Imperfective – perfective – Bulgarian Grammar and more…

Ние сме безнадежден случай

Link to the song “Ние сме безнадежден случай”
No one can resolve our case; any effort is hopeless.
…

Случай – case
Това е нашият случай.
This is our situation (case).

СЛУЧВАМ – СЛУЧА
Imperfective aspect
Аз (се) случвам (the reflexive form is not in use; this is an “artificial” conjugation in order to understand the form for the third person singular)
Ти ( се) случваш
Той/Тя/То (се) случва
Ние (се) случваме
Вие (се) случвате
Те (се) случват

Какво се случва тук? Какво става?
What is happening here? What is going on?

NOT REFLEXIVE in situations such as:
Аз случвам на екип. (I am having good luck through joining a nice team).

Conversational:
Случвам на мъж. I am a lucky lady because I found (married) a good guy.
Случвам на жена. I am a lucky man because I found (married) a good woman.

Perfective aspect:
Аз ще (се) случа; also: мога да (се) случа
Ти ще (се)случиш
Той/Тя/То ще (се) случи
Ние ще (се) случим
Вие ще (се) случите
Те ще (се) случат

…

Нещастие; нещастен случай
Unhappiness; unhappy case (si.tuation); (unfortunate) event

Тук много неща се случват.

Here many things are happening.

Заслон and за слон

Sometimes our classes bring unexpected “findings” in terms of Bulgarian word’s etymology, while associating words that sound like they have something in common, like слон (elephant) and заслон (shelter). But do they indeed? Well, you can imagine that, if there is a very hot sun and you are standing behind a слон, the слон can shelter you from the sun and serve as a заслон (or if you are under a standing elephant and the elephant is committed to stay still).

Gary added that the заслонът на мечката could be a very dangerous thing. I believed that I disappointed him by pointing out that there is another word for bear’s shelter – бърлога. But it is another topic. Now let’s stick to the new words that came out of our Bulgarian language class in Seattle last Friday, November 10.

Къде? (Where?) Кога? (When?) Как? (How?)

Освен това… (Besides…; In addition)

Така ли? (Is that so?)

Всяка втора събота на септември моето семейство има (се събира на) пикник.

Вземаме под наем един заслон. (typically, usually we rent a shelter)

Вземам под наем – to rent

Both вземам and взимам represent the imperfective aspect of the verb to take

The officially recognized form is вземам; however взимам is also in use.

Кое е правилно?