The verb быць (to be)

The verb быць

The present has no verb at all

Belarusian simply leaves the copula out:

Я студэнт. — I am a student.
Яна настаўніца. — She is a teacher.
Мінск - сталіца Беларусі. — Minsk is the capital of Belarus.

In writing, a dash often stands where the verb would be, especially between two nouns.

Ёсць: there is, and having

Ёсць is the surviving present-tense form, used when the point is that something exists rather than what it is like:

У мяне ёсць сястра. — I have a sister (literally: at me there is a sister).
Тут ёсць кавярня? — Is there a cafe here?

Belarusian does have мець — it is normal in мець рацыю, мець на ўвазе, мець магчымасць, and in the greeting Як маецеся? — but for concrete possession it prefers у plus the genitive of the owner plus ёсць. The negative counterpart is няма with the genitive: У мяне няма сястры.

The past: four forms, chosen by gender

Subject	Form	Example
masculine	быў	Ён быў тут.
feminine	была	Яна была там.
neuter	было	Яно было добра.
plural	былі	Яны былі ў Мінску.

Note the masculine быў with ў, not -л. Unlike the present, the past is never omitted: Я быў студэнтам needs the verb.

The future

буду, будзеш, будзе, будзем, будзеце, будуць — used both on its own (Заўтра буду дома) and as the auxiliary of the compound future (буду чытаць).

If your first language is English

English cannot build a sentence without a verb, so Я студэнт feels unfinished and the temptation is to insert ёсць. Resist it: Я ёсць студэнт is wrong. And there is no have to reach for either - possession runs through у мяне ёсць.

Frequently asked questions

When is The verb быць (to be) used?

In writing, a dash often stands where the verb would be, especially between two nouns.

How is The verb быць (to be) formed?

Ёсць is the surviving present-tense form, used when the point is that something exists rather than what it is like: Belarusian does have мець — it is normal in мець рацыю , мець на ўвазе , мець магчымасць , and in the greeting Як маецеся? — but for concrete possession it prefers у plus the genitive of the owner plus ёсць . The negative counterpart is няма with the genitive: У мяне няма сястры . Note the masculine быў with ў , not -л . Unlike the present, the past is never omitted: Я быў студэнтам needs the verb. буду, будзеш, будзе, будзем, будзеце, будуць — used both on its own ( Заўтра буду дома ) and as the auxiliary of the compound future ( буду чытаць ).

What are common mistakes with The verb быць (to be)?

Typical errors: inserting ёсць as a copula because an English sentence needs a verb ( Я ёсць студэнт ); and reaching for мець where Belarusian builds у мяне ёсць .

Sources

Кароткая граматыка беларускай мовы. У 2 ч. Ч. 1: Фаналогія. Марфаналогія. Марфалогія / навук. рэд. А. А. Лукашанец — НАН Беларусі, Інстытут мовазнаўства імя Якуба Коласа; Мінск: Беларуская навука, 351 с., 2007

The current academic reference grammar; the linked edition serves the full text. Cited for its verb section, which treats the infinitive, transitivity and reflexivity before the conjugation paradigms, and gives the participle suffixes -уч- (-юч-), -ач- (-яч-) and -ш-, -ўш-, -т-, -н- alongside the gerund suffixes -ўшы, -шы and -учы (-ючы), -ачы (-ячы).

Беларуская граматыка. У 2 ч. Ч. 1: Фаналогія. Арфаэпія. Марфалогія. Словаўтварэнне. Націск / рэд. М. В. Бірыла, П. П. Шуба — АН БССР, Інстытут мовазнаўства імя Якуба Коласа; Мінск: Навука і тэхніка, 1985

The academic reference grammar behind the phonology, orthoepy and morphology sections: the 32-letter inventory, дж and дз as digraphs rather than letters, and the normative description of akanne and jakanne. A print work; no URL is given, because the only one available is a library catalogue record that carries none of the text.