Aorist Versus Perfect

Level 3Sounds Like aorist i perfekt

Yesterday I went to the cinema is Вчера ходих на кино. Have you ever been to Paris? is Ходил ли си в Париж?

How It Works

1. When to use the aorist. The listener knows when it happened, or the time is named: вчера, миналата седмица, в събота, преди час.

  • Кога пристигна? — Пристигнах преди час. (When did you arrive? I arrived an hour ago.)

2. When to use the perfect.

  • Experience, often with някога, никога, досега: Никога не съм опитвал баница. (I have never tried banitsa.)
  • A result now: Някой е отворил прозореца. (Someone has opened the window; it is open now.)

3. Forming the perfect. The participle agrees with the subject: аз съм ходил/ходила, ти си ходил/ходила, той е ходил, тя е ходила, ние сме ходили, те са ходили. The short form of съм cannot start a sentence, so it moves: Ходил е в Париж or Той е ходил в Париж.

4. Keep съм in the third person. Той е ходил is the plain perfect. Той ходил without е is a different form: it reports what someone else said (see reported forms).

5. Polite Вие. With polite Вие, even for one person, the participle is plural: Госпожо, ходили ли сте в Париж?

Note: news reports and biographies often use the perfect even with dates. See the perfect in news and biographies.

Examples (6)

  1. Вчера ходих на кино.

    Yesterday I went to the cinema.

    A definite time (вчера), so the aorist.

  2. Ходил ли си в Париж?

    Have you ever been to Paris?

    Asking about experience, so the perfect.

  3. Никога не съм опитвал баница.

    I have never tried banitsa.

  4. Кога пристигна? — Пристигнах преди час.

    When did you arrive? — I arrived an hour ago.

  5. Някой е отворил прозореца.

    Someone has opened the window.

    The result, an open window, matters now.

  6. Прочетох книгата миналата седмица.

    I read the book last week.

Common Mistakes

  • Dropping е from the third-person perfect when you are not reporting what someone else said.

    Той ходил в Париж.
    Той е ходил в Париж.

    Without е, the sentence becomes a reported form: "He supposedly went to Paris". For a plain "He has been to Paris", keep е.

  • Using a singular participle with polite Вие.

    Госпожо, ходила ли сте в Париж?
    Госпожо, ходили ли сте в Париж?

    With polite Вие, the л-participle is always plural, even when you speak to one person.

How It Connects

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Aorist Versus PerfectLevel 3

Learn This First

Aorist versus perfect needs both tenses.

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Patterns that build on this one.