Demonstratives

A1 — Займеннікі

This and that in Belarusian: the agreeing forms гэты and той, the invariable гэта that introduces someone, and the four words for here and there that keep position apart from direction.

I can point things out, say which one I mean, and distinguish being here from coming here.

Examples

Гэта мой брат Алесь, а гэта яго жонка. — This is my brother Ales, and this is his wife.
Гэтая вуліца вядзе да Траецкага прадмесця. — This street leads to the Traieckaje suburb.
Той дом на рагу - самы стары ў горадзе. — That house on the corner is the oldest in town.
Ідзі сюды, тут цяплей. — Come here, it is warmer here.
Тыя азёры на поўначы называюцца Браслаўскімі. — Those lakes in the north are called the Braslau lakes.

ЗайменнікіA1

Demonstratives

This and that in Belarusian: the agreeing forms гэты and той, the invariable гэта that introduces someone, and the four words for here and there that keep position apart from direction.

Learning Goal

I can point things out, say which one I mean, and distinguish being here from coming here.

Exam Skills:BSU: ГаварэннеBSU: Пісьмо

Look at these examples. Can you spot the grammar pattern?

Гэта мой брат Алесь, а гэта яго жонка.

This is my brother Ales, and this is his wife.

Гэтая вуліца вядзе да Траецкага прадмесця.

This street leads to the Traieckaje suburb.

Той дом на рагу - самы стары ў горадзе.

That house on the corner is the oldest in town.

Ідзі сюды, тут цяплей.

Come here, it is warmer here.

Pay attention to the highlighted parts. What do they have in common?

Demonstratives

Belarusian distinguishes what is near the speaker from what is further off, and the demonstrative agrees with its noun like an adjective.

	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Plural
this, these (near)	гэты	гэтая	гэтае	гэтыя
that, those (far)	той	тая	тое	тыя

The invariable гэта

Quite separately from гэты, the word гэта introduces an identification and does not change for anything:

Гэта мой брат. — This is my brother.
Гэта мая сястра. — This is my sister.
Гэта нашы сябры. — These are our friends.

Compare it with the agreeing form: Гэта кніга means "this is a book", while Гэтая кніга цікавая means "this book is interesting". The first identifies, the second modifies.

Here and there

	Position	Direction
near	тут — here	сюды — (to) here
far	там — there	туды — (to) there

The same position-versus-direction split you met with дзе and куды. English collapses each pair into one word.

Also worth having

такі, такая, такое, такія — such, that kind of;
гэтак / так — in this way. Careful: on its own так normally means "yes", so "in this way" is usually гэтак;
тады — then, at that time.

If your first language is English

English has four words — this, that, these, those — and picks by number alone. Belarusian picks by gender, number and case, so one demonstrative has more forms than the entire English set. The compensation is that гэта, the form you will use most in the first weeks, never changes at all.

Apply this grammar in A1 course exercises

Practice Exercises

Typical errors: using гэта where the agreeing гэтая or гэтыя is needed, and using тут for a direction where сюды belongs.

Common Error Patterns

Error with Указальныя займеннікі

Review Указальныя займеннікі.

Гэта мой брат Алесь, а гэта яго жонка.

This is my brother Ales, and this is his wife.

The invariable гэта twice, before a masculine and a feminine noun alike.

Гэтая вуліца вядзе да Траецкага прадмесця.

This street leads to the Traieckaje suburb.

Here the demonstrative modifies, so it agrees: гэтая. Traieckaje Pradmiescie is the restored old quarter on the bank of the Svislach.

Той дом на рагу - самы стары ў горадзе.

That house on the corner is the oldest in town.

Той for something further off, agreeing with a masculine noun.

Ідзі сюды, тут цяплей.

Come here, it is warmer here.

Сюды for the movement and тут for the place, in the same breath.

Тыя азёры на поўначы называюцца Браслаўскімі.

Those lakes in the north are called the Braslau lakes.

Plural тыя, distant. The Braslau lakes sit almost on the Latvian border.

Practice in course

Apply this grammar in A1 course exercises

A1 Course

← Back to topics

Put it into practice

Try a free exercise from the course

9. Shopping and clothes

Frequently asked questions

When is Demonstratives used?: Belarusian distinguishes what is near the speaker from what is further off, and the demonstrative agrees with its noun like an adjective.
How is Demonstratives formed?: Quite separately from гэты , the word гэта introduces an identification and does not change for anything: Compare it with the agreeing form: Гэта кніга means "this is a book", while Гэтая кніга цікавая means "this book is interesting". The first identifies, the second modifies. The same position-versus-direction split you met with дзе and куды . English collapses each pair into one word. English has four words — this, that, these, those — and picks by number alone. Belarusian picks by gender, number and case, so one demonstrative has more forms than the entire English set. The compensation is that гэта , the form you will use most in the first weeks, never changes at all.
What are common mistakes with Demonstratives?: Typical errors: using гэта where the agreeing гэтая or гэтыя is needed, and using тут for a direction where сюды belongs.

Sources

Кароткая граматыка беларускай мовы. У 2 ч. Ч. 1: Фаналогія. Марфаналогія. Марфалогія / навук. рэд. А. А. Лукашанец — НАН Беларусі, Інстытут мовазнаўства імя Якуба Коласа; Мінск: Беларуская навука, 351 с., 2007
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).

Masculine

Feminine

Neuter

Plural

this, these (near)

гэты

гэтая

гэтае

гэтыя

that, those (far)

той

тая

тое

тыя

Position

Direction

near

тут — here

сюды — (to) here

far

там — there

туды — (to) there

Frequently asked questions

When is Demonstratives used?

Belarusian distinguishes what is near the speaker from what is further off, and the demonstrative agrees with its noun like an adjective.

How is Demonstratives formed?

Quite separately from гэты , the word гэта introduces an identification and does not change for anything: Compare it with the agreeing form: Гэта кніга means "this is a book", while Гэтая кніга цікавая means "this book is interesting". The first identifies, the second modifies. The same position-versus-direction split you met with дзе and куды . English collapses each pair into one word. English has four words — this, that, these, those — and picks by number alone. Belarusian picks by gender, number and case, so one demonstrative has more forms than the entire English set. The compensation is that гэта , the form you will use most in the first weeks, never changes at all.

What are common mistakes with Demonstratives?

Typical errors: using гэта where the agreeing гэтая or гэтыя is needed, and using тут for a direction where сюды belongs.

Sources

Кароткая граматыка беларускай мовы. У 2 ч. Ч. 1: Фаналогія. Марфаналогія. Марфалогія / навук. рэд. А. А. Лукашанец — НАН Беларусі, Інстытут мовазнаўства імя Якуба Коласа; Мінск: Беларуская навука, 351 с., 2007

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).