According to a novel conception of the perfect across languages, it has no immanent semantics and performs structural functions. Using the compositional aspect theory, Bulgarian sentences featuring the perfect are analyzed, along with some features of past participles. There are two very serious defects in the descriptions of the Bulgarian perfect: allegedly, it is not formed from imperfect participles and there is no “independent use” of these participles. Actually, the Bulgarian perfect is formed from imperfect participles and they do have an “independent use” – in NPs, with a single exception.
Key words: perfect, aorist/imperfect, aorist and imperfect participles, non-grammaticality.
