Belarusian Grammar

If you're trying to learn the most essential topics about Belarusian you will find some useful resources including a course about adjectives, adverbs, articles, gender (feminine, masculine...), negation, nouns, numbers, phrases, plural, prepositions, pronouns, questions, verbs, vocabulary, excercises... to help you with your Belarusian grammar Enjoy our courses!

Belarusian Lessons

Learning Belarusian can help you communicate with other people who speak Belarusian. The following courses will provide you with some help based on the lessons you choose. Here is a list of what we offer:

1-    Plural Lesson

While in English, the plural is formed by adding (s) to the singular. In Belarusian, to form the plural of nouns we add (-i) and (-ы), to form the plural of adjective we add –ыя and –iя. Here are some examples:

 

Сябра (a friend) becomes: сябры (some friends)

Жанчына (one woman) becomes: жанчыны (some women)

Гэта мая чырвоная машына (this is my red car) becomes: Гэта мае чырвоныя машыны (these are my red cars)

Шырокая рака (wide river) becomes: Шырокiя рэкi (wide rivers)

 

The plural of nouns with terminations (-анiн), (-янiн) is formed by adding (-е):

грамадзянин becomes: грамадзяне

селянiн becomes: сяляне

 

Sometimes the stem of the nouns is changed by forming the plural:

 

дзяỹчына (girl) becomes: дзяỹчаты (girls)(BUT! Дзьве/тры дзяỹчыны);

неба (sky) becomes: нябёсы (skies);

зерне (grain) becomes: зярняты (grains);

 

2-    Adverbs Lesson

While in English adverbs are usually formed by adding (-ly) to adjectives. In Belarusian many adverbs are formed from adjectives, simply by adding the suffix -а to the singular masculine form of adjectives. Examples:

 

Павольны (slow) becomes павольна (slowly)

Сапраỹдны (perfect) becomes сапраỹдна (perfectly)

However that’s not always the case. Some words are adverbs by nature. For example:

Цяпер (now), навогул (really), and зараз (now).

 

 

3-    Adjectives Lesson

While in English an adjective doesn’t change when the noun changes, in Belarusian an adjective should agree in gender and number with the noun. For example:

a)    Masculine to feminine example:

Гэта мой маленькi сын (this is my little son) becomes: Гэта мая маленькая дачка (this is my little daughter)

As you can see from the example above, the adjective comes befor the noun and also takes the feminine form.

b)    Singular to plural example:

Гэта мой белы кот (this is my white cat) becomes: Гэта мае белыя каты (these are my white cats).

As you can see from the example above, the adjective comes befor the noun and also takes the plural form.

 

4-    Numbers Lesson

In Belarusian numbers from 1 to 20 are unique and therefore need to be memorized individually. Numbers from 21 and upwards are formed by using the following pattern: for example 21 can be formed by using 20 + 1 while connecting them (дваццаць адзiн). 22 = дваццаць два. 45 = сорак пяць.

 

5-    Verbs Lessons

-       Present Tense

In Belarusian, verbs take the following endings to form the present tense:

First conjugation: я –у, -ю; ты –эш, -еш, -аш; ён, яна, яно –э, -е, -а; мы –ом, -ём, -ам, -ем; вы –аце, -яце,- еце, эце; яны –уцю, -юць. Example:

Я чакаю, ты чакаеш, ён, яна, яно чакае, мы чакаем, вы чакаеце, яны чакаюць.

 

Second conjugation: я –у, -ю, ты –ыш, -iш, ён, яна, яно - -ыць, -iць, мы – ым, -iм, вы - -ыце, -iце, яны – аць, -яць. Example:

Я ляжу, ты ляжыш, ён, яна, яно ляжыць, мы ляжым, вы ляжыце, яны ляжаць.

These endings can help you a lot, because with them you can conjugate most of verbs into the present tense, you only need the stem of the verb, for example the stem of (ляжаць: to lie) is (ляж).

 

-       Past Tense

In Belarusian as well as in English the past tense is used to describe past events. The endings for the past tense verbs are:

Я -ỹ, ты - ỹ, ён -ỹ, яна –ла, яно –ла, мы, вы, яны –лi. Example:

Я гуляỹ, ты гуляỹ, ён гуляỹ, яна гулялала, яно гуляла, мы гулялi, вы гулялi, яны гулялi.

 

 

So just take any regular verb stem and add it to the endings above, for example our previous verb гуляць (to play), its stem is “гуля”, plus the endings above becomes я гуляỹ (I played).

-       Future Tense

To form the future in Belarusian have two forms. One of them is formed by adding the endings of Present Tense. For example: я пiшу (I write) (Present Tense) - я напiшу (I will write) (Future Tense).

Another form of Future Tense is formed by connecting of two verbs: personal forms of the auxiliaries  быць and infinitive of the notional verb. For example: я буду маляваць (I will draw), ты будзеш маляваць (you will draw).

 

 

6-    Asking a Question Lesson

In Belarusian there are 4 ways of asking a question to get a yes or no answer, and they are the following:

-Verb + pronoun: Unlike English, the auxiliaries do and does are not used. ¿Мае яна свабодны час? (Does she have free time?)

-Pronoun + verb: Only the intonation makes the sentence interrogative: ¿Яна мае свабодны час? (Does she have free time?)

-Verb +...+ pronoun. The pronoun goes last ¿Мае свабодны час яна? (Does she have free time?)

-Finally you can also make a question by adding a tag question to the end of a statement. Яна мае свабодны час, сапраỹды?

Яна мае свабодны час, цi ня гэтак? (She has free time, doesn’t she)

 

 

7-    Negation Lesson

 

In Belarusian, negation can be made simply by placing "No" before the main verb. But sometimes a double negative is required. "No" is the most common negative.

Я не магу гэта рабiць (I can't do this). 

Яны не павiнны нiчога рабiць (they don't have anything to do – Double Negative). 

Мне гэта не падабаецца (I don't like it)

 

8-    Feminine Lesson

To form a feminine word from the masculine in Belarusian, you simply add (-кa) if the word ends in a consonant. Here is example:

 

Студэнт (student masc.) becomes студэнткa (student fem.)

 

Note that some words cannot change into feminine; instead a whole new word should be used, example: Мужчына (man), жанчына (woman).

 

 

9-    Pronouns Lesson

In English personal pronouns are (I, you, he, she, it, we, you, they), and (me, you, him, her, it, us, you, them), In Belarusian, the personal pronouns are:

Я… (I), ты… (you), ён… (he), яна… (she), 

Мы… (we), яны… (they),

Examples: я вучу (I learn), ты вучыш (you learn), ён вучыць (he learns), яна вучыць (she learns), Вы вучыце (you learn [polite]), мы вучым (we learn), вы вучыце (you learn [plural, friendly]), яны вучаць (they learn)..

 

Indirect Object Pronouns:

Indirect object pronouns are words that replace the indirect object, which is usually a person.

Mне (me), табе (you), яму, ёй, Вам (him, her, you (formal), нам (us), вам (you), iм (them):

Examples: Дай мне кнiгу (give me the book). Яна паказвае табе фотаздымкi (She show you the photos).

 

Possessive Pronouns:

Mой (mine masc.), мая (mine fem.), мае (mine, plural.), твая / твой / твае (yours), яго / яе (his, hers), наш / наша / нашы (ours), ваш / ваша / вашы (yours), iх (theirs).

 

We hope the lessons above helped you learn Belarusian. To learn other topics please check our homepage here: Learn Belarusian. Don't forget to bookmark this page.