By what means, in whose company, and what someone works as. The means takes no preposition at all: the ending alone carries what English says with "with".
I can say by what means something is done, who I did it with, and what someone works as.
Look at these examples. Can you spot the grammar pattern?
Я пішу ручкай, а не алоўкам.
I write with a pen, not a pencil.
Мы едзем у Гродна цягніком.
We are going to Hrodna by train.
Гарбату п'ём з мёдам і са смятанай.
We drink tea with honey and with sour cream.
Мая маці працуе настаўніцай у школе.
My mother works as a teacher at a school.
Pay attention to the highlighted parts. What do they have in common?
| Job | Example |
|---|---|
| The means - by what | пішу ручкай, еду аўтобусам |
| Company, after з | з сябрам, з мёдам |
| What someone works as | працуе настаўніцай |
| After пад, над, перад, за, паміж | пад сталом, паміж вокнамі |
This is the point English speakers miss. Пішу ручкай - I write with a pen - has no word for "with" in it at all; the ending does the job. Adding з changes the meaning to company, so пішу з ручкай would mean the pen came along for the walk.
| Masculine | -ам / -ем | брат → братам |
| Feminine | -ай / -яй | сястра → сястрой; кніга → кнігай |
| Neuter | -ам | акно → акном |
| Plural | -амі / -ямі | сябры → сябрамі |
Before a word beginning with с or з the preposition is written са: са смятанай, са здорам, са сваімі.
Apply this grammar in A2 course exercises
Practice ExercisesTypical errors: adding з to the means, because English says "with a pen". The instrumental alone carries it; з would make the pen a companion.
Adding з to the means
Пішу ручкай, not пішу з ручкай. The ending carries "with".
Using the Russian instrumental ending
Кнігай, настаўніцай, сябрамі - with -ай and -амі.
Writing з before a word beginning with с or з
It becomes са: са смятанай, са здорам, са сваімі.
Always using на with transport
The bare instrumental is more idiomatic: еду аўтобусам, цягніком, маршруткай.
Я пішу ручкай, а не алоўкам.
I write with a pen, not a pencil.
The means takes the bare instrumental - no word for "with" appears.
Мы едзем у Гродна цягніком.
We are going to Hrodna by train.
Transport in the instrumental - shorter and more idiomatic than <em>на цягніку</em>.
Гарбату п'ём з мёдам і са смятанай.
We drink tea with honey and with sour cream.
Both take <em>з</em>, but before <em>с</em> it is written <strong>са</strong>.
Мая маці працуе настаўніцай у школе.
My mother works as a teacher at a school.
A profession after <em>працаваць</em> goes into the instrumental.
Дыван ляжыць пад сталом, паміж вокнамі.
The carpet lies under the table, between the windows.
Two prepositions of position, both taking the instrumental.
Practice in course
Apply this grammar in A2 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.