Belarusian/Lesson 13

The Apostroph
The apostroph is used to separate a consonant from a y-vowel, so as the consonant be hard and the vowel be read as at the beginning of the word.

аб'я́ва "abyava" an advertisement

вар'я́т "varyat" a mad person

Thus, these words are read as if their parts separated by the apostroph were two separate words.

The soft sign can also be used as a disjunctive symbol; its difference from the apostrophe is that it makes the preceding consonant soft.

алья́нс "al'yans" an alliance

The Genitive
Now we shall deal with Genitive forms of different words other than nouns.

Adjectives
The endings of adjectives in the Genitive case are as follows.

Soft basis, hard basis etc. mean that the final letter of the word basis which is not changed in deflexion, is soft, hard etc.

Endings given in parentheses stand for unstressed forms.

The same way is applied to the demonstaratives: гэ́ты - гэ́тага, гэ́тай or гэ́тае, гэ́тых; той - таго́, той or  тае́, тых.

Pronouns
The Genitive pronoun forms are shown below.

Possessives
The possessives' Genitive forms are much like those of adjectives.

Numbers
Here are the genitive forms of the numbers from one to ten.

Question Words
Now, we can notice several things common to all these different words.


 * Masculine and Neuter forms for all cases except Nominative are the same
 * Feminine Genitive has two possible forms; one of them actually coincides with Neuter Nominative. These two forms actually correspond to different regional dialects; the first one (ой) is somewhat more scientific whereas the second (ое) is more spread in literature. Some Belarusians prefer the second form because they like Belarusian to sound less like Russian.

Indefinite Words
The indefinite words correspond to the English some and its derivarives (somebody, something, somehow etc.) Actually each question word has a correspondent indefinite word, and most of them even two or three. One is formed via не prefix, and another - with сцi (or сь) suffix.

The "сь"-forms are only used in colloquial speech, while the other two are interchangeable.

'''Што гэ́та? Не́шта (Што́сьці) прыго́жае.''' What is this? It's something beautiful.

'''Хто гэ́та? - Гэ́та не́йкі звер. - Воўк? - Не, не воўк. Не́хта яшчэ́.''' Who is that? - It's a kind of a beast. - A wolf? - No, not a wolf. Somebody else.

'''Гэ́та твая́ ідэ́я? Не, не мая́. Чыя́сь яшчэ́.''' Is that your idea? No, not mine. It's someone else's.

Там саба́ка і не́калькі ка́чак. There is a dog and some ducks there.

'''Ты ху́тка пла́ваеш? Не, не ду́жа ху́тка, але́ не́як пла́ваю.''' Do you swim fast? No, not very fast, but I swim in some way.

Note that the words колькі and некалькі require the Genitive Case.

Also note that the words нехта and хтосьці are masculine whereas нешта and штосьці are neuter.

The Genitive forms of the indefinite words are the same as the Genitive forms of the correspondent question words.

'''Чыя́ гэ́та кніга? - Гэ́та кніга не́йкага студэ́нта.''' "Whose book is this? This is a book of some student".

Ён а́ўтар не́калькіх ка́зак. He is an author of several tales.

Гэ́та пача́так чаго́сьці ціка́вага. This is a beginning of something interesting.

Genitive
Translate these phrases into Belarusian, putting them into (a) Nominative Singular, (b) Nominative Plural, (c) Genitive Singular, and (d) Genitive Plural.

Sample: a wide road - шырокі шлях; шырокія шляхі; шырокага шляху; шырокіх шляхоў

(1) a young woman

(2) a little bird

(3) my pencil

(4) your horse

(5) somebody strong (singular only)

(6) something new (singular only)

(7) a kind of a tree

(8) one town (singular only)

(9) two wheels (plural only)

(10) five houses (plural only)

(11) several streets (plural only)

Clue: (1) маладая жанчына; маладой жанчыны; маладыя жанчыны; маладых жанчын (2) маленькая птушка; маленькае птушкі; маленькія птушкі; маленькіх птушак (3) мой аловак; мае алоўкі; майго алоўка; маіх алоўкаў (4) ваш конь; вашага каня; вашыя коні; вашых канёў (5) нехта дужы; некага дужага (6) штосьці новае; чагосьці новага (7) нейкае дрэва; нейкага дрэва; нейкія дрэвы; нейкіх дрэваў (8) адзін горад; аднаго горада (9) два колы; двух колаў (10) пяць хат; пяці хат (11) некалькі вуліц; некалькіх вуліц

Indefinite Words
Translate these sentences into Belarusian. Then translate them again replacing the words in italic with appropriate indefinite words.

Sample: This is a wide river. Гэта шырокая рака. Гэта нешта шырокае.

(1) This is our work.

(2) We are working well.

(3) They are unwell.

(4) There are six young students there.

(5) He is an author of three books.

(6) This is the beginning of the rain.

(7) This is a piece of old bread.

(8) This is the face of my father.

Clue: (1) Гэта наша праца. Гэта чыясьці праца. (2) Мы добра працуем. Мы неяк працуем. (3) Яны хварэюць. Нехта хварэе. (4) Там шэсць маладых студэнтаў. Там некалькі маладых студэнтаў. (5) Ён аўтар трох кніг. Ён аўтар некалькіх кніг. (6) Гэта пачатак дажджу. Гэта пачатак чагосьці. (7) Гэта кавалак старога хлеба. Гэта кавалак нейкага хлеба. (8) Гэта твар майго бацькі. Гэта твар чыйгосьці бацькі.

Translation
Translate into Belarusian

(1) My father is the manager of a new factory.

(2) This is the secretary of my father.

(3) This is something interesting.

(4) There are several cats here.

Clue: (1) Мой бацька - дырэктар новага завода. (2) Гэта сакратарка майго бацькі. (3) Гэта нешта цікавае. (4) Тут некалькі катоў.