The personal, possessive, demonstrative and interrogative pronouns in all six cases - and the н- that appears on яго and яе after a preposition.
I can decline personal, possessive, demonstrative and interrogative pronouns through all six cases.
Look at these examples. Can you spot the grammar pattern?
У мяне ёсць пытанне да цябе.
I have a question for you.
Я размаўляў з ім пра яе працу.
I talked to him about her work.
Гэта кніга майго брата, а тая - маёй сястры.
This is my brother's book, and that one is my sister's.
Каму ты гэта сказаў?
Who did you say that to?
Pay attention to the highlighted parts. What do they have in common?
| Case | я | ты | ён | яна | мы | вы | яны |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| назоўны | я | ты | ён | яна | мы | вы | яны |
| родны | мяне | цябе | яго | яе | нас | вас | іх |
| давальны | мне | табе | яму | ёй | нам | вам | ім |
| вінавальны | мяне | цябе | яго | яе | нас | вас | іх |
| творны | мной | табой | ім | ёй | намі | вамі | імі |
| месны | мне | табе | ім | ёй | нас | вас | іх |
Third-person pronouns gain an н- when a preposition governs them:
The safest habit is to learn each preposition with a pronoun attached rather than to derive the rule.
мой, майго, майму, маім, маім; мая, маёй, маю, маёй; мае, маіх, маім, маімі. The feminine again has one form, маёй, doing four cases.
Яго, яе, іх never decline at all - one form for every case and gender.
гэты, гэтага, гэтаму, гэтым and той, таго, таму, тым follow the adjective pattern. So do які and чый.
Хто and што have their own short paradigms: хто, каго, каму, кім and што, чаго, чаму, чым. Note that чаму is both the dative of што and the word for "why".
Apply this grammar in A2 course exercises
Practice ExercisesTypical errors: declining яго, яе and іх, which never change; and treating чаму as only meaning "why" when it is also the dative of што.
Declining яго, яе or іх
They never change: яго брат, яго сястра, яго дзеці.
Using меня, тебя, тебе
Мяне, цябе, табе - different vowel and different consonant.
Using -его, -ему in the possessives
Майго, майму, маёй, маіх.
Treating чаму as only meaning why
It is also the dative of што: чаму ты здзіўляешся.
У мяне ёсць пытанне да цябе.
I have a question for you.
Two genitives: <em>мяне</em> in the have-construction and <em>цябе</em> after <em>да</em>.
Я размаўляў з ім пра яе працу.
I talked to him about her work.
Instrumental <em>ім</em> after <em>з</em>, and the invariable <em>яе</em> as a possessive.
Гэта кніга майго брата, а тая - маёй сястры.
This is my brother's book, and that one is my sister's.
Possessives declining like adjectives, in the genitive both times.
Каму ты гэта сказаў?
Who did you say that to?
The dative of <em>хто</em>.
Чаму ты не прыйшоў і чаму ты здзіўляешся?
Why did you not come, and what are you surprised at?
The same word twice: first "why", then the dative of <em>што</em> after <em>здзіўляцца</em>.
Practice in course
Apply this grammar in A2 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.