Bulgarian pronouns

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Bulgarian pronouns change according to gender, number, definiteness and case. Pronouns are classified as: personal, possessive, interrogative, demonstrative, reflexive, universal, negative, indefinite and relative.^[1]

In Bulgarian, there are two types of personal pronouns (лични местоимения): long (stressed, free) and short (unstressed, clitic). The long ones are used with both verbs and prepositions (only the direct object forms), whereas the short ones only with verbs. In some special cases the long and the short forms of the object pronouns can be used together. As in English, personal pronouns change depending on their function within the sentence. In Bulgarian, personal pronouns change according to whether it is:

• subject, or nominative case (именителен падеж). Since number and person are marked on Bulgarian verbs, the subject pronouns are used only for emphasis or to resolve ambiguity.
• direct object, or accusative case (винителен падеж). Direct object pronouns come in both long and short sets.
• indirect object, or dative case (дателен падеж). Indirect object pronouns come in both long and short sets.
• object of a preposition. Only one set of pronouns (long).

†This set of long forms is obsolete and is nowadays substituted by на + long direct object pronouns: на мен/на мене, на теб/на тебе, на него, на нея, на него, на нас, на вас, на тях.

*Although ѝ is always unstressed, a stress mark is written over it to distinguish it from и "and".

Note that the short indirect object forms can also be used to indicate possession (see table of possessive pronouns below).

There are two kinds of reflexive pronouns (възвратни местоимения): personal and possessive. Both have two forms: long (stressed, free) and short (unstressed, clitic). Reflexive pronouns do not decline for grammatical person. Personal reflexive pronouns have direct object (accusative) and indirect object (dative) forms. Possessive reflexive pronouns agree in gender, number and definiteness only with the owned noun, not with the possessor. They are used when the subject of the verb owns the object. For example: "Аз виждам своя брат" (I see my brother).

There are two types of possessive pronouns: long (stressed, free) and short (unstressed, clitic). The long pronouns agree in gender and number with the modified noun and usually precede it, the short forms are invariable and follow the noun ("мъжът ми").

The long forms can be definite or indefinite (for example "моя раница" means "my rucksack (but I have several)" while "моята раница" means "the only rucksack of mine" or "the rucksack of mine of which we have already spoken (but I could have other ones, too)" ), depending on whether the noun they modify is definite or indefinite, but only the first constituent of the definite noun phrase is used with an article ("моят мъж" or rarely "мъжът мой"). Both long and short forms can be used attributively, meanwhile only long forms can be used predicatively.

*Although ѝ is always unstressed, a stress mark is written over it to distinguish it from и "and".

Demonstrative pronouns (показателни местоимения) agree in number and gender with the noun they refer to (except for this for quantity). There are three types of demonstrative pronouns: for persons and objects, for quality and for quantity. Each demonstrative can not only modify a noun, but also be used on its own. Personal demonstrative pronouns have two forms: for nouns that are close to the speaker or writer and for far nouns. Quality pronouns also have two forms: positive, that specifies that the noun has a particular quality (this kind of/this sort of/of that type) and negative, that specifies that the noun doesn't have a particular quality or has a different one (not this kind of/not this sort of/not of that type).

The demonstrative pronoun for quantity толкова is used with nouns and adjectives. It both specifies the exact quantity of something – this many/this much, and indicates the large extent or degree of something – so (many/much).

There are three types of universal pronouns (обобщителни местоимения): personal, for quality and for quantity. They all agree in gender and number with the noun they modify. Personal universal pronouns are used with both singular and plural nouns or on their own and mean all the things or people belonging to a group of one or more – each/every(body). Quality universal nouns are used for specifying that the noun they refer to possesses all kinds of qualities – all kinds/sorts/types of. Quantity universal pronouns are always definite (except for the plural and the neuter form which can also be indefinite, when they are not used with a noun but on their own) and mean the whole number/amount of something – all (the). The indefinite neuter form also means everything.

The universal pronouns for quantity are rarely used in singular. The adjective цял (whole) is used with a definite article instead: целият/целия, цялата, цялото (but целите in plural does not have this meaning).

*всеки (всякой): when it refers to a person and is used without a noun, it has an object form всекиго (всякого); however, всекиго (всякого) are falling out of use and are increasingly often substituted with всеки (всякой), especially in colloquial speech. For more information, see Bulgarian grammar # Remnants of grammatical cases.

Interrogative pronouns (въпросителни местоимения) refer to an unknown person, object, quality or quantity and agree with the noun they denote in gender and number. Personal interrogative pronouns are also used with nonhuman beings (animals and objects). Quality interrogative pronouns are used for asking one to specify the word in question. They are translated in English as what/what kind of/what sort of. There is only one interrogative pronoun for quantity—колко—and it doesn't have any gender or number forms. It is used before plural nouns to ask about their quantity (then it is translated as how much/how many), and before an adjective or adverb to ask about the extent, degree, age, etc. of something or somebody (translated as how).

*кой: when it refers to a person and is used without a noun, it also has an object form кого; however, кого is falling out of use and is increasingly often substituted with кой, especially in colloquial speech. For more information, see Bulgarian grammar # Remnants of grammatical cases.

The relative pronouns (относителни местоимения) are formed from the corresponding interrogative pronouns by adding -то to the end of the word. They are used for introducing a relative clause.

*който: when it refers to a person and is used without a noun, it also has an object form когото; however, когото is falling out of use and is increasingly often substituted with който, especially in colloquial speech. For more information, see Bulgarian grammar # Remnants of grammatical cases.

There are three kinds of negative pronouns (отрицателни местоимения): personal (no(body)/none), for quality (no/none/no kind of/no type of) and for quantity (none/not any). Unlike in English, in Bulgarian the word for nothing is not only a negative pronoun – нищо, but also a neuter noun (nothingness); as a noun it can have a definite article – нищото (the nothingness).

*никой: when it refers to a person and is used without a noun, it also has an object form никого.

There are three types of indefinite pronouns (неопределителни местоимения): personal (some(one)), for quality (some (kind of)) and for quantity. (several/a few/some). Unlike in English, in Bulgarian the word for something is not only an indefinite pronoun – нещо, but also a neuter noun (a thing); as a noun it can have a definite article – нещото (the thing).

*някой: when it refers to a person and is used without a noun, it also has an object form някого; however, някого is falling out of use and is increasingly often substituted with някой, especially in colloquial speech. For more information, see Bulgarian grammar # Remnants of grammatical cases.

Pronouns for formal second person are always in plural, capitalized: Вие, Вас, Ваш, Ви, etc.