Subordinate clauses
Before че, който, която, което, които, когато, където, защото, ако (that, who/which in its forms, when, where, because, if) a comma is placed when they introduce a subordinate clause.
- Знам, че си прав. (I know that you are right.)
- Човекът, който звъня, беше съседът. (The man who rang was the neighbour.)
Parenthetical parts
Иван, моят брат, живее във Виена. (Ivan, my brother, lives in Vienna.) The two commas protect your brother from mysteriously vanishing from the sentence.
Forms of address
Хайде да ядем, бабо! (Let's eat, Grandma!) – with the comma you are inviting Grandma to the table. Without it (“Хайде да ядем баба”) Grandma becomes the menu.
The classic example “Да убием, не да помилваме” and “Да убием не, да помилваме” (roughly: “Execute, don't pardon” versus “Don't execute, pardon”) is known to every Bulgarian schoolchild. One comma is the difference between a pardon and an obituary. It is free, so use it.
When NOT to use a comma
- before “и” (and) with items of equal rank: купих хляб и мляко (I bought bread and milk)
- between subject and predicate, however long the subject is
- before “като” (like, as) in comparisons without a verb: бял като сняг (white as snow)