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.
Look at these examples. Can you spot the grammar pattern?
Гэта мой брат, а гэта мая сястра.
This is my brother, and this is my sister.
Маё імя Алеся. А як тваё імя?
My name is Alesia. And what is your name?
Нашае возера называецца Нарач.
Our lake is called Narach.
Яго бабуля жыве ў вёсцы пад Полацкам.
His grandmother lives in a village near Polatsk.
Pay attention to the highlighted parts. What do they have in common?
A Belarusian possessive agrees with the thing owned, never with the owner. Мой in мой брат and мая сястра is the same word in two shapes, chosen by the gender of брат and сястра — not by who is speaking.
| Meaning | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| my | мой | мая | маё | мае |
| your (informal) | твой | твая | тваё | твае |
| our | наш | наша | наша / нашае | нашы |
| your (plural / polite) | ваш | ваша | ваша / вашае | вашы |
| own (any person) | свой | свая | сваё | свае |
яго (his / its), яе (her), іх (their) have a single form regardless of what follows: яго брат, яго сястра, яго дзеці. They are simply the genitive of ён, яна, яны doing possessive duty, and they are pronounced with the Belarusian fricative г.
Свой points back to the subject of the sentence, whoever that is. Ён узяў свой ровар means he took his own bike; Ён узяў яго ровар means he took someone else's. English needs "his own" to make the same distinction, and often leaves it ambiguous.
For ownership of things, Belarusian normally prefers the у + genitive construction over a verb: У мяне ёсць ровар (I have a bike), У яе ёсць сястра (she has a sister). The possessive pronoun then modifies a noun rather than carrying the sentence: Гэта мой ровар.
English possessives are chosen by the owner (his book, her book) and never change for the noun. Belarusian does the opposite for мой/твой/наш/ваш/свой and the same for яго/яе/іх, so half the system is inverted and half is familiar. Practise the inverted half first.
Apply this grammar in A1 course exercises
Practice ExercisesTypical errors: using the English pattern and choosing the possessive by the owner (мая брат for a female speaker). Also common: replacing свой with яго and changing the meaning to someone else's.
Using Russian его/её/их instead of яго/яе/іх
Яго брат, яе сястра, іх дзеці. The initial [j] of яго and яе matches ён, яна, яны; іх has none.
Using the Russian neuter моё/твоё/наше/ваше
Belarusian has маё, тваё, сваё, and наша / нашае, ваша / вашае.
Choosing the possessive by the owner's gender, as in English
The possessive agrees with the thing owned: мой брат, мая сястра, whoever is speaking.
Using яго where свой is required
Ён узяў свой ровар = his own. Ён узяў яго ровар = someone else's.
Гэта мой брат, а гэта мая сястра.
This is my brother, and this is my sister.
One owner, two shapes of the same possessive: <em>мой</em> before a masculine noun, <em>мая</em> before a feminine one.
Маё імя Алеся. А як тваё імя?
My name is Alesia. And what is your name?
<em>Імя</em> is neuter, so the possessives are <strong>маё</strong> and <strong>тваё</strong>. Alesia is one of the most characteristically Belarusian given names.
Нашае возера называецца Нарач.
Our lake is called Narach.
The neuter of <em>наш</em> is <strong>наша</strong> or <strong>нашае</strong>; the second has no Russian counterpart. Narach is the largest lake in Belarus.
Яго бабуля жыве ў вёсцы пад Полацкам.
His grandmother lives in a village near Polatsk.
<em>Яго</em> does not change for the feminine <em>бабуля</em> — it has one form for everything. Pronounce the <em>г</em> as a fricative, closer to English <em>h</em> than to <em>g</em>.
Кожны нясе свой кошык на Дзяды.
Everyone carries their own basket for Dziady.
<em>Свой</em> points back to the subject. Dziady is the autumn day on which families remember their dead, one of the oldest surviving Belarusian observances.
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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.