Razon

Nouns

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Nouns

Gender

Nouns in Bulgarian can take on one of three genders - masculine, feminine and neuter. It is not possible to determine the gender of noun solely by looking at it, but most nouns do exhibit certain patterns depending on their ending.

Masculine Nouns

Tip: Masculine Noun Endings

Most nouns ending in a consonant are masculine.

Warning: Notable Exceptions

Most nouns ending in “-щ” are feminine.

Nouns ending in “-ар”, “-ач”, “-тел”, “-ин”, “-ик”, “-ец” are always masculine and usually signify a male person or occupation.

Tip: Names of the Months

The names of all months are masculine.

Tip: Names of the Cardinal Directions

The names of all cardinal directions are masculine.

Feminine Nouns

Tip: Feminine Noun Endings

All nouns ending in “-а” or “-я” are feminine.

Warning: Exceptions

The only exceptions are words which refer to a male person or occupation - these are always masculine.

Most nouns ending in “-щ” are feminine.

Most nouns which represent abstract concepts and end in “а/о/e/и/я” + “-ст” are feminine.

Neuter Nouns

Tip: Neuter Noun Endings

All nouns ending in “-o” or “-e” are neuter.

Warning: Exceptions

Nouns which signify a male person or occupation are masculine.

Number

Nouns in Bulgarian can be either singular or plural. Unlike in English, however, building the plural form of a noun from its singular form is not as easy as just adding a letter or two. The ending for the plural form of a noun can depend on several factors such as the noun’s singular ending, its gender and its number of syllables.

Masculine Nouns

There is no fool-proof rule for determining the plural form of a masculine from only its singular form, so each masculine nouns must be learned with both its singular and plural forms. However, there are certain patterns which most nouns follow and can make the process easier.

Count Form

Masculine nouns which do not signify persons and end in a consonant have an additional plural form, known as count form which is used in certain situations.

Important

If the noun signifies a person, then it does not have a count form and always uses its normal plural form.

This form is built by appending either “-а” or “-я” to a noun’s singular form. Almost all nouns use “-а”, however, if a noun’s singular form ends in “-й”, its count form is built by replacing “-й” with “-я” because й + а = я. If the noun ends in “-тел”, then its count form is obtained by appending “-я” instead of “-а”. Some other nouns such as “кон” also use “-я” for their count form, but they are very rare.

Tip: Stress in the Count Form

The stress in the count form of a noun never ends on the last syllable.

The count form is used only after cardinal numbers (“два”, “сто и един”, “хиляда и сто”), combinations from such numbers (“четири-пет”, “седем-осем”) and the adverbs “колко”, “колкото”, “толкова” and “няколко”.

Warning: Exceptions with "колко" and "толкова"

If “колко” or “толкова” are used to amplify something and do not express a particular quantity, then the normal plural form is used. This usually happens in exclamative sentences.

The count form is also used if there are other modifiers between the number / adverb and the noun. However, if one of these words is a preposition or verb or one of “и повече” / “или повече” and “и по-малко” / “или по-малко”, then the normal plural form is used.

If the word is one of “двойка”, “тройка”, etc., “дузина”, “чифт”, or does not name a specific number (“стотици, десетки, хиляди”), then the normal plural form is used.

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