Telling, asking and inviting: чытай and чытайце, the let's forms, and why калі ласка does more work in Belarusian than please does in English.
I can ask someone to do something, invite them to do it with me, and choose the right level of politeness.
Подивіться на ці приклади. Чи можете ви помітити граматичну закономірність?
Чытайце, калі ласка, гэты тэкст.
Please read this text.
Сядайце за стол, зараз будзе вячэра.
Sit down at the table, supper is coming.
Хадзем на Свіслач, там сёння свята.
Come on, let's go to the Svislach, there's a festival there today.
Не спяшайся, у нас яшчэ ёсць час.
Do not rush, we still have time.
Зверніть увагу на виділені частини. Що у них спільного?
The imperative is built from the present-tense stem, and it has two everyday forms: one for ты and one for вы.
| Infinitive | to one person (ты) | to several, or politely (вы) |
|---|---|---|
| чытаць | чытай | чытайце |
| рабіць | рабі | рабіце |
| пісаць | пішы | пішыце |
| сядзець | сядзі | сядзіце |
| быць | будзь | будзьце |
The plural is simply the singular plus -це. That single suffix is also the polite form, so the same word covers "read, all of you" and "please read" addressed to one person you do not know well.
Не plus the imperative, and the verb is normally imperfective: Не хвалюйцеся (do not worry), Не спяшайся (do not rush).
A bare imperative is blunt in Belarusian as it is in English. The standard softeners are:
English has one imperative form for everyone and marks politeness only with please and intonation. Belarusian makes you choose between ты and вы before you have said anything else, and getting that choice wrong is more noticeable than a missing калі ласка.
Застосуйте цю граматику у вправах курсу A1
Вправи для практикиTypical errors: using the ты form with a stranger because English has only one imperative; and issuing a bare imperative where a Belarusian speaker would add калі ласка or ask a question instead.
Error with Загадны лад
Review Загадны лад.
Чытайце, калі ласка, гэты тэкст.
Please read this text.
The <em>-це</em> form plus <em>калі ласка</em> - the ordinary polite request.
Сядайце за стол, зараз будзе вячэра.
Sit down at the table, supper is coming.
What a host says. In a Belarusian house the invitation to the table comes before anything else is discussed.
Хадзем на Свіслач, там сёння свята.
Come on, let's go to the Svislach, there's a festival there today.
<strong>Хадзем</strong> is the short everyday let's-go, with the <em>дз</em> that English and Russian both lack here. The Svislach runs through the middle of Minsk.
Не спяшайся, у нас яшчэ ёсць час.
Do not rush, we still have time.
Negative imperative with an imperfective verb, which is the normal pairing.
Будзьце ласкавы, паўтарыце яшчэ раз.
Be so kind as to say that again.
<em>Будзьце ласкавы</em> raises the register above <em>калі ласка</em> - the form for a stranger or a larger request.
Практикувати в курсі
Застосуйте цю граматику у вправах курсу A1