A Bulgarian Vocabulary List For Learners
If you don’t know where to start learning Bulgarian, we made a Bulgarian vocabulary list for you. You can use this as your personal list for vocabulary recap every week. The Bulgarian words are listed by how often they are used. We also provide you with detailed grammatical information, and part of speech. We also provide you with IPA phonetic spelling, so you always know how to pronounce words correctly. Each entry comes with a bilingual sample sentence, so you can see them being used in context. They also provide you with bilingual reading practice.
MostUsedWords Bulgarian Frequency Dictionary can be downloaded as an ebook from our website. They are also available as a paperback on Amazon. This dictionary provides vocabulary in various levels of fluency: beginners, intermediates, advanced, and near-fluent vocabulary for learners. This is an affiliate link. Meaning, we might get a small commission if you make a purchase through this link, at no extra cost to you.
How Many Words Should You Know To Achieve Fluency At Different Levels?
Beginner – 250 to 500 words should suffice if you are just beginning to learn a language. You'll be able to hold basic conversations and navigate in tourist situations after just one week of studying. 500 words is enough to get you through everyday life in most languages.
Conversational – With only 1,000 to 3,000 words, you can communicate in almost all languages. You can then ask people about their day and tell them how you are doing.
Advanced – You will become more fluent in a language by learning between 4,000 and 10,000 words. This will allow you to use more specific vocabulary to discuss professional topics, current events, opinions and other complex topics.
Fluent – With around 10,000 words in your vocabulary, you can speak about almost any topic with ease. Additionally, you can recognize unfamiliar words with enough knowledge.
Native – Word counts in different languages are not the same, so it can be difficult to estimate how many words native speakers know. An estimate of the number of words a native English speaker could know ranges between 10,000 and 65,000+
Bulgarian Vocabulary List
The Foundation
These are the most commonly used words you can find in the Bulgarian vocabulary. This is the key on how you can construct the most basic sentences or answers to basic questions.
da means “yes”
ne means “no”
razbirash li? means “do you understand?”
ne razbiram means “I don’t understand”
ne znam means “I don’t know”
izgubikh se means “I'm lost”
nyamam ideya means “I have no idea”
ne govorya bŭlgarski means “I don’t speak Bulgarian”
Introduce Yourself
Maybe you found yourself in a situation where you need to meet and chat with someone you don’t know. Here are some ways to introduce yourself to them:
kazvam se means “my name is…”
az sŭm… means “I’m…”
kak se kazvash? means “what is your name?”
az sŭm ot means “I am from…”
What’s Up
These are ways to ask someone what’s going on with their lives or a specific situation. You can use these Bulgarian words and phrases to start small talks:
kak ste? means “how are you?”
kakvo stava? means “what’s up?”
kak vŭrvi? means “how‘s it going?”
kakvo pravish? means “what are you doing?”
kakvo se sluchva? means “what is happening?”
Etiquette Words
Etiquette can bring you to places around the world! Learn these polite Bulgarian words:
molya! means “you’re welcome!”
molya te means “please”
izvinete me means “excuse me”
sŭzhalyavam means “sorry”
blagodarya ti means “thank you”
nazdrave means “bless you”
Essential Questions
These are the key questions you might use any time to any context:
kakvo? means “what?”
SZO? means “who?”
koga? means “when?”
kŭdeto? means “where?”
zashto? means “why?”
koĭto? means “which?”
kak? means “how?”
Bulgarian Pronouns
Pronouns are essential to make our sentences clearer, less awkward, and smoother. It is important to consider the gender of the noun to address them accordingly:
az means “I”
ti means “you”
toĭ means “he”
tya means “she”
nie means “we”
te means “they”
Greetings
It’s a nice thing to know how to greet other people. You can start with a simple zdraveĭte!:
Zdraveĭte means “hello”
dobro utro means “good morning”
dobŭr den means “good afternoon”
dobŭr vecher means “good evening”
leka nosht means “good night”
Saying Goodbye
It is polite to say "goodbye" and let the other person know you are leaving before you go:
dovizhdane means “goodbye”
do skoro means “see you later”
shte se vidim means “see you”
shte se vidim utre means “see you tomorrow”
pazi se! means “take care!”
priyaten den! means “have a nice day!”
shte se vidim skoro! means “see you soon!”
priyatno pŭtuvane! means “have a good trip!”
Days of the Week
Talking about specific times or dates, you should know how to say the days of the week:
Nedelya means “Sunday”
Ponedelnik means “Monday”
Vtornik means “Tuesday”
Sryada means “Wednesday”
Chetvŭrtŭk means “Thursday”
Petŭk means “Friday”
Sŭbota means “Saturday”
Other Time Words
Of course you can’t miss the general terms used to address the time! Here are some:
zavchera means “day before yesterday”
vchera means “yesterday”
godina means “year”
den means “day”
mesets means “month”
vek means “century”
chas means “hour”
dnes means “today”
sedmitsa means “week”
zorata means “dawn”
utre means “tomorrow”
sutrin means “morning”
polunosht means “midnight”
pladne means “noon”
minuta means “minute”
nosht means “night”
sled utre means “day after tomorrow”
sekundi means “seconds”
sledobed means “afternoon”
Nuclear Family
Addressing your family member is necessary, isn't it? You should know how to address them in your target language so that when you speak to them or talk about them with others, they would know who you are talking about:
bashta means “father”
tatko means “dad”
maĭka means “mother”
mama means “mom”
brat means “brother”
sestra means “sister”
sin means “son”
dŭshterya means “daughter”
blizko semeĭstvo means “close family”
Personality and Emotions
With these Bulgarian words, you can describe your feelings and other people’s character:
radosten means “joyful”
zabaven means “funny”
seriozno means “serious”
sramezhliv means “shy”
smel means “brave”
lud means “crazy”
sŭdŭrzhanie means “content”
shtastliv means “happy”
pritesnen means “worried”
nerven means “nervous”
spokoen means “tranquil/ calm”
razvŭlnuvan means “excited”
Start Learning Today!
Although we provided you with a general Bulgarian vocabulary list in this article, it isn’t enough to achieve a level of actual fluency in the language. Learn more with MostUsedWords Bulgarian Frequency Dictionary! Our dictionary follows the same layout. The only thing that differs is the range of vocabulary. You can download it as an ebook on our website, or as a paperback on Amazon.
Our Bulgarian Frequency Dictionary for Beginners contains English translations of the Bulgarian words, accompanied by example sentences to know the right use of words in context. Each word also has IPA phonetic spelling as pronunciation guide, as well as a detailed part of speech information!
You can expand your vocabulary by learning new words through context. Reading can help you to understand the flow and grammar since this mimics natural language learning and will help you learn new vocabulary by allowing you to use context. You'll be able to retain words quicker if you are exposed to them repeatedly.