Written Bulgarian Language | Bulgarian cyrilic alphabet

Bulgarian map of Eastern and Western dialect speaking areas

Spoken Bulgarian

There are two main dialects (see map):

"ТВЬРД ГОВОР/tvurd govor" (Western)

"МЕК ГОВОР/mek govor" (Eastern)

Written Bulgarian

Uses the Cyrillic script

Bulgarian is quite close to Russian language (with Russian deriving from Bulgarian).

Similarity of Bulgarian and Russian

The Belarussian language has become more popular since the 1990 fall of the Soviet Union and Independance although Russian still seems a major language and on a par with Belarusian with its use.

Bulgarian and its similarity to Russian: Text Samples

Bulgarian Cyrilic script (in common use)
Bсички хора се раждат свободни и равни по достойнство и права. Tе са надарени с разум и съвест и следва да се отнасят помежду си в дух на братство.

Russian script
Все люди рождаются свободными и равными в своем достоинстве и правах. Они наделены разумом и совестью и должны поступать в отношении друг друга в духе братства.

English translation
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. (Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

Written Bulgarian and Cyrilic script

This is strongly influenced from Russia with some letters in the Bulgarian alphabet being different. It has 30 letters, Russian has 33 letters. There is no Latin script version of Bulgarian.

Bulgarian Cyrillic Alphabet (30 letters)

Latin to Cyrillic Alphabet

a
   a      A

ã with tilde
   ъ      Ъ

b
   б      Б

c
   ц      Ц

č with caron
   ч      Ч

d
   д      Д

e
   е      Е

f
   ф      Ф

g
   г      Г

i
   и      И

j
   й      Й

ja
   я      Я

ju
   ю      Ю

k
   к      К

l
   л      Л

m
   м      М

n
   н      Н

o
   о      О

p
   п      П

s
   с      С

š with caron
   ш      Ш

š with caron and t
   шt      Шt

t
   т      Т

u
   у      У

v
   в      В

x
   х      Х

z
   э      Э

ž with caron
   ж      Ж

'
   ь      Ь

Improvements to this site?

Email:

Comments: Send a copy to yourself

Translation Service

From:

To:

Number of Words:

Text Type:

Total Cost: £

Bulgarian Translation sample:

Bсички хора се раждат свободни и равни по достойнство и права. Tе са надарени с разум и съвест и следва да се отнасят помежду си в дух на братство.

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. (Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

Bulgarian Speaking countries

Bulgaria, Serbia, Romania, Ukraine.

Indo-European Language group

Indo-European > Slavic > Southern

Difficulty in learning Bulgarian as a native English speaker

The Defense Language Institute categorizes Bulgarian as difficult (level 3, of 4 levels)

Bulgarian letter writing samples

Letter (formal)

Letter (informal)