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.
Look at these examples. Can you spot the grammar pattern?
Мы былі ў новым кіно на Незалежнасці.
We were at the new cinema on Niezalezhnasci Avenue.
Без кавы я раніцай не чалавек.
I am no use in the morning without coffee.
Мой брат вучыцца ў БДУ на гісторыка.
My brother studies history at BSU.
Апошняе метро адыходзіць а поўначы.
The last metro leaves at midnight.
Pay attention to the highlighted parts. What do they have in common?
They keep one shape through every case, and the case is shown by the words around them: у новым кіно, з новага кіно.
They still need one, because adjectives and verbs must agree. The rules:
| Kind | Gender | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Inanimate things | neuter | новае кіно, апошняе метро |
| People | by sex | вядомы кутюр'е, старая ледзі |
| Animals | usually masculine | маленькі поні |
| Place names | by the generic word | сонечнае Асло (a city) |
The last rule is the useful one: a place name takes the gender of the noun it belongs to - горад, рака, краіна. So Місісіпі is feminine because it is a рака.
Some borrowings have been fully naturalised and do decline. Кава - coffee - is an ordinary feminine noun in Belarusian: без кавы, з кавай. Belarusian took the word through Polish, not through the international form, and this is why it behaves differently from the Russian equivalent.
Apply this grammar in B2 course exercises
Practice ExercisesTypical errors: giving an indeclinable noun a case ending, and assigning a place name the wrong gender.
Giving an indeclinable noun a case ending
The surrounding words carry the case.
Treating кава as indeclinable
It declines: кавы, каве, кавай.
Assigning the wrong gender
Inanimate borrowings are neuter; place names follow their generic word.
Declining a letter abbreviation
БДУ, ААН and ЗША stay unchanged.
Мы былі ў новым кіно на Незалежнасці.
We were at the new cinema on Niezalezhnasci Avenue.
<em>Кіно</em> is unchanged; the adjective carries the case and the neuter gender.
Без кавы я раніцай не чалавек.
I am no use in the morning without coffee.
<em>Кава</em> declines - genitive <em>кавы</em>, unlike the Russian word.
Мой брат вучыцца ў БДУ на гісторыка.
My brother studies history at BSU.
The abbreviation does not decline; <em>у</em> plus locative is shown by context alone.
Апошняе метро адыходзіць а поўначы.
The last metro leaves at midnight.
Neuter agreement on an inanimate borrowing.
Шырокая Місісіпі цячэ на поўдзень.
The wide Mississippi flows south.
Feminine because the generic word is <em>рака</em>.
Practice in course
Apply this grammar in B2 course exercises
The current academic reference grammar; the linked edition serves the full text. Cited for its declension section, which sets out the first, second and third declensions, notes that plural-only nouns decline on those same patterns, and treats маці as a noun of its own.
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.