Conclusive Forms

Level 5Sounds Like umozaklûčitelni formi

When you did not see an event but work it out from evidence, use a conclusive form: Улиците са мокри — валяло е. (The streets are wet; it must have rained.) It is the л-participle + съм, си, е, сме, сте, са.

How It Works

1. What they mean. The speaker did not witness the event but infers it from what they see or know. English often uses must have:

  • Улиците са мокри — валяло е. (The streets are wet; it must have rained.)
  • Колата я няма. Той е заминал. (The car is gone. He must have left.)

2. Three ways to present one event. In the third person, the auxiliary changes the meaning:

  • Seen: Валя. (It rained, and I saw it.) This is the aorist.
  • Concluded: Валяло е. (It must have rained; I see the evidence.)
  • Reported: Валяло. (It rained, they say.) This is a reported form.

3. Completed or ongoing. Use the aorist participle for a completed event and the imperfect participle for something that was going on:

  • Явно е забравил за срещата. (He must have forgotten about the meeting.)
  • Лампата свети, а книгата е на леглото — четял е и е заспал. (He must have been reading and fallen asleep.)
  • A plan in the past takes щял е да: Щял е да дойде, но явно се е разболял. (He must have been going to come, but apparently he fell ill.)

4. Signal words. Conclusions are often marked with явно, сигурно or изглежда (see сигурно/вероятно/може би). Without them, the context shows whether е заминал is a plain perfect (he has left) or a conclusion (he must have left).

5. First and second person. Here conclusive and reported forms look the same: Сигурно съм заспал. (I must have fallen asleep.)

Examples (6)

  1. Улиците са мокри — валяло е.

    The streets are wet; it must have rained.

  2. Колата я няма. Той е заминал.

    The car is gone. He must have left.

  3. Лампата свети, а книгата е на леглото — четял е и е заспал.

    The lamp is on and the book is on the bed; he must have been reading and fallen asleep.

    Четял is the imperfect participle: an activity that was going on in the background.

  4. Явно е забравил за срещата.

    He must have forgotten about the meeting.

  5. Сигурно съм заспал пред телевизора.

    I must have fallen asleep in front of the TV.

  6. Щял е да дойде, но явно се е разболял.

    He must have been going to come, but apparently he fell ill.

Common Mistakes

  • Dropping е when stating your own conclusion.

    Улиците са мокри — валяло.
    Улиците са мокри — валяло е.

    Without е, валяло is a reported form: "it rained, they say". For a conclusion you draw yourself from the wet streets, keep е.

  • Not making the participle agree with the subject.

    Тя е заминал.
    Тя е заминала.

    The л-participle agrees in gender and number: заминал (he), заминала (she), заминало (it), заминали (they).

How It Connects

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Conclusive FormsLevel 5

Learn This First

Conclusive forms follow the evidential overview.

Words in This Pattern