Headword
Language Bulgarian · aspect pair продавам (imperfective) / продам (perfective) · past продаде
Four places · shared inventory with English sell · Bulgarian cloth · working claim, revisable
Voice[Seller] + ApplHAVE(Buyer/Recipientна+DP, Themegoods) + за-MeasurePPrice ⟨Amount, Denomination⟩
A sale has four participants: the Seller, the Buyer (Recipient), the Goods, and the Price. They are not four equal sisters of продавам. Voice adds the Seller, the subject. Low ApplHAVE introduces the Buyer and relates the Buyer to the goods. The root’s object is that Theme of eHAVE. за selects one MeasureP whose inner arguments are Amount and Denomination. The Price is a prepositional phrase, not a second object, and the unit is not a sister of the verb.
What is different in Bulgarian. English sell Chris a mower and sold Chris a lawnmower put a bare full noun phrase in the first object, and the passive can make that buyer the subject (Chris was sold a lawnmower). Bulgarian has no counterpart of that double object. The Recipient is always на plus a noun phrase, or a dative clitic. It is never a bare second object. Full nouns have no morphological dative: the dative of the notes is the preposition на. A dative clitic му / ѝ / им can double that phrase. The goods are the direct object, unmarked on the noun, and a clitic го / я / ги can resume them. The Price is за plus one MeasureP (за двадесет долара), beside English for. за is overloaded — Price, Reason, and Purpose за да — and the overload is packaging, not a second root. Under не the object stays. There is no genitive of negation.
Headline cut with плащам / платя. On live pay, the money is the direct object and за is Consideration of the leftover goods. On продавам the goods are the direct object and за is the Price of the money. Same preposition, opposite object. Колко долара не плати Пат на Крис за косачката? questions the money. За колко долара не продаде Пат косачката на Крис? questions the Price and keeps the lawnmower as the object.
Речник на българския език (Институт за български език, БАН) prints the headword as the pair продавам, imperfective, and продам, perfective, transitive. Sense 1 is giving a thing to someone against money, usually at a market or in a shop, opposite купувам. The definition spells the buyer as на някого and the payment as срещу пари / срещу заплащане. The citations put the goods in the direct object (житото, нивите, clitic го) and a price relation in на добра цена or на безценица. None of those lines is a lawnmower clause, none stacks a personal-name buyer with a numeral за-MeasureP, and none shows a case ending on a full noun. The Group C notes assemble на Крис, direct-object косачката, and за двадесет долара. English puts the buyer and the goods in two bare noun phrases. Bulgarian gives the verb one object, the goods, and introduces the buyer in на.
Printed goods line · direct object · price relation in на · not a buyer and not за + MeasureP
✓ Ако баща му продаде житото на добра цена… РБЕ · sense 1 · П. Спасов, ХнХ, 68
if his father · sold · the wheat · at a good price
Printed goods clitic · го resumes the flour · на черна борса is a place
✓ Продаваше го на черна борса в Нова Загора. РБЕ · sense 1 · Д. Вълев, Ж, 41
he was selling · it · on the black market in Nova Zagora
Printed goods · direct object, then the same goods as го · price relation на безценица
✓ …да продаде мястото им в чаршията … го продаде на безценица. РБЕ · sense 1 · Д. Талев, ЖС, 61
to sell · their place in the market street · he sold it · at a giveaway price
| Place | Introduced by (working) | Bulgarian marking | Case status | English marking |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seller | Spec,Voice (outer) | subject (баща му, лефеджици, notes’ Пат) | structural · nominative slot · full nouns show no case ending | subject |
| Buyer / Recipient | low ApplHAVE | на + DP (definition на някого; notes’ на Крис, на кого) · dative clitic му / ѝ / им can double that phrase | oblique на · the notes’ dative is this preposition · no morphological dative on a full noun · never a bare second object · a doubled buyer is unprinted | bare first object (DOC) · to |
| Goods | complement of √SELL- (Theme of eHAVE) | direct object (житото, нивите, мястото, notes’ косачката) · clitic го / я / ги | structural · unmarked on the noun · the notes’ accusative is this object, not an ending · under не the object stays · no genitive of negation | direct object in the to-frame · second object in the DOC |
| Price | за selects one MeasureP ⟨n, U⟩ | working за + the whole QP (за двадесет долара) · sense-1 citations print на добра цена and на безценица · definition prose is срещу пари | PP · one phrase · a numeral за-MeasureP beside a named buyer is unprinted · WH/не does not split двадесет from долара | for + MeasureP |
Marking map. One letter can belong to several heads. Read the head, then the marker.
Each row lines up one English slot with its Bulgarian slot. The alignment type says what happens to the slot: = (same status), shift (DOC object ↔ на), or a packaging change inside one status. Printed dictionary lines come first. Every other Bulgarian sentence is constructed, from the Group C notes or modelled on a printed line. They show the working alignment, not frequency, and not a bilingual corpus.
| Slot | EN form | BG form | Align | EN example | BG example |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seller | SUBJ | subject | = | His father sold the wheat. | баща му продаде РБЕ |
| Goods | OBJ | direct object · clitic го / я / ги | = | the wheat · it | житото · го РБЕ |
| Buyer (на) | to + DP | на + DP | = oblique · full DP inside the P | to Chris | на някого РБЕ definition · на Крис constructed |
| Buyer (DOC) | DOC first object, a full DP | no bare second object | shift · Recipient stays на or a dative clitic | sold Chris a lawnmower | * Пат продаде Крис една косачка constructed |
| Price (за) | for + MeasureP | working за + one MeasureP | = oblique · PP, not a second object · numeral beside a named buyer unprinted | for twenty dollars | за двадесет долара constructed · notes |
| Goods under не | object stays | object stays | = · no GEN-neg · contrast Polish | Pat didn’t sell the lawnmower. | Пат не продаде косачката. constructed |
| Four places | DOC + for, or to + for | на + object + working за | shift on a full-DP buyer | Pat sold a lawnmower to Chris for twenty dollars. | Пат продаде на Крис една косачка за двадесет долара. constructed · notes |
The strip below is a set of small multiples. Each card holds one frame, with English on top and Bulgarian under it. A full-DP buyer sits in на. The goods are the one object.
EN · BG · printed goods
His father sold the wheat at a good price.
Ако баща му продаде житото на добра цена
BG · РБЕ sense 1 · the English gloss is constructed from that line · на добра цена is not the buyer
Agree direct-object goods · на here is not the buyer
EN · BG · printed clitic
He was selling it on the black market.
Продаваше го на черна борса в Нова Загора.
BG · РБЕ sense 1 · го is the goods · на черна борса is a place
Agree object clitic · place is not the Recipient
EN · BG · notes’ lawnmower
Pat sold a lawnmower to Chris for twenty dollars.
Пат продаде на Крис една косачка за двадесет долара.
constructed · notes · на buyer · one object · за MeasureP · not a dictionary line
Move full-DP buyer inside на · no English DOC
EN · BG · no bare second object
Pat sold Chris a lawnmower.
* Пат продаде Крис една косачка.
constructed · English DOC has no Bulgarian counterpart · the buyer is на or a dative clitic
Move the buyer does not sit as a second object
Argument difference. English can package the buyer and the goods as two bare objects, and the passive can make the buyer the subject: Chris was sold a lawnmower. German and Dutch keep one object, the goods, and put the Price under a preposition. Hungarian prints one accusative, the goods, a dative buyer, and a Price in -ért. Polish prints a morphological dative and a Price in za, and under nie the goods are genitive. Bulgarian prints one object, the goods, a buyer in на, and a working Price in за. Full nouns do not inflect for dative. Under не the object stays. Romance takes the buyer as a dative clitic or an a / à phrase. Japanese puts the buyer in に and the goods in を. Mandarin puts the buyer in 给. Norwegian prints a full-DP buyer in til and a bare object pronoun ham. See sell, sell · German, sell · Dutch, sell · Hungarian, sell · Polish, sell · Norwegian, sell · Japanese, and sell · Mandarin.
Dictionary frames and lines · checked · quoted as printed
ПРОДА̀ВАМ, -аш, несв.; прода̀м, продадѐш, мин. св. прода̀дох, пов. прода̀й, прода̀йте, прич. мин. св. деят. прода̀л, прич. мин. страд. прода̀ден, св., прех. РБЕ · headword line · imperfective продавам · perfective продам · the past cell on this line is продадох · citations use продаде
Давам нещо, някаква вещ, стока на някого срещу пари, срещу заплащане, обикн. на пазар или в магазин. Противоп. купувам. РБЕ · sense 1 · buyer на някого · payment срещу пари · definition prose · no numeral MeasureP · no personal-name buyer
Ако баща му продаде житото на добра цена… · Продаваше го на черна борса в Нова Загора. · да продаде мястото им в чаршията … го продаде на безценица. · Лефеджици продават нивите си отсам реката. · Защо продаваш? · Да продаваш непрекъснато тялото си… РБЕ · sense 1 · goods are the object or го · на добра цена and на безценица are price relations · на черна борса is a place · Защо продаваш? has no object
продавам се, продам се страд. · separate entry ПРОДАВАМ СЕ несв.; продам се св., непрех. · Продадох се за по-голяма заплата, въпреки че нямам диплома. · Никоя жена не се продава за пари, освен ако е развалена. РБЕ · се here is sell-oneself, or the line labeled passive · the subject is a person · not the notes’ goods-subject middle
Strings below are constructed, from the Group C notes or modelled on the printed lines. They are not spontaneous-speech citations and not dictionary lines. Пат / Крис / косачка continue the lawnmower series on English sell and on плащам. на Крис spells the buyer. косачката is the direct object. за двадесет долара is one Price phrase.
✓ Пат продаде на Крис една косачка за двадесет долара.
constructed · notes · на buyer · one object, the goods · twenty inside за · not a dictionary line
✓ Не продаде ли Пат на Крис една косачка за двадесет долара?
constructed · notes’ polar NegQ · не … ли · the object stays · на and за stay
✓ Какво не продаде Пат на Крис за двадесет долара?
constructed · notes · the goods are the question · the buyer stays на
✓ За колко долара не продаде Пат косачката на Крис?
constructed · notes · за колко долара pied-pipes the whole Price QP · Amount and unit stay inside за
✓ На кого не продаде Пат косачката за двадесет долара?
constructed · notes · the buyer is на кого · the goods stay the object
* Пат продаде Крис една косачка.
constructed · English DOC · no bare second object · the buyer is на Крис or a dative clitic
* Колко не продаде Пат долара косачката?
constructed · notes · the cluster does not split двадесет from долара · *какво двадесет
* За какво двадесет не продаде косачката?
constructed · notes · the left branch does not take the amount out and leave a bare sort · the Price QP does not split
не and the question words are operations on the same four places. They do not add a participant. A WH/не cluster keeps its order: the Seller before the Theme, and before the Price or the Recipient. There is no Hungarian preverbal Focus host on this verb, and nothing in продавам separates the way el- does.
The cluster does not split the Price. За колко долара не продаде Пат косачката на Крис? pied-pipes the whole Price QP. *Колко не продаде Пат долара косачката and *За какво двадесет не продаде косачката take the amount away from долара. *какво двадесет is the same split. В каква валута не продаде косачката за двадесет? asks the unit in a separate phrase and leaves the amount inside за. All of these are constructed. The unit question is not a second object. Кой какво не продаде на Крис за двадесет долара? and Кой не продаде какво на кого за колко долара? keep each phrase whole. Both are constructed.
The object stays under не. Не продаде ли Пат на Крис една косачка за двадесет долара? does not rewrite косачка. Какво не продаде … за двадесет долара questions that same object. There is no genitive for не to write, and this page does not invent one. On плащам the object that stays is the money. On sprzedać the goods QP becomes genitive. Both of those are a different cloth.
за is overloaded, and the overload is packaging. On продавам the notes use за for the Price (за двадесет долара). On плащам the notes use за for the leftover goods (за косачката). A Reason reading of the same preposition is a different complement, not a second root and not a second object of продавам. Purpose is a further clause: Не продаде ли косачката, за да изпразни бараката? is constructed. за да sits outside the sale. It is not the Price. The follow-up Не — за да събере пари is the same clause type, constructed. Sense 1 of the dictionary does not print за plus a numeral MeasureP. It prints срещу пари in the definition and на добра цена / на безценица in the citations. The figurative sense prints за тридесет лири on a betrayal, and the idiom продавам за стотинки is a set phrase for a low price. Those are not the commercial four-place line.
плащам / платя is the money-object distractor. Колко долара не плати Пат на Крис за косачката? makes the money the object and за косачката Consideration. За колко долара не продаде Пат косачката на Крис? makes за the Price and косачката the object. За косачката не плати двадесет долара and За двадесет долара не продаде косачката are the same cut with the phrases swapped. All four are constructed. The live pay page already ranks the money as the direct object and does not print a продавам clause.
No swap. Колко BTC не продаде за 8400 USDT? keeps the goods as the question and the other amount inside за. Index 2 Bulgarian Transfer prints разменям / обменям, давам, not продавам. The notes’ Не размени ли 0,2 BTC за 8400 USDT? is exchange, and that head can invert two themes. продаде does not. This page does not open разменям.
се on the goods demotes Voice and keeps the Price in за. The dictionary’s продавам се is a separate intransitive entry: the subject sells himself or herself (Продадох се за по-голяма заплата, Никоя жена не се продава за пари), and the headword line also labels продавам се, продам се as passive. The notes’ Косачката не се ли продаде за двадесет долара? is a different packaging, constructed: the goods are the subject, Voice is demoted, the Price stays inside за, and the buyer is not promoted. *Времето не продаде косачката на Крис is the notes’ weather star, constructed. A weather subject is unprinted in the entry checked.
карам … да is a separate outer event. Не накара ли деканът Пат да продаде косачката на Крис за двадесет долара? is constructed. The Causee is Пат, the subject of the да-clause. на Крис stays the Recipient of продаде. на is not spent on the Causee. Кой накара Пат да продаде косачката на Крис за двадесет долара? and Кой кого накара да продаде какво на кого? open a second cluster across да. The Price can sit in the inner cluster. It does not become a further question-word of карам. карам is not a place of продавам.
Follow-ups, all constructed. Against the sale, the notes answer: Не — никога не я продаде (the event; я is the goods); Не — беше снегорин (the theme was a snowblower); Не — продаде я на Дана (the recipient); Не — за тридесет / в евро (the price, still one phrase, or the unit in в); Не — за да събере пари (purpose, a second clause); Не — на Binance (platform, a place, not the buyer).
Each sketch is a working drawing, not a locked analysis. The notes’ point is one object (the goods), one Price inside за, a buyer in на, and cluster order that does not split the MeasureP. Open one sketch at a time. Which theta role is the object in this low ApplHAVE domain is the revisable note Causative templates and argument selection. This page does not edit that note.
Constructed · the notes’ declarative · the printed wheat line has the Seller in the same slot
[VoiceP Пат Voice ← Seller = Spec,Voice · subject … inner layers … продаде ]
✓ Пат продаде на Крис една косачка за двадесет долара. constructed
✓ Ако баща му продаде житото на добра цена РБЕ · на добра цена is not the buyer
The Seller is the external argument. Under не the goods stay the object. That stability does not add a participant. A weather subject is the notes’ star, constructed, and none is printed in the entry checked. The се-middle demotes this Voice and leaves the Price inside за.
[NegP не
[VoiceP Пат Voice
… косачката … ← goods · direct object stays
[PP за [ MeasureP двадесет долара ]]]] ← Price stays a PP
✓ Не продаде ли Пат на Крис една косачка за двадесет долара? constructed
✓ Косачката не се ли продаде за двадесет долара? constructed · Voice demoted · Price still in за
* Времето не продаде косачката на Крис. constructed
One buyer · на + DP · not a second object
[VoiceP Пат Voice
[ApplP_LOW [PP на Крис] Appl_HAVE ← Buyer · HAVE the goods · на + DP
[VP √прода-
[Theme една косачка ] ] ← Goods · the direct object · clitic го/я/ги
[PP за [ MeasureP двадесет долара ]]]] ← Price · PP · outside that object
The definition prints the buyer as на някого and the goods as нещо / стока. The citations print the goods and no personal-name buyer. The lawnmower tree is the notes’ packaging. It is constructed. A dative clitic can double на Крис. No such doubling is printed. *Пат продаде Крис една косачка puts the buyer in the English bare-object slot. That slot is empty in Bulgarian.
✓ На кого не продаде Пат косачката за двадесет долара? constructed · the buyer stays на under не
* Пат продаде Крис една косачка. constructed · no bare second object
One Price phrase · the preposition is on the whole QP · not a second object
за [ MeasureP [ Amount двадесет ] [ N долара ] ] за колко долара = that whole QP · pied-piped * за какво двадесет ← amount out · bare sort left · not a second object * какво двадесет ← the cluster does not split the QP в каква валута … за двадесет ← unit asked apart · amount stays inside за
✓ на добра цена · на безценица РБЕ · sense 1 · price relations · not a numeral за-MeasureP
✓ срещу пари, срещу заплащане РБЕ · sense 1 definition · not a numeral MeasureP
✓ За колко долара не продаде Пат косачката на Крис? constructed · the answer is за двадесет долара, not долара minus двадесет
* За какво двадесет не продаде косачката? constructed · number and unit do not split
двадесет долара = one MeasureP. n and U compose inside that phrase. за is on the phrase. Orthography is not extra arity. There is no further argument “currency name.” долара after the numeral is the count form inside that QP. It is not genitive of negation and not a second case of the verb. Composition in this cloth is за(MeasureP), not V(n)(U). German für, Dutch voor, and Polish za are prepositions on the same kind of MeasureP. Hungarian uses the case suffix -ért. Bulgarian uses за.
Outer event · not a fifth place of продавам · constructed
[VoiceP деканът Voice
[VP √карам
Causee Пат
[да [VoiceP Пат Voice ← Causee = subject of да
[ApplP_LOW [PP на Крис] Appl_HAVE ← на still the Recipient
[VP √прода- [Theme косачката]
[PP за [MeasureP двадесет долара]]]]]]]
✓ Не накара ли деканът Пат да продаде косачката на Крис за двадесет долара? constructed · notes · Type A · Пат is the Causee
✓ Кой кого накара да продаде какво на кого за колко? constructed · notes · a second cluster across да · the Price is not a question-word of карам
The inner sale keeps its own four places. карам does not take the buyer, and it does not take the Price. Purpose за да is a further clause of another kind, not this causative.
Pat sold Chris a lawnmower for twenty dollars · working, parallel to English sell
[VoiceP Pat Voice ← Seller
[ApplP_LOW Chris Appl_HAVE ← Buyer = bare DOC object
[VP √SELL
[Theme a lawnmower ] ← Goods
[PP for [ MeasureP twenty dollars ]]]]]
Structural case in the English double object goes to the applied buyer and, in the to-frame, to the goods. The passive can promote that buyer: Chris was sold a lawnmower. Bulgarian spells a full-DP buyer as на plus a noun phrase. There is no morphological dative on that noun, and there is no bare second object. The direct object, under не as well as without it, is the goods. The Price stays inside for in English and inside за in Bulgarian. German and Dutch use a preposition for that Price. Hungarian uses -ért. Polish uses za and, under negation, a genitive on the goods. карам … да is a second event outside this tree. Japanese -sase- is a derivational outer wrap, not a place of продавам.
| Layer | sell (EN) | продавам | плащам |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spec,Voice | Seller | Seller | Payer |
| person layer | DOC buyer, or to | на + DP · HAS the goods · clitic му / ѝ / им can double | на + DP · HAS the money · constructed on that page |
| Case object | goods (to-frame) · buyer is the other bare object in the DOC | goods · direct object · clitic го / я / ги · stays under не | the money · direct object · stays under не |
| за / for | Price · preposition for + MeasureP | Price · за + one MeasureP | Consideration · the leftover goods |
| pointing | the DOC passive can promote the buyer | no DOC · the buyer stays на · clusters do not split the MeasureP · no GEN-neg | the money stays the object · the Recipient stays на · no GEN-neg |
On продавам, Chris comes to HAVE the lawnmower, and twenty dollars measures the price. On плащам, Chris comes to HAVE the twenty dollars, and за косачката is Consideration. Same preposition, opposite object. The direct object stays under не on both verbs. It is the goods here and the money there.
Working paper · October 2026 · Bulgarian micro-entry · Beyond Index 2 · Group C
Four-place commercial transfer in Bulgarian: Seller (Voice, subject), Buyer/Recipient (на + DP; no morphological dative on full nouns; dative clitic му / ѝ / им can double), Goods (the direct object, Theme of HAVE; clitic го / я / ги; the object stays under не), and Price (за on one MeasureP ⟨Amount, Denomination⟩). Same inventory as English sell. продавам and продам are an aspect pair; the past in the citations is продаде. On live плащам the object is the money and за is Consideration. карам … да is a separate outer event.
Same inventory as English sell, the Romance twins, German verkaufen, Dutch verkopen, Hungarian elad, Polish sprzedać, Norwegian selge, Japanese uru, and Mandarin mài. Not five-place. Not four sisters of one V. A flat grid would predict two bare objects, or a buyer that negation rewrites the way Polish rewrites the goods, or a Price that is a second object. Bulgarian shows one object, the goods, a buyer in на, and a Price in за.
двадесет долара = one MeasureP. See the MeasureP sketch. за колко долара resumes the phrase. It does not resume the unit minus the number. The definition’s срещу пари is prose. The citations’ на добра цена is a price relation of another shape.
What Bulgarian changes is the cloth of the buyer and the absence of a genitive of negation. What it does not change is the inventory. The goods are still the Theme of HAVE. The Price is still one MeasureP. Payment-settled is still implicated, not entailed. HAVE of the goods is still what the applicative says. продавам / продам are an aspect pair, and продаде is the past in the citations. That pair is not a fifth place.
In Пат продаде на Крис една косачка за двадесет долара, Chris comes to HAVE the lawnmower. That is give-geometry. The price measures the sale. It is not the object that is transferred. The sentence is constructed.
Dictionary frame: Речник на българския език (онлайн), Институт за български език, БАН, headword продавам. That entry prints the aspect pair, sense 1 with на някого and срещу пари, the goods as a direct object or as го, price relations на добра цена and на безценица, and a separate продавам се. It does not print a numeral за-MeasureP with a named buyer, a dative-clitic doubling of the buyer, or a goods-subject middle with за. Constructed argument frames follow the Group C note on negative questions for this verb: Seller subject, goods = the direct object, Buyer = на + DP, Price = за on one MeasureP, clusters that do not split the MeasureP, се as the middle, карам … да as the outer causative, and the weather subject out. The chat extract named on the other sell pages is 18-negative-questions-for-sell-verb.md. Index 2 does not list продавам. Bulgarian Transfer in Index 2 is разменям / обменям, давам. Bulgarian Payment in Index 2 is плащам, превеждам.
Series placement: Bulgarian sense×language twin of English sell, Spanish vender, French vendre, Italian vendere, Japanese uru, Mandarin mài, German verkaufen, Dutch verkopen, Hungarian elad, Polish sprzedać, and Norwegian selge. Records the four places, на as the buyer, за as the Price, and the object staying under не. Does not reopen causation-chain papers.