Bulgarian conjugation is the creation of derived forms of a Bulgarian verb from its principal parts by inflection. It is affected by person, number, gender, tense, mood and voice. Bulgarian verbs are conventionally divided into three conjugations according to the thematic vowel they use in the present tense: 1st conjugation: verbs using the vowel е (/ɛ/). 2nd conjugation: verbs using the vowel и (/i/). 3rd conjugation: athematic verbs, stems end in а or я.
In a dictionary, Bulgarian verbs are listed with their first-person-singular-present-tense form, due to the lack of an infinitive. This form is called the citation form.
Bulgarian verbs are conjugated using the formula:
where thematic vowel and inflection suffix are only optional. The stem of the verb is what is left of the citation form after removing its final letter. Sometimes in the course of conjugation, the stem may undergo some alterations. In this article, any alteration of the stem is coloured in blue, the thematic vowels are coloured in red, and the inflectional endings in green.
Inflectional suffixes
Personal endings Below are the endings for all finite forms:
Tense/Mood Conjugation Singular Plural 1st person 2nd person 3rd person 1st person 2nd person 3rd person Present First -a (/ɐ/1 or /ɤ/2)-я (/jɐ/1 or /jɤ/2)-м3 (/m/) -ш (/ʃ/) -∅ -м (/m/) -те (/t̪ɛ/) -ат (/ɐt̪/1 or /ɤt̪/2)-ят (/jɐt̪/1 or /jɤt̪/2) Second Third -м (/m/) -ме (/mɛ/) -т (/t̪/) Past Imperfect All three -х (/x/) -ше (/ʃɛ/) -хме (/xmɛ/) -хте (/xt̪ɛ/) -ха (/xɐ/) Past Aorist -∅ Imperative All three - -∅ - - -те (/t̪ɛ/) -
1 When unstressed.
2 When stressed.
3 Only some irregular first conjugation verbs.
Non-finite form endings These are the endings for the non-finite forms:
IndefiniteDefinite Masculine Feminine Neuter Plural Masculinesubject form Masculineobject form Feminine Neuter Plural Present Active Participle -щ -ща -що -щи -щият -щия -щата -щото -щите Past Active Aorist Participle -л -ла -ло -ли -лият -лия -лата -лото -лите Past Active Imperfect Participle - - - - - Past Passive Participle -н -т -на -та -но -то -ни -ти -ният -тият -ния -тия -ната -тата -ното -тото -ните -тите Verbal noun - - -не -ния -нета - - - -нето -нията -нетата Adverbial participle -йки
Thematic vowels Below is a table of the thematic vowels. They are inserted between the stem and the ending.
Tense/Mood First Second Third 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 1st 2nd 3rd 1st 2nd Present е (/ɛ/) и (/i/) ∅ Past Imperfect Yat vowel: я (/ja/), а (/a/), or е (/ɛ/) Past Aorist о (/o̝/)е (/ɛ/) а (/ɐ/ or /a/) Yat: я (/ja/) я (/jɐ/ or /ja/) ∅ и (/i/) Yat: я (/ja/) а (/a/) Imperative и (/i/), е (/ɛ/), й (/j/) й (/j/)
Finite forms
Present Tense
First conjugation Verbs from the first conjugation use the thematic vowel е (/ɛ/) between the stem and the personal endings, except in first person singular and third person plural, where the endings are added directly to the stem.
All verbs with citation forms ending in а use the endings -а and -ат in first person singular and third person plural respectively.
Citationform Stem Present Tense Singular Plural 1st person 2nd person 3rd person 1st person 2nd person 3rd person чета чет- чета* четеш чете четем четете четат* пиша пиш- пиша пишеш пише пишем пишете пишат
* Notice that the endings -а and -ат when stressed are pronounced /ɤ/ and /ɤt̪/, not /a/, /at̪/.
All verbs with stems ending in a vowel use the endings -я and -ят in first person singular and third person plural respectively.
Citationform Stem Present Tense Singular Plural 1st person 2nd person 3rd person 1st person 2nd person 3rd person пея пе- пея пееш пее пеем пеете пеят играя игра- играя играеш играе играем играете играят
All verbs with citation forms ending in я also use the endings -я and -ят in first person singular and third person plural.
Citationform Stem Present Tense Singular Plural 1st person 2nd person 3rd person 1st person 2nd person 3rd person къпя къп- къпя къпеш къпе къпем къпете къпят дремя дрем- дремя дремеш дреме дремем дремете дремят
All verbs with stems ending in -к (/k/) or -г (/g/) change to -ч (/tʃ/) and -ж (/ʒ/) respectively, before the thematic vowel е. This change is not limited solely to the present tense and happens always before /i/, /ɛ/ and the yat vowel.
Citationform Stem Present Tense Singular Plural 1st person 2nd person 3rd person 1st person 2nd person 3rd person пека пек- пека печеш пече печем печете пекат мога мог- мога можеш може можем можете могат
Second conjugation Verbs from the second conjugation use the thematic vowel и (/i/) between the stem and the personal endings, except in first person singular and third person plural, where the endings are added directly to the stem.
All verbs with stems not ending in -ж (/ʒ/), -ч (/tʃ/) or -ш (/ʃ/) use the endings -я and -ят in first person singular and third person plural.
Citationform Stem Present Tense Singular Plural 1st person 2nd person 3rd person 1st person 2nd person 3rd person говоря говор- говоря говориш говори говорим говорите говорят вървя върв- вървя* вървиш върви вървим вървите вървят* стоя сто- стоя* стоиш стои стоим стоите стоят*
* Notice that the endings -я and -ят when stressed are pronounced /jɤ/ and /jɤt̪/, not /ja/, /jat̪/.
All verbs with stems ending in -ж (/ʒ/), -ч (/tʃ/) or -ш (/ʃ/) use the endings -а and -ат in first person singular and third person plural.
Citationform Stem Present Tense Singular Plural 1st person 2nd person 3rd person 1st person 2nd person 3rd person движа движ- движа движиш движи движим движите движат мълча мълч- мълча* мълчиш мълчи мълчим мълчите мълчат*
* Notice that the endings -а and -ат when stressed are pronounced /ɤ/ and /ɤt̪/, not /a/, /at̪/.
Third conjugation Strictly speaking, verbs from the third conjugation are athematic, because the personal endings are added directly to the stem with no thematic vowel in between. It may seem that the vowel а (/ə/) is inserted between them, but that vowel is actually part of the stem. All verbs have stems ending in either а or я.
Citationform Stem Present Tense Singular Plural 1st person 2nd person 3rd person 1st person 2nd person 3rd person искам иска- искам искаш иска искаме искате искат стрелям стреля- стрелям стреляш стреля стреляме стреляте стрелят
Past Imperfect The past imperfect always follows the stress patterns of the present tense.
First and second conjugation These verbs use the old yat vowel between the stem and the personal endings. When stressed, it is pronounced as /ja/ (written я) or /a/ (written а) after /ʒ/, /tʃ/ and /ʃ/. When unstressed, it is pronounced as /ɛ/ (written е). In second and third person singular it is always pronounced as /ɛ/.
Citationform Stem Past Imperfect Stressed yat vowel Singular Plural 1st person 2nd person 3rd person 1st person 2nd person 3rd person чета чет- четях четеше четеше четяхме четяхте четяха вървя върв- вървях вървеше вървеше вървяхме вървяхте вървяха пека пек- печах* печеше* печеше* печахме* печахте* печаха* мълча мълч- мълчах мълчеше мълчеше мълчахме мълчахте мълчаха
Citationform Stem Past Imperfect Unstressed yat vowel Singular Plural 1st person 2nd person 3rd person 1st person 2nd person 3rd person пиша пиш- пишех пишеше пишеше пишехме пишехте пишеха говоря говор- говорех говореше говореше говорехме говорехте говореха мога мог- можех* можеше* можеше* можехме* можехте* можеха* движа движ- движех движеше движеше движехме движехте движеха
* The consonants к (/k/) and г (/g/) change to ч (/tʃ/) and ж (/ʒ/) before the front vowels е (/ɛ/) and и (/i/).
Additionally, after ж (/ʒ/), ч (/tʃ/) and ш (/ʃ/) the stressed yat vowel can be pronounced either as /a/ (as above) or as /ɛ/. The latter forms have fallen largely into disuse.
Citationform Stem Past Imperfect Stressed yat vowel Singular Plural 1st person 2nd person 3rd person 1st person 2nd person 3rd person пека пек- печех печеше печеше печехме печехте печеха мълча мълч- мълчех мълчеше мълчеше мълчехме мълчехте мълчеха
Third conjugation Verbs from the third conjugation use no thematic vowel, the endings are added directly to the stem.
Citationform Stem Past Imperfect Singular Plural 1st person 2nd person 3rd person 1st person 2nd person 3rd person искам иска- исках искаше искаше искахме искахте искаха стрелям стреля- стрелях стреляше стреляше стреляхме стреляхте стреляха
Past Aorist In the first and second conjugation, verbs are additionally divided into classes according to the thematic vowel they use. In the third conjugation, verbs are divided into classes according to the final vowel of the stem.
Stress Verbs with stress on the stem can keep it there or move it to the thematic vowel (or the final vowel of the stem in the case of the athematic third conjugation verbs). However, this shift can only happen if the verb is unprefixed or if it is imperfective. Forms with unshifted stress are usually typical for the eastern dialects and forms with shifted stress for the western dialects. However, the latter forms have become stylistically marked as dialectal and should be avoided and used only to distinguish otherwise homonymous forms.
Prefixed perfective verbs with stress on the stem do not change it.
Verbs with stress on the thematic vowel keep it there with the exception of first conjugation verbs of the first class and a few others.
First conjugation
First class These verbs have the vowel о (/o̝/) or е (/ɛ/) in second and third person singular between the stem and the personal endings. The stems of these verbs end in д (/d̪/), т (/t̪/), с (/s/), з (/z/) and к (/k/). This class contains only 23 main verbs, which, however, are some of the most frequently used and there are hundreds of prefixed verbs formed from them:
бодá, (съ-)блекá, бъ́да*, (до-)ведá, влекá, дам*, до́йда*, кладá, крадá, (в-)ля́за, метá, (в-)несá, пасá, пекá, плетá, предá, растá*, рекá, секá, текá, тресá, четá, ям* *These verbs are irregular but are considered part of the first class because in the aorist they behave just like the regular ones.
Although the stem of the verb тъка ends in к (/k/), it is not part of this class, it belongs to the next one.
An important feature of regular verbs from the first class is that the stress always moves on the last syllable of the stem (unless it is already there). This stress position is kept in the past active aorist participle, the past passive participle and the verbal noun.
Citationform Stem Past Aorist Singular Plural 1st person 2nd person 3rd person 1st person 2nd person 3rd person крада крад- крадох краде краде крадохме крадохте крадоха чета чет- четох чете чете четохме четохте четоха треса трес- тресох тресе тресе тресохме тресохте тресоха пека пек- пекох пече* пече* пекохме пекохте пекоха
* The consonant к (/k/) changes to ч (/tʃ/) before the front vowel е (/ɛ/).
The verbs (съ-)блекá, влекá, (в-)ля́за and секá have the old yat vowel in the stem, which alternates between я (/ja/) and е (/ɛ/) according to the pronunciation in the eastern dialects.
Citationform Stem Past Aorist Singular Plural 1st person 2nd person 3rd person 1st person 2nd person 3rd person вляза вляз- влязох влезе влезе влязохме влязохте влязоха сека сек- сякох сече сече сякохме сякохте сякоха
Second class These verbs use the thematic vowel а (/a/ or /ə/) between the stem and the personal endings. The stems of these verbs end in a consonant different from ж /ʒ/, ч /tʃ/, ш /ʃ/, д (/d̪/), т (/t̪/), с (/s/), з (/z/) or к (/k/), and their citation forms end in а. This class contains over 400 main verbs.
Citationform Stem Past Aorist Singular Plural 1st person 2nd person 3rd person 1st person 2nd person 3rd person легна легн- легнах * легна * легна * легнахме * легнахте * легнаха * рева рев- ревах рева рева ревахме ревахте реваха
* Notice the stress shift as mentioned above.
Stems ending in -ер (/ɛr/), such as бера, пера and дера, lose the е (/ɛ/):