Vocabulary
In this lesson you will learn the Bulgarian words for a few adjectives. You will learn them one by one in the exercises but here they all are:
- big/large: голям
- small/little: малък
- good: добър
- bad: лош
- close/near: близък
- distant/faraway: далечен
- easy: лесен
- difficult/hard: труден
- red: червен
- green: зелен
- blue: син
- yellow: жълт
- pink: розов
- orange: оранжев
- white: бял
- black: черен
- brown: кафяв
- grey: сив
Agreeing the adjective with the noun
Adjectives in Bulgarian change according to the gender and number of the noun they relate to. This is the so called "agreement" of nouns and adjectives.
The masculine form of the adjective usually ends in a consonant. The general rule is that you get the feminine form by adding the letter а at the end, the neuter form by adding о, and the plural form by adding и. As with most rules in Bulgarian, there are exceptions, which have to learned by heart.
Example with the adjective червен (red):
- Masculine: червен плод (red fruit)
- Feminine: червена кола (red car)
- Neuter: червено вино (red wine)
- Plural: червени домати (red tomatoes)
When the masculine form ends in "-ър", "-ък", "-ъг", "-ъл" or "-ен", the "ъ" or "e" is dropped in the feminine, neuter, plural and definite forms (unless that letter is stressed, as in червèн, above):
Добър ➜ добра, добро, добри (good)
Малък ➜ малка, малко, малки (small)
Лесен ➜ лесна, лесно, лесни (easy)
When the masculine form ends in "-ям", "-ял", etc., the "я" often becomes "е" in the plural form, and in the masculine definite forms (see below):
Бял ➜ бяла, бяло, бели (white)
Голям ➜ голяма, голямо, големи (big/large)
Exceptions
In the list of adjectives above, "син" (blue) is irregular. The feminine is "синя", the neuter "синьо", and the plural "сини".
Placement of the adjective
As in English, the adjective goes before the noun it describes, or after the verb when using a stative verb:
"Имаш голяма къща" - You have a big house
"Къщата ти е голяма" - Your house is big
Adjectives and definite articles
When using a definite adjective/noun group, the definite article goes on the adjective. There are different definite articles for male, female, neuter genders and the plural form.
| Masculine | -ият/-ия* |
| Feminine | -та |
| Neuter | -то |
| Plural | -те |
Examples:
"Червеният плод" - the red fruit (masculine)
"Червената кола" - the red car (feminine)
"Червеното вино" - the red wine (neuter)
"Червените домати" - the red tomatoes (plural)
* For masculine adjectives that describe the object of the sentence (not the subject), use the short definite article (-ия):
"Аз ям червения плод" - I'm eating the red fruit