-то

The Neuter Article -то

Level 1Sounds Like členuvane -to

Add -то to a neuter noun to say "the": село → селото (the village), море → морето (the sea).

How It Works

Neuter nouns take -то

  • nouns in -о: село → селото (the village), легло → леглото (the bed)
  • nouns in -е: море → морето (the sea), дете → детето (the child), момиче → момичето (the girl)
  • nouns in -ие and -ме: упражнение → упражнението (the exercise), име → името (the name), време → времето (the time, the weather)
  • neuter borrowed nouns in -и, -у or -ю: такси → таксито (the taxi), меню → менюто (the menu); not every loanword with these endings is neuter (гуру is masculine)

See Neuter Nouns Ending in О or Е and Neuter Nouns in -ие and -ме.

Masculine nouns in -о

Some masculine nouns for people end in -о, such as дядо (grandfather) and чичо (uncle). They follow their ending: дядото, чичото. See Masculine Nouns Ending in А, Я or О.

Plural and adjectives

In the plural, neuter nouns usually end in -а and take -та: селата, децата. See The Plural Articles -те and -та. A neuter adjective before the noun takes the article instead: новото кафене (the new café). See Articles on Adjectives.

Examples (6)

  1. Детето спи.

    The child is asleep.

  2. Морето е топло.

    The sea is warm.

  3. Кафето е горещо.

    The coffee is hot.

    Кафе is a borrowed neuter noun and takes -то.

  4. Селото е близо до София.

    The village is near Sofia.

  5. Как е времето днес?

    What is the weather like today?

    Време is a neuter noun in -ме: времето.

  6. Дядото чете вестник.

    The grandfather is reading a newspaper.

    Дядо is masculine but ends in -о, so it takes -то.

Common Mistakes

  • Putting "the" before the noun as a separate word.

    То село е малко.
    Селото е малко.

    Bulgarian has no separate word for "the". То on its own means "it"; the article is the ending -то on the noun.

  • Giving a masculine noun in -о the masculine article.

    Дядът чете вестник.
    Дядото чете вестник.

    Дядо is masculine, but nouns ending in -о take -то. The article follows the ending, not the gender.

How It Connects

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-тоLevel 1The Neuter Article -то

Learn This First

The neuter article needs the article idea and neuter nouns.

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Patterns that build on this one.

Words in This Pattern

-то