The Historical Present

1. In everyday stories. Speakers often switch into the present when a story gets exciting. Words like вчера or the context show that it all happened in the past:

• Отивам вчера в магазина и какво виждам — Иван с нова кола! (I go to the shop yesterday, and what do I see? Ivan with a new car!)
• Стоя на спирката, чакам, и изведнъж спира едно такси. (I'm standing at the stop, waiting, and suddenly a taxi pulls up.)

A story may begin in the past, move into the present at the key moment, and return to the past at the end. This switch is a choice of style, not an error. The fixed exclamation И какво да видя! (And what do I see!) is common in such stories too.

2. In history writing. Encyclopedias, textbooks and timelines use the present to list dated events:

• През 681 г. хан Аспарух основава българската държава. (In 681 Khan Asparuh founds the Bulgarian state.)
• Априлското въстание избухва през 1876 г. (The April Uprising breaks out in 1876.)

3. Keep the verbs imperfective. A perfective present such as отида or видя cannot tell a single event on its own as the main verb, so the story uses the imperfective partners отивам and виждам. Perfective present forms appear where they appear anyway, for example after да or in time clauses (see сегашно време на свършен вид). In the main clauses of a story they are rare, and then they describe actions that happened again and again.

4. The ordinary alternative. The same events can always be told in the aorist: Отидох вчера в магазина и видях Иван. The historical present is an option for vividness, not a rule.