Editing Bulgarian language (section)

====Pronouns of quality====
Bulgarian has several pronouns of quality which have no direct parallels in English – {{lang|bg-latn|kakav}} (what sort of); {{lang|bg-latn|takuv}} (this sort of); {{lang|bg-latn|onakuv}} (that sort of – colloq.); {{lang|bg-latn|nyakakav}} (some sort of); {{lang|bg-latn|nikakav}} (no sort of); {{lang|bg-latn|vsyakakav}} (every sort of); and the relative pronoun {{lang|bg-latn|kakavto}} (the sort of ... that ... ). The adjective {{lang|bg-latn|ednakuv}} ("the same") derives from the same radical.<ref group=note>Like the [[demonstrative pronoun|demonstratives]], these take the same form as pronouns as they do as adjectives – ie. {{lang|bg-latn|takuv}} means both "this kind of{{nbsp}}..." (adj.) and ''this kind of person/thing'' (pron., depending on the context).</ref>

Example phrases include:
*{{lang|bg-latn|kakav chovek?!}} – "what person?!"; {{lang|bg-latn|kakav chovek e toy?}} – what sort of person is he?
*{{lang|bg-latn|ne poznavam takuv}} – "I don't know any (people like that)" (lit. "I don't know this sort of (person)")
*{{lang|bg-latn|nyakakvi hora}} – lit. "some type of people", but the understood meaning is "a bunch of people I don't know"
*{{lang|bg-latn|vsyakakvi hora}} – "all sorts of people"
*{{lang|bg-latn|kakav iskash?}} – "which type do you want?"; {{lang|bg-latn|nikakav!}} – "I don't want any!"/"none!"

An interesting phenomenon is that these can be strung along one after another in quite long constructions, e.g.
{|class="wikitable"
|-
!word
!literal meaning
!sentence
!meaning of sentence as a whole
|-
|–
|–
|{{lang|bg-latn|edna kola}}
|a car
|-
|{{lang|bg-latn|takava}}
|this sort of
|{{lang|bg-latn|edna '''takava''' kola ... }}
|this car '''(that I'm trying to describe)'''
|-
|{{lang|bg-latn|nikakva}}
|no sort of
|{{lang|bg-latn|edna takava '''nikakva''' kola}}
|this '''worthless''' car (that I'm trying to describe)
|-
|{{lang|bg-latn|nyakakva}}
|some sort of
|{{lang|bg-latn|edna takava '''nyakakva''' nikakva kola}}
|this '''sort of''' worthless car (that I'm trying to describe)
|}
An extreme, albeit colloquial, example with almost no intrinsic lexical meaning – yet which is meaningful to the Bulgarian ear – would be :
*"{{lang|bg-latn|kakva e taya takava edna nyakakva nikakva?!}}"
*inferred translation – "what kind of no-good person is she?"
*literal translation: "what kind of – is – this one here (she) – this sort of – one – some sort of – no sort of"
The subject of the sentence is simply the pronoun "{{lang|bg-latn|taya}}" (lit. "this one here"; colloq. "she").

Another interesting phenomenon that is observed in colloquial speech is the use of {{lang|bg-latn|takova}} (neuter of {{lang|bg-latn|takyv}}) not only as a substitute for an adjective, but also as a substitute for a verb. In that case the base form {{lang|bg-latn|takova}} is used as the third person singular in the present indicative and all other forms are formed by analogy to other verbs in the language. Sometimes the "verb" may even acquire a derivational prefix that changes its meaning. Examples:
* {{lang|bg-latn|takovah ti shapkata}} – I did something to your hat (perhaps: I took your hat)
* {{lang|bg-latn|takovah si ochilata}} – I did something to my glasses (perhaps: I lost my glasses)
* {{lang|bg-latn|takovah se}} – I did something to myself (perhaps: I hurt myself)
Another use of {{lang|bg-latn|takova}} in colloquial speech is the word {{lang|bg-latn|takovata}}, which can be used as a substitution for a noun, but also, if the speaker does not remember or is not sure how to say something, they might say {{lang|bg-latn|takovata}} and then pause to think about it:
* {{lang|bg-latn|i posle toy takovata...}} – and then he [no translation] ... 
* {{lang|bg-latn|izyadoh ti takovata}} – I ate something of yours (perhaps: I ate your dessert). Here the word {{lang|bg-latn|takovata}} is used as a substitution for a noun.
As a result of this versatility, the word {{lang|bg-latn|takova}} can readily be used as a euphemism for taboo subjects. It is commonly used to substitute, for example, words relating to reproductive organs or sexual acts:

* {{lang|bg-latn|toy si takova takovata v takovata i}} - he [verb] his [noun] in her [noun]

Similar "meaningless" expressions are extremely common in spoken Bulgarian, especially when the speaker is finding it difficult to describe or express something.