{"id":183,"date":"2025-10-22T20:01:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T20:01:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learnwithaleksandra.com\/?p=183"},"modified":"2025-10-22T20:01:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T20:01:10","slug":"common-mistakes-english-learners-make","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/learnwithaleksandra.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/22\/common-mistakes-english-learners-make\/","title":{"rendered":"Common mistakes English learners make"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-contrast-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-ad2f8944e24a9fe2ae6391c1d04f2fc7\"><strong>Common mistakes English learners make<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-contrast-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-23329eb16ff3c9f8471278c288abe328\">Learning Bulgarian is a beautiful challenge \u2014 full of rich sounds, expressive grammar, and a unique alphabet. But if your first language is English, you\u2019ll likely fall into a few common traps at first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-contrast-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-a9a5a9c15386442e546fe534cedc3658\">Here are the <strong>most frequent mistakes English speakers make<\/strong> when learning Bulgarian \u2014 and how to fix them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-contrast-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-883f3e556a4c191b3ea117fddb7957fc\">1\ufe0f\u20e3<strong> Translating Word-for-Word from English<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-contrast-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-fc693d2681f5c5817b444e49503d0212\">\u274c <em>\u0410\u0437 \u0441\u044a\u043c 25 \u0433\u043e\u0434\u0438\u043d\u0438.<\/em><br>\u2705 <em>\u0410\u0437 \u0441\u044a\u043c \u043d\u0430 25 \u0433\u043e\u0434\u0438\u043d\u0438.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-contrast-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-a07b8105af5e1c581fd4e7615aad7266\">A very natural English sentence like \u201cI am 25 years old\u201d doesn\u2019t translate directly.<br>In Bulgarian, you say: <strong>\u201c\u0410\u0437 \u0441\u044a\u043c \u043d\u0430 25 \u0433\u043e\u0434\u0438\u043d\u0438.\u201d<\/strong> \u2014 literally \u201cI am <em>on<\/em> 25 years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-contrast-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-e6ffc83ec5d6e13397d669380800e018\">The preposition <strong>\u043d\u0430<\/strong> is essential here \u2014 and this happens in many expressions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-contrast-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-ca073441943e141ccd029229f36a261b\">\ud83d\udcdd <strong>Tip:<\/strong> Watch for sentences that use prepositions differently. Instead of translating directly, ask yourself, <em>How would a Bulgarian naturally say this?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-contrast-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-f946d35f05f04dc8319f61e278a382d2\">2\ufe0f\u20e3<strong> Forgetting About Definite Articles (Those Little Endings!)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-contrast-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-5b5935254186394293e8a556d09831e0\">\u274c <em>\u041a\u044a\u0449\u0430 \u0435 \u0433\u043e\u043b\u044f\u043c\u0430.<\/em><br>\u2705 <em>\u041a\u044a\u0449\u0430\u0442\u0430 \u0435 \u0433\u043e\u043b\u044f\u043c\u0430.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-contrast-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-8d8328720af573b8b13a474a062c60b2\">In English, the definite article is a separate word (<em>the house<\/em>).<br>In Bulgarian, it\u2019s attached to the <strong>end of the noun<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li class=\"has-contrast-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-6bff76495fd5cd72954bef35819e50d8\"><strong>\u043c\u044a\u0436 \u2192 \u043c\u044a\u0436\u044a\u0442<\/strong> (the man)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-contrast-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-e8891a38bb62d4af422bd5dec911d70a\"><strong>\u0436\u0435\u043d\u0430 \u2192 \u0436\u0435\u043d\u0430\u0442\u0430<\/strong> (the woman)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-contrast-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-a6309ff4ae9cc9afe721fc679801dc44\"><strong>\u043a\u0443\u0447\u0435 \u2192 \u043a\u0443\u0447\u0435\u0442\u043e<\/strong> (the dog)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-contrast-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-64f78902787f7afa0089304beb058351\">\ud83d\udcdd <strong>Tip:<\/strong> Whenever you mean \u201cthe\u201d in English, add the <strong>-\u044a\u0442\/\u044f\u0442 \/ -\u0442\u0430 \/ -\u0442\u043e \/<\/strong> ending in Bulgarian.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-contrast-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-7feaac50f011f465bc7917b71178184a\">3\ufe0f\u20e3<strong> Keeping English Word Order<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-contrast-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-38a7c0645e0fef14a15dba4b6f24f42a\">\u274c <em>\u0410\u0437 \u0432\u0447\u0435\u0440\u0430 \u0445\u043e\u0434\u0438\u0445 \u043d\u0430 \u0440\u0430\u0431\u043e\u0442\u0430.<\/em><br>\u2705 <em>\u0412\u0447\u0435\u0440\u0430 \u0445\u043e\u0434\u0438\u0445 \u043d\u0430 \u0440\u0430\u0431\u043e\u0442\u0430.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-contrast-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-1688102d93cec7f33c08371d4dcc443f\">English has a fixed word order: <em>subject + verb + object<\/em>.<br>Bulgarian is <strong>more flexible<\/strong>, and time words like \u201cyesterday\u201d or \u201ctoday\u201d often come first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-contrast-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-8052860851b2ac527b86575e0b7935c6\">\ud83d\udcdd <strong>Tip:<\/strong> Try starting sentences with <strong>\u0432\u0447\u0435\u0440\u0430<\/strong>, <strong>\u0434\u043d\u0435\u0441<\/strong>, <strong>\u0443\u0442\u0440\u0435<\/strong>, or <strong>\u0441\u043b\u0435\u0434 \u0442\u043e\u0432\u0430<\/strong> to sound more natural.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-contrast-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-16410aa930a35e84a52448b535687804\">4\ufe0f\u20e3<strong> Overusing Subject Pronouns<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-contrast-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-d6232d8a0e790b278461c4da377ca206\">\u274c <em>\u0410\u0437 \u0436\u0438\u0432\u0435\u044f \u0432 \u0421\u043e\u0444\u0438\u044f. \u0410\u0437 \u0440\u0430\u0431\u043e\u0442\u044f \u0432 \u043e\u0444\u0438\u0441.<\/em><br>\u2705 <em>\u0416\u0438\u0432\u0435\u044f \u0432 \u0421\u043e\u0444\u0438\u044f. \u0420\u0430\u0431\u043e\u0442\u044f \u0432 \u043e\u0444\u0438\u0441.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-contrast-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-1dffb9e4f07f78c13ea0387af69cf529\">In English, we must say \u201cI\u201d.<br>In Bulgarian, the verb ending already shows who\u2019s speaking, so <strong>\u201c\u0410\u0437\u201d<\/strong> is often unnecessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-contrast-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-91afa96c5fa502507eebca59d6f1fbf0\">\ud83d\udcdd <strong>Tip:<\/strong> Drop the pronoun unless you want to emphasize it.<br>\ud83d\udc49 <em>\u0410\u0437 \u0436\u0438\u0432\u0435\u044f \u0432 \u0421\u043e\u0444\u0438\u044f, \u0430 \u0442\u0438?<\/em> (I live in Sofia, and you?)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-contrast-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-bb006f98227e75fc32ca30ab5a170c44\">5\ufe0f\u20e3<strong> Forgetting Gender Agreement<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-contrast-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-fcdc9371fdd1c8ce0df8ea8bff178a7e\">\u274c <em>\u041c\u043e\u044f\u0442 \u043f\u0440\u0438\u044f\u0442\u0435\u043b\u043a\u0430 \u0435 \u0445\u0443\u0431\u0430\u0432.<\/em><br>\u2705 <em>\u041c\u043e\u044f\u0442\u0430 \u043f\u0440\u0438\u044f\u0442\u0435\u043b\u043a\u0430 \u0435 \u0445\u0443\u0431\u0430\u0432\u0430.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-contrast-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-eb835b4168c7140c1709e23c2e735784\">Bulgarian has three genders \u2014 masculine, feminine, and neuter \u2014 and adjectives must agree with the noun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-contrast-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-1ec35f5b02443a7db1b85b41a0e6ffe5\">\ud83d\udcdd <strong>Tip:<\/strong> Always check that your adjective and article ending match the noun:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-contrast-color has-text-color has-link-color has-fixed-layout\"><tbody><tr><td><strong>Gender<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Example<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Masculine<\/td><td>\u043c\u043e\u044f\u0442 \u043f\u0440\u0438\u044f\u0442\u0435\u043b \u0435 \u0432\u0438\u0441\u043e\u043a<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Feminine<\/td><td>\u043c\u043e\u044f\u0442\u0430 \u043f\u0440\u0438\u044f\u0442\u0435\u043b\u043a\u0430 \u0435 \u0432\u0438\u0441\u043e\u043a\u0430<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Neuter<\/td><td>\u043c\u043e\u0435\u0442\u043e \u043a\u0443\u0447\u0435 \u0435 \u043c\u0430\u043b\u043a\u043e<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-contrast-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-b9a130aa7216ac1348d55dd40a73a299\">6\ufe0f\u20e3<strong> Using \u201c\u043d\u0435\u201d Twice (Double Negatives)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-contrast-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-6fa32fc62c1512cd1ead83d06a769ba4\">\u274c <em>\u0410\u0437 \u043d\u0435 \u043d\u044f\u043c\u0430\u043c \u0431\u0440\u0430\u0442.<\/em><br>\u2705 <em>\u0410\u0437 \u043d\u044f\u043c\u0430\u043c \u0431\u0440\u0430\u0442.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-contrast-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-b73c5fa9122e014affe695a21b7551f0\">In Bulgarian, <strong>one negative word is enough<\/strong>. English allows \u201cI don\u2019t have any,\u201d but in Bulgarian, that\u2019s incorrect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-contrast-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-0678bdf5dc071e16340d52e17b1b3ce2\">\ud83d\udcdd <strong>Tip:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li class=\"has-contrast-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-db59940ce1b6298f2e6fb7d5f1ccc2d2\"><em>I don\u2019t have a car<\/em> \u2192 <strong>\u041d\u044f\u043c\u0430\u043c \u043a\u043e\u043b\u0430.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-contrast-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-f5512b74f0f0ca1b3e4937ef50f20a7b\"><em>There\u2019s no bread<\/em> \u2192 <strong>\u041d\u044f\u043c\u0430 \u0445\u043b\u044f\u0431.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-contrast-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-4c73f3266634894820ba4378bcd651da\">7\ufe0f\u20e3<strong> Mixing Up Perfective and Imperfective Verbs<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-contrast-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-8276785f38576e578146b1c12c3c8f42\">This is a classic challenge \u2014 not unique to English learners, but very important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-contrast-color has-text-color has-link-color has-fixed-layout\"><tbody><tr><td><strong>Imperfective<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Perfective<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>English Meaning<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>\u043f\u0438\u0448\u0430<\/td><td>\u043d\u0430\u043f\u0438\u0448\u0430<\/td><td>to write \/ to finish writing<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>\u0447\u0435\u0442\u0430<\/td><td>\u043f\u0440\u043e\u0447\u0435\u0442\u0430<\/td><td>to read \/ to finish reading<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>\u044f\u043c<\/td><td>\u0438\u0437\u044f\u043c<\/td><td>to eat \/ to finish eating<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-contrast-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-b2781a47bd7f1eebddfca19c3bda9d84\">\ud83d\udcdd <strong>Tip:<\/strong> Think about whether the action is <strong>in progress<\/strong> or <strong>completed<\/strong>.<br>It\u2019s best to learn verbs in pairs \u2014 they come together naturally in real life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-contrast-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-ee32dc98a9cb103f65da7de5f5afa03f\">8\ufe0f\u20e3<strong> Struggling with \u201c\u041d\u0430 \u043c\u0435\u043d \u043c\u0438\u2026\u201d Constructions<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-contrast-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-103b32dc086ad82e4502b2b911bda806\">\u274c <em>\u0410\u0437 \u0435 \u0441\u0442\u0443\u0434\u0435\u043d\u043e.<\/em><br>\u2705 <em>\u041d\u0430 \u043c\u0435\u043d \u043c\u0438 \u0435 \u0441\u0442\u0443\u0434\u0435\u043d\u043e.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-contrast-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-21ca20f52229863bc17c7ed93c868fb3\">When talking about feelings or sensations, Bulgarians use <strong>\u201c\u043d\u0430 + dative pronoun + \u043c\u0438\u201d<\/strong> \u2014 literally, \u201cTo me it is cold.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-contrast-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-a9be04e3055f0342426e3bdc042f6b32\">\ud83d\udcdd <strong>Tip:<\/strong> Practice these:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li class=\"has-contrast-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-0ef214f3676f8c91de675bc5599f6b3d\"><strong>\u041d\u0430 \u043c\u0435\u043d \u043c\u0438 \u0435 \u0441\u0442\u0443\u0434\u0435\u043d\u043e.<\/strong> \u2014 I\u2019m cold.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-contrast-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-30829f5adaf5e0be4e3869650e92bfdc\"><strong>\u041d\u0430 \u0442\u0435\u0431 \u0442\u0438 \u0435 \u0441\u043a\u0443\u0447\u043d\u043e.<\/strong> \u2014 You\u2019re bored.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-contrast-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-3155d8e3f9fef6e484b65c8687e0c553\"><strong>\u041d\u0430 \u043d\u0435\u0433\u043e \u043c\u0443 \u0435 \u0438\u043d\u0442\u0435\u0440\u0435\u0441\u043d\u043e.<\/strong> \u2014 He\u2019s interested.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-contrast-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-eab1c757e2eb042fbf438071adfd9579\">It feels strange at first, but it\u2019s one of the most natural Bulgarian sentence patterns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-contrast-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-93c43f70149f321e3c41d8c4c75fa041\">\ud83c\udf3f<strong> Final Thoughts<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-contrast-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-ab42fd169f99665539bcb733293a3266\">English speakers often struggle not because Bulgarian is \u201chard,\u201d but because <strong>it works differently.<\/strong><br>Once you stop translating word-for-word and start thinking <em>the Bulgarian way<\/em>, everything gets easier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-contrast-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-cc4ed617753b5903a32988b4456e8dfe\">So, don\u2019t worry if you forget your articles or mix up your endings \u2014 every mistake means you\u2019re getting closer to fluency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-contrast-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-f2c1731dea86713830fbdd0dcdb250d9\">\ud83d\udcac<strong> Want to practise Bulgarian naturally?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-contrast-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-3023c315fd9266d718da11978574d8e9\">Book a lesson with me \u2014 we\u2019ll work on grammar <em>in context<\/em> and help you sound confident, clear, and like yourself in Bulgarian.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-contrast-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-76d16d2faf798fe41fa255b60bda2486\">\ud83d\udc49 <em>Learn Bulgarian with Aleksandra \u2014 where grammar finally makes sense.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Common mistakes English learners make Learning Bulgarian is a beautiful challenge \u2014 full of rich sounds, expressive grammar, and a unique alphabet. But if your first language is English, you\u2019ll likely fall into a few common traps at first. Here are the most frequent mistakes English speakers make when learning Bulgarian \u2014 and how to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/learnwithaleksandra.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/learnwithaleksandra.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/learnwithaleksandra.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learnwithaleksandra.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learnwithaleksandra.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/learnwithaleksandra.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":184,"href":"https:\/\/learnwithaleksandra.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183\/revisions\/184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/learnwithaleksandra.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learnwithaleksandra.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learnwithaleksandra.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}