Afrikaans to Bulgarian: move the article and preserve how an event is presented
Afrikaans die becomes part of a Bulgarian phrase
Afrikaans die stands before the noun, as in die vrou, the woman. Bulgarian can attach definiteness to the noun: жената is the woman. If a descriptive word comes first, the article can attach to that word instead. The target therefore should not contain an extra independent word merely to mimic Afrikaans die.
This matters when editing a description. Adding an adjective to a previously translated noun phrase can change where definiteness is marked. Translate the whole revised phrase rather than inserting a dictionary adjective mechanically. An Afrikaans article does not change with noun gender, but Bulgarian forms do, so keeping the same source article says nothing about which target ending is needed.
Het gelees does not settle every aspectual choice
Afrikaans Ek het gelees describes a past reading event, but does not by itself establish that the person finished a particular text. Bulgarian distinguishes aspectual forms such as чета and прочета, with the latter presenting reading toward completion. A translator needs the intended event interpretation as well as the fact that it is past.
If the message confirms that the whole document was read, state that explicitly in Afrikaans. If it describes spending an hour reading without finishing, keep that limitation. In a work handover, completed reading and time spent on reading are different claims. The presence of Afrikaans het plus a participle should not automatically turn either claim into the other.
Afrikaans negative markers form one message
Afrikaans commonly frames a negative statement with two nie markers. The final marker does not ordinarily cancel the first one. When translating a prohibition or refusal, identify the single intended negative meaning before choosing the Bulgarian construction.
For example, an Afrikaans instruction with moenie is a prohibition, not a statement that someone lacks an obligation. Keep the difference between Do not send it and You do not have to send it. Bulgarian must express the intended prohibition or lack of necessity; simply translating the number of visible negative words would not preserve that distinction.
A reported event should remain reported
Bulgarian has grammatical resources for presenting information according to how it is known, including reported information. Afrikaans can make that relationship explicit through a reporting clause: Sy sê dat die winkel gesluit is means she says that the shop is closed. Removing sy sê before translation removes the attribution.
Keep that reporting clause when the sender has not personally checked the shop. The target should distinguish the person’s report from the writer’s direct assertion. This is not a requirement to force a special reported form into every Bulgarian sentence; discourse and construction matter. The practical safeguard is to preserve who supplied the information, so a translated update does not sound like independent confirmation when the Afrikaans source carefully attributes it to someone else.
Language references