Renarrative Future in the Past Tense
Grammar Rule in 30 Seconds
Use this to report what someone else said they were going to do, without claiming it's true yourself.
- Use the L-participle of 'ща' (щял, щяла, щяло, щели) followed by 'да'. Example: 'Той щял да дойде.'
- For negatives, use the invariable 'нямало' + 'да'. Example: 'Тя нямало да пътува.'
- The auxiliary 'съм' is omitted in the 3rd person singular and plural.
Conjugation of 'Ща' (Renarrative Future in the Past)
| Person | Affirmative | Negative | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
|
1st Sing (Аз)
|
съм щял/а да
|
нямало да
|
Аз съм щял да дойда
|
|
2nd Sing (Ти)
|
си щял/а да
|
нямало да
|
Ти си щяла да пееш
|
|
3rd Sing (Той/Тя/То)
|
щял/а/о да
|
нямало да
|
Той щял да замине
|
|
1st Plur (Ние)
|
сме щели да
|
нямало да
|
Ние сме щели да видим
|
|
2nd Plur (Вие)
|
сте щели да
|
нямало да
|
Вие сте щели да разберете
|
|
3rd Plur (Те)
|
щели да
|
нямало да
|
Те щели да кажат
|
Meanings
A verb form used to report a future action from a past perspective that the speaker has not witnessed personally or wants to distance themselves from.
Reported Intention
Reporting what someone else claimed they were going to do.
“Иван каза, че щял да си купи нова кола.”
“Мария сподели, че щели да се местят в Пловдив.”
Doubtful Prediction
Expressing a prediction made by others that the speaker might find questionable.
“Според прогнозата щяло да бъде слънчево, но виж облаците.”
“Говореше се, че проектът щял да приключи до юни.”
Reference Table
| Form | Structure | Example |
|---|---|---|
|
Affirmative (M)
|
щял да + Present
|
Той щял да купи
|
|
Affirmative (F)
|
щяла да + Present
|
Тя щяла да купи
|
|
Affirmative (Pl)
|
щели да + Present
|
Те щели да купят
|
|
Negative
|
нямало да + Present
|
Той нямало да купи
|
|
Question
|
Щял ли да + Present?
|
Щял ли да купи?
|
|
Negative Question
|
Нямало ли да + Present?
|
Нямало ли да купи?
|
Formalitätsspektrum
Беше съобщено, че той щял да се обади. (Reporting a phone call)
Той каза, че щял да се обади. (Reporting a phone call)
Вика, че щял да звънне. (Reporting a phone call)
Оня щял да дрънне един телефон. (Reporting a phone call)
The Hearsay Chain
Source
- Казаха They said
Action
- щял да дойде was going to come
Direct vs. Reported
Beispiele nach Niveau
Той щял да дойде.
He was [reportedly] going to come.
Тя нямало да яде.
She [reportedly] wasn't going to eat.
Казаха, че щяло да вали.
They said it was going to rain.
Иван каза, че щял да работи.
Ivan said he was going to work.
Мислехме, че те щели да ни помогнат.
We thought they were [reportedly] going to help us.
Тя нямало да пътува за София.
She [reportedly] wasn't going to travel to Sofia.
Директорът обяви, че фирмата щяла да инвестира в нови технологии.
The director announced that the company was [reportedly] going to invest in new technologies.
Според слуховете, те нямало да подпишат договора.
According to rumors, they weren't [reportedly] going to sign the contract.
Свидетелят твърдеше, че подсъдимият щял да напусне страната още същата вечер.
The witness claimed that the defendant was [reportedly] going to leave the country that very evening.
Нямало да има никакви последствия, ако бяхме слушали съветите му.
There [reportedly] wouldn't have been any consequences if we had listened to his advice.
В летописите се споменава, че владетелят щял да обяви война, но внезапната му смърт осуетила плановете.
The chronicles mention that the ruler was [reportedly] going to declare war, but his sudden death thwarted the plans.
Едва ли някой е предполагал, че проектът нямало да получи нужното финансиране.
Hardly anyone would have assumed that the project [reportedly] wasn't going to receive the necessary funding.
Leicht verwechselbar
Learners use 'щеше да' when they should use 'щял да'.
Mixing up 'ще дойде' (reported) with 'щял да дойде'.
Häufige Fehler
Той ще дойде (when reporting)
Той щял да дойде
Той е щял да дойде
Той щял да дойде
Те нямали да дойдат
Те нямало да дойдат
Щеше да дойде (in a news report)
Щял да дойде
Satzmuster
Казаха ми, че ___ щял да ___.
Чух, че нямало да ___.
Real World Usage
Президентът щял да посети региона утре.
Чу ли? Шефът нямало да дава бонуси.
Войските щели да атакуват на разсъмване.
The 'No-E' Rule
Don't Overuse It
Skepticism
Smart Tips
Pause and use 'щял да' instead of 'щеше да' to sound more like a native speaker who understands hearsay.
Don't think about the person. Just use 'нямало да' for everyone. It's a 'get out of jail free' card for conjugation!
Look for verbs ending in -л without an auxiliary. This is how you identify reported claims vs. facts.
Aussprache
Stress on 'щял'
The stress in 'щял', 'щяла', 'щели' is on the first syllable.
Reporting Intonation
Той щял да дойде? ↗
Rising intonation at the end expresses skepticism about the report.
Einprägen
Eselsbrücke
Remember 'Щял-да-Tell': Use 'щял' when you are telling what someone else said they would do.
Visuelle Assoziation
Imagine a telephone made of string. You are at one end, and the person who actually made the plan is at the other. The 'щял' is the string carrying the message to you.
Rhyme
Щял, щяла, щели — за неща, които не сме видели!
Story
A neighbor tells you Ivan was going to paint his house. You tell your spouse: 'Иван щял да боядисва'. You didn't see the paint, you just heard the news.
Word Web
Herausforderung
Write three sentences about what your friends 'were going to do' last weekend based on what they told you, using 'щял/а/и да'.
Kulturelle Hinweise
Journalists use this tense to avoid lawsuits. By using the renarrative, they are technically saying 'Someone said this happened' rather than 'This happened'.
In small Bulgarian towns, the renarrative is the 'language of the street'. It's how news travels from the bakery to the cafe.
Bulgarian developed its renarrative (evidential) system under the influence of the Balkan Sprachbund and possibly Turkic languages.
Gesprächseinstiege
Чу ли какво казаха за времето? Щяло ли да вали?
Разбрах, че Иван щял да напуска работа. Ти знаеш ли нещо?
Говореше се, че концертът нямало да се състои. Вярно ли е?
Tagebuch-Impulse
Häufige Fehler
Test Yourself
Те казаха, че ___ да дойдат.
Той ___ да остава.
Find and fix the mistake:
Тя е щяла да пее.
I was reportedly going to win.
Answer starts with: Аз ...
Score: /4
Ubungsaufgaben
4 exercisesТе казаха, че ___ да дойдат.
Той ___ да остава.
Find and fix the mistake:
Тя е щяла да пее.
I was reportedly going to win.
Score: /4
FAQ (6)
This is a grammatical rule in Bulgarian to distinguish the renarrative mood from the perfect tense. Dropping the auxiliary signals 'I am reporting this'.
Only if you are being sarcastic or if you forgot what you were going to do (e.g., 'I reportedly was going to do that?'). Normally, use `щях да` for yourself.
Yes! Whether it's 'I', 'you', or 'they', the negative form is always `нямало да`.
The perfect tense uses the auxiliary (е/са), while the renarrative drops it in the 3rd person. Also, the context of 'да' + present verb is a dead giveaway.
Absolutely. It's very common in storytelling and sharing news you heard from others.
Use the particle 'ли' after the L-form: `Щял ли да дойде?` (Was he [reportedly] going to come?).
Scaffolded Practice
1
2
3
4
Mastery Progress
Needs Practice
Improving
Strong
Mastered
In Other Languages
Condicional Simple
Bulgarian has a specific 'reported' mood; Spanish uses the same form for both.
Conditionnel Présent
French focuses on the temporal aspect; Bulgarian focuses on the source of information.
Konjunktiv II / würde-Form
German Konjunktiv is more about mood; Bulgarian Renarrative is about evidence.
~to itte ita / ~rashii
Japanese uses particles/suffixes; Bulgarian uses verb conjugation.
kana + sa- + present verb
Arabic is purely temporal; Bulgarian is evidential.
