Nouns for People Who Do Things

Level 4Sounds Like sʺŝestvitelni za deâtel

читател (reader), играч (player), пекар (baker), работник (worker), певец (singer) all name people by what they do.

How It Works

1. The main suffixes.

  • -тел: учител (teacher), читател (reader), писател (writer), строител (builder), зрител (viewer).
  • -ач: играч (player), продавач (salesperson), готвач (cook), бегач (runner).
  • -ар: пекар (baker), рибар (fisherman), лекар (doctor).
  • -ник: работник (worker), помощник (helper), участник (participant).
  • -ец: певец (singer), борец (fighter).

The stem sometimes looks a little different from the verb: чета → читател, пиша → писател, пека → пекар.

2. The article. Person nouns in -тел and -ар take the soft article -ят/-я: учителят, читателят, пекарят, лекарят. Many other words that end in these letters keep the hard article, such as хотелът and пазарът. See the articles -ят and -я. The other suffixes take -ът/-а: играчът, работникът, певецът.

3. Plurals. Most add -и: читатели, играчи, пекари, работници (note к → ц). In -ец the е drops out: певец → певци, борец → борци, as in the disappearing ъ and е.

4. Women. Most have a feminine form, covered in feminine nouns for people: учителка, читателка, продавачка, работничка, певица. Играчка is used for a female player but also means toy, so context matters.

For the activity itself rather than the person, Bulgarian uses verbal nouns in -не: четене (reading), пеене (singing).

Examples (6)

  1. Читателите харесаха новата книга.

    The readers liked the new book.

  2. Той е най-добрият играч в отбора.

    He is the best player on the team.

  3. Пекарят става в четири сутринта.

    The baker gets up at four in the morning.

    Person nouns in -ар take the article -ят.

  4. Учителят обяснява урока.

    The teacher is explaining the lesson.

    Person nouns in -тел take the article -ят.

  5. Певецът изпя две песни.

    The singer sang two songs.

  6. В завода работят над сто работници.

    Over a hundred workers work at the factory.

    The plural of работник is работници: к changes to ц before -и.

Common Mistakes

  • Giving a -тел noun the hard article -ът.

    Учителът обяснява урока.
    Учителят обяснява урока.

    Person nouns formed with -тел always take the soft article -ят (full) or -я (short).

  • Keeping the е of -ец in the plural.

    Певеците изпяха две песни.
    Певците изпяха две песни.

    The unstable е in -ец drops in the illustrated plural forms, but remains in definite singular певецът: певец → певци → певците.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

Nouns for People Who Do ThingsLevel 4

Learn This First

Nouns for doers relate to the -ят article class.

Words in This Pattern

-тел-ач-ар