The four consonant rules that make a text look Belarusian: where ў is written, when д becomes дз, when a consonant doubles, and what the apostrophe does.
I can write ў, дз, дж, doubled consonants and the apostrophe where the rules require them.
Подивіться на ці приклади. Чи можете ви помітити граматичну закономірність?
Яна была ў бібліятэцы, а ён быў у школе.
She was at the library, and he was at school.
Дзеці хадзілі ў лес па суніцы.
The children went to the forest for wild strawberries.
Жыццё ў вёсцы ідзе павольней.
Life in the village goes more slowly.
Уся сям'я сабралася на Дзяды.
The whole family gathered for Dziady.
Зверніть увагу на виділені частини. Що у них спільного?
ў is written in place of у after a vowel:
It is not written at the start of a sentence, after a consonant, or in most recent borrowings (ва ўніверсітэце but урок). Polack has a monument to this letter, unveiled in 2003 during the Day of Belarusian Written Language - the idea of the calligrapher Pavel Siamchanka.
These are single sounds, written with two letters. Дз replaces д before a soft vowel (dzekanne): дзень, дзеці, хадзіць. Дж appears where д meets ж in verb forms: хаджу, сяджу.
Likewise ц replaces т before a soft vowel (tsekanne): цень, цяпер, цётка. This is why Belarusian sounds softer than Russian to a Russian ear.
Where Russian writes a soft consonant plus ь plus a vowel, Belarusian often doubles the consonant instead:
| Russian | Belarusian |
|---|---|
| жизнью | жыццём |
| знание | веданне |
| колосья | калоссе |
The doubling is real - the consonant is pronounced long.
The apostrophe replaces the Russian ъ and, in many positions, ь. It marks that the consonant before it is hard and a j follows: сям'я, аб'ява, надвор'е, б'е. Belarusian has no ъ at all, and this is the single most visible sign that a text is Belarusian rather than Russian.
Застосуйте цю граматику у вправах курсу B2
Вправи для практикиTypical errors: writing у after a vowel where ў belongs, and using ъ, which does not exist in the alphabet.
Writing у after a vowel
Ў goes there: была ў хаце.
Using ъ
Belarusian has no ъ; the apostrophe does that job.
Not doubling the consonant
Жыццё, веданне, калоссе.
Writing д or т before a soft vowel
Дзень, цень, хадзіць, цётка.
Яна была ў бібліятэцы, а ён быў у школе.
She was at the library, and he was at school.
The same preposition twice: ў after a vowel, у after a consonant.
Дзеці хадзілі ў лес па суніцы.
The children went to the forest for wild strawberries.
Dzekanne twice: <em>дзеці</em>, <em>хадзілі</em>.
Жыццё ў вёсцы ідзе павольней.
Life in the village goes more slowly.
The doubled ц of <em>жыццё</em> is pronounced long.
Уся сям'я сабралася на Дзяды.
The whole family gathered for Dziady.
The apostrophe in <em>сям'я</em>, and Dziady is the autumn remembrance of the dead.
Я хаджу на працу пешшу.
I walk to work.
<em>Дж</em> where д meets ж, and a doubled ш in <em>пешшу</em>.
Практикувати в курсі
Застосуйте цю граматику у вправах курсу B2