Belarusian/Lesson 1

Belarusian Alphabet The Belarusian alphabet is based on the Cyrillic writing system. It is virtually identical to the Russian alphabet, differing from it just in a few points: і is used instead of и ў letter, specific to Belarusian, is used to denote short w sound шч combination is used instead of щ ' (апостроф/apostrophe) is used instead of ъ or the hard sign. The Belarusian alphabet contains 32 letters: Аа - a - pronounced like a in art Бб - be - pronounced like b in body Вв - ve - pronounced like v in van Гг - he - has no correspondence in English; the voiced analog of х; occasionally pronounced like g in guest Дд - de - pronounced like d in desk Ее - e/ye - pronounced, depending on position, either like a long e after consonant as in Lenin or ye in yes (Initially, after vowel or any of the two signs). Ёё - o/yo - pronounced, either like o in shore (only after Ч, Ш, Ж or ШЧ) or yo in York. Either way, always stressed Жж - zhe - pronounced like s in pleasure Зз - ze - pronounced like z in zoo Іі - i - pronounced like i in machine Йй - j- pronounced like j in jungle Кк - ka - pronounced like k in kitten Лл - el - pronounced like l in lamp Мм - em - pronounced like m in map Нн - en - pronounced like n in net; pronounced like a Spanish ñ after i or e. Оо - o - pronounced like o in sort: usually, but not always stressed Пп - pe - pronounced like p in park Рр - er - differs largely from English r sound; similar to Italian r in ridere Сс - es - pronounced like s in Sun Тт - te - pronounced like t in top Уу - u - pronounced like u in put Ўў - w - pronounced like the w in know Фф - ef - pronounced like f in fox Хх - kha - pronounced harder than English h sound; similar to German ch in Buch Цц - tse - pronounced like ts as in cats; similar to German z in Zeit or Italian z in canzone Чч - cha - pronounced like ch in chalk Шш - sha - pronounced like sh in shelf Ыы - y - pronounced like y in myth Ьь - miakki znak "soft sign" - not pronounced: softens previous consonant and, if in any position except the end, separates syllables Ээ - e - pronounced like e in end: if found after a consonant, it is shorter than the previous "e" mentioned above. Юю - yu - pronounced like a yu as in "Yugoslavia"; Яя - ya - pronounced, like "ya" in "yard" or "Goya" NOTE. In tarashkievitsa, letter Ґґ (ge) is also used to denote the sound g (as in english guest). Narkamauka uses г letter instead. The position of ґ in the classical Belarusian alphabet is immediately after г, before д. Thus there are 33 letters in tarashkievitsa. Sometimes in tarashkievitsa combinations ДЖдж and ДЗдз are given the status of letters on their own. Exercises 1. Cities Try to read and recognize the names of some cities. Confer the hint below if you have difficulties. Note that " ́" is a stress sound (which is normally omitted). Also note that proper names in Belarusian, as in most other languages, are capitalized. Масква́ Ло́ндан Варша́ва Амстэрда́м Стамбу́л Hint: Maskva (Moscow), Londan (London), Varshava (Warsaw), Amsterdam, Stambul (Istanbul) 2. Animals Try to read and remember Belarusian names of some animals. Confer the pronunciation hint below if you have difficulties. Pay special attention to the stress - like Russian and Ukrainian, there is no fixed stress position in Belarusian, and stressing the wrong syllable (or even missing out a sign) can create misunderstandings. Virtually every book and dictionary concerning these three languages place an accent in the tonic syllable, so make sure you do the same . Note that о is normally stressed in Belarusian. кот - a cat (male) ко́шка - a cat (female) саба́ка - a dog каро́ва - a cow каза́ - a goat (female) бара́н - a sheep (male) пту́шка - a bird (general) варо́на - a crow саро́ка - a magpie ка́чка - a duck жа́ба - a toad слон - an elephant Hint: kot, koshka, sabaka, karova, kaza, baran, ptushka, varona, saroka, kachka, zhaba, slon