Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Becky: Hello and welcome back to BulgarianPod101.com. This is Lower Beginner, season 1, lesson 17 - Talking Money in Bulgarian. I’m Becky.
Iva: Iva here! Zdravei
Becky: In this lesson you'll learn how to talk about amounts of money in Bulgarian.
Iva: The conversation takes place in a hotel café.
Becky: It’s between Maria and James, and a waitress; they are paying the bill at the café.
Iva: As we know, the speakers are friends, so their speech is informal
Becky: Let’s listen to the conversation.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Becky: So James and Maria were deciding who will pay the bill at the café.
Iva: This type of situation is very common in Bulgaria, so now we’ll tell you some more about it.
Becky: First of all, just like in the dialogue, the person who invites usually insists on paying the whole bill. It is considered a rule in some more formal situations, but among friends it can be decided and changed later.
Iva: Basically, friends split the bill and pay for the things they had.
Becky: If there’s a big party, everyone has to remember or check his or her personal bill, and add their money to the total amount. That’s usually paid at the table to the waiter or waitress.
Iva: If there is a mentor, or a person of higher status in the group, he or she can pay some amount of the general bill, but there are exceptions to this rule too.
Becky: Now when you’re talking about paying the bill in the case of couples, or especially on a first date, things get complicated.
Iva: Basically, Bulgarian men like to pay the bill to show they are grateful for the time they’ve spent together. And there are even some men who will never let the woman pay.
Becky: But this is not a strict rule: many women insist on paying their own share of the bill, or even paying the whole check.
Iva: So the context is all that matters!
Becky: And remember that Bulgarians are very hospitable, so they will most probably want to pay for at least a drink for you.
Iva: That’s right!
Becky: OK, now let’s move on to 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: We’re going to talk about money, so first up let’s take a look at the word “Сметка”.
Becky: It’s a noun with various meanings in English, including “check”, “bill”, “account” and more.
B: But in Bulgarian it’s used for two main meanings: “check” and “bill”.
Becky: So when you’re paying your check at a restaurant or paying your bills every month, you will use that word.
Iva: That’s right. Next up is “Притеснявам се”.
Becky: This is a verb meaning both “to worry” and “to be shy”.
Becky: So it can be used in sentences like “Please don’t worry” but also in ones like “He is a shy boy.”
Iva: Yes. Their Bulgarian translations are “Моля, не се притеснявай” and “Той е притеснително момче” respectively.
Becky: And speaking about shyness...
Iva: ...here’s the next word, “Поканвам” or just “каня”.
Becky: OK, now this is something that requires you not to be shy and to…
Iva: …invite someone.
Becky: Yes! This verb means “to invite” someone to something, like for example dinner.
Iva: The difference between the two verbs in Bulgarian is that the first form is for an already completed action, such as “I invited you”...
Becky: ...and the second form is the one you’ll see more often in the dictionary, and it’s in present tense...
Iva: “каня”. So it’s something like “I invite”.
Becky: OK, can you repeat them again?
Iva: Yes, “Поканвам” and “каня”
Becky: OK, let’s move on to the grammar.
GRAMMAR POINT
Becky: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to talk about amounts of money in Bulgarian.
Iva: When we say amounts of money in the Bulgarian currency, lev, we usually use this type of sentence: “(digit) лева и (digit) стотинки”.
Becky: You have to put the numbers in Bulgarian, plus the word “leva” if we have two or more Bulgarian leva, and “lev” if it is only one lev.
Iva: Then, like in English, we have to add the conjunction “and”, which in Bulgarian is “и”.
Becky: After that we add the amount of cents,
Iva: in Bulgarian, “стотинки”.
Becky: This form is also in plural, because usually there are many cents in a bill.
Iva: Yes. But just in case you have a special bill with only one cent, you should use the singular form of the word, which is “стотинка”.
Becky: Can you repeat the two words for our listeners, Iva?
Iva: Of course, “стотинка” [pause] and “стотинки” [pause].
Becky: So altogether we have some leva AND some cents in the sentence.
Iva: Note the gender of the words: lev is masculine and “стотинка” is feminine.
Becky: That is why when we say “one”, “two”, and so on, we have to match the gender of the words.
Iva: So “one leva” is “един лев” and “two leva” is “два лева”.
Becky: Can you repeat these too, please?
Iva: Sure. “един лев” and “два лева”
Becky: And so on…
Iva: For “стотинка”, these forms are “една стотинка” and “две стотинки”.
Becky: OK. One more time; listeners, please repeat!
Iva: “една стотинка” [pause] and “две стотинки”. [pause]
Becky: After that, 3, 4, 5 and so on are the same as the other numbers in Bulgarian.
Iva: Let’s give some examples. 3 leva is “три лева” and 3 стотинки is “три стотинки”.
Becky: How about 4?
Iva: 4 leva is “четири лева” and 4 “стотинки” is “четири стотинки”.
Becky: And 5?
Iva: 5 leva is “пет лева” and 5 “стотинки” is “пет стотинки”.
Becky: Basically, we have the same gender form for the numbers after 2.
Iva: Yep. Note that sometimes, especially in informal situations, people will directly say the amount, without adding the words leva or “стотинки”.
Becky: They will just say the two digits plus the word “and” in the middle.
Iva: An example can be this: “Два и петдесет” which in English means “2 and 50”, or “2 leva and 50 stotinki” exactly.
Becky: This is a fast and convenient way to say how much the cost of something is in supermarkets, and so on.
Iva: Yes. Now listeners, we have more examples… I think you know where!
Becky: ...In the lesson notes!
Iva: So please check them!
Becky: And practice with them!

Outro

Iva: Ok, we’ll see you in the next lesson!
Becky: Thanks for listening, bye-bye!
Iva: Bye-bye!

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