The Imperfect -л Participle

The Imperfect Л-Participle

Level 4Sounds Like minalo nesvʺršeno deâtelno pričastie

Bulgarian has a second л-participle, built on the imperfect: четях → четял, пишех → пишел. It is used to retell what someone else said about an ongoing situation: Той четял. (He is reading, reportedly.)

How It Works

1. How to form it. Start from the first-person imperfect and swap -х for -л:

  • четях → четял, четяла, четяло, четели (read)
  • пишех → пишел, пишела, пишело, пишели (write)
  • мислех → мислел (think), ходех → ходел (go), живеех → живеел (live)
  • казвах → казвал (say): in the third conjugation it looks the same as the ordinary participle.

Outside the third conjugation, a stressed -я́л after a consonant becomes -е́ли in the plural: четя́л → чете́ли. Third-conjugation verbs keep я: отварял → отваряли. The stress stays where it is in the present: пи́ша → пи́шел.

2. Two participles, two jobs. Compare it with the ordinary л-participle:

  • чел, писал, мислил, ходил: built on the aorist, used in the perfect, the pluperfect, the conditional and the reported aorist.
  • четял, пишел, мислел, ходел: built on the imperfect, used only for the reported and inferred present and imperfect.

3. Where it is used. In the reported present and imperfect, the third person has no е: Той работел в банка. (He works or worked in a bank, reportedly.) Детето спяло, когато майката се прибрала. (The child was asleep, reportedly, when the mother came home.) With е it forms an inferred imperfect: Може би е спял, когато го потърсихме. (Maybe he was asleep when we called him.)

4. Where it is NOT used. Never use it in the conditional or in the ordinary perfect and pluperfect: бих чел, not бих четял; беше спал, not беше спял. It also never works as an adjective before a noun.

5. One exception. A few verbs such as зная are practically never used in the aorist, so their only participle is знаел, which also appears in the conditional: бих знаел.

Tip: when you retell a past background or habit, keep the imperfect participle: Като дете той всяко лято живеел на село. (As a child he lived in the village every summer, they say.)

Examples (6)

  1. Казват, че той работел в банка.

    They say he works (or worked) in a bank.

    Работел comes from the imperfect работех.

  2. Тя живеела във Виена.

    She lives (or lived) in Vienna, reportedly.

  3. Детето спяло, когато майката се прибрала.

    The child was asleep, reportedly, when the mother came home.

    Спяло is the imperfect participle for the background; прибрала is the ordinary one for the single event.

  4. Той не знаел нищо за това.

    He didn't know anything about it, reportedly.

  5. Като дете той всяко лято живеел на село.

    As a child he spent every summer in the village, they say.

    A retold past habit uses the imperfect participle.

  6. Може би е спял, когато го потърсихме.

    Maybe he was asleep when we called him.

    With е, the imperfect participle expresses an inference.

Common Mistakes

  • Using the imperfect participle in the conditional.

    Бих четял тази книга.
    Бих чел тази книга.

    The conditional is built only with the ordinary л-participle: бих чел, бих писал.

  • Using the imperfect participle in the pluperfect.

    Когато дойдох, той беше спял.
    Когато дойдох, той беше спал.

    The pluperfect uses the ordinary participle спал. Спял belongs only to reported and inferred forms.

  • Retelling a past habit with the ordinary participle.

    Като дете той всяко лято живял на село.
    Като дете той всяко лято живеел на село.

    A retold background or habit comes from the imperfect, so it needs the imperfect participle живеел.

How It Connects

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The Imperfect -л ParticipleLevel 4The Imperfect Л-Participle

Learn This First

The imperfect л-participle needs the л-participle and the imperfect.

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Patterns that build on this one.