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Lesson Transcript

Здрасти, аз съм 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 how to ask "What" questions in Bulgarian.
This time, we are going to ask questions using the interrogative word "Where?"
Imagine you want to ask where your friend is now. You will ask him Къде си? This is the exact translation of "Where are you?"
[slowly] Къде си?
So let’s break down this question.
First we had -
Къде, which is the basic translation of "Where" in Bulgarian.
Си, which is "you are", the 2nd person singular form of the verb съм, which we have already studied.
So, altogether it is Къде си?, "Where are you?"
Since we are asking a friend, this is the informal way to construct the question.
So in Bulgarian, "Where" is translated as Къде
For example, if you want to ask "Where do you live?" You will say Къде живееш?
As in English, the question word is placed in the 1st position here, then comes the verb which shows the subject, in this case “you”.
But be careful, because several variations of къде are possible in Bulgarian. For example, if you want to ask "Where do you come from?" you will use от къде instead of just къде
So that question in Bulgarian is От къде идваш?
The word къде also changes if you are asking about the destination, for example, if you say Накъде отиваш?
This literally means "Where are you going to?" This question formula накъде is often used when asking about your final destination, for example, a train station or highway exit.
Sometimes, къде can be used in the middle of the sentence. For example, if you were to say “I don’t know where my bag is.” In Bulgarian this will be Не зная къде ми е чантата. It is used just the same way as in English.
The grammatical rule for къде, от къде or накъде remains the same – they all have to be followed by a verb.
Къде си? - here the verb is съм
От къде идваш? here the verb is "to come", идвам.
Накъде отиваш? Here the verb is “to go”, отивам.
Now it’s time for Iva’s Insights.
Note that от къде and накъде both have the original word for “where”, къде, but one of them is merged with it, накъде, and one is written separately. This is the way Bulgarians write these, but when saying от къде, it does sound like it’s merged as well.
Before ending this lesson, let’s look back at all the ways to translate "Where" in Bulgarian –
- Къде is the basic "Where", as in "Where do you live?" Къде живееш?
- От къде is insisting on the origin or the starting point, as in "Where do you come from?" От къде идваш?
- Накъде is insisting on the destination or arrival point, as in "Where are you going to?"
Накъде отиваш?
In this lesson, we learned how to correctly use the Bulgarian word for "Where", къде, and also its different variations.
Now you can avoid getting lost! But to get to your destination you need to be on time! Do you know how to ask “When” in Bulgarian?
In the next lesson we’ll learn more about asking questions, this time using "When". How do you do this in Bulgarian? I’ll be waiting for you in the next Български в три минути.
До скоро!

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