The verb быць (to be)

The verb быць

The present has no verb at all

Belarusian simply leaves the copula out:

• Я студэнт. — I am a student.
• Яна настаўніца. — She is a teacher.
• Мінск - сталіца Беларусі. — Minsk is the capital of Belarus.

In writing, a dash often stands where the verb would be, especially between two nouns.

Ёсць: there is, and having

Ёсць is the surviving present-tense form, used when the point is that something exists rather than what it is like:

• У мяне ёсць сястра. — I have a sister (literally: at me there is a sister).
• Тут ёсць кавярня? — Is there a cafe here?

Belarusian does have мець — it is normal in мець рацыю, мець на ўвазе, мець магчымасць, and in the greeting Як маецеся? — but for concrete possession it prefers у plus the genitive of the owner plus ёсць. The negative counterpart is няма with the genitive: У мяне няма сястры.

The past: four forms, chosen by gender

Note the masculine быў with ў, not -л. Unlike the present, the past is never omitted: Я быў студэнтам needs the verb.

The future

буду, будзеш, будзе, будзем, будзеце, будуць — used both on its own (Заўтра буду дома) and as the auxiliary of the compound future (буду чытаць).

If your first language is English

English cannot build a sentence without a verb, so Я студэнт feels unfinished and the temptation is to insert ёсць. Resist it: Я ёсць студэнт is wrong. And there is no have to reach for either - possession runs through у мяне ёсць.