Bulgarian Survival Phrases for Expats, With Pronunciation
October 1, 2026 · 10 min read
44 phrases, grouped by the situation you will be standing in when you need them. Each one gives the Cyrillic, a phonetic reading with the stressed syllable in capitals, and what it actually does rather than a literal translation.
The stress matters more in Bulgarian than you would expect. Stress is not marked in writing, it is not fixed to a particular syllable, and unstressed vowels get reduced in speech. A correctly chosen word with the stress in the wrong place is genuinely hard for a Bulgarian to recognise. That is why every line below has the stress marked.
Three things on this page are not in a normal phrasebook and matter more than extra vocabulary: what Bulgarian head gestures mean, why Искам is not rude, and why words grow an ending when they mean "the". Those are the things that make conversations go wrong. If you want to practise these phrases out loud rather than read them, you can practise Bulgarian with an AI tutor on the same situations.
Read this before you trust a nod
The traditional Bulgarian gesture for yes is a side-to-side head movement. For no, a short upward tilt. That is the reverse of what you do automatically, and it is why new arrivals walk away from a shop convinced they were refused.
It is not reliably reversed either. Many Bulgarians switch to Western gestures with foreigners, so the signal is ambiguous rather than simply flipped, which is worse. The fix is not to learn the gesture. It is to say да or не out loud and to ask for a word back.
👋Greetings and Goodbyes
Bulgarian splits greetings by formality. Здравей to one person you know, Здравейте to a stranger, a shopkeeper, or a group. Using the formal one by mistake is harmless. Using the informal one with an official is not.
| Bulgarian | Say it | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Здравей | zdra-VEY | Hello (one person, informal) |
| Здравейте | zdra-VEY-te | Hello (formal, or to several people) |
| Добро утро | do-BRO U-tro | Good morning |
| Добър ден | DO-bar DEN | Good day, the safe default all afternoon |
| Добър вечер | DO-bar VE-cher | Good evening |
| Лека нощ | LE-ka NOSHT | Good night (only when parting for the night) |
| Довиждане | do-VIZH-da-ne | Goodbye (formal, neutral everywhere) |
| Чао | CHAO | Bye (casual, borrowed from Italian, used constantly) |
🙏Politeness, The Five Words That Carry You
Моля is the hardest working word in Bulgarian. It means please, you are welcome, and sorry-what-did-you-say, depending on where you put it. Learn it first.
| Bulgarian | Say it | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Моля | MO-lya | Please, and also 'you're welcome', and also 'pardon?' |
| Благодаря | bla-go-da-RYA | Thank you |
| Мерси | mer-SI | Thanks (from French, completely normal, not lazy) |
| Няма защо | NYA-ma zash-TO | You're welcome (literally: there is no reason) |
| Извинете | iz-vi-NE-te | Excuse me (to get attention, or to apologise) |
| Съжалявам | sa-zha-LYA-vam | I'm sorry (for something real) |
| Да | da | Yes |
| Не | ne | No |
🤔When You Do Not Understand
This is the group you will use most in your first month, and the one most phrasebooks bury at the back. Put these six on your phone's lock screen.
| Bulgarian | Say it | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Не разбирам | ne raz-BI-ram | I don't understand |
| Не говоря български | ne go-VO-rya BAL-gar-ski | I don't speak Bulgarian |
| Говорите ли английски? | go-VO-ri-te li an-GLIY-ski | Do you speak English? |
| Говорете по-бавно, моля | go-vo-RE-te po-BAV-no, MO-lya | Please speak more slowly |
| Как се казва това? | kak se KAZ-va to-VA | What is this called? |
| Какво значи това? | kak-VO ZNA-chi to-VA | What does this mean? |
☕Shops, Cafés and Restaurants
Bulgarian has no infinitive, so 'I would like' comes out as Искам, literally 'I want'. It sounds blunt translated into English and is perfectly polite in Bulgarian, especially with моля attached.
| Bulgarian | Say it | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Колко струва? | KOL-ko STRU-va | How much does it cost? |
| Искам..., моля | IS-kam ..., MO-lya | I would like ..., please |
| Едно кафе, моля | ed-NO ka-FE, MO-lya | One coffee, please |
| Имате ли...? | I-ma-te li | Do you have ...? |
| Само това | SA-mo to-VA | That's all |
| Сметката, моля | SMET-ka-ta, MO-lya | The bill, please |
| С карта | s KAR-ta | By card |
| В брой | v BROY | In cash |
| Наздраве | NAZ-dra-ve | Cheers (raise the glass, make eye contact) |
🧭Finding Your Way
Notice what happens to 'toilet': тоалетна becomes тоалетната when you mean 'the toilet'. Bulgarian glues its definite article onto the end of the word instead of putting it in front. That is why words get longer than you expect.
| Bulgarian | Say it | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Къде е...? | ka-DE e | Where is ...? |
| Къде е тоалетната? | ka-DE e to-a-LET-na-ta | Where is the toilet? |
| Наляво | na-LYA-vo | To the left |
| Надясно | na-DYAS-no | To the right |
| Направо | na-PRA-vo | Straight ahead |
| Далеч ли е? | da-LECH li e | Is it far? |
| Спирката | SPIR-ka-ta | The stop (bus or tram) |
🚨If Something Goes Wrong
Bulgarian adjectives agree with the speaker's gender, so 'I am ill' has two forms and you need the one that matches you. This is the one place where guessing is not harmless.
| Bulgarian | Say it | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Помощ! | PO-mosht | Help! |
| Извикайте лекар | iz-VI-kay-te LE-kar | Call a doctor |
| Болен съм | BO-len sam | I am ill (said by a man) |
| Болна съм | BOL-na sam | I am ill (said by a woman) |
| Загубих се | za-GU-bih se | I am lost |
| Спешна помощ | SPESH-na PO-mosht | Emergency services |
Three Things That Explain Most of Your Confusion
There is no infinitive
Bulgarian lost the infinitive entirely. You cannot say 'I would like to order', because there is no 'to order' to say. You say Искам, I want, and politeness comes from моля and tone. This is why Bulgarian sounds abrupt when translated word for word, and why it is not abrupt at all in Bulgarian.
The article is glued to the end
Сметка is a bill, сметката is the bill. Спирка is a stop, спирката is the stop. Bulgarian is the one Slavic language group that developed definite articles, and it attached them to the back of the word. Learn the whole form as a chunk rather than trying to split it.
Adjectives agree with you, not just with the noun
Болен съм and болна съм both mean 'I am ill'. Which one you say depends on whether you are a man or a woman. Most phrasebooks print one and leave you to discover the other, which is why this page prints both.
How To Actually Keep These
A list of 44 phrases read once produces almost no retention. What works is using a small number of them out loud, in order, in a situation you are about to be in.
Pick one situation, not one group. Buying bread tomorrow morning needs about five phrases: a greeting, искам, колко струва, благодаря, чао. Rehearse those five in that order and you will use all five.
Say them out loud, because of the stress. Reading silently builds a silent habit with the stress in the wrong place, which is harder to correct later than to get right now. Every phrase here has the stress marked for exactly that reason.
Learn the alphabet in parallel. It takes an afternoon and it changes what you can do on your own. See the Bulgarian alphabet guide, which groups the 30 letters by real difficulty and isolates the six that look Latin and sound like something else.
Practise These In A Real Conversation
Written and spoken practice on the situations these phrases are for, ordering, asking directions, dealing with an office, with audio and phonetics on every line. Free to start, no credit card.
Start Learning FreeFrequently Asked Questions
What are the most important Bulgarian phrases to learn first?
Five words cover most daily interactions: здравейте (hello, formal), моля (please), благодаря (thank you), извинете (excuse me) and не разбирам (I don't understand). Моля alone does the work of three English expressions, since it means please, you're welcome and pardon depending on context. Add колко струва (how much) and къде е (where is) and you can handle a shop, a café and directions.
Is it true that Bulgarians nod for no and shake their head for yes?
Traditionally yes, and it is the single most confusing thing for new arrivals. The traditional Bulgarian gesture for yes is a side-to-side head movement, and for no a short upward tilt or nod, which is the reverse of Western habit. In practice many Bulgarians, especially in Sofia and when speaking with foreigners, switch to Western gestures, which makes the signal ambiguous rather than simply reversed. The reliable fix is to say да or не out loud and to ask for words rather than reading gestures.
Do I need to learn the Cyrillic alphabet before using these phrases?
No. You can speak from the phonetic column alone. But the alphabet takes about one afternoon and it is what lets you read a menu, a bus timetable or a pharmacy label, so it pays for itself quickly. Our guide to the Bulgarian alphabet groups the 30 letters by how hard they really are, with the six letters that look Latin and sound like something else handled separately.
Is Искам rude for saying 'I would like'?
No. Bulgarian has no infinitive, so the polite conditional structures English and French use are simply not available. Искам, which literally translates as 'I want', is the normal way to order and request. Adding моля is what carries the politeness. Translating it word for word into English makes it sound blunter than it is in Bulgarian.
Why do Bulgarian words get longer when they mean 'the'?
Bulgarian attaches its definite article to the end of the noun instead of placing a separate word in front. Тоалетна is 'toilet' and тоалетната is 'the toilet'. Сметка is 'bill' and сметката is 'the bill'. This is unusual among Slavic languages, most of which have no articles at all, and it means you should learn the ending as part of the phrase rather than trying to detach it.
What is the emergency number in Bulgaria?
112, the single European emergency number, which reaches police, ambulance and fire services and works from any phone. Operators in Bulgaria handle calls in Bulgarian and English. It is worth being able to say спешна помощ (emergency services) and извикайте лекар (call a doctor) anyway, because the person helping you on the street may not speak English.