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In Bulgarian, we use the Cyrillic alphabet. The same alphabet (with some modifications) is used in
other languages -Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Serbian, Macedonian and some Central
Asian Altaic languages.
Every Bulgarian letter has an English equivalent sound (or combination of sounds) close enough
to give you a clue to its pronunciation. In the first few lessons, every Bulgarian word will be
followed by phonetic transcription of its pronunciation in Latin letters and symbols from the
International Phonetic Alphabet please refer to the column Symbol.
L
ett
er
Not
e
Eng
lish
equi
vale
nt
whe
n
stre
ssed
ar
my
gu
n
bat
h
brat
brothe
r
ver
y
vo`da
water
whe
n
unst
ress
ed
So
un
d
Val
ue
Sy
m
bo
l
Bul
gari
an
wor
d
Pronu
nciati
on
Englis
h
transl
ation
`azbu
k
alpha
bet
`azbu
k
alpha
bet
gu
n
`gar
railwa
y stati
on
do
g
den
day
sen
d
`esen
autum
n
ple
asu
re
zh
zhi`v
ot
life
ze`m
ya
earth
zoo
bit
`istin
truth
yo
uth
`may
k
mothe
r
kit
che
n
`kotk
cat
luc
k
lof
huntin
g
lea
f
`lyato
summ
er
me
et
mo`re
sea
not
ne`be
sky
hot
ok`o
eye
pot
pt
road
rob
ot
`rib
fish
sun
`slnt
ze
sun
tall
`tatko
daddy
oo
roo
m
`ume
n
smart
fis
h
`form
shape
`hor
peopl
e
hat
tz
qua
rtz
tz
tzar
tzar
ch
ch
urc
h
ch
cho`v
ek
man,
perso
n
sh
fis
h
sh
`shap
k
hat
sht
sm
ash
ed
sh
t
`shtas
tie
happi
ness
whe
n
stre
ssed
ugl
y
`gl
corner
whe
n
unst
ress
ed
but
`gl
corner
sho`f
yor
driver
,
chauff
eur
`yuni
June
`yab
lk
apple
yo
uth
you
yo
u
yu
ya
yar
n
ya
VOWELS
There are 6 vowels in Bulgarian - , , , , ,
When a vowel is stressed it is pronounced clearly.
When unstressed, some vowels are reduced, becoming shorter and less distinct.
Even though there is no Roman letter for it, the vowel exists in many English words. When
stressed, it is pronounced like u in ugly [`gli] or up [p].
When unstressed both a and are pronounced the same way somewhere
between a and - like a inaway [`way], or cinema [`sinim].
When unstressed both o and are slightly reduced and pronounced somewhere between and y.
The vowels e and dont change their pronunciation when not stressed*.
voiced
voicel
ess
sonoro
us
Note that the Bulgarian alphabet has letters for sounds which the Roman scripts represent with
combination of letters:
tz
ch
sh
sht
Some consonants change their pronunciation depending on their position in a word. These
changes occur naturally in order to facilitate the pronunciation.
VOICED CONSONANTS -
Every voiced consonant has a corresponding voiceless one.
voiced consonant
When at the end of a word (e.g. - bread), a voiced consonant is reduced to its corresponding
voiceless one - [hlyap]. So, becomes .
When placed immediately before any voiceless consonant (e.g. - general), a voiced
consonant is pronounced like its corresponding voiceless one - [opsht]. is a voiceless
consonant, causing the voiced consonant to become the voiceless .
Here are some more examples with the rest of the voiced consonants.
- (pencil) [`molif], (everybody) - e [`fseki]
- (instant, moment) - [mik]
- (income) - [`prihot], (boat) - o [`lotk]
- (rainfall) - [v`lesh], (note) - (be`leshk]
- (expresion) - [`izrs], (education) - [vspi`tanie]
VOICELESS CONSONANTS -
Most voiceless consonants have a corresponding voiced ones. Those which dont have a
corresponding voiced consonant dont change their pronunciation.
voiceless c
onsonant
correspon
ding voice
d
consonant
When before a voiced consonant (e.g. - building), a voiceless consonant is pronounced like
its corresponding voiced one - [`zgrad]. is a voiced consonant, causing to become .
More examples:
- - (wedding) - [`svadb]
SONOROUS CONSONANTS -
An easy way to remember the sonorous consonants in Bulgarian is the word
[lm`rin] laminated iron, which contains them all, apart from and .
The only sonorous consonant that changes its pronunciation depending on its position is .
When before e, , and it is pronounced softly like in leaf (pronounced by touching the
tongue to the palate).
When before a, , , and a consonant as well as at the end of the word like in last
(pronounced by touching the tongue to the teeth).
The letter ( i short) is a consonant, unlike the vowel .
can stand only before o (including at the beginning of the word) or after a vowel (including at
the end of the word) [r`yon] - district, region, [`mayk] - mother,
[`puyk] - turkey, [voy`nik] - soldier, ([ge`roy] hero, etc.
Its pronunciation is not like the one of the vowel , but shorter.
For example in , is pronounced as i in pilot; in [`peika] bench, is
pronounced as a in paper; in [moy] my, mine, is pronounced as oi in boil.
The letter ( ) doesnt have its own sound. Its purpose is to make a consonant sound
softer. It is used only in combination with o (yo)