The Macedonian language is a member of the Southern Slavic branch of the Indo-European language family. The closest relative to Macedonian is Bulgarian, with which it shares a number of features. Macedonian also displays similarities to Serbian and other Slavic languages.
Macedonian is primarily spoken in the Republic of Macedonia, where it is the official language. However, there are additional communities of Macedonian speakers in Greece and elsewhere.
Macedonian uses a Cyrillic alphabet, similar but not identical to that of Russian. It consists of 31 letters, each with a capital and a lowercase form. Several of these letters are unique to the Macedonian language and do not appear in any other variation of the Cyrillic alphabet. These letters represent sounds not found in related languages. The Cyrillic letters have both capital and lowercase forms.
Macedonian text is written from left to right, the same as English. When Macedonian words are spoken, the stress usually falls on the first syllable of one or two syllable words, and on the third syllable from the end in longer words.
Macedonian vocabulary includes many words which are the same or similar to words in Bulgarian, due to the close relationship between the two languages. Macedonian has also borrowed words from Serbian, Russian, Turkish, Old Church Slavonic, and, more recently, English. Popular movements to purge the Macedonian language of foreign borrowings by reviving native vocabulary terms have reduced the number of loan words in common use, but some still remain.
Macedonian grammar is markedly different from that of English. Macedonian nouns, for example, have gender, meaning that each noun is considered to be masculine, feminine, or neuter. Macedonian adjectives must match the gender of the word they are modifying. Definite articles are attached to the end of nouns.
In contrast, the typical word order of Macedonian sentences is the same as in English. Most sentences will start with a subject, followed by a verb and an object (if necessary).
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