Bulgarian Language & Cyrillic

Introduction

Bulgarian is a South Slavic language, related to Russian, Serbian and Macedonian, and spoken by roughly eight million people. It's the official language of Bulgaria and one of the EU's official languages.

What makes it different

Unlike most Slavic languages, Bulgarian has largely dropped noun cases, which makes its grammar simpler in that respect. It also adds the word "the" to the end of a noun rather than putting it in front, so kniga (book) becomes knigata (the book).

English in Bansko

Most people working in hotels, restaurants, ski schools and shops speak good English, especially younger Bulgarians. Outside the resorts, and in smaller villages, English is less common. Making an effort with a few local words is always appreciated.

Useful phrases:
• Zdravei (ZDRAH-vay): hello (informal)
• Dobar den (DOH-bar den): good day (polite)
• Dobro utro (DOH-bro OO-tro): good morning
• Blagodarya (blah-goh-DAH-rya): thank you (although many people use the more informal "merci")
• Molya (MOH-lya): please, or you're welcome
• Da / Ne (dah / neh): yes / no
• Izvinete (iz-VEE-neh-teh): excuse me, sorry
• Kolko struva? (KOL-ko STROO-va): how much is it?
• Govorite li angliyski? (goh-VOH-ree-teh lee ang-LEE-ski): do you speak English?
• Nazdrave! (naz-DRAH-veh): cheers!

A gesture to remember

Bulgarians traditionally nod their heads for "no" and shake them for "yes", the opposite of most of Europe. If it's important, ask for a spoken "da" or "ne" to be sure.

The Cyrillic alphabet

Bulgarian is written in Cyrillic, which has its roots in medieval Bulgaria, where it was developed in the 9th and 10th centuries by followers of the missionaries Cyril and Methodius. When Bulgaria joined the EU in 2007, Cyrillic became the union's third official alphabet, after Latin and Greek. Bansko is written Банско. In tourist areas, signs are often bilingual and road signs usually include Latin letters, but learning a handful of Cyrillic letters makes menus, timetables and station names much easier.

I can be useful to learn the alphabet because many of the words become recognisable once you have converted them to latin letters, for example "РЕСТОРАНТ" converts to the latin letters "RESTORANT" which obviously means "Restaurant".

Letter	Sound	Like the English...
А а а	ah	a in 'father'
Б б б	b	b in 'bed'
В в в	v	v in 'van'
Г г г	g	g in 'go'
Д д д	d	d in 'dog'
Е е е	eh	e in 'bed'
Ж ж ж	zh	s in 'measure'
З з з	z	z in 'zoo'
И и и	ee	ee in 'see', but shorter
Й й й	y	y in 'boy' or 'yes'
К к к	k	k in 'kite'
Л л л	l	l in 'leg'
М м м	m	m in 'man'
Н н н	n	n in 'no'
О о о	o	o in 'gone'
П п п	p	p in 'pen'
Р р р	r	r in 'red', but rolled like Spanish or Scottish
С с с	s	s in 'sun'
Т т т	t	t in 'top'
У у у	oo	oo in 'food'
Ф ф ф	f	f in 'fan'
Х х х	kh	ch in Scottish 'loch'
Ц ц ц	ts	ts in 'cats'
Ч ч ч	ch	ch in 'chair'
Ш ш ш	sh	sh in 'shop'
Щ щ щ	sht	sht in 'ashtray'
Ъ ъ ъ	uh	u in 'but'
Ь ь ь	soft y	ny in 'canyon' (appears only in ьо)
Ю ю ю	yoo	you
Я я я	yah	ya in 'yard'

Learn Now!

You can learn by playing the game here.

Look-alike letters

Several Cyrillic letters look like Latin ones but sound different: В is "v", Н is "n", Р is "r", С is "s", У is "oo" and Х is "kh". Mixing these up is the most common beginner mistake.

Try it on real words:
• Банско = Ban-sko
• България = Bal-ga-ri-ya (Bulgaria)
• Благодаря = Bla-go-da-rya (thank you)

Vowels change with stress. In unstressed syllables, а often sounds like ъ, and о often sounds like у. Listening to a native speaker will help you pick this up.