This and that in Belarusian: the agreeing forms гэты and той, the invariable гэта that introduces someone, and the four words for here and there that keep position apart from direction.
I can point things out, say which one I mean, and distinguish being here from coming here.
Подивіться на ці приклади. Чи можете ви помітити граматичну закономірність?
Гэта мой брат Алесь, а гэта яго жонка.
This is my brother Ales, and this is his wife.
Гэтая вуліца вядзе да Траецкага прадмесця.
This street leads to the Traieckaje suburb.
Той дом на рагу - самы стары ў горадзе.
That house on the corner is the oldest in town.
Ідзі сюды, тут цяплей.
Come here, it is warmer here.
Зверніть увагу на виділені частини. Що у них спільного?
Belarusian distinguishes what is near the speaker from what is further off, and the demonstrative agrees with its noun like an adjective.
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Plural | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| this, these (near) | гэты | гэтая | гэтае | гэтыя |
| that, those (far) | той | тая | тое | тыя |
Quite separately from гэты, the word гэта introduces an identification and does not change for anything:
Compare it with the agreeing form: Гэта кніга means "this is a book", while Гэтая кніга цікавая means "this book is interesting". The first identifies, the second modifies. Be careful, though: гэта is also the short feminine and neuter form of гэты (гэта кніга can mean "this book", гэта акно "this window"), so Гэта кніга цікавая is read from context. While you are learning, use the full гэтая, гэтае - they cannot be confused.
| Position | Direction | |
|---|---|---|
| near | тут — here | сюды — (to) here |
| far | там — there | туды — (to) there |
The same position-versus-direction split you met with дзе and куды. English collapses each pair into one word.
English has four words — this, that, these, those — and picks by number alone. Belarusian picks by gender, number and case, so one demonstrative has more forms than the entire English set. The compensation is that гэта, the form you will use most in the first weeks, never changes at all.
Застосуйте цю граматику у вправах курсу A1
Вправи для практикиTypical errors: using гэта where the agreeing гэтая or гэтыя is needed, and using тут for a direction where сюды belongs.
Гэта мой брат Алесь, а гэта яго жонка.
This is my brother Ales, and this is his wife.
The invariable <em>гэта</em> twice, before a masculine and a feminine noun alike.
Гэтая вуліца вядзе да Траецкага прадмесця.
This street leads to the Traieckaje suburb.
Here the demonstrative modifies, so it agrees: <strong>гэтая</strong>. Traieckaje Pradmiescie is the restored old quarter on the bank of the Svislach.
Той дом на рагу - самы стары ў горадзе.
That house on the corner is the oldest in town.
<em>Той</em> for something further off, agreeing with a masculine noun.
Ідзі сюды, тут цяплей.
Come here, it is warmer here.
<em>Сюды</em> for the movement and <em>тут</em> for the place, in the same breath.
Тыя азёры на поўначы называюцца Браслаўскімі.
Those lakes in the north are called the Braslau lakes.
Plural <em>тыя</em>, distant. The Braslau lakes sit almost on the Latvian border.
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Застосуйте цю граматику у вправах курсу A1