Belarusian writes what it says. Unstressed о and э become а, and е becomes я in the syllable before the stress - which is why the same root looks different in different forms.
I can spell unstressed vowels correctly, counting syllables from the stress to decide between е and я.
Подивіться на ці приклади. Чи можете ви помітити граматичну закономірність?
Вада ў возеры была цёплая.
The water in the lake was warm.
Лясная сцяжынка вяла да ракі.
A forest path led to the river.
Лесавік у казках жыве ў пушчы.
The forest spirit in the tales lives in the wilderness.
Ён сардэчна падзякаваў гаспадыні.
He thanked the hostess warmly.
Зверніть увагу на виділені частини. Що у них спільного?
Russian spelling is morphological: вода and воды keep the same о, and you work out the pronunciation from the stress. Belarusian spelling is phonetic: it writes the vowel that is actually said. This single difference is behind most of the spelling errors a Russian speaker makes.
Unstressed о and э are written а:
| Stressed | Unstressed |
|---|---|
| воды | вада |
| дом | дамы |
| сэрца | сардэчны |
Unstressed е is written я, but only in the syllable immediately before the stress. Further away it stays е:
This is the rule people get wrong most often, and the fix is mechanical: count syllables back from the stress. One syllable, я. More, е.
Because the writing follows the sound, one root can look like three: сэрца - сардэчны - сярдзіты. Recognising that they are one family is a reading skill, not just a spelling one.
Застосуйте цю граматику у вправах курсу B2
Вправи для практикиTypical errors: writing я in every unstressed syllable rather than only the one before the stress, and carrying Russian о spellings over unchanged.
Keeping the Russian о in unstressed position
It is written а: вада, дамы, галава.
Writing я more than one syllable before the stress
Only the syllable before the stress: лясны but лесавік.
Leaving е in the syllable before the stress
It becomes я: сямнаццаць, вясна.
Writing а in a borrowing that keeps о
Радыё, трыо, Токіо keep their о.
Вада ў возеры была цёплая.
The water in the lake was warm.
Unstressed о is written а: <em>вада</em>, from stressed <em>воды</em>.
Лясная сцяжынка вяла да ракі.
A forest path led to the river.
One syllable before the stress, so <em>лясная</em> with я.
Лесавік у казках жыве ў пушчы.
The forest spirit in the tales lives in the wilderness.
Two syllables from the stress, so е stays - the same root as <em>лясная</em>.
Ён сардэчна падзякаваў гаспадыні.
He thanked the hostess warmly.
<em>Сэрца</em> gives <em>сардэчна</em> - the same root, two spellings.
Па радыё перадавалі прагноз надвор'я.
The forecast was being broadcast on the radio.
A borrowing that keeps its о: <em>радыё</em>.
Практикувати в курсі
Застосуйте цю граматику у вправах курсу B2