Grammar and Language Structures in Clinical Use
What is tested
Control of forms that carry meaning in a clinical sentence: the postposed definite article, plural and counting forms, verb aspect and tense, да-constructions, clitic pronouns, negation and comparison.
Concepts to control
- Definite article is a suffix: лекар → лекарят (masculine subject) / лекаря (masculine object); болница → болницата; лекарство → лекарството; лекари → лекарите.
- Plurals: -и (симптоми), -ове (доктори is -и; but град → градове), -а/-я (лекарства, направления).
- Counting form after numerals and колко: двама лекари, две сестри, два етажа, три дни.
- Aspect: imperfective describes process and habit (преглеждах), perfective a single completed act (прегледах).
- Tenses in reports: aorist for a finished event (Пациентът постъпи), imperfect for background (имаше температура), perfect with съм for a result relevant now (Изследванията са готови).
- No infinitive: да + present - Искам да ви прегледам.
- Clitics: ми, ти, му, ѝ, ни, ви, им; ме, те, го, я, ги. Order: Ви го предписах.
Traps
- Choosing -ът/-ят when the noun is not the subject.
- Using двама with women or objects; only masculine persons take двама.
- Mixing aorist and perfect in a narrative, which changes evidential meaning.
- Dropping the clitic or placing it first in the sentence, where Bulgarian requires it after the first stressed element.
Worked example
„Пациентът, на когото предписах антибиотика, се обади.“ The relative pronoun must be на когото because предписвам takes a dative object; the reflexive clitic се stands after the subject group. Rule of thumb: find the verb first, ask whether its object is direct or dative, then choose the pronoun form before worrying about word order.