Hard, soft, and hardened consonants

Belarusian consonants come in three varieties: • **Hard** — the default: б, в, г, к, м, н, п, с, з, х, ф, л • **Soft** (palatalized) — marked with ь or before і, е, ё, ю, я: бь, вь, зь, сь, ль, нь, мь... • **Hardened** (permanently hard) — ш, ж, ч, р, дж, ц (when not part of цеканне), дз (when not part of дзеканне)

When the consonant д becomes soft (before і, е, ё, ю, я, or ь), it turns into ДЗ (дз). This is one of the most distinctive features of Belarusian!

дзень (not *день) — day — soft д → дз

дзеці (not *деці) — children — soft д → дз

дзякуй (not *дякуй) — thank you — soft д → дз

глядзі (not *гляді) — look! — soft д → дз

When the consonant т becomes soft, it turns into Ц (ц). Another uniquely Belarusian feature!

цёпла (not *цьопла) — warm — soft т → ц

цікава (not *тікава) — interesting — soft т → ц

хло́пцы (not *хло́пты) — boys — soft т → ц

насцаўнік (not *настаўнік) — teacher — varies by dialect

How to recognize dzekanne and tsekanne

A quick test: if you know the Russian or Polish equivalent of a word and it has a soft д or т, the Belarusian form will have дз or ц instead: • Russian день → Belarusian дзень • Russian дети → Belarusian дзеці • Russian тихо → Belarusian ціха This applies consistently — there are no exceptions to this sound change!

Vocabulary

Practice

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