Where Belarusian puts a dash instead of a verb, which quotation marks it uses, and how direct speech is laid out on the page.
I can punctuate Belarusian prose, including dialogue, using the dash, guillemets and colon correctly.
Подивіться на ці приклади. Чи можете ви помітити граматичну закономірність?
Мінск - сталіца Беларусі.
Minsk is the capital of Belarus.
Ён інжынер, а яго жонка настаўніца.
He is an engineer and his wife is a teacher.
«Я прыйду, - сказаў ён, - але позна».
"I will come," he said, "but late."
Пайшоў дождж - канцэрт адмянілі.
It started raining, so the concert was cancelled.
Зверніть увагу на виділені частини. Що у них спільного?
Belarusian has no present-tense copula, so where English writes is, Belarusian writes a dash - if both sides are nouns in the nominative:
No dash when the subject is a pronoun (Ён інжынер), or when не intervenes (Гэта не праблема).
A dash also marks a word left out because it was just used: Я паеду ў Мінск, а ты - у Гомель.
Belarusian uses the angled guillemets « », like Russian and unlike English. Nested quotation takes the low-high pair: «Ён сказаў: „Не пайду“».
Two layouts, and both are used:
When the attribution interrupts the speech, it is fenced by dashes and commas: «Я прыйду, - сказаў ён, - але позна».
Two things that trip up an English-trained writer: subordinate clauses always take a comma in Belarusian, however short (Я ведаю, што ён прыйдзе), and the full stop goes outside the closing guillemet, not inside.
Застосуйте цю граматику у вправах курсу B2
Вправи для практикиTypical errors: omitting the dash between two nouns, and putting the full stop inside the closing guillemet.
Omitting the dash between two nominative nouns
Мінск - сталіца Беларусі.
Putting a dash after a pronoun subject
Ён інжынер takes none.
Putting the full stop inside the closing guillemet
It goes outside.
Leaving out the comma before a subordinate clause
It is always written, however short the clause.
Мінск - сталіца Беларусі.
Minsk is the capital of Belarus.
Two nominative nouns, so a dash stands in for the missing verb.
Ён інжынер, а яго жонка настаўніца.
He is an engineer and his wife is a teacher.
No dash after a pronoun subject.
«Я прыйду, - сказаў ён, - але позна».
"I will come," he said, "but late."
The attribution is fenced by dashes, and the full stop sits outside the guillemet.
Пайшоў дождж - канцэрт адмянілі.
It started raining, so the concert was cancelled.
A dash between clauses for consequence.
Я паеду ў Мінск, а ты - у Гомель.
I will go to Minsk and you to Homiel.
The dash marks the verb left out.
Практикувати в курсі
Застосуйте цю граматику у вправах курсу B2