когато

When Clauses

Level 2Sounds Like kogato

Когато links two actions in time: Когато вали, оставам вкъщи. (When it rains, I stay home.) Use кога for questions and когато for statements.

How It Works

1. Position and comma. Both orders are natural:

  • Когато вали, оставам вкъщи.
  • Оставам вкъщи, когато вали. (I stay home when it rains.)

2. Habits and general truths. Use the present in both clauses: Когато съм уморен, спя. (When I am tired, I sleep.)

3. The past. The imperfect sets the scene, and the aorist reports an event: Когато бях малък, живеех на село. (When I was little, I lived in a village.) Когато се прибрах, всички спяха. (When I got home, everyone was asleep.) See the imperfect past.

4. The future. The main clause has ще or a command, and the когато-clause uses the present, usually of a perfective verb: Обади ми се, когато пристигнеш. (Call me when you arrive.) This works just like ако, and the perfective present explains why the form can refer to the future.

5. Кога or когато? Questions use кога, including questions inside a sentence: Кога идваш? (When are you coming?) Не знам кога ще дойде. (I don't know when he will come.) Когато is for statements about the time something happens. In casual speech you may also hear кога used this way (Кога бях малък...), but standard Bulgarian uses когато.

Tip: other time words work in the same way: щом (as soon as), докато (while, until) and като (when, once).

Examples (6)

  1. Когато съм уморен, спя.

    When I am tired, I sleep.

  2. Обади ми се, когато пристигнеш.

    Call me when you arrive.

    A future event, so the когато-clause uses the perfective present пристигнеш.

  3. Когато бях малък, живеех на село.

    When I was little, I lived in a village.

  4. Когато се прибрах, всички спяха.

    When I got home, everyone was asleep.

  5. Ще ти дам книгата, когато я прочета.

    I will give you the book when I finish reading it.

  6. Когато вали, оставаме вкъщи.

    When it rains, we stay home.

Common Mistakes

  • Leaving out the comma after a когато-clause.

    Когато вали оставаме вкъщи.
    Когато вали, оставаме вкъщи.

    In written Bulgarian, a когато-clause is always separated from the main clause by a comma.

  • Using когато in an indirect question.

    Не знам когато ще дойде.
    Не знам кога ще дойде.

    After words like знам and питам, you are reporting a question, so the question word кога is needed.

How It Connects

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когатоLevel 2When Clauses

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When clauses follow the question word кога.

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Words in This Pattern

кога