Macedonian Language Corner

Macedonian is a South Slavic language spoken by around 2 million people.

In Macedonia, the language evolves constantly and its vocabulary was partly influenced by other local languages, such as Turkish. The grammar evolved differently compared to other Slavic languages, as Macedonian today has no cases at all.

It is one of the easiest languages to pronounce as each letter corresponds to one sound. When it comes to grammar, even though the language lost its case system, there are other features that make the phrase structure complex, such as prepositions or the fact that it has more than five different past tenses. 

• There are letters that only exist in the Macedonian variation of the Cyrillic alphabet
  

The Macedonian alphabet is a variation of the Cyrillic alphabet, used by many Slavic languages such as Russian, Ukrainian, Serbian, or Bulgarian. However, there are letters that only exist in the Macedonian alphabet and cannot be found in other Slavic languages. Those letters are:

• ќ (for example, in the word “куќа”). It is the sound of “c” in “cute” in English. 

• ѓ (for example, in the word “ѓеврек”). It is close to the sound “g” in “give” in English. 
• ѕ (for example, in the word “ѕид”). It is a sound most likely influenced by the Greek “z” and it sounds like “d” and “z” pronounced together. 

• Macedonian has no grammar cases 

Slavic languages It has 0 cases, unlike other Slavic languages. 

Macedonian and Bulgarian are the only Slavic languages without cases, although Bulgarian still keeps its vocative form, while in Macedonian it is out of use (except some very archaic cases). 

For example, if you want to say “I am reading a book” in Serbian (knjiga), you would use the accusative case (čitam knjigu).
In Macedonian, the noun “kniga” remains the same (читам книга). In Bulgarian, if you want to call Ivan, you would most likely say “Ivane!”, which is a form of vocative, while in Macedonian it is perfectly fine to say “Ivan!”.

• The Macedonian language is a real salad!

Did you know that there is a fruit salad in Italy and Spain called “Macedonia”? In French, the salad “Macédoine” is a mix of vegetables. This name is not a coincidence, it refers to the cultural and linguistic diversity we’ve always had in Macedonia. Located in the heart of the Balkans, this small landlocked country wasn’t spared from the various foreign influences. Let’s start with the Romans. Why is Macedonian one of the Slavic languages that has the most Latin words? For instance, the verb “to be” (sum) is written and pronounced as in the Latin “sum”. Next, more than five centuries of Ottoman rule contributed to more vocabulary enrichment. Today, if you want to say “Let’s go!” in Macedonian, you’ll realize that there is no Slavic equivalent. Perhaps there was in the past, but now we’d use the Turkish loan word “ajde!”… and I think it’s beautiful!