Bulgarian nouns have gender: it can be masculine, feminine, or neuter. Gender affects how words change, even for very basic forms. For example, to say ‘houses‘ or ‘the house,’ you need to know the gender of ‘house.’
The following table outlines the main rules for Bulgarian nouns. If you need to check the rules together with the exceptions, click here to get a free detailed guide.
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | |
| How to tell a noun’s gender? | Usually end in consonants: бар (bar) хотел (hotel) мъж (man) | Usually end in -а or -я: жена (woman) стая (room) вода (water) | Usually end in -е or -о: море (sea) нещо (thing) дете (child) |
| How to make a noun plural? (room→ rooms) | We add -и to most multi- syllable nouns: хотел (hotel) → хотели (hotels) адрес (address) → адреси (addresses) | If it ends in a consonant, we add -и: нощ (night) → нощи (nights) част (part) → части (parts) | If it ends in -о, we replace -о with -а: село (village) → села (villages) нещо (thing) → неща (things) |
| If it has a single syllable, we usually add -ове: бар (bar) → барове (bars) град (city) → градове (cities) | If it ends in -а or -я, we replace -а or -я with -и: жена (woman) → жени (women) стая (room) → стаи (rooms) | If it ends in -е, we add -та: момче (boy) → момчета (boys) момиче (girl) → момичета (girls) | |
| If it ends in -й, we replace -й with -и: музей (museum) → музеи (museums) | If it ends in -ие, we replace -е with -я: събитие (event) → събития (events) | ||
| If it ends in -к or -ец, we replace the ending (-к or -ец) with -ци: руснак (Russian) → руснаци (Russians) чужденец (foreigner) → чужденци (foreigners) | If it ends in -це ог -ще, we replace -е with -a: яйце (egg) → яйца (eggs) училище (school) → училища (schools) | ||
| If it ends in -ър, we replace -ър with -ри: компютър (computer) → компютри (computers) |