What changes and what does not when you report what someone said. The tense stays; the pronouns and the time words move.
I can report statements, questions and requests, moving the pronouns and time words while leaving the tense alone.
Look at these examples. Can you spot the grammar pattern?
Ён сказаў, што прыйдзе а сёмай.
He said he would come at seven.
Яна спытала, ці я буду дома ўвечары.
She asked whether I would be at home in the evening.
Ён спытаў, калі мы паедзем у Мір.
He asked when we would go to Mir.
Лекарка папрасіла, каб я ляжаў два дні.
The doctor asked me to stay in bed for two days.
Pay attention to the highlighted parts. What do they have in common?
This is the whole difference from English, and it is worth stating flatly: Belarusian reports the verb exactly as the speaker said it.
| Said | Reported |
|---|---|
| «Я прыйду.» | Ён сказаў, што прыйдзе. |
| «Я хворы.» | Ён сказаў, што хворы. |
| «Я быў там.» | Ён сказаў, што быў там. |
English would give "he said he would come", "he said he was ill". Shifting the tense back in Belarusian changes the meaning rather than the register.
| Original | Introduced by | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Statement | што | Ён сказаў, што прыйдзе. |
| Yes/no question | ці | Ён спытаў, ці я прыйду. |
| Wh-question | the question word | Ён спытаў, калі я прыйду. |
| Order or request | каб + past form | Ён папрасіў, каб я прыйшоў. |
The last row is where the imperative goes: there is no reported imperative, so a request becomes a каб clause with a past-tense form.
казаць / сказаць to say, гаварыць to talk, пытацца / спытаць to ask a question, прасіць / папрасіць to request, адказваць to answer, дадаць to add, паведаміць to inform.
A reported question keeps the order of a statement, and ці or the question word simply opens the clause. Nothing is inverted, because nothing was inverted in the first place.
Apply this grammar in B1 course exercises
Practice ExercisesTypical errors: shifting the tense back as English does, and trying to report an imperative directly instead of turning it into a каб clause.
Shifting the tense back as in English
Belarusian keeps what was said: Ён сказаў, што прыйдзе.
Trying to report an imperative directly
Use каб with a past-tense form: папрасіў, каб я прыйшоў.
Using ли after the word
Ці opens the clause: спытала, ці я буду дома.
Leaving сёння, заўтра and тут unchanged
They move with the point of view: у той дзень, на наступны дзень, там.
Ён сказаў, што прыйдзе а сёмай.
He said he would come at seven.
The future stays a future, even after a past-tense verb of speaking.
Яна спытала, ці я буду дома ўвечары.
She asked whether I would be at home in the evening.
A reported yes/no question with <em>ці</em>, which opens the clause.
Ён спытаў, калі мы паедзем у Мір.
He asked when we would go to Mir.
A wh-question keeps its question word and its direct word order.
Лекарка папрасіла, каб я ляжаў два дні.
The doctor asked me to stay in bed for two days.
A request becomes a <em>каб</em> clause with a past-tense form - there is no reported imperative.
Ён сказаў, што на наступны дзень будзе там.
He said he would be there the next day.
The time and place words have moved - <em>заўтра</em> and <em>тут</em> would be wrong here.
Practice in course
Apply this grammar in B1 course exercises
The syntax volume of the current academic reference grammar, cited as the standard reference for Belarusian sentence structure rather than for one quoted passage. It is what the description on this page is measured against; it is not a source for any single claim here.