The case of absence, quantity and belonging - the one that follows няма, every quantity word, every number from five up, and half the prepositions in the language.
I can use the genitive for belonging, absence and quantity, and choose between -а and -у in the masculine.
Schau dir diese Beispiele an. Kannst du das grammatische Muster erkennen?
У мяне няма часу да вечара.
I have no time until the evening.
Гэта хата майго дзеда.
This is my grandfather's house.
Купі кілаграм бульбы і бохан хлеба.
Buy a kilo of potatoes and a loaf of bread.
У лесе шмат грыбоў і ягад.
There are a lot of mushrooms and berries in the forest.
Achte auf die hervorgehobenen Teile. Was haben sie gemeinsam?
The genitive does more work than any other Belarusian case. Five jobs cover almost every use a learner meets:
| Job | Example |
|---|---|
| Belonging | сястра майго бацькі - my father's sister |
| Absence, after няма | У мяне няма часу |
| After a quantity word | кілаграм бульбы, шмат грыбоў |
| After 5 and above | пяць рублёў, дзесяць кніг |
| After да, ад, каля, з, без, для | да ратушы, без рэцэпта |
| Gender | Ending | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Masculine | -а / -у | горад → горада; час → часу |
| Feminine | -ы / -і | кніга → кнігі; сястра → сястры |
| Neuter | -а | акно → акна |
| Plural | -аў / -яў / zero | рублі → рублёў; кнігі → кніг |
This is the one real difficulty. Roughly: -а for things you can count or point at (горада, стала, брата), -у for abstractions, substances and collectives (часу, снегу, лесу, народу). The line is not perfectly sharp and some nouns take either, but the rule of thumb carries most cases.
Feminine and neuter nouns often lose their ending entirely in the genitive plural, and the stem may gain a vowel to make it pronounceable: кніга → кніг, сястра → сясцёр, акно → вокнаў. Say the bare stem aloud - if it is unsayable, a vowel appears.
Wende diese Grammatik in den Übungen des Kurses A2 an
ÜbungsaufgabenTypical errors: using -а everywhere in the masculine and never reaching for -у; and leaving the possessive out of the genitive when the noun goes into it - both words must move: сястра майго бацькі, not сястра мой бацькі.
У мяне няма часу да вечара.
I have no time until the evening.
Two genitives: <em>часу</em> after <em>няма</em>, and <em>вечара</em> after <em>да</em>. Note <em>часу</em> takes -у as an abstraction.
Гэта хата майго дзеда.
This is my grandfather's house.
Belonging: both the possessive and the noun move into the genitive.
Купі кілаграм бульбы і бохан хлеба.
Buy a kilo of potatoes and a loaf of bread.
A quantity word takes the genitive: <em>бульбы</em>, <em>хлеба</em>.
У лесе шмат грыбоў і ягад.
There are a lot of mushrooms and berries in the forest.
<em>Шмат</em> takes the genitive plural. <em>Грыбоў</em> has the -оў ending, <em>ягад</em> the zero one.
Ідзём да ратушы без парасона.
We are walking to the town hall without an umbrella.
Two prepositions, both taking the genitive: <em>да</em> and <em>без</em>.
Der Check für dieses Thema ist noch in Arbeit
Im Kurs üben
Wende diese Grammatik in den Übungen des Kurses A2 an