People who have interest in languages similar to Macedonian are often curious. If you are the one, this article is for you! We’ll explore some of the similarities between them.
These languages include Bulgarian, Serbian, Bosnian, and Croatian. Further, Russian, Ukrainian, and Slovak languages are common as well. Keep reading for more!
Languages Similar To Macedonian – 10 Option!
Do you want to learn languages similar to Macedonian? If so, we have something for you! Several languages could be ‘sister languages’ to Macedonian, including Bulgarian and Serbian.
Macedonian belongs to the South Slavic languages. So it is closely related to Bosnian and Croatian. In addition, Russian, Ukrainian, Slovak, etc., are some helpful options.
Being part of the same language family means they are alike. Thus, they share similar grammar, syntax, pronunciation, and vocabulary.
This makes them mutually intelligible for most native speakers. In fact, some linguists argue that Macedonian is merely a dialect of Bulgarian!
Here, we will explore how these languages are similar to Macedonian.
1. Bulgarian Is Quite Close To Macedonian:
Macedonian and Bulgarian are both Slavic languages. This means they share a lot of similarities in terms of grammar.
One area where they are particularly similar is in the way they use grammatical cases.
In Macedonian and Bulgarian, there are seven grammatical cases. These include nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, instrumental, locative, and vocative.
Each case has a different function, and the endings of words will change depending on the case.
For example, “book” in the nominative case is книга (kniga). But in the accusative case, it becomes книгата (knigata) in both languages.
Also, the word for “house” in the nominative case is куќа (kukha) in Macedonian and къща (kashta) in Bulgarian.
When using the locative case, it is на куќа (na kukha) in Macedonian and в къща (v kashta) in Bulgarian. This makes it easier for speakers of one language to learn the other.
Macedonian and Serbian are two Slavic languages that have a lot in common with each other. For starters, they use the Cyrillic alphabet, which the Slavic people originally used.
In addition, they also have many cognates. (words that have the same or similar meanings in both languages.)
For instance, the word for house is куќа (kukha) in Macedonian and кућа (kuća) in Serbian.
Another example is the word for mother, мајка (Majka) in Macedonian and мајка (Majka) in Serbian.
This similarity is because they are both descended from the Common Slavic language.
As a result of this shared history, Macedonian and Serbian share many features in common.
3. Bosnian Is A Helpful Option:
Linguists have long noted the similarity between Macedonian and Bosnian. While the languages are not mutually intelligible, they share grammar and vocabulary.
They both use the dual grammatical form to denote pairs of objects. In other words, when speakers refer to two objects, they use the dual form for the noun.
In addition, many words in Macedonian and Bosnian are cognates. This means they have the same etymological root.
For example, the word for “two” is dva in Macedonian and dva in Bosnian. Similarly, the word for “bird” is птица in Macedonian and ptica in Bosnian.
While there are some differences between them, the two languages are more similar than they are different.
Croatian and Macedonian are two closely related Slavic languages. They share a lot of similarities in terms of gender.
These languages are gender biased. In both, nouns are either masculine or feminine and adjectives follow the same gender.
For example, the word “table” is masculine in Macedonian but feminine in Croatian.
Moreover, in both languages, masculine words typically end in “-a” or “-o”, while feminine words typically end in “-e” or “-i”.
In both languages, the masculine pronoun “on” is for men. At the same time, the feminine pronoun “one” indicates women. Also, the neutral pronoun “ono” is for either gender.
So, these languages are quite similar to each other.
5. Russian Has A Cultural Influence On Macedonian:
Macedonia and Russia have a long history of cultural exchange. Therefore, this reflects in the similarity between the Macedonian and Russian languages.
Throughout the years, Macedonian has gradually borrowed words from Russian.
For instance, the Macedonian has the Russian word for computer, which is “компютер” (computer).
In addition, Macedonian syntax and grammar often resemble Russian. This makes it one of the easiest Slavic languages for Russians to learn.
As a result of this similarity, they can understand each other without difficulty.
Thus, this similarity makes communication between speakers of both languages relatively easy.
6. Slovenian And Macedonian Have the Same Sound System:
The similarity between Macedonian and Slovenian is most evident in their sound systems. Both languages have a similar phonetic structure.
They have stress placed on the first syllable of words. As a result, the two languages sound quite similar when spoken.
For example, many Macedonian words have a similar sound to their Slovenian counterparts. For example, the word for “bread” (“hleb”) is the same in both languages.
In addition, Slovenian and Macedonian use the genitive case.
In Slovenian, the genitive case shows possession. But, in Macedonian, it is for both possession and measurement.
The similarity between speakers of Slovenian can often understand Macedonian and vice versa.
7. Belarusian Also Uses Verb Conjugations Like Macedonian:
The similarity between Macedonian and Belarusian is visible in their verb conjugation.
Verb conjugation allows verbs to adapt to the subject and tense of a sentence. In other terms, it changes the form of the verb to fit the context.
For instance, the verb ‘to eat” is different in the present, past, and future tenses.
Further, these languages use the same endings for verbs in the present tense (-am, -as, -at, etc.).
In addition, both languages use verbs in the imperative mood for commands or requests.
In simple words, when giving an order, both use the same verb form, usually their infinitive form.
Macedonian and Belarusian have a system of verbal aspects; imperfective vs. perfective.
This means the same verb can have two forms indicating whether an action has ended.
In simpler terms, the present perfect tense shows whether the action has already ended or not.
And the present future indicates if the action is going to occur. So, both are quite alike.
8. Montenegrin Has a Very Similar Word Order:
Montenegrin and Macedonian languages are very similar in terms of word order. In both languages, the basic word order is subject-verb-object.
This means that the subject (a noun or pronoun) comes first, followed by the verb, and then the object.
For instance, the sentence “I saw a bird” would be “a video ptica” in Montenegrin and “ја гледав птица” in Macedonian.
In these examples, subjects (“ja” and “ја”) come first, followed by the verbs (“vidjeh” and “гледав”), then the objects (“ptica” and “птица”).
Moreover, unlike English, both languages do not invert the word order to ask a question. Instead, they use auxiliary verbs or particles.
9. Ukrainian And Macedonian Are the Same In Declensions Use:
It’s interesting to note the similarity between Macedonian and Ukrainian in declensions. Both languages use a system of suffixes to indicate grammatical function.
For example, a noun’s form changes to show its grammatical function in a sentence.
For example, “house” is written differently in both languages. It depends on whether it is the subject or object of a sentence.
Also, an adjective changes based on the gender, quantity, and case of the noun it describes.
This means that a reader of Ukrainian can make sense of the written Macedonian language.
In addition, both languages have a long-standing tradition of folk poetry that uses regular meter patterns and rhyme. These poetries are created by changing the stem of the word.
In fact, many experts believe that Macedonian is closely related to Ukrainian, even more so than it is to Bulgarian or Serbian.
This theory says Macedonian and shares many features with Ukrainian.
10. Slovak And Macedonian Have Some Common Vocabulary:
The similarities between the Macedonian and Slovak languages are interesting.
While they are both Slavic languages, they have some almost identical words. For example, the word for “water” in Macedonian is “voda”, while in Slovak, it’s “voda”.
Similarly, the word for “cat” in Macedonian is “macka”, while in Slovak, it’s “macka”. Some other words include “hleb” (bread), “mesto” (place), and “kafe” (coffee).
The reason behind the similarities is that both languages have a shared history. They incorporated words from Central and Eastern European languages.
So even though they are different, some similarities between them still make it easy to learn.
Thus, if you’re looking for languages similar to Macedonian, then Slovak may be a great fit. It will give you a good foundation in the language.
Conclusion:
Macedonian is part of the South Slavic languages. Thus, it shares some similarities with other languages in this group.
Like, Bulgarian and Serbian are closely related to Macedonian. Further, Russian, Ukrainian, Slovak, and Belarusian are languages similar to Macedonian.
In the list, we must recognize Bosnian and Croatian as they have commonalities too. In addition, Montenegrin and Belarusian can be quite helpful in this regard.
So, these are some languages similar to Macedonian. Depending on your needs and goals, some of them may be a better fit for you.
Choose what suits you better. It will make your learning process much easier and more enjoyable.
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