B1 · Intermediate Chapter 1

Chapter 1

18 Total Rules
1 min
Rules in This Chapter Quick Practice

Chapter in 30 Seconds

Master the art of Bulgarian storytelling and complex descriptions with advanced aspectual and narrative tools.

  • Distinguish between background actions and main events using verbal aspect.
  • Report stories told by others using the unique Bulgarian renarrative mood.
  • Construct sophisticated complex sentences using relative clauses and participles.
Speak like a storyteller: The final bridge to B1 mastery.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:

  1. 1
    By the end you will be able to use 'каквото' to compare qualities of objects.
  2. 2
    By the end you will be able to recount a story heard from a third party using the renarrative past aorist.
  3. 3
    By the end you will be able to use adverbial participles to describe simultaneous actions.

Tips & Tricks (4)

💡

Gender Check

Always look at the noun before 'какъвто'. If it's 'кола' (fem), you need 'каквато'.
frontend.learn_grammar.from_rule: Relative Pronoun 'Какъвто' (Such as)
💡

The 'Who/What' Test

If the noun is doing the action, use -ащ. If the action is done to the noun, use -н.
frontend.learn_grammar.from_rule: Adjectival Use of Participles
💡

Learn pairs

Always learn the Imperfective and Perfective forms of a verb together.
frontend.learn_grammar.from_rule: Aspect for Background vs. Main Event
💡

The 'Да' Rule

Whenever you see 'да' (to), 90% of the time you should use the perfective aspect for motion.
frontend.learn_grammar.from_rule: Aspect with Verbs of Motion

Key Vocabulary (6)

събитие event разказвам to tell/narrate движение movement съмнение doubt описание description продължителност duration

Real-World Preview

coffee

Gossip at the Café

Review Summary

  • [Subject] + [L-Participle] (No 'e/ca' in 3rd person)
  • Verb Stem + -ейки / -айки
  • Noun + [Preposition] + който/която/което/които

Common Mistakes

In the renarrative mood, the 3rd person singular/plural auxiliary (e/ca) must be dropped. Including it makes it Present Perfect.

Wrong: Той е бил там. (meaning 'He was apparently there')
Correct: Той бил там.

Using a perfective verb (дойде) with 'докато' for background duration is incorrect. Use imperfective (идваше).

Wrong: Докато той дойде, аз четях.
Correct: Докато той идваше, аз четях.

Bulgarian prefers placing the preposition before the relative pronoun (с когото) rather than at the end of the clause.

Wrong: Човекът, който говорих с него.
Correct: Човекът, с когото говорих.

Next Steps

You've done it! You've climbed the mountain of Bulgarian B1 grammar. Your ability to express complex thoughts and stories is now truly impressive. Напред и нагоре! (Onward and upward!)

Write a 200-word folk tale using the renarrative mood.

Watch a Bulgarian news report and summarize what 'they said' happened.

Continue to: The Renarrative Mood: All Tenses

Quick Practice (10)

Choose the correct auxiliary verb.

Ние ___ били в Лондон.

✓ Correct! ✗ Not quite. Correct answer: сме
'Ние' (we) requires the 1st person plural auxiliary 'сме'.

frontend.learn_grammar.from_rule: Participles in Compound Tenses

Choose the correct renarrative form for: 'They say he (be) rich.'

Той ___ богат.

✓ Correct! ✗ Not quite. Correct answer: бил
In the 3rd person renarrative, we drop the auxiliary 'е'.

frontend.learn_grammar.from_rule: Usage for Reported Information/Doubt

Find the mistake in the sentence.

Find and fix the mistake:

След изям, ще изляза.

✓ Correct! ✗ Not quite. Correct answer: изям
Should be 'След ядене'. You cannot use a verb directly after 'след'.

frontend.learn_grammar.from_rule: Verbal Nouns (Глаголни съществителни)

Which sentence is correct for 'They have seen the movie'?

Choose the correct sentence:

✓ Correct! ✗ Not quite. Correct answer: Те са видяли филма.
We need the plural auxiliary 'са' and the plural participle 'видяли'.

frontend.learn_grammar.from_rule: Participles in Present Perfect

Fill in the background action (Imperfect).

Докато тя ____ (пея), аз слушах.

✓ Correct! ✗ Not quite. Correct answer: пееше
The singing is the background/ongoing action during which the listening happened.

frontend.learn_grammar.from_rule: Aspect in Narrative Sequences

Choose the correct verb for the sequence.

Той ____ вратата и влезе.

✓ Correct! ✗ Not quite. Correct answer: отвори
Opening the door is a completed step in a sequence, so we use the Perfective Aorist.

frontend.learn_grammar.from_rule: Aspect in Narrative Sequences

Correct the sentence.

Find and fix the mistake:

Аз купил хляб.

✓ Correct! ✗ Not quite. Correct answer: Аз съм купил хляб.
1st person needs auxiliary.

frontend.learn_grammar.from_rule: Renarrative Past Aorist Tense

Find the punctuation error.

Find and fix the mistake:

Брат ми който е студент учи в София.

✓ Correct! ✗ Not quite. Correct answer: Both A and B
Non-defining clauses in the middle of a sentence need commas on both sides.

frontend.learn_grammar.from_rule: Introducing Non-Defining Relative Clauses

Fill in the blank with the negative form of 'знам'.

___ какво да прави, той се обади на майка си.

✓ Correct! ✗ Not quite. Correct answer: Не знаейки
The negative adverbial participle is formed with 'не' + participle.

frontend.learn_grammar.from_rule: Adverbial Participles (Деепричастия)

Correct the error.

Find and fix the mistake:

Момчето, която играе.

✓ Correct! ✗ Not quite. Correct answer: Момчето, което играе.
Момчето is neuter.

frontend.learn_grammar.from_rule: Introducing Defining Relative Clauses

Score: /10

Common Questions (6)

It changes to agree with the noun it describes in gender and number.
No, you must match the noun. Use 'каквато' for feminine nouns.
Most verbs can form participles, but stative verbs like съм (to be) or имам (to have) rarely use the -ащ form in modern Bulgarian.
It depends on the verb group. Group 1 and 2 verbs usually take -ещ or -ящ, while Group 3 verbs (ending in -а/-я) take -ащ.
To distinguish between process and result.
No, it's grammatically incorrect.
Previous Chapter
Impersonal Verbs & Expressions for States
Next Chapter
The Renarrative Mood: All Tenses
Back to Roadmap