A prefix does two things at once: it makes the verb perfective and it changes the meaning. Learning the prefixes is the fastest way to multiply the vocabulary you already have.
I can recognise what a prefix adds to a familiar verb and spell the common prefixes correctly.
Look at these examples. Can you spot the grammar pattern?
Запішы мой нумар, каб не забыць.
Write down my number so you do not forget.
Падпішыце тут, калі ласка.
Sign here, please.
Ён адказаў адразу і адкрыў дзверы.
He answered at once and opened the door.
Трэба перапісаць гэты тэкст начыста.
This text needs copying out neatly.
Pay attention to the highlighted parts. What do they have in common?
Add a prefix to an imperfective verb and you get a perfective one with a new meaning. From пісаць alone:
| напісаць | to write (and finish) |
| запісаць | to write down, to record |
| падпісаць | to sign |
| апісаць | to describe |
| перапісаць | to rewrite, to copy out |
| выпісаць | to write out, to discharge |
| па- | start, or do a little | пайсці, пачытаць |
| пры- | arrival, attachment | прыйсці, прынесці |
| вы- | out | выйсці, выпіць |
| за- | behind, or beginning | зайсці, запець |
| пера- | across, again | перайсці, перарабіць |
| раз- / рас- | apart | разбіць, расказаць |
| з- / с- | completion, together | зрабіць, сабраць |
| да- | as far as, finish off | дайсці, дапісаць |
Prefixes are where Belarusian orthography shows itself:
Eight prefixes across thirty common verbs is a couple of hundred words you can read without having met them. At B1 this is the single highest-yield thing in the vocabulary.
Apply this grammar in B1 course exercises
Practice ExercisesTypical errors: assuming a prefix means the same thing on every verb, and combining a prefixed perfective with буду.
Writing от-, под-, по- instead of ад-, пад-, па-
Akanne applies to prefixes too: адказаць, падпісаць, пайсці.
Choosing з or с by the Russian pattern
It follows the sound: зрабіць before a voiced consonant, сказаць before a voiceless one.
Assuming a prefix means the same on every verb
За- can mean behind or beginning; the verb decides.
Combining a prefixed perfective with буду
Напішу, not буду напісаць.
Запішы мой нумар, каб не забыць.
Write down my number so you do not forget.
<em>За-</em> gives the sense of recording, and the verb is perfective.
Падпішыце тут, калі ласка.
Sign here, please.
<em>Пад-</em>, not <em>под-</em> - akanne applies to the prefix as well.
Ён адказаў адразу і адкрыў дзверы.
He answered at once and opened the door.
Two verbs with <em>ад-</em> where Russian has <em>от-</em>.
Трэба перапісаць гэты тэкст начыста.
This text needs copying out neatly.
<em>Пера-</em> for doing something again.
Мы дайшлі да ратушы за дзесяць хвілін.
We reached the town hall in ten minutes.
<em>Да-</em> for reaching a limit, paired with the preposition <em>да</em>.
Practice in course
Apply this grammar in B1 course exercises
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).
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.