At Aunt and Uncle's

Genitive with Verbs & Accusative Animate

Родны з дзеясловамі й вінавальны

7-III: Genitive with шукаць and чакаць

Some verbs in Belarusian require the genitive case for their object instead of the accusative. The most important ones are:

шука́ць (каго? чаго?) — to look for — Я шукаю кнігі. — I'm looking for a book.

чака́ць (каго? чаго?) — to wait for — Мы чакаем аўтобуса. — We're waiting for a bus.

Notice how the object is in the genitive:

Ён шукае лекара. — He is looking for a doctor.

Яна чакае цёткі. — She is waiting for (her) aunt.

Я шукаю ключа. — I'm looking for a key.

7-IV: Accusative of Masculine Animate Nouns

For masculine animate nouns (people and animals), the accusative case looks the same as the genitive, not the nominative:

For masculine inanimate nouns, the accusative is the same as the nominative:

Я бачу дом. (nom. = дом) — I see a house.

Ён чытае ліст. (nom. = ліст) — He reads a letter.

7-V: але vs. а

Belarusian has two conjunctions that can translate as 'but':

а — mild contrast, 'and/but/while' — Я чытаю, а ён піша. — I'm reading, and/while he's writing.

але — strong contrast, 'but/however' — Ён хворы, але ён працуе. — He's sick, but he works.

Use «а» when comparing or contrasting parallel things (X does this, while Y does that). Use «але» when the second part contradicts or is unexpected given the first part.

Цётка — настаўніца, а дзядзька — лекар. — Aunt is a teacher, and uncle is a doctor. (parallel)

Ідзе дождж, але Ганна ідзе гуляць. — It's raining, but Hanna goes for a walk. (unexpected)

Vocabulary

Belarusian	English	Audio
лекара	Hanna is looking for a doctor.	—
аўтобуса	We are waiting for a bus.	—
а	Aunt is a teacher, and uncle is a doctor.	—

Practice

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