Bulgarian
Bulgarian is an Indo-European language, a member of the Slavic linguistic group.
Bulgarian demonstrates several linguistic innovations that set it apart from all other Slavic languages except the Macedonian language, such as the elimination of case declension, the development of a suffixed definite article, the lack of a verb infinitive, and the retention and further development of the proto-Slavic verb system. Various verb forms exist to express unwitnessed, retold, and doubtful action. Estimates of the number of people around the world who speak Bulgarian fluently range from about 9 million to 12 million.
Bulgarian was the first "Slavic" language attested in writing. As Slavic linguistic unity lasted into late antiquity, in the oldest manuscripts this language was initially referred to as языкъ словяньскъ, "the Slavic language". In the Middle Bulgarian period this name was gradually replaced by the name языкъ блъгарьскъ, the "Bulgarian language". In some cases, the name языкъ блъгарьскъ was used not only with regard to the contemporary Middle Bulgarian language of the copyist but also to the period of Old Bulgarian. A most notable example of anachronism is the Service of St. Cyril from Skopje (Скопски миней), a 13th century Middle Bulgarian manuscript from northern Macedonia according to which St. Cyril preached with "Bulgarian" books among the Moravian Slavs. The first mention of the language as the "Bulgarian language" instead of the "Slavonic language" comes in the work of the Greek clergy of the Bulgarian Archbishopric of Ohrid in the 11th century, for example in the Greek hagiography of Saint Clement of Ohrid by Theophylact of Ohrid (late 11th century).
During the Middle Bulgarian period, the language underwent dramatic changes, losing the Slavonic case system, but preserving the rich verb system (while the development was exactly the opposite in other Slavic languages) and developing a definite article. It was influenced by proto-Bulgar and its non-Slavic neighbors in the Balkan linguistic union (mostly grammatically) and later also by Turkish, which was the official language of Ottoman empire, in the form of the Ottoman language, mostly lexically. As a national revival occurred towards the end of the period of Ottoman rule (mostly during the 19th century), a modern Bulgarian literary language gradually emerged which drew heavily on Church Slavonic/Old Bulgarian (and to some extent on literary Russian, which had preserved many lexical items from Church Slavonic) and later reduced the number of Turkish and other Balkanic loans. Today one difference between Bulgarian dialects in the country and literary spoken Bulgarian is the significant presence of Old Bulgarian words and even word forms in the latter. Russian loans are distinguished from Old Bulgarian ones on the basis of the presence of specifically Russian phonetic changes, as in оборот (turnover, rev), непонятен (incomprehensible), ядро (nucleus) and others. As usual in such cases, many other loans from French, English and the classical languages have subsequently entered the language as well.
Modern Bulgarian was based essentially on the Eastern dialects of the language, but its pronunciation is in many respects a compromise between East and West Bulgarian.
In most sources in and out of Bulgaria before the Second World War, the southern Slavonic dialect continuum covering the area of today's Republic of Macedonia were referred to as a group of Bulgarian dialects. The local variants of the name of the language are balgàrtski, bolgàrtski, bulgàrtski, bògartski, bogàrtski, bùgarski or bugàrski.
After WWII, the question about the Bulgarian character of the language in the territory of the Republic of Macedonia was put aside in the name of Bulgarian-Yugoslavian friendship under the pressure of the Soviet Union. After 1958 when the pressure from Moscow decreased, Sofia turned back to the view that the Macedonian language did not exist as a separate language.
Common expressions
Здравей (zdravéi) — Hello
Здрасти (zdrásti) — Hi
Добро утро (dobró útro) — Good morning
Добър ден (dóbər dén) — Good day
Добър вечер (dóbər vécher) — Good evening
Лека нощ (léka nósht) — Good night
Довиждане (dovízhdane) — Good-bye
Как се казваш? (kak se kazvash) - What is your name?
Коя сте Вие? (kоiá ste víe) [formal, feminine] — Who are you?
Кои сте вие? (kоí ste víe) [plural form] - Who are you?
Как си? (kák si) [informal] — How are you?
Как сте? (kák sté) [formal, and also plural form] - How are you?
Да (dá) - Yes
Не (né) - No
Може би (mózhe bí) - Maybe
Какво правиш? (kakvó právish) [informal] — What are you doing?
Какво правите? (kakvó právite) [formal, and also plural form] - What are you doing?
Добре съм (dobré səm) — I’m fine
Всичко [най-]хубаво (vsíchko [nai-]húbavo) — All the best
Поздрави (pózdravi) — Regards
Благодаря (blagodaryə́) [formal and informal] — Thank you
Моля (mólia) — Please
Моля (mólia) — You're welcome
Извинете! (izvinéte) [formal] — Excuse me!
Извинявай! (izviniávai) [informal] — Sorry!
Обичам те! (obícham te) - I love you!
Колко е часът? (kólko e chasə́t) — What’s the time?
Ще се видим скоро (shté sé vídim skóro) - We'll see each other soon
Ще се видим утре (shté sé vídim útre) - We'll see each other tomorrow
