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.
Look at these examples. Can you spot the grammar pattern?
У мяне два браты і дзве сястры.
I have two brothers and two sisters.
Чатыры дні ў Мінску - гэта мала.
Four days in Minsk is not enough.
Пяць білетаў, калі ласка.
Five tickets, please.
Гэта каштуе дваццаць тры рублі.
That costs twenty-three roubles.
Pay attention to the highlighted parts. What do they have in common?
| 1-10 | 11-20 | Tens |
|---|---|---|
| 1 адзін / адна / адно | 11 адзінаццаць | 10 дзесяць |
| 2 два / дзве | 12 дванаццаць | 20 дваццаць |
| 3 тры | 13 трынаццаць | 30 трыццаць |
| 4 чатыры | 14 чатырнаццаць | 40 сорак |
| 5 пяць | 15 пятнаццаць | 50 пяцьдзясят |
| 6 шэсць | 16 шаснаццаць | 60 шэсцьдзясят |
| 7 сем | 17 сямнаццаць | 70 семдзесят |
| 8 восем | 18 васямнаццаць | 80 восемдзесят |
| 9 дзевяць | 19 дзевятнаццаць | 90 дзевяноста |
| 10 дзесяць | 20 дваццаць | 100 сто |
Compounds are formed by simple juxtaposition: дваццаць адзін (21), сорак пяць (45), дзевяноста дзевяць (99).
Адзін agrees like an adjective: адзін брат, адна сястра, адно акно. Два has a separate feminine form дзве: два браты but дзве сястры. From тры upwards the numeral does not change for gender.
This is the rule to learn properly, because it does not match Russian:
| Number | Case of the noun | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | nominative singular | адзін стол, адна кніга |
| 2, 3, 4 | nominative plural | два сталы, тры кнігі, чатыры дні |
| 5 and above | genitive plural | пяць сталоў, дзесяць кніг |
Compound numbers take the case required by their last word: дваццаць два сталы, дваццаць пяць сталоў.
English simply pluralises after every number above one. Belarusian changes the case as well, and the boundary falls between four and five — a distinction with no English counterpart. Learn the three groups as three separate patterns rather than trying to derive them.
The currency is the беларускі рубель, divided into капейкі: адзін рубель, два рублі, пяць рублёў — the same three-way split, and a good way to drill it in a shop.
Feminine nouns that are stressed on the ending in the nominative singular and shift their stress in the plural do not follow the rule above: they take the genitive singular instead. Сястра is one of them, which is why it is дзве сястры and not дзве сёстры. So is рака: чатыры ракі, not чатыры рэкі.
An accompanying adjective still goes into the nominative plural whatever the noun does: дзве вялікія рэкі.
Apply this grammar in A1 course exercises
Practice ExercisesTypical errors: pluralising and stopping there, as English does, instead of choosing a case; using два with a feminine noun where дзве is needed; and taking the case from the first word of a compound number rather than the last.
Error with Лічбы 1-100
Review Лічбы 1-100.
У мяне два браты і дзве сястры.
I have two brothers and two sisters.
<em>Два</em> before a masculine noun, <strong>дзве</strong> before a feminine one, and both nouns stand in the nominative plural.
Чатыры дні ў Мінску - гэта мала.
Four days in Minsk is not enough.
After <em>чатыры</em> the noun is the nominative plural <strong>дні</strong>.
Пяць білетаў, калі ласка.
Five tickets, please.
From five upwards the noun goes into the genitive plural, as in Russian.
Гэта каштуе дваццаць тры рублі.
That costs twenty-three roubles.
A compound number takes the case its last word requires: <em>тры</em> gives the nominative plural <strong>рублі</strong>.
Полацку больш за тысячу гадоў.
Polatsk is over a thousand years old.
<em>Больш за</em> is the Belarusian comparative construction where Russian uses a bare genitive. Polatsk is first recorded in 862.
Practice in course
Apply this grammar in A1 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).
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.