In this lesson, we learn about the way people speak Macedonian in Bitola, as well as the grammatical features of the Bitola dialect.
Conversation
After spending one and a half hour riding in a bus from Ohrid, passing over mountains and lakes, John finally arrives in Bitola where he meets Sarah and Pece.
- Bus driver: Стасавне! Ај са слегвајте! И покроце!
- John: (to himself) What does that even mean!?
- John: (approaches the bus driver) Извинете, пристигнавме во Битола?
- Bus driver: Да бе бато, шо реков са пред малце?
- John: Благодарам!
- (gets off the bus, and enters the bus station)
- John: Hi, Sarah! Am I glad to see you! How are you? Or should I say: "Како ојт работана?"
- Sarah: What? Nevermind! Say hi to Pece, and please speak in Macedonian, he's not very good with English.
- John: Здраво Пеце! Како ојт работана?
- Pece: Здраво брат! Морам да ти кажам оти се пули оддалеку дека идиш од Охрид.
- John: Како мислиш? По говорот?
- Pece: Еми така, одма те чактисав оти поднауче нешто таму. Ај да ве носам.
- (they enter the taxi, and drive to Shirok Sokak)
- John: Oh my God Sarah, these people all speak a different language!
- Sarah: Oh John, your ear is just not used to it!
- John: Well it was just getting used to охридски, and now it's listening to битолски all of a sudden. No wonder!
- Pece: Еве сне!
- Sarah: OK, here we are. Pece is going to show us around a bit, until the bus that will take us to Prilep arrives.
- (they walk down the street to buy some pumpkin seeds)
- Pece: Шосторе денес сонце, убајна! Чупина колку сакаш!
- John: Чупиња? Што е тоа?
- Sarah: Девојчиња!
- Pece: Да бе, чупина, чупчина колку сакаш! Ама има и прчој!
- Cashier: 20 денари, Ве молам!
- John: Имам само илјадарка, се надевам дека не е проблем!?
- Pece: Шо прајш со толку пари бе, да не си несалам? Ај јас ќе му платам да не раситнуваш!
- John: (to himself) Му?! But the cashier was a lady!
- John: (blushes) Ах, ти благодарам!
- Cashier: Во ред е, фала ви! Еве, вас ќе ви дам и тро отпојќе семки.
- (after finishing the seeds they get in the taxi and arrive at the bus station again)
- Pece: Еми еве, се надевам убо си поминавте!
- Sarah: Да Пеце, ти благодариме. Се надевам ќе се видиме повторно наскоро.
- John: Ти благодариме Пеце! Извини што плати ти!
- Pece: Нема на шо. Ај са ојте со здравје! Чао чао!
- John and Sarah: Чао!
Grammatical features
The Bitola dialect has many grammatical features, and we will cover only a few of them.
Verb conjugation
Some verbs are conjugated in a different way. The irregular forms are in italics.
To be
The verb to be in first person plural is quite often pronounced as сне, but mostly by people from the villages surrounding Bitola. The rest is conjugated in a regular way.
| singular | plural | |
| 1st | јас сум | ние сне |
| 2nd | ти си | вие сте |
| 3rd (m) | тој е | тие се |
| 3rd (f) | та е | тие се |
| 3rd (n) | то е | тие се |
To give
The verb to give in the future tense is conjugated somewhat differently, in an abbreviated way, and is often hard to understand to outsiders. Similarly conjugated verbs include to eat, to put, to do, to know and others.
| singular | plural | |
| 1st | ќе дам | ќе дајме |
| 2nd | ќе дајш | ќе дајте |
| 3rd | ќе дај | ќе дат |
To go
The verb to go in the future tense is conjugated seemingly differently, in an extremely abbreviated way, and is often very hard to understand to outsiders.
| singular | plural | |
| 1st | ќом | ќојме |
| 2nd | ќојш | ќојте |
| 3rd | ќој | ќе одат |
To write
The verb to write and other verbs containing -увам are shortened to -(в)ам
| singular | plural | |
| 1st | пишам | пишиме |
| 2nd | пишиш | пишите |
| 3rd | пиши | пишат |
Examples
- Ќом да јам, па ќом да му дам пари на Драги, па ќе си дом дома.
- Ние што сне од село, не знајме добро да пишиме, ама зато децата на школо си ги запишваме.
Plural
In Bitola, the plural is made in a different way than standard Macedonian. Masculine nouns form the plural by adding an -ој instead of -ови or -еви, whereas neuter nouns add a -на instead of -ња.
For example, instead of дечиња, one would say дечина. Or instead of цареви, one would say царој.
Examples
- Тука има многу дечина, ама и постари прчој.
Pronouns
Some pronouns are quite different in comparison to standard Macedonian. The irregular forms are in italics.
Personal pronouns
Pronouns are pretty much regular, with the exception of таа, which is replaced with та, and тоа which is replaced with то.
| singular | plural | |
| 1st | јас | ние |
| 2nd | ти | вие |
| 3rd (m) | тој | тие |
| 3rd (f) | та | тие |
| 3rd (n) | то | тие |
Indirect object
The feminine indirect object in third person singular, as well as the indirect object in third person plural are simply shortened to му, and not only. There are quite many irregularities, and other Macedonians are to known to look a person from Bitola in a strange way when they use the pronouns in such a manner.
This is a table of how the indirect object is formed.
| singular | plural | |
| 1st | мене ми | нас ни |
| 2nd | тебе ти | вас ви |
| 3rd (m) | него му | нив му |
| 3rd (f) | неа му | нив му |
Examples
- Му дадовме пари неа, а та нас не ни врати.
- Му реков на мајка ми дека ќе се вратам до пет.
Vocabulary
- стаса - to arrive (from Greek φτάνω - έφτασα, through Aromanian)
- кроце - slowly, easy
- чупе - a girl
- чактисва - to understand, to realize
- одма - right away, in an instant (from Serbian odmah - одмах)
- несалам - not normal, insane
- раситнува - to give change in exchange for a note
- појќе - more
- кај? - where?
- шо? - what?
- са - now
- пули - to see
Next lesson
In the next lesson, Sarah and John both go to Prilep.
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Learning Macedonian Lessons Intermediate level Advanced level Special level
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