Master grammar with comprehensive explanations and examples
How many letters are in the Belarusian alphabet? 32 - with і and ў, without и, щ and ъ. Full letter table with sounds, plus akanne, dzekanne and the fricative г.
I can name all 32 Belarusian letters, read any Belarusian word aloud, and hear what makes Belarusian pronunciation different from Russian.
Every alternation the course has met, in one place: akanne, jakanne, the five consonant changes, and the о that becomes а only when the stress moves off it.
I can predict how a word changes when its ending or stress moves, and work backwards from an unfamiliar form to its root.
Belarusian has a far smaller participle system than Russian, and the present active participle in -учы is not part of the living standard. Knowing what to write instead is the point of this topic.
I can use the past passive participle correctly and rewrite any other participle as a relative clause.
Reading, having read - one form for an action accompanying another, and the single rule that keeps it grammatical: both actions must belong to the same subject.
I can use both gerunds accurately and check that they share a subject with the main verb.
Belarusian drops to be in the present, keeps ёсць for existence and possession, and marks the past by gender: быў, была, было, былі.
I can say who and what someone is, say what I have and do not have, and talk about where people were.
Which case a verb demands is a fact about that verb, not about meaning - and the places where Belarusian and Russian disagree are exactly where a fluent-sounding speaker goes wrong.
I can use the right case with common verbs and I know the short list where Belarusian and Russian disagree.
Belarusian verbs come in pairs: one describes the activity, the other its completion. Choosing between them is not a tense decision, and it is the single largest grammatical decision in the language.
I can choose between the two aspects when talking about the past and the future, and I know which one буду and a negative order require.
Two decisions before you can say you went anywhere: on foot or by vehicle, and this once or as a rule. Four verbs where English has one.
I can choose between the four verbs of motion by transport and by frequency, and use the prefixes that specify direction.
A prefix does two things at once: it makes the verb perfective and it changes the meaning. Learning the prefixes is the fastest way to multiply the vocabulary you already have.
I can recognise what a prefix adds to a familiar verb and spell the common prefixes correctly.
The two Belarusian conjugations, their full sets of present-tense endings, and the spelling changes (э for е, ы/і for и) that make a familiar paradigm look unfamiliar.
I can conjugate common Belarusian verbs in the present tense and say what I and other people are doing right now.
One particle, бы, added to a past-tense form, does hypotheticals, wishes and the politest requests in the language.
I can make a polite request, express a wish and build a two-clause hypothetical.
The Belarusian past tense agrees in gender and number, not in person, and the masculine ends in -ў, not -л: чытаў, рабіў, быў. The single most visible difference from Russian.
I can talk about what happened yesterday, making the verb agree with the gender and number of the subject.
Two futures: буду plus the infinitive for an ongoing action, and the present form of a perfective verb for a completed one. Plus the -му form you will meet in books and in the south.
I can say what I am going to do, and distinguish an action I will be doing from one I will get finished.
Telling, asking and inviting: чытай and чытайце, the let's forms, and why калі ласка does more work in Belarusian than please does in English.
I can ask someone to do something, invite them to do it with me, and choose the right level of politeness.
One spelling, -цца, covers what Russian splits into two, and the ending does five different jobs - only one of which is genuinely reflexive.
I can use reflexive verbs in all persons and tenses, and tell the verb ending from the pronoun сябе.
Semelfactives, inceptives, delimitatives and saturatives - the aspectual shades a prefix or suffix adds beyond finished and unfinished.
I can use and recognise the finer aspectual shades and control aspect across a whole narrative.
Мушу, магу, трэба, можна, варта, мець - the words for obligation and possibility, most of which are impersonal and put you in the dative.
I can express obligation, permission, ability and advice, choosing between the personal and impersonal patterns.
Belarusian kept the seventh case that Russian lost. Браце, сынку, Пятрусю - the form you use when you address someone directly.
I can recognise vocative forms in songs and speech and use them when addressing family, friends and a пан or спадар.
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.
The recipient, and the case four everyday verbs demand: падабацца, падыходзіць, балець and трэба all put the person in the dative.
I can use the dative for the recipient and handle the five constructions that put the person in it.
By what means, in whose company, and what someone works as. The means takes no preposition at all: the ending alone carries what English says with "with".
I can say by what means something is done, who I did it with, and what someone works as.
The plural simplifies: one set of endings for all three genders, and only the genitive is genuinely difficult.
I can decline plural nouns through all six cases and choose the right accusative for people and for things.
назоўны, родны, давальны, вінавальны, творны, месны - what each case is for, one full paradigm, and the consonant changes г-з, к-ц, х-с that catch every beginner.
I can name the six cases, say what each is for, and use the nominative, accusative and locative correctly in everyday sentences.
The only case that never appears without a preposition, and the one where five consonants change before your eyes: горад gives у горадзе, кніга gives у кнізе.
I can use the locative after all five of its prepositions and apply the consonant changes it triggers.
The direct object and the destination - and the animacy rule that makes бачу сябра look like a genitive because it is one.
I can use the accusative for objects, destinations and time, and apply the animacy rule.
Official, academic, journalistic, literary and conversational - what each one does to the grammar, and how to tell in one paragraph which you are reading.
I can identify a functional style from a paragraph and write in the one a situation calls for.
Interjections, particles, suffixes and word order - the four layers Belarusian uses to say how you feel about what you are saying.
I can convey attitude through interjections, particles, suffixes and word order, and judge how much is too much.
How Belarusian signals that it means the opposite, and the dry understatement that runs through its humour.
I can recognise irony and understatement in Belarusian and produce them with a single, well-placed signal.
Stating a position, conceding, refuting and concluding - the phrases and structures that carry a Belarusian argument.
I can state, support, concede, refute and conclude in written Belarusian argument.
Inversion, ellipsis, parcelling, repetition, rhetorical questions - the devices that make written Belarusian carry a voice.
I can use inversion, ellipsis, parcelling and repetition deliberately, and judge when not to.
Fillers, repair, turn-taking and ellipsis - the features of real conversation that written grammar never mentions but fluency depends on.
I can hold a conversation with natural fillers, repairs and backchannels rather than in written sentences.
Metaphor, epithet, personification and the imagery Belarusian writing actually reaches for - forest, field, river, and the seasons that structure the year.
I can read and construct figurative language grounded in the imagery Belarusian writing actually uses.
The fixed shapes of everyday written Belarusian - what goes where, and the formulas each genre expects.
I can write a letter, a formal application, a CV and a review in the shape each genre expects.
How Belarusian verse is built, why free stress makes it work, and what the folk line does that regular metre cannot.
I can scan Belarusian verse, name its metre and rhyme, and read the folk line on its own terms.
The reference works to use, the checks to run on your own text, and the order to run them in.
I can edit my own Belarusian systematically, using the right reference for each question.
How terms are formed and used, and the grammar that academic Belarusian actually runs on - impersonals, verbal nouns and careful hedging.
I can read and write academic Belarusian, form terms correctly and hedge my claims appropriately.
Headlines, leads, attribution and evaluative language - how Belarusian news and opinion writing is built, and how to read what it is doing.
I can read a Belarusian news or opinion piece critically and write in the register myself.
The places where a close language is harder to translate from than a distant one, and the discipline that keeps a translation from reading as an original in disguise.
I can translate into Belarusian from the sense rather than the structure and check the places where transfer is silent.
я, ты, ён, яна, яно, мы, вы, яны and their case forms. The third person begins with the sound [j] in Belarusian, and the pronoun is often left out because the verb ending already carries it.
I can refer to myself and to other people, choose between ты and Вы, and use the case forms needed for having and being asked about.
нехта, штосьці, хтось, які-небудзь - four ways of being vague, and they are not interchangeable: the choice says how much the speaker knows.
I can choose between the three indefinite markers according to how much I know, and decline the pronoun inside.
ніхто, нічога, ніякі - and the pair нічога against няма чаго, which look alike, mean different things and take different cases.
I can use the negative pronouns with the compulsory не, split them correctly around a preposition, and tell нічога from няма чаго.
мой, твой, наш, ваш and the invariable яго, яе, іх: how a possessive agrees with the thing owned rather than the owner, and where the neuter -ё and -ае endings come from.
I can say what belongs to whom, choosing the possessive by the gender and number of the thing owned, and I can tell свой from яго.
The personal, possessive, demonstrative and interrogative pronouns in all six cases - and the н- that appears on яго and яе after a preposition.
I can decline personal, possessive, demonstrative and interrogative pronouns through all six cases.
This and that in Belarusian: the agreeing forms гэты and той, the invariable гэта that introduces someone, and the four words for here and there that keep position apart from direction.
I can point things out, say which one I mean, and distinguish being here from coming here.
Words that share a meaning but not a register, an intensity or a set of collocates - and how to tell which one a sentence wants.
I can choose between synonyms on register, intensity and collocation rather than at random.
The word pairs a native produces without choosing - verbs with their nouns, adjectives with theirs - and why getting these right matters more than vocabulary size.
I can produce natural word pairings and notice when a collocation has been calqued.
Як з гусі вада, залатыя рукі, біць бібікі - the fixed phrases a native reaches for instead of building a sentence, grouped by where they come from.
I can recognise and use common Belarusian idioms and proverbs, and I know not to translate one word for word.
The interference that a Russian speaker produces without noticing: false friends, borrowed government, calqued phrases, and the mixed speech called trasianka.
I can spot Russian interference in my own Belarusian - false friends, wrong government and calqued phrases - and correct it.
Words that named things which no longer exist, words replaced by newer ones, and what you need to read a text written before the twentieth century.
I can read older Belarusian texts with support and use archaisms deliberately rather than by accident.
How Belarusian names new things - by borrowing, by building from its own roots, or by bringing an old word back - and why the choice is not only linguistic.
I can use modern Belarusian vocabulary for technology and institutions and choose consistently between competing names.
Two state languages, unequal domains, and what that means practically for someone learning Belarusian now.
I understand the sociolinguistic situation well enough to find input, read reactions correctly and set realistic expectations.
The suffixes that build Belarusian words. Learn twenty of them and a great deal of vocabulary becomes readable without a dictionary.
I can work out what an unfamiliar derived word means from its suffix, and form nouns and adjectives from words I know.
The writers a reader is expected to know, what each does to the language, and where to start reading.
I know the main writers, what each does to the language, and in what order to read them.
How to sound right rather than merely correct - and what тарашкевіца is, so that an unfamiliar spelling in a book does not read as a mistake.
I can choose a register appropriate to the situation and recognise a text written in the classical orthography.
The two big dialect groups, the middle belt the standard was built on, and the features you will hear that are not mistakes.
I can place a Belarusian speaker roughly by region and tell a dialect feature from a Russian interference error.
Greetings, requests, thanks, apologies, wishes and condolences - the fixed formulas, who they are for, and the ones that have no equivalent elsewhere.
I can greet, thank, request, apologise, congratulate and offer condolences with the right formula for the person and occasion.
Borrowing, code-switching and mixed speech are three different things. Which language holds the grammatical frame tells them apart, and tells you which of your own errors are deep.
I can tell a settled borrowing from a code-switch and from mixed speech, and I can catch and repair the places where my own Belarusian is still running on Russian grammar.
Polish, Latin, German, Lithuanian - the layers in Belarusian vocabulary that Russian does not share, and how each is adapted.
I can recognise the main borrowing layers in Belarusian vocabulary and use naturalised borrowings with the right declension.
Belarusian writes what it says. Unstressed о and э become а, and е becomes я in the syllable before the stress - which is why the same root looks different in different forms.
I can spell unstressed vowels correctly, counting syllables from the stress to decide between е and я.
Why the same Belarusian word has two accepted spellings, what the differences actually are, and which one you will meet where.
I can write consistently in наркамаўка and read тарашкевіца without difficulty.
The four consonant rules that make a text look Belarusian: where ў is written, when д becomes дз, when a consonant doubles, and what the apostrophe does.
I can write ў, дз, дж, doubled consonants and the apostrophe where the rules require them.
Where Belarusian puts a dash instead of a verb, which quotation marks it uses, and how direct speech is laid out on the page.
I can punctuate Belarusian prose, including dialogue, using the dash, guillemets and colon correctly.
Belarusian has a passive but reaches for it far less than English does. Three other constructions do most of the work, and choosing among them is a matter of style rather than grammar.
I can choose between the passive, the subjectless plural and the reflexive according to whether the focus is the activity, the process or the result.
Chaining, pronoun reference, synonym variation and connectors - what makes a set of correct sentences read as one text.
I can write a paragraph whose sentences hold together by chaining, reference and connectors.
Вядома, здаецца, па-мойму - the words that show how sure you are and how the sentence connects to the last one. Always set off by commas.
I can mark how certain I am and connect my sentences using parenthetical words, punctuating them correctly.
не with the verb, няма for what is not there, and the obligatory double negative: ніхто не, нічога не, ніколі не. Why 'nobody didn't come' is the correct Belarusian sentence.
I can deny a statement, say that something or somebody is not there, and use the negative pronouns with the compulsory particle не.
і, а, але, бо, таму, каб, калі - the words that turn a list of short sentences into connected speech, and the two that Russian speakers reach for in the wrong order.
I can join clauses with the right conjunction, give a reason either way round, and use каб for purpose.
The question words хто, што, дзе, куды, калі, чаму, як, колькі, and the particle ці that opens a yes/no question - the construction that most marks Belarusian off from Russian.
I can ask for information with the Belarusian question words and form a yes/no question with ці.
When a participial phrase, a gerund phrase or an apposition is set off by commas, and the position rule that decides it.
I can punctuate participial phrases, gerund phrases and appositions correctly and use the commas to control meaning.
Relative clauses with які, reported speech with што, and the fact that Belarusian keeps the original tense where English shifts it back.
I can build relative clauses with які and report what someone said or asked.
Belarusian word order is free but not arbitrary: what is known comes first, what is new comes last, and moving a word changes what the sentence is about.
I can order a Belarusian sentence to put the new information last and use particles to emphasise a chosen word.
Which conjunction introduces which kind of clause, and the two - каб and калі б - whose choice of verb form is not free.
I can build all eight kinds of subordinate clause and choose the right verb form after каб and калі б.
What changes and what does not when you report what someone said. The tense stays; the pronouns and the time words move.
I can report statements, questions and requests, moving the pronouns and time words while leaving the tense alone.
When two clauses are joined by punctuation alone, the mark chosen - comma, colon, semicolon or dash - is what states the relationship.
I can join clauses without a conjunction and choose the mark that states the relationship I mean.
як, чым, за, нібы - the four ways of making a comparison, and the fixed similes that a native speaker reaches for without thinking.
I can compare two things four different ways and use the common fixed similes.
A large family of everyday Belarusian sentences has no subject at all. The academic syntax names four types, and once you see them as a group they stop looking like exceptions.
I can recognise and build all four kinds of subjectless sentence, and I can see the impersonal constructions from earlier modules as one family.
Belarusian word order is free because the case endings already say who did what. What the order carries instead is emphasis - and why the subject pronoun is often left out entirely.
I can arrange a Belarusian sentence so that the emphasis falls where I want it, and leave out the subject pronoun when the verb already carries it.
Alternation, insertion and loss where a stem meets an ending - the systematic changes that make a paradigm look irregular when it is not.
I can apply the alternations automatically and recognise the forms of one root however different they look.
вадой and вадою, лесу and леса, ля and каля - places where two forms are both correct, and what actually decides between them.
I can choose between variant forms on stylistic and semantic grounds and stay consistent within a text.
Every Belarusian noun is masculine, feminine or neuter. How to read gender off the ending, why -а can mean two different things, and the words whose gender is not the one a Russian speaker expects.
I can tell whether a Belarusian noun is masculine, feminine or neuter, and make the adjective and the past-tense verb agree with it.
How Belarusian builds the plural: -ы after a hard consonant, -і after a soft one and after к, х, plus the sound changes (г-з, к-ц, х-с) that reshape the stem.
I can form the plural of common Belarusian nouns, choosing between -ы and -і and applying the consonant and vowel changes that come with it.
Comparative and superlative, the irregular forms worth memorising, and the one construction Russian speakers consistently get wrong: than is за with the accusative.
I can compare two things and name the best of several, using за or чым for "than".
An adjective copies its noun through every case, so a phrase moves as one block. Learn the block, not the two words.
I can decline an adjective and noun together through all six cases.
Adjective endings by gender and number - -ы/-і, -ая, -ае, -ыя - and the comparative. The endings differ from Russian in almost every slot, which is what makes written Belarusian recognisable at a glance.
I can describe people, places and things with adjectives that agree in gender and number, and compare two things.
First, second, third and the rest behave as adjectives - which is what makes dates, floors and clock times work the way they do.
I can give a date, a year, a floor and a clock time, inflecting the ordinal correctly.
Numerals decline, and in a compound every word declines. This is where careful written Belarusian separates itself from careless speech.
I can decline cardinal and compound numerals and keep them apart from ordinals.
двое, трое, чацвёра - a second set of numbers for people taken as a group, for plural-only nouns and for young creatures. Using the ordinary numeral instead is grammatical but sounds off.
I can use collective numerals where they are required and avoid them where they are not.
Counting from адзін to сто, and the rule that surprises Russian speakers: after два, тры and чатыры the noun stands in the nominative plural, not the genitive singular.
I can count to a hundred in Belarusian, give prices and quantities, and put the noun in the right case after a number.
Telling the time, the seven days, and the twelve Belarusian month names that still describe the farming year - plus the two false friends that catch every Russian speaker: нядзеля and гадзіна.
I can say what day and month it is, tell the time, and arrange to meet someone at a particular hour.
шмат, мала, некалькі, большасць - the quantity words, the case each governs, and what the verb agrees with when the subject is a quantity.
I can express quantity and approximation, and make the verb agree correctly when a quantity is the subject.
How Belarusian names, surnames and place names decline, and why the same city has two spellings in English.
I can decline Belarusian names, patronymics, surnames and place names, and I know which surnames stay unchanged.
Кіно, метро, таксі - the words that never change ending, how they get a gender anyway, and how abbreviations agree.
I can use indeclinable nouns and abbreviations with the right agreement, and I know which borrowings do decline.