Language/Bulgarian/Grammar/PRESENT-SIMPLE-TENSE-–-Сегашно-време

PRESENT SIMPLE TENSE* – Сегашно време

* The name of the tense is Bulgarian is Present Tense but Present Simple Tense is the closest corresponding English tense to it.

здрасти, Bulgarian Learners! 😃

➡ In today's lesson you will learn how to use the Present Tense in the Bulgarian language.

Happy learning!

3 persons

Verbs in Bulgarian have three persons – 1st, 2nd, and 3rd – and two numbers – singular and plural.

No infinitive form

Verbs in Bulgarian do not have an infinitive form. Therefore the 1st person singular in present simple tense is used as a basic form of the verb.

Irregular verb "to be"

The present simple tense of the verb “to be” is formed in an irregular way.

3 groups or conjugations of verbs

There are three groups or conjugations of verbs in the Bulgarian language: A/Я group (3rd conjugation), E group (1st conjugation), and И group (2nd conjugation).

Skip the personal pronouns

We often skip the personal pronouns, as the grammatical person and number are clear by the form of the verb.

3rd conjugation

A/Я group (3rd conjugation) – All the verbs from the A/Я group end in -АМ/-ЯМ in 1st person singular.

Some verbs from this group are: вечерям, забравям, закусвам, затварям, искам, казвам, казвам се, купувам, обичам, харесвам, обядвам, отварям, отговарям, отивам, разбирам.

1st conjugation

E group (1st conjugation) – Many of the verbs from the Е group end in a vowel + Я in 1st person singular.

Some verbs from this group are: желая, зная/знам, играя, мечтая, мия (се), мога, пея, пия, пиша, смея се, чета. Exception: ям – аз ям, ти ядеш, той/тя/ то яде, ние ядем, вие ядете, те ядат.

2nd conjugation

И group (2nd conjugation) – Almost all of the verbs from the И group end in a consonant + Я in 1st person singular.

Some verbs from this group are: вървя, говоря, готвя, каня, мисля, моля, мълча, правя, работя, свиря, търся, уча, ходя.

Verbs ending in consonant + A in 1st person singular

Verbs ending in consonant + A in 1st person singular belong either to E group or to И group.

placement of the reflexive pronoun CE

Pay attention to the placement of the reflexive pronoun CE.

When do we use simple tense?

We use present simple tense to talk about:

• a fact
• a habit or repeated action
• an activity happening now

Used with adverbs of frequency

Present simple tense is often used with adverbs of frequency: винаги, обикновено, често, понякога, рядко, никога

Sources

• https://caritas.bg/cms/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/A1-English.pdf?x10535