Български е много тръдно!

September 24, 2011
I hear this a lot when I try to talk to Bulgarians in their language: Bulgarski is very difficult!

I had no idea I knew so little about grammar when I applied for this job. It seems like I've always been able to, maybe not always speak correctly, but to write correctly. Now that I'm learning another language, I'm finding out I know very little about grammar, even though I taught it for 20 years. My ability to write grammatically correct sentences, I'm finding out is more of an innate ability I absorbed from English teachers long ago. While working on my master's degree, I learned more, and of course, what I still don't know, Microsoft Word will point out for me. So, where was I when Mrs. Reed lectured us on modal verbs and vocatives? And what about "aspects" of the verb? They're killing me.

Possessive pronouns, direct and indirect object pronouns – no brainers, right? Not in Bulgarian! Not when each one has a long form and a short form, AND there's not just a different form for first, second, and third person. Oh, no! There's a different form for I, you singular, he, she, it, you plural, we and they – eight, count them! But wait, I'm not finished with the pronouns yet. Each of the eight long possessive forms has a different ending depending on the GENDER of the noun it possesses! So once the speaker has figured out which ending to use with which form, you would think that you would be ready to speak the sentence, right? No! Now you have to add the definite article to the end of the possessive pronoun, which wouldn't be difficult at all – like sticking "the" on the end of the word – BUT the form of "the" changes depending on – you guessed it – the gender of the noun. And number – I almost forgot: there's another ending if the noun is plural.

So, what's the big deal, you ask? The big deal is that all objects, not just people, have gender in Bulgarian (like Spanish). And that's not all that difficult to remember. If the noun ends in a consonant or long e, it's masculine. If it ends in ah, or ya, it's feminine. If it ends in o or ay, its neuter. I know. I have the chart on the wall above my head. The rest of the big deal? The exceptions. Grrr.

Adjectives? Same thing: Figure out the gender and number of the noun you're describing, add the correct ending and then add the correct form of the definite article. Whew! That takes care of the subject of the sentence. But, what about the predicate? Well...

Ok, enough venting. One of the reasons I wanted to join the Peace Corps was to learn a foreign language. I truly think I am smart enough to do this. After all, I have already acquired enough of the language to survive solo cross-country train travel, snotty bus drivers, and policemen who tell you to turn right when they mean left. In six months I have acquired adequate "survival" Bulgarian and can now communicate (sort of) with the баби (grandmothers) down the street who sit under the shade tree every afternoon visiting and knitting, and in another six months, who knows? Maybe bus drivers will stop looking at me like I have "spiders coming out of my mouth" when I tell them where I want to go. The quote needs to be credited to another volunteer, but it perfectly describes the look we often get. Before she said that, I thought of the look as, "What the hell is wrong with you?"

Thanks so much for reading my post. I feel much better now that I've gotten that out of my system, and I'm recharged to conjugate some more verbs. Bring it on, Bulgaria!

These ladies are babi - grandmothers who gather in the afternoon shade to visit. They try so hard to talk to me when I pass by. They like to know where I'm going, where I've been, and what I bought. One day we actually had a conversation about how much snow we'll get this winter!

At least I think that's what we were talking about.