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Guessing with Ще Да

Level 6Sounds Like ŝe da

Use ще да + съм to make a confident guess: Ще да е на около шейсет години. (He must be about sixty.)

How It Works

1. Guesses about the present. Ще да + съм + description:

  • Ще да е на около шейсет години. (He must be about sixty.)
  • Ще да си уморен след толкова път. (You must be tired after such a long trip.)
  • Това ще да е новият съсед. (That must be the new neighbour.)

2. Guesses about the past. Add the л-participle: Ще да е забравил. (He must have forgotten.) Ще да са тръгнали вече. (They must have left already.)

3. Not the future. Despite ще, this is not the future tense. It shows how sure the speaker is about the present or the past. For a future event, use plain ще: Утре ще отида на кино. Writers of the 19th and early 20th centuries sometimes used ще да with another verb as a plain future, as in Elin Pelin's Сватба чудна ще да има (There will be a wonderful wedding). Modern standard Bulgarian no longer uses it that way.

4. Neutral alternatives. In neutral modern Bulgarian, the same guesses are usually made with сигурно or трябва да е: Сигурно е на около шейсет. Трябва да е забравил. Speakers also make guesses with ще е without да: Ще е на около шейсет.

5. Where you meet it. Ще да sounds folksy or old-fashioned. You hear it from older speakers and read it in classic literature. Its meaning is close to the inference expressed by the conclusive forms.

Examples (6)

  1. Ще да е на около шейсет години.

    He must be about sixty.

  2. Ще да си уморен след толкова път.

    You must be tired after such a long trip.

  3. Това ще да е новият съсед.

    That must be the new neighbour.

  4. Ще да е забравил.

    He must have forgotten.

    With an л-participle, the guess is about the past.

  5. Ще да са тръгнали вече.

    They must have left already.

  6. Ще да е било към полунощ, когато се върнаха.

    It must have been around midnight when they came back.

Common Mistakes

  • Using ще да for a future plan.

    Утре ще да отида на кино.
    Утре ще отида на кино.

    In modern Bulgarian, ще да expresses a guess, not the future. Older writers sometimes used ще да for a plain future, but today a future action takes ще alone.

  • Not matching съм to the person.

    Ти ще да е уморен след толкова път.
    Ти ще да си уморен след толкова път.

    The form of съм agrees with the subject: ти takes си.

How It Connects

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ще даLevel 6Guessing with Ще Да

Learn This First

Ще да follows conclusive forms and deductions.

Words in This Pattern