Verbs: Nine Tenses and No Infinitive

There is no infinitive

In Bulgarian you cannot say “I want eat” – you always say “искам да ям” (ískam da yam, “I want that I eat”). The infinitive disappeared back in the Middle Ages, leaving traces only in phrases like „не мога позна“ (“I can't recognise”) in the dialects, and in the dictionary, where verbs are listed in the first person: пиша (I write), чета (I read), спя (I sleep).

Aspect – perfective and imperfective

Almost every verb has two forms: imperfective (the process) and perfective (the result).

• пиша – напиша (write – write up), чета – прочета (read – read through), ям – изям (eat – eat up)

“Пиша писмо” (I am writing a letter) means you are still sitting over it. “Написах писмо” (I wrote a letter) means you are already waiting for a reply.

The nine tenses

1. present – пиша (I write)
2. past perfective (aorist) – писах (I wrote)
3. past imperfective (imperfect) – пишех (I was writing)
4. indefinite past – писал съм (I have written)
5. pluperfect – бях писал (I had written)
6. future – ще пиша (I will write)
7. future perfect – ще съм писал (I will have written)
8. future in the past – щях да пиша (I was going to write)
9. future perfect in the past – щях да съм писал (I would have written)

The ninth tense is used mainly in two situations: in textbooks and in excuses to one's wife. „Щях да съм се прибрал, ако не беше трафикът.“ (“I would have been home by now, if it weren't for the traffic.”)