Bulgarian verbs have a special feature called verbal aspect.

This tells you whether an action is ongoing or completely finished.

Every action you describe in Bulgarian requires you to choose between two types of verbs.

These two types are imperfective verbs and perfective verbs.

Understanding this difference is a huge step in your Bulgarian learning journey.

I’ll explain exactly how to tell them apart and when to use each one.

What is verbal aspect?

In English, we change the tense of a sentence to show if an action is finished or ongoing.

We say “I was reading” for an ongoing action and “I read the book” for a completed one.

In Bulgarian, you actually use an entirely different version of the verb to show this difference.

Almost every verb in Bulgarian comes in a pair.

One version of the verb is imperfective, and the other version is perfective.

You must memorize both versions of the verb when you learn new vocabulary.

Imperfective verbs for ongoing actions

Imperfective verbs in Bulgarian describe actions that are incomplete, ongoing, or habitual.

You use them when the focus is on the process of doing something rather than the final result.

If you do an activity every single day, you’ll use an imperfective verb.

If you’re doing something right now at this very moment, you also use an imperfective verb.

Here’s an example using the imperfective verb чета (to read).

The imperfective verb tells the listener that the reading is an ongoing process.

Perfective verbs for completed actions

Perfective verbs describe actions that are completely finished or have a clear result.

You use them for one-time events that are brought to completion.

Bulgarian perfective verbs are usually formed by adding a small prefix to the front of an imperfective verb.

Sometimes, they’re formed by making a slight change to the ending of the word instead.

Using our previous example, the perfective version of чета is прочета (to read completely).

A very important rule in Bulgarian is that you can’t use perfective verbs on their own to describe an action happening right now.

Perfective verbs are mostly used in the past tense or the future tense.

When talking about the future, you pair them with the word ще (will) or да (to).

Common Bulgarian verb pairs

To help you get started, I’ve organized some of the most common verb pairs.

The imperfective verb is listed first, followed by its perfective partner.

Notice how the perfective verbs usually just add a prefix like на-, про-, or из-.

Tips for choosing the right aspect

Choosing the right verb aspect takes a bit of practice.

Your choice always depends entirely on what you want to emphasize.

If your sentence includes words like “often”, “sometimes”, or “every day”, you must use an imperfective verb.

If your sentence focuses on successfully finishing a specific task, you must use a perfective verb.

Don’t worry if you mix these up in the beginning of your studies.

Native Bulgarian speakers will still understand exactly what you mean from the context of your sentence.

Just make sure to learn both verb forms whenever you add a new action word to your vocabulary.