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.
Look at these examples. Can you spot the grammar pattern?
На канцэрт прыйшло шмат людзей.
A lot of people came to the concert.
У нас засталося мала часу.
We have little time left.
Ехаць гадзіны дзве, не больш.
It is about two hours, no more.
Каля ста чалавек чакалі на плошчы.
About a hundred people were waiting on the square.
Pay attention to the highlighted parts. What do they have in common?
| Word | Means | Takes |
|---|---|---|
| шмат | a lot | genitive |
| мала | little, few | genitive |
| некалькі | several | genitive plural |
| крыху / трохі | a bit | genitive |
| большасць | most | genitive plural |
| палова | half | genitive |
| досыць / хопіць | enough | genitive |
All of them take the genitive. With a countable noun it is the genitive plural (шмат грыбоў); with an uncountable one, the genitive singular (шмат снегу).
When a quantity phrase is the subject, the verb usually goes into the neuter singular, because the quantity word is what it agrees with:
A plural verb is heard when the people are being thought of individually, but the neuter singular is the safe default and the one to write.
The reversal trick is worth having: it is the most natural way to be vague about a number, and word order alone carries it.
Хапае - there is enough - is impersonal and takes the genitive, with the person in the dative: Мне хапае часу. Its negative is the same: Ім не хапае месца.
Apply this grammar in B1 course exercises
Practice ExercisesTypical errors: making the verb plural after a quantity subject, and using the accusative after a quantity word instead of the genitive.
Making the verb plural after a quantity subject
Прыйшло шмат людзей - neuter singular is the default.
Using the accusative after a quantity word
They all take the genitive: шмат грыбоў, мала часу.
Using Russian quantity words
Шмат, крыху, трохі, досыць, некалькі.
Making the person the subject of хапае
It is impersonal: мне хапае часу.
На канцэрт прыйшло шмат людзей.
A lot of people came to the concert.
The verb is neuter singular because the quantity word is the subject.
У нас засталося мала часу.
We have little time left.
An uncountable noun, so the genitive singular: <em>часу</em>.
Ехаць гадзіны дзве, не больш.
It is about two hours, no more.
Reversing the numeral and noun makes it approximate - word order alone.
Каля ста чалавек чакалі на плошчы.
About a hundred people were waiting on the square.
<em>Каля</em> with the genitive, and the numeral declines with it.
Мне хапае часу, а ім не хапае месца.
I have enough time, and they do not have enough room.
Impersonal <em>хапае</em>: the person in the dative, the thing in the genitive.
Practice in course
Apply this grammar in B1 course exercises
The current academic reference grammar; the linked edition serves the full text. Its morphology part is the source for the paradigms used here. On the neuter noun it states the nominative singular endings as -а (-о) and -е (-ё), and gives the nominative plural as -ы after a hard consonant (сёлы, вёдры) against -і after a soft consonant and after к, х (палі, воблакі).