Module 5: Work and Daily Life

This module helps you talk about the structure of your life: your job, your daily schedule, and how you mark time with days, months, and seasons. This is the language you'll use for making plans and having everyday conversations.

Day 21: Professions and Workplaces
Day 22: Daily Routine and Telling Time
Day 23: Days, Months and Seasons
Day 24: School and Education
Day 25: Review and Conversation

Day 21: Professions and Workplaces

"What do you do?" is one of the first questions people ask. Let's learn how to answer it and ask it back. In Bulgarian, many job titles have both masculine and feminine forms.

Common Job Titles

The table shows the masculine form (for a man) and the feminine form (for a woman). Note that some modern or international job titles use the same form for both.

English	Masculine	Feminine
doctor	лекар	лекарка
teacher	учител	учителка
engineer	инженер	инженер (same)
lawyer	адвокат	адвокатка
waiter	сервитьор	сервитьорка
programmer	програмист	програмистка

Talking About Your Job

Here are the key patterns for discussing your work.

To ask what someone does:
С какво се занимавате? (formal)
Какво работиш? (informal)
To say what you do:
Аз съм... + (your job).
e.g., Аз съм учителка.
To say where you work:
Работя в... + (your workplace).
e.g., Работя в училище. (I work in a school.)
Workplaces:
офис (office), болница (hospital), ресторант (restaurant), магазин (shop), фирма (company)

Bulgaria's Economy at a Glance

Knowing about a country's main industries helps you understand the context of work. Bulgaria has several key sectors:

IT and Outsourcing: This is a huge, modern industry, especially in cities like Sofia and Plovdiv. Many international companies have offices here, making jobs like програмист (programmer) very common.
Tourism: With beautiful Black Sea beaches and fantastic ski resorts like Bansko and Borovets, tourism is a major part of the economy. This sector includes jobs like сервитьор (waiter), hotel staff, and tour guides.
Agriculture: Bulgaria has a rich farming tradition. It's famous for producing high-quality roses (for rose oil), wine, yogurt, fruits, and vegetables.
Manufacturing: The country also produces many industrial goods, including car parts, machinery, and textiles for major European brands.

Enhance Your Learning

Listening to native speakers discuss their jobs can help you pick up natural phrasing. Check out these videos on YouTube:

This is easier than it looks! You only need two sentences.

Sentence 1: Who you are. Use the "I am" phrase you already know: Аз съм... and add your job title.
Example: Аз съм инженер. (I am an engineer.)
Sentence 2: Where you do it. Use the phrase Работя в... (I work in...) and add the place.
Example: Работя в офис. (I work in an office.)

The one tricky part: Remember to use the "-ка" ending on jobs if you are a woman (e.g., учителка). If you forget, people will still understand you!

The Big Idea: "I am [Job Title]. I work in [Place]." Two simple sentences are all you need to answer this common question.

Day 22: Daily Routine and Telling Time

Describing your daily routine is a great way to practice verbs in sequence. This is also where telling time becomes essential.

Verbs for Daily Routine

Many routine verbs are reflexive (ending in се or си), meaning you do the action to yourself.

English	Bulgarian
I get up	ставам
I wash myself	мия се
I get dressed	обличам се
I have breakfast	закусвам
I go to work	отивам на работа
I have lunch	обядвам
I come home	прибирам се
I have dinner	вечерям
I go to bed	лягам си

Review: Telling Time

Remember these key phrases for telling time.

Time	Bulgarian Phrase
8:10 (Ten past eight)	Часът е осем и десет.
9:30 (Half past nine)	Девет и половина.
7:50 (Ten to eight)	Осем без десет.
At 2 o'clock	В два часа.

Talking about your day is like telling a short story.

Just list the things you do in order. The most important verb is ставам (I get up). Connect it with a time!

Example Story:
"I get up at 7." → Ставам в седем часа.
"I have breakfast." → Закусвам.
"I go to work." → Отивам на работа.

Time-Telling Cheatsheet:

For "past" the hour, use и (and). 8:10 is "eight and ten".
For "half past", use и половина (and a half). 8:30 is "eight and a half".
For "to" the hour, use без (without/minus). 7:50 is "eight without ten".

The Big Idea: State an action, then state the time. Link them together to describe your day.

Day 23: Days, Months and Seasons

Talking about dates requires knowing the days and months, as well as a few key prepositions (в, на, през).

Days and Months

The days and months are mostly international words, so they should be easy to recognize.

Days of the Week	Months of the Year
понеделник (Mon) вторник (Tue) сряда (Wed) четвъртък (Thu) петък (Fri) събота (Sat) неделя (Sun)	януари (Jan) февруари (Feb) март (Mar) април (Apr) май (May) юни (Jun) юли (Jul) август (Aug) септември (Sep) октомври (Oct) ноември (Nov) декември (Dec)

Talking About Dates & Seasons

The preposition you use depends on what you are describing.

Usage	Preposition	Example
On a specific day	в	в понеделник (on Monday)
On a specific date	на	на трети май (on the 3rd of May)
During a month/season	през	през юни (in June)

The Four Seasons (Сезони):
пролет (spring), лято (summer), есен (autumn), зима (winter)

Bulgaria's Four Seasons

Bulgaria enjoys four very distinct seasons, often more extreme than in places like the UK. This makes it a great year-round destination!

Лято (Summer): June to August is hot and sunny, especially on the Black Sea coast. Average temperatures are often 25-35°C.
Есен (Autumn): September to November is beautiful, with colourful forests and pleasant temperatures. It cools down from around 20°C to 10°C.
Зима (Winter): December to February is cold, with plenty of snow in the mountains, making it perfect for skiing. Temperatures are often around -5 to 5°C, but can drop much lower.
Пролет (Spring): March to May sees nature bloom. It's often rainy but warms up progressively from 10°C to 20°C.

This is all about matching the right little word to the right time frame.

Your 3-Word Cheatsheet:

Use в for days of the week. → в сряда (on Wednesday).
Use на for dates with numbers. → на пети май (on the 5th of May).
Use през for months and seasons. → през лятото (in the summer).

The Big Idea: Memorize those three little prepositions and what they go with. The names of the months and days are very similar to English, so you're already halfway there!

Day 24: School and Education

Let's cover the vocabulary for talking about your educational background, from primary school to university.

Educational Institutions

English	Bulgarian
school	училище
high school	гимназия
university	университет
student (m/f)	студент / студентка
degree	диплома
subject	предмет

Key Verbs for Education

Уча - I study / I am studying.
Уча български език. (I am studying Bulgarian.)
Завърших - I graduated from / I finished.
Завърших университет. (I graduated from university.)
Имам изпит - I have an exam.

You only need two main verbs to talk about your education.

To talk about what you are studying NOW: Use the verb уча (I study).
Example: Аз уча икономика. (I study economics.)
To talk about what you FINISHED in the past: Use the past-tense verb завърших (I graduated/finished).
Example: Аз завърших гимназия. (I finished high school.)

The Big Idea: Use уча for the present and завърших for the past. Combine these with words like университет or your subject, and you can tell your whole educational story.

Day 25: Review and Conversation

Let's bring the entire week together by describing a typical day in your life, combining your job, schedule, and activities.

Model Paragraph: A Day in the Life

Аз съм програмистка и работя в софтуерна фирма. Всеки ден ставам в седем и половина. Първо пия кафе, после закусвам. Отивам на работа в девет часа. Работя до шест. Вечерям със семейството ми и си лягам около единадесет часа.

(I am a programmer (f) and I work in a software company. Every day I get up at 7:30. First I drink coffee, then I have breakfast. I go to work at 9 o'clock. I work until 6. I have dinner with my family and I go to bed around 11 o'clock.)

Guided Task

Your Turn: Describe Your Day.
Write a short paragraph (4-6 sentences) describing your own work and daily life. Try to include:

Your profession and workplace.
At least three routine actions with the times you do them.
Mention one thing you do on a specific day of the week (e.g., В петък...).

After writing, read your paragraph out loud to practice fluency and pronunciation.

Bulgarian 60-by-60