THE BULGARIAN ALPHABET

THE BULGARIAN ALPHABET-БЪЛГАРСКАТА АЗБУКА

Before you start learning Bulgarian language, you need to learn the Bulgarian alphabet.

In Bulgarian, we use the Cyrillic alphabet. The same alphabet (with some modifications) is used in other languages as Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Serbian, Macedonian and some Central Asian Altaic languages.

Every Bulgarian letter has an English equivalent close enough to give you a clue as to its pronunciation. In the first few lessons, every Bulgarian word I use will be followed by phonetic transcription of its pronunciation. For this, I will use Latin letters - the ones in the column "Symbol".

Letter	Note	English equivalent	Sound Value	Symbol	Bulgarian word	Pronunciation	English translation
Аа	when stressed	a	army	a	азбука	azbuka	alphabet
	when unstressed	u	gun	a	азбука	azbuka	alphabet
Бб		b	bath	b	брат	brat	brother
Вв		v	very	v	вода	voda	water
Гг		g	gun	g	гара	gara	railway station
Дд		d	dog	d	ден	den	day
Ее		e	send	e	есен	esen	autumn
Жж		s	pleasure	zh	живот	zhivot	life
Зз		z	zoo	z	земя	zemya	earth
Ии		i	bit	i	истина	istina	truth
Йй		y	youth	y	майка	mayka	mother
Кк		k	kitchen	k	котка	kotka	cat
Лл		l	luck	l	лов	lof	hunting
		l	leaf	l	лято	lyato	summer
Мм		m	meet	m	море	more	sea
Нн		n	not	n	небе	nebe	sky
Оо		o	hot	o	око	oko	eye
Пп		p	pot	p	път	pъt	road
Рр		r	robot	r	риба	riba	fish
Сс		s	sun	s	слънце	slъntze	sun
Тт		t	tall	t	татко	tatko	daddy
Уу		oo	room	u	умен	umen	smart
Фф		f	fish	f	форма	forma	shape
Хх		h	hat	h	хора	hora	people
Цц		tz	quartz	tz	цар	tzar	tzar
Чч		ch	church	ch	човек	chovek	man, person
Шш		sh	fish	sh	шапка	shapka	hat
Щщ		sht	smashed	sht	щастие	shtastie	happiness
Ъъ	when stressed	u	ugly	ъ	ъгъл	ъgal	corner
	when unstressed	u	but	a	ъгъл	ъgal	corner
ь		y	youth	y	шофьор	shofyor	driver, chauffeur
Юю		you	you	yu	юни	yuni	June
Яя		ya	yarn	ya	яйцe	yaytze	egg

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VOWELS - ГЛАСНИ ЗВУКОВЕ

There are 6 vowels in Bulgarian - а, ъ, о, у, е, и

When a vowel is stressed it is pronounced clearly.

When unstressed, some vowels are reduced, becoming shorter and less distinct.

When unstressed both a and ъ are pronounced the same way - somewhere between a and ъ - like u in but.

The vowel ъ exists in many English words. The word "double" illustrates the difference between the stressed and unstressed ъ - its phonetic transcription, using our symbols should be "dabъl" - the first vowel sounds like Bulgarian unstressed ъ and a and the second one - like Bulgarian stressed ъ.

When unstressed both o and у are pronounced somewhere between о and y.

The vowels e and и don't change their pronunciation when not stressed.

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CONSONANTS - СЪГЛАСНИ ЗВУКОВЕ

There are 3 types of consonants in Bulgarian - called voiced, voiceless and sonorous.

voiced

б

в

г

д

ж

з

voiceless

п

ф

к

т

ш

с

х

ц

ч

щ

sonorous

л

м

н

р

й
ь

Some consonants change their pronunciation depending on their position in a word.

VOICED CONSONANTS - ЗВУЧНИ СЪГЛАСНИ

Every voiced consonant has a corresponding voiceless one.

voiced consonant

б

в

г

д

ж

з

corresponding voiceless consonant

п

ф

к

т

ш

с

When at the end of a word (e.g. хляб - bread), a voiced consonant is pronounced like its corresponding voiceless one - хляп. So, б becomes п.

When placed immediately before any voiceless consonant (e.g. общ - general), a voiced consonant is pronounced like its corresponding voiceless one - опщ. Щ is a voiceless consonant, so, the voiced consonant б becomes п.

Here are some more examples with the rest of the voiced consonants.

в - ф - молив (pencil) - молиф (molif), всеки (everybody) - фсeки (fseki)

г - к - миг (instant, moment) - мик (mik)

д - т - приход (income) - прихот (prihot), лодка (boat) - лoтка (lotka )

ж - ш - валеж (rainfall) - валеш (valesh), бележка (note) - белешка (beleshka )

з - с - израз (expresion) - израс (izras), възпитание (education) - въспитание (vaspitanie)

VOICELESS CONSONANTS - БЕЗЗВУЧНИ СЪГЛАСНИ

Most voiceless consonants have a corresponding voiced ones. Those which don't have a corresponding voiced consonant don't change their pronunciation.

voiceless consonant

п

ф

к

т

ш

с

х

ц

ч

щ

corresponding voiced consonant

б

в

г

д

ж

з
- - - -

When before a voiced consonant (e.g. сграда - building), a voiceless consonant is pronounced like its corresponding voiced one - зграда. Г is a voiced consonant, so с becomes з.

More examples:

т - д - сватба (wedding) - свадба (svadba)

SONOROUS CONSONANTS - СОНОРНИ СЪГЛАСНИ

An easy way to remember the sonorous consonants in Bulgarian is the word ламарина (laminated iron), which contains them all, apart from й and ь.

The only sonorous consonant that changes its pronunciation depending on its position is "л".

When before e, и, ю and я it is pronounced softly like in "leaf".

When before a, ъ, о, у and a consonant and at the end of the word - like in "luck".

!!! The letter й (и кратко - i short) is a consonant, unlike the vowel и.

Й can stand only before o (including at the beginning of the word) or after a vowel (including at the end of the word) - район (rayon - district, region), майка (mayka - mother), пуйка (puyka - turkey), войник (voynik - soldier), герой (geroi - hero) etc.

Its pronunciation is not like the one of the vowel и, but shorter.

For example - in "майка", ай is pronounced as i in "pilot"; in "пейка" (peika - bench), ей is pronounced as a in paper; in "мой" (moy - my, mine), ой is pronounced as oi in boil.

The letter ь (ер малък) doesn't have its own sound. Its purpose is to make a consonant sound softer. It is used only in combination with o - ьо (yo)

The combination ьо has the same pronunciation as йо (yo).

The difference - ьо is only used after a consonant - шофьор (shofyor - driver), Кольо (Kolyo - male name). Йо is used in the beginning of the word and after a vowel - Йордан (Yordan - male name), майор (mayor - major).

The combination "ио" exists in Bulgarian (although in words of French origin) and it is pronounced like two separate vowels - for example - камион (truck - ka-mi-on - 3 syllables).

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COMPOUND SOUNDS - СЪСТАВНИ ЗВУЦИ

The letters ю and я represent compound sounds. They are both combination of a consonant and a vowel.

ю=й+у (yu)

я=й+а (ya) or й+ъ (ya)

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The Bulgarian alphabet doesn't have a letter representing the sound "j" (as in John). It is spelled "дж" - Джон.

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THE STRESS - УДАРЕНИЕТО

The stress is very important not only for the pronunciation, but for the meaning as well.

The bad news is that there is no rule for the position of the stress in Bulgarian. Every word should be memorized separately.

In this tutorial all the Bulgarian words are given with a mark indicating the position of the stress (on the underlined vowel) to help you to learn them correctly.

In some words the stress can change its position when changing the form - from singular to plural or when adding a definite article.

нещо (neshto - a thing) - неща (neshta - things)

пeсен (pesen - a song) - песента (pesenta - the song)

There are words which change their meaning depending on the stress.

These are the only words in Bulgarian which have written stress!

For example:

вълна (vъlna - wool) - вълнa (valnа - wave)

завет (zavet - lee, shelter) - завет (zavеt - legacy)

роден (roden - native) - роден (rodеn - born)