Common mistakes English learners make

Common mistakes English learners make

Learning Bulgarian is a beautiful challenge — full of rich sounds, expressive grammar, and a unique alphabet. But if your first language is English, you’ll likely fall into a few common traps at first.

Here are the most frequent mistakes English speakers make when learning Bulgarian — and how to fix them.

1️⃣ Translating Word-for-Word from English

❌ Аз съм 25 години.
✅ Аз съм на 25 години.

A very natural English sentence like “I am 25 years old” doesn’t translate directly.
In Bulgarian, you say: “Аз съм на 25 години.” — literally “I am on 25 years.”

The preposition на is essential here — and this happens in many expressions.

📝 Tip: Watch for sentences that use prepositions differently. Instead of translating directly, ask yourself, How would a Bulgarian naturally say this?

2️⃣ Forgetting About Definite Articles (Those Little Endings!)

❌ Къща е голяма.
✅ Къщата е голяма.

In English, the definite article is a separate word (the house).
In Bulgarian, it’s attached to the end of the noun:

• мъж → мъжът (the man)
• жена → жената (the woman)
• куче → кучето (the dog)

📝 Tip: Whenever you mean “the” in English, add the -ът/ят / -та / -то / ending in Bulgarian.

3️⃣ Keeping English Word Order

❌ Аз вчера ходих на работа.
✅ Вчера ходих на работа.

English has a fixed word order: subject + verb + object.
Bulgarian is more flexible, and time words like “yesterday” or “today” often come first.

📝 Tip: Try starting sentences with вчера, днес, утре, or след това to sound more natural.

4️⃣ Overusing Subject Pronouns

❌ Аз живея в София. Аз работя в офис.
✅ Живея в София. Работя в офис.

In English, we must say “I”.
In Bulgarian, the verb ending already shows who’s speaking, so “Аз” is often unnecessary.

📝 Tip: Drop the pronoun unless you want to emphasize it.
👉 Аз живея в София, а ти? (I live in Sofia, and you?)

5️⃣ Forgetting Gender Agreement

❌ Моят приятелка е хубав.
✅ Моята приятелка е хубава.

Bulgarian has three genders — masculine, feminine, and neuter — and adjectives must agree with the noun.

📝 Tip: Always check that your adjective and article ending match the noun:

Gender	Example
Masculine	моят приятел е висок
Feminine	моята приятелка е висока
Neuter	моето куче е малко

6️⃣ Using “не” Twice (Double Negatives)

❌ Аз не нямам брат.
✅ Аз нямам брат.

In Bulgarian, one negative word is enough. English allows “I don’t have any,” but in Bulgarian, that’s incorrect.

📝 Tip:

• I don’t have a car → Нямам кола.
• There’s no bread → Няма хляб.

7️⃣ Mixing Up Perfective and Imperfective Verbs

This is a classic challenge — not unique to English learners, but very important.

Imperfective	Perfective	English Meaning
пиша	напиша	to write / to finish writing
чета	прочета	to read / to finish reading
ям	изям	to eat / to finish eating

📝 Tip: Think about whether the action is in progress or completed.
It’s best to learn verbs in pairs — they come together naturally in real life.

8️⃣ Struggling with “На мен ми…” Constructions

❌ Аз е студено.
✅ На мен ми е студено.

When talking about feelings or sensations, Bulgarians use “на + dative pronoun + ми” — literally, “To me it is cold.”

📝 Tip: Practice these:

• На мен ми е студено. — I’m cold.
• На теб ти е скучно. — You’re bored.
• На него му е интересно. — He’s interested.

It feels strange at first, but it’s one of the most natural Bulgarian sentence patterns.

🌿 Final Thoughts

English speakers often struggle not because Bulgarian is “hard,” but because it works differently.
Once you stop translating word-for-word and start thinking the Bulgarian way, everything gets easier.

So, don’t worry if you forget your articles or mix up your endings — every mistake means you’re getting closer to fluency.

💬 Want to practise Bulgarian naturally?

Book a lesson with me — we’ll work on grammar in context and help you sound confident, clear, and like yourself in Bulgarian.

👉 Learn Bulgarian with Aleksandra — where grammar finally makes sense.