Bulgarian is an East Slavic language, part of the Western branch of the East Slavic languages. Like many other Indo-European languages, it has three grammatical genders (masculine, feminine and neuter), as well as case (vocative and genitive). Pronouns agree with nouns in number, grammatical gender, and definiteness. The language is also tonal, with a pitch accent and a syllable length for each vowel. The word order is subject-verb-object, with the object preceding the verb in most clauses. The verb forms are complex, involving prefixes and suffixes to create the present, past, or future tense. Bulgarian has a rich literature in both prose and poetry, with some famous authors such as Georgi Golema and the poets Nikolay Shukov and Yoan Vasilevski. Music is important in the culture, and folk singers such as Valya Balkanska have become internationally known.

The majority of Bulgarians are Orthodox Christians. They celebrate many holidays and feast days. Most Bulgarians live in urban areas, where they work in service industries. Many of them enjoy going out for movies or to the theater. They are very hospitable and may spend time conversing over long meals with friends and acquaintances. Values – Family and home life are highly valued. Children are expected to defer to parental authority. Most families have only one child. Women generally hold lower paying jobs than men, and occupy less leadership positions in the government and workplaces. However, women lag only slightly behind men in educational achievement. Most children attend state-run kindergartens. After that, they usually spend most of their formative years in the care of grandparents.

Throughout the year, Bulgarians frequently gather at mehana, traditional eating establishments that feature food, music and dancing. A favorite dessert is revane, a sweet semolina cake soaked in syrup. This recipe is borrowed from Egypt and is sometimes called basbousa in English.

The country’s political system is a multiparty, parliamentary republic, with free elections and universal adult suffrage. A president is elected, along with a prime minister and council of ministers selected by the largest parliamentary group. Local governments are also democratically elected, and there is a strong municipal tradition. Bulgaria’s constitutional constitution was adopted in 1991, restoring a parliamentary republic and multiparty system after authoritarian military rule.