The Bulgarian language is a South Slavic language that developed from the Proto-Slavic language in the early medieval period and is mostly closely related to Macedonian, both of those languages differ quite a bit grammatically from the other Slavic languages. Like English, there is an Old Bulgarian (9th - 11th centuries), Middle Bulgarian (12th - 16th centuries), and Modern Bulgarian (16th century - present). It traces its roots back to the 9th century, when the First Bulgarian Empire was established, and it became the language of the ruling elite and the administration. During this time, Bulgarian was heavily influenced by Old Church Slavonic, which was used in religious texts and liturgy after the creation of the Glagolitic alphabet by Saints Cyril and Methodius. This helped establish the foundations of the Bulgarian literary tradition, as well as the development of the Cyrillic alphabet, which was later spread to other Slavic languages.

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Over the centuries, the Bulgarian language continued to evolve, experiencing influences from Turkish, Greek, and other languages due to the country's historical connections with the Byzantine Empire and the Ottoman Empire. By the 19th century, during the Bulgarian National Revival, a modern standard for the language was established, focusing on a literary and cultural renaissance. The language underwent significant reform, shifting from a more archaic form with complex grammar to the simplified structure seen in contemporary Bulgarian, which is known for its lack of noun cases and its reliance on word order and prepositions. Today, Bulgarian is the official language of Bulgaria and remains a vital part of the cultural identity of the country.​