Кіно, метро, таксі - the words that never change ending, how they get a gender anyway, and how abbreviations agree.
I can use indeclinable nouns and abbreviations with the right agreement, and I know which borrowings do decline.
Подивіться на ці приклади. Чи можете ви помітити граматичну закономірність?
Мы былі ў новым кіно на Незалежнасці.
We were at the new cinema on Niezalezhnasci Avenue.
Без кавы я раніцай не чалавек.
I am no use in the morning without coffee.
Мой брат вучыцца ў БДУ на гісторыка.
My brother studies history at BSU.
Апошняе метро адыходзіць а поўначы.
The last metro leaves at midnight.
Зверніть увагу на виділені частини. Що у них спільного?
They keep one shape through every case, and the case is shown by the words around them: у новым кіно, з новага кіно.
They still need one, because adjectives and verbs must agree. The rules:
| Kind | Gender | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Inanimate things | neuter | новае кіно, апошняе метро |
| People | by sex | вядомы кутюр'е, старая ледзі |
| Animals | usually masculine | маленькі поні |
| Place names | by the generic word | сонечнае Асло (a city) |
The last rule is the useful one: a place name takes the gender of the noun it belongs to - горад, рака, краіна. So Місісіпі is feminine because it is a рака.
Some borrowings have been fully naturalised and do decline. Кава - coffee - is an ordinary feminine noun in Belarusian: без кавы, з кавай. Belarusian took the word through Polish, not through the international form, and this is why it behaves differently from the Russian equivalent.
Застосуйте цю граматику у вправах курсу B2
Вправи для практикиTypical errors: giving an indeclinable noun a case ending, and assigning a place name the wrong gender.
Giving an indeclinable noun a case ending
The surrounding words carry the case.
Treating кава as indeclinable
It declines: кавы, каве, кавай.
Assigning the wrong gender
Inanimate borrowings are neuter; place names follow their generic word.
Declining a letter abbreviation
БДУ, ААН and ЗША stay unchanged.
Мы былі ў новым кіно на Незалежнасці.
We were at the new cinema on Niezalezhnasci Avenue.
<em>Кіно</em> is unchanged; the adjective carries the case and the neuter gender.
Без кавы я раніцай не чалавек.
I am no use in the morning without coffee.
<em>Кава</em> declines - genitive <em>кавы</em>, unlike the Russian word.
Мой брат вучыцца ў БДУ на гісторыка.
My brother studies history at BSU.
The abbreviation does not decline; <em>у</em> plus locative is shown by context alone.
Апошняе метро адыходзіць а поўначы.
The last metro leaves at midnight.
Neuter agreement on an inanimate borrowing.
Шырокая Місісіпі цячэ на поўдзень.
The wide Mississippi flows south.
Feminine because the generic word is <em>рака</em>.
Практикувати в курсі
Застосуйте цю граматику у вправах курсу B2