The Bulgarian Alphabet
The Bulgarian language uses an adapted version of the Cyrillic script with 30 letters.
| Letter | Name | IPA | English Equivalent |
|---|---|---|---|
| А а | а | /a/, /ɐ/ or /ə/ | part |
| Б б | бъ | /b/ or /p/ | bake |
| В в | въ | /v/ or /f/ | vehicle |
| Г г | гъ | /g/ or /k/ | goal |
| Д д | дъ | /d/ or /t/ | door |
| Е е | е | /ɛ/ | best |
| Ж ж | жъ | /ʒ/ or /ʃ/ | treasure |
| З з | зъ | /z/ or /s/ | zoo |
| И и | и | /i/ | mean but short |
| Й й | и кратко | /j/ | yes |
| К к | къ | /k/ or /g/ | cook |
| Л л | лъ | /l/, /ʎ/ or /ɫ/ | lead, ball |
| М м | мъ | /m/ | meet |
| N n | нъ | /n/ | no |
| О о | о | /ɔ/ or /o/ | order |
| П п | пъ | /p/ or /b/ | sport |
| Р р | ръ | /r/ | No equivalent. Trilled like in the Spanish “perro”. |
| С с | съ | /s/ or /z/ | snake |
| Т т | тъ | /t/ or /d/ | stop |
| У у | у | /у/, /o/ or /ʊ/ | boot but short |
| Ф ф | фъ | /f/ or /v/ | fish |
| Х х | хъ | only slightly fricative /x/ | loch in Scottish English |
| Ч ч | чъ | /t͡ʃ/ | cheap |
| Ш ш | шъ | /ʃ/ or /ʒ/ | ship |
| Щ щ | щъ | /ʃt/ | shtick |
| Ъ ъ | ер голям | /ɤ/, /ɐ/ or /ə/ | turn |
| ь | ер малък | /j/ | canyon |
| Ю ю | ю | /ju/ or /jo/ | youth |
| Я я | я | /ja/ or /jɐ/ | yarn |
Tip: Ер малък
The letter “ь” always follows a consonant and is always followed by “о”. It is used only the following cases:
- In words which come from French where they end in “-eur”.
- In the vocative of some nouns
Accents
The grave accent is used in the following cases:
- To distinguish the possessive pronoun “ѝ” from the conjunction “и”.
- To distinguish heteronyms such as “вълна̀” (wave) and “в̀ълна” by showing which syllable is stressed.
- To distinguish the verb comparative particle “по̀” (more) from the preposition “по”.