Bulgarian Phrases for Travelers: The Words I'd Learn First

Bulgarian is the Slavic language of about 12 million people, written in the Cyrillic alphabet that was born here, and it reads almost exactly the way it is spelled. A dozen words get you through a day in Sofia. This guide gives you the phrases I'd learn first, how to read a street sign, and the words for restaurants, taxis, shops, numbers and emergencies, each with an easy way to say it.

The Bulgarian phrases I'd learn first

If you learn only these, you can greet people, order, pay and find your way. The romanization in the third column reads like English, and "a" in it stands for both the Bulgarian А and the short "uh" sound of Ъ, as in kade (where).

How to read Cyrillic signs in Sofia

The Cyrillic alphabet grew out of the work of Saints Cyril and Methodius, who created the Glagolitic alphabet in 863 to translate Greek church texts into Old Church Slavonic. Their disciples built Cyrillic from Greek and Glagolitic letters, and Bulgaria celebrates the saints every 24 May. The Bulgarian alphabet has 30 letters, close to the Russian one, and many street signs in central Sofia add a Latin spelling underneath.

Bulgarian is almost fully phonetic: you say it the way it is written. Six letters look like English letters and sound the same (А, Е, К, М, О, Т). The ones that trip people up are the letters that look familiar and mean something else, plus a handful of new shapes.

Two words worth spotting on doors are вход (vhod, entrance) and изход (izhod, exit). Once you can sound out бул. Витоша, you will find Vitosha Boulevard on any sign.

Yes and no in Bulgarian

Da means yes and ne means no, and they are the most useful words you will learn. The body language is the trap. In Bulgaria an up-and-down nod usually means no and a side-to-side shake usually means yes, the reverse of what most visitors expect, and younger people in Sofia often switch to the Western gestures with foreigners.

Greetings in Bulgarian

Bulgarian has a polite form and a friendly form. Use the polite one with anyone you don't know: shop staff, waiters, taxi drivers and older people.

Please, thank you and other polite words

Bulgarian phrases for restaurants and bars

Eating out is where a few words pay off fastest, and the names of Bulgarian food dishes are easier to order once you can sound out the Cyrillic on the menu.

Nazdrave is the toast for every glass, from beer to rakia.

Bulgarian phrases for getting around

Spri tuk, molya is the line you will use in taxis in Sofia, and nalyavo and nadyasno get you to the right door. On the metro and trams, getting around Sofia is easier once you can read the station names on the map in Cyrillic.

Bulgarian phrases for shopping and paying

Plashtam s karta tells the cashier you are paying by card. Bulgaria adopted the euro on 1 January 2026, so the answer to kolko struva now comes in euros, and money in Bulgaria is the same currency many visitors already carry.

Numbers, days and time in Bulgarian

Bulgarian phrases for emergencies

Kade e aptekata is the one I'd memorize, since a pharmacy handles most small problems on a trip. The passport and bag lines are what you would say at a police station.

Toasts, celebrations and small talk

Chestit imen den is the one to keep for a Bulgarian friend's name day, the saint's day of their name, which many people celebrate more than a birthday. Bring flowers in an odd number, one of the small points of Bulgarian etiquette that people notice.