та

The Connective Та

Level 6Sounds Like ta

Та means "so" or "and so": Изморих се, та си легнах. (I got tired, so I went to bed.)

How It Works

1. Consequence. The main use links a result to what came before:

  • Изморих се, та си легнах. (I got tired, so I went to bed.)
  • Беше студено, та запалихме печката. (It was cold, so we lit the stove.)

In neutral style, the same idea is expressed with затова or така че.

2. In storytelling. Та often ends a long action and moves the story on, especially after a repeated verb: Вървяха, вървяха, та стигнаха до една река. (They walked and walked until they reached a river.)

3. Picking up a topic. At the start of a sentence, та resumes the thread, like English "so": Та, както ти казвах, ... (So, as I was telling you, ...); Та какво искаш сега? (So what do you want now?)

4. Repetition for emphasis. In the colloquial pattern X та X, a repeated noun stresses that something never stops: Дъжд та дъжд цяла седмица. (Nothing but rain all week.)

5. Not the article. The conjunction та is a separate word. The ending -та is the feminine article and is written together with its noun: книгата.

Punctuation: when та joins two clauses, put a comma before it, as with а and но.

Examples (6)

  1. Изморих се, та си легнах.

    I got tired, so I went to bed.

  2. Беше студено, та запалихме печката.

    It was cold, so we lit the stove.

  3. Купих още една, та станаха общо пет.

    I bought one more, so that made five altogether.

  4. Вървяха, вървяха, та стигнаха до една река.

    They walked and walked until they reached a river.

  5. Та, както ти казвах, утре заминаваме.

    So, as I was telling you, we're leaving tomorrow.

    At the start of a sentence, та picks up the conversation again.

  6. Дъжд та дъжд цяла седмица.

    Nothing but rain all week.

    The colloquial X та X pattern stresses that something keeps going.

Common Mistakes

  • Leaving out the comma before та.

    Изморих се та си легнах.
    Изморих се, та си легнах.

    Та joins two clauses, and a comma goes before it, as before а and но.

  • Using та when you mean "because".

    Легнах си, та се изморих.
    Легнах си, защото се изморих.

    Та introduces what follows from the first clause, not its cause. To say "because I was tired", use защото.

How It Connects

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

таLevel 6The Connective Та

Learn This First

The connective та follows затова.

Words in This Pattern

та