The Definite Article

The definite article is used to indicate that a word refers to something which is unique or was previously mentioned.

Forms

The definite article has the following forms:

	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Plural
Nouns	-я, -ят; -а, -ът; -та	-та	-то	-те
Adjectives, Possessive Pronouns, Participles	-я, -ят	-та	-то	-те

Info: Definite Article for Masculine Nouns

A masculine noun uses the “-я”, “-ят” forms of the definite article under any of the following conditions:

• The noun ends in “й”. In this case, the letter “й” is dropped from the word when the definite article is added.

• The noun ends in the suffix “-тел”, “-ар” or “-яр” and refers to a human being.

• It is one of the following words: цар, крал, зет, ден, сън, път, кон, огън, нокът, лакът.

EXAMPLE

славей (nightingale) - славея, славеят; герой (hero) - героя, героят;

учител (teacher) - учителя, учителят; лекар (physician) - лекаря, лекарят; титуляр (holder, owner of a bank account) - титуляря, титулярят;

кон (horse) - коня, конят;

The “-та” form is used solely with masculine nouns which end in “-а” or “-я”.

EXAMPLE

папа (pope) - папата; колега (colleague) - колегата; съдия (judge) - съдията

In all other cases, the noun uses the “-а”, “-ът” forms.

EXAMPLE

хотел (hotel) - хотела, хотелът; петел (rooster) - петелът; звяр (beast) - звяра, звярът; зар (die) - зара, зарът;

стол (chair) - стола, столът; влак (train) - влака, влакът.

Usage

Inflection

The definite article in Bulgarian is appended directly to the end of the word, potentially also changing the word’s root.

EXAMPLE

кон (horse) - коня, конят; чар (charm) - чара, чарът; съдия (judge) - съдията

жена (woman) - жената; цигара (cigarette) - цигарата

бебе (baby) - бебето; село (village) - селото

стени (walls) - стените

Info: The Definite Article with Modifiers

If a noun is modified by a possessive pronoun, several adjectives or a combination of the two such that the noun does not refer to multiple different objects, then the definite article is transferred from the noun to the first modifier. This also holds true if the modifiers are joined by “и”.

EXAMPLE

Виж моята нова химикалка.

Големият дървен гардероб е започнал да гние.

В малкото село не се чуваше нищо.

Уплашеният и пребледнял учиник не можеше да диша.

If the noun is used to refer to multiple different objects and the modifiers are joined by “и”, then the definite article is transferred from the noun to each modifier.

EXAMPLE

Последният и предпоследният етаж са чисти.

Малките и големите ученици се радват на ваканцията.

Info: Stem Changes with the Definite Article

Masculine adjectives and participles whose form does not end in “-и” add “-и” before the definite article.

EXAMPLE

пленен (captured) - пленения, плененият; красив (handsome) - красивия, красивият

Full Article vs Short Article

Masculine nouns and adjectives have multiple forms for the definite article which are remnants of Bulgarian’s case system. The forms which end in “-ят” / “-ът” are the nominative forms and are called “пълен член”. The forms “-я” / “-а” are the non-nominative forms and are known as “кратък член”.

Info: Пълен член vs Кратък член

The nominative form “-ят” / “-ът” is used under any of the following conditions:

• The word is the subject of the sentence.

EXAMPLE

Ученикът не знае урока.

Титулярят закри сметката си.

• The word is used with a verb whose meaning represents the act of being something. Such verbs are съм, бивам, ставам (when it means “to become”), изглеждам, оставам (when it means “to remain in a particular state”), покажа се, окажа се, изляза (when it means “to be revealed as something”), намира се, etc.

EXAMPLE

Това е учителят, когото всички мразят.

Иван се оказа най-подлият лъжец на света.

• The word is in a verb-less clause modifying a word which warrants the nominative definite article in the original context.

EXAMPLE

Това е господин Борисов, ръководителят на катедрата по микроелектроника.

• The word is part of a title or a verb-less expression and it is not clear if it is the subject or not. In this case, assume that it takes on the nominative form. Moreover, the title itself is considered an independent unit and the definite articles within are not affected by its syntactic function in a sentence.

EXAMPLE

Сексът и градът; Крадецът на праскови

Тя прочете разказа “Козелът” на Емилиян Станев.

The non-nominative form “-я” / “-а” is used in all other situations.

WARNING

Nicknames and pseudonyms are always written with the non-nominative form, irrespective of their syntactic function in the sentence.

EXAMPLE

Дякона беше заловен.

Tip: Prepositions

If the word is preceded by a preposition, then it can never take on the nominative form.

EXAMPLE

Разходихме се до центъра на града.