скоро! (Do skoro!) |
| Michael: See you soon! |
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