NVO Grade 10 Bulgarian cheat sheet

Narrative voice: first-person uses 'аз' and limited knowledge; third-person omniscient reveals thoughts of multiple characters; third-person limited stays with one character.

Setting (място и време) includes physical location, historical period, and social milieu; changes in setting often mark turning points.

Characterization: direct (author tells) versus indirect (speech, actions, appearance, others' reactions).

Conflict types: person vs. person, person vs. nature, person vs. society, person vs. self; identify the central conflict to find theme.

Theme is an abstract idea (e.g., freedom, sacrifice) supported by recurring motifs and symbols; do not confuse theme with plot summary.

Tone is the narrator's attitude (ironic, nostalgic, critical); mood is the feeling evoked in the reader (tense, melancholic).

Foreshadowing prepares later events; flashback interrupts chronology to supply background.

Symbol: an object or event that stands for a larger idea (e.g., a locked gate for confinement); allegory extends symbolism across the whole work.

Identify text type and purpose: informative (to inform), persuasive (to convince), instructive (to direct), expressive (to convey feeling).

Main idea is usually stated in the introduction or conclusion; supporting details answer who, what, when, where, why, how.

Fact versus opinion: facts are verifiable; opinions contain evaluative words (най-добър, ужасен, трябва).

Argument structure: claim (теза) → evidence (доказателство) → conclusion (извод); weak arguments rely on emotion or authority alone.

Bias signals: one-sided vocabulary, omitted counterarguments, loaded adjectives, statistics without source.

Cohesion devices: repetition, synonyms, pronouns, conjunctions (обаче, следователно, въпреки това) link sentences and paragraphs.

Graphic organizers (tables, charts) in non-literary texts require reading titles, units, and legends before extracting data.

Summary rules: retain main idea and key supporting points, omit examples and repetition, use own words, keep original stance.

Bulgarian has 6 vowels (а, ъ, о, у, е, и) and 39 consonants; 'й' is a consonant (сонант) and never stands alone as a vowel.

Voicing assimilation: voiced consonants become voiceless before voiceless (and word-finally): град [грат], водка [вотка]; voiceless become voiced before voiced (сбор [збор]).

The letter 'ъ' is a vowel, never a semivowel; stressed 'ъ' is pronounced clearly, unstressed tends toward [ə].

Правило за членуване: definite article forms are -ът/-ят (subject), -а/-я (object), -та, -то, -те; choose by gender, number, and syntactic role.

Правило за представки: з- becomes с- before voiceless consonants (без- + полезен → безполезен; из- + ход → изход but ис- + кажа → искажа).

Comma before 'че', 'защото', 'когато', 'ако', 'но', 'а' when they introduce a subordinate clause or contrast; no comma before 'и' joining homogeneous parts.

Quotation marks: Bulgarian uses „ “ for direct speech; colon introduces direct speech after reporting verb (Той каза: „Ела.“).

Dash (-) separates subject from predicate when both are nouns and the sentence lacks a copula (България - моята родина).

Parts of speech (части на речта): noun, adjective, numeral, pronoun, verb, adverb, preposition, conjunction, particle, interjection; only nouns, adjectives, numerals, pronouns, and verbs inflect.

Noun gender: masculine (стол), feminine (маса), neuter (поле); plural endings -и/-е/-а/-я depend on gender and stem.

Verb categories: tense (настояще, минало свършено, минало несвършено, минало неопределено, бъдеще), aspect (свършен/несвършен), voice (деятелен/страдателен), mood (изявително, повелително, условно).

Renarrative mood (преизказно наклонение) marks reported information: Той бил лекар (I am told he is a doctor).

Simple sentence (просто изречение) has one predicate; complex (сложно) has two or more clauses joined by coordination (и, но, или) or subordination (че, защото, който).

Subject agrees with predicate in person and number; impersonal sentences lack a subject (Вали дъжд).

Word order is relatively free but neutral order is Subject–Verb–Object; emphasis moves the focused element to the end or beginning.

Clitic pronouns (ми, ти, го, я) precede the verb in neutral declarative sentences (Той ми каза).

Synonymy: words with close meaning but different nuance (смел - храбър - безстрашен); antonymy: opposite meaning (висок - нисък).

Homonyms share form but differ in meaning (коса = hair / scythe); polysemy is one word with related meanings (крило на птица / крило на сграда).

Phraseologisms are fixed expressions whose meaning is not the sum of parts (хвърлям прах в очите = deceive); they do not change word order freely.

Stylistic registers: colloquial (разговорен), literary (книжовен), scientific (научен), publicistic (публицистичен), official (официален).

Tropes: metaphor (скрито сравнение), simile (сравнение с като), metonymy (назоваване по съседство), personification (олицетворение), hyperbole (преувеличение).

Lexical repetition (анафора, епифора) creates rhythm and emphasis; avoid confusing it with tautology (unintentional repetition).

Archaisms (старинни думи) and neologisms (нови думи) signal historical or modern context; dialectisms mark regional speech.

Word choice (лексикално значение) determines tone; connotation can be positive, negative, or neutral (дом vs. къща vs. жилище).

Old Bulgarian literature (9th–14th c.): Cyril and Methodius create the Glagolitic alphabet (863); Clement of Ohrid establishes the Preslav and Ohrid literary schools.

Bulgarian National Revival (Възраждане, late 18th–19th c.): key figures Paisii Hilendarski (История славянобългарска, 1762), Sofronii Vrachanski, Vasil Aprilov, Georgi Rakovski, Lyuben Karavelov, Hristo Botev, Ivan Vazov.

Post-Liberation literature (1878–1890s): realism and civic poetry; Ivan Vazov's Под игото (1894) is the first Bulgarian novel.

Symbolism (1890s–1910s): Pencho Slaveykov, Peyo Yavorov, Dimcho Debelyanov; focus on inner experience, musicality, suggestion.

Interwar and post-WWII: expressionism and avant-garde (Geo Milev), socialist realism (1944–1956), then thaw and modernism.

Contemporary literature (1989–present): pluralism of styles, postmodern irony, women's writing, and new media forms.

Periodization markers: political events (863, 1396 Ottoman conquest, 1762, 1878, 1944, 1989) and aesthetic movements (Romanticism, Realism, Symbolism, Modernism, Postmodernism).

Literary canon: works frequently taught include Паисий, Ботев, Вазов, Яворов, Дебелянов, Гео Милев, Йовков, Димов, Радичков.

Genre families: epic (narrative), lyric (expression of feeling), drama (action through dialogue); subgenres include novel, short story, poem, ode, elegy, tragedy, comedy.

Narrative structure: exposition → rising action → climax → falling action → resolution (denouement).

Point of view (гледна точка): internal (first-person), external (third-person), omniscient, limited; unreliable narrator withholds or distorts information.

Verse analysis: meter (ямб, трохей, дактил), rhyme scheme (aabb, abab), stanza form, enjambment (пренасяне).

Figures of speech: anaphora (repetition at line beginnings), epiphora (at ends), antithesis (contrast), oxymoron (contradictory pair), rhetorical question.

Imagery appeals to senses; synesthesia mixes senses (e.g., 'colorful sound'); symbolism uses concrete objects for abstract ideas.

Irony: verbal (saying opposite), situational (event contradicts expectation), dramatic (audience knows more than character).

Analysis structure: identify device → quote evidence → explain effect on meaning/tone → link to theme.

Interpretive essay structure: introduction with thesis → body paragraphs each with claim, textual evidence, analysis → conclusion linking to broader theme.

Argumentative essay (есе): clear thesis (теза), 2–3 supporting arguments with evidence, acknowledgment of counterargument (контрааргумент), refutation, conclusion.

Thesis must be debatable and specific; avoid vague statements like 'Това е много хубава книга'.

Paragraph unity: one main idea per paragraph; topic sentence states it, supporting sentences develop it.

Cohesion: use linking words (първо, освен това, обаче, следователно, в заключение) to connect ideas logically.

Quote integration: introduce the quotation, cite it accurately, and explain its relevance to your claim.

Style: formal register, avoid colloquialisms and contractions in academic writing; use precise vocabulary and varied sentence length.

Editing checklist: check subject–verb agreement, definite article choice, comma placement before subordinate clauses, and spelling of prefixes.