Counting in Belarusian

Language overview

Belarusian (Беларуская мова, transliterated as Bielaruskaja mova) belongs to the East Slavic group of the Indo-European family. Official language in Belarus, alongside Russian, it counts about 5.1 million speakers. The Belarusian language is written in a variation of the Cyrillic script counting 32 letters. We use on this page the national transliteration system.

Belarusian numbering rules

Now that you’ve had a gist of the most useful numbers, let’s move to the writing rules for the tens, the compound numbers, and why not the hundreds, the thousands and beyond (if possible).

• Digits from zero to nine are specific words, namely нуль (nuĺ) [0], адзі́н (adzín)/адна́ (adná)/одно́ (odnó) (m/f/n) [1], два (dva)/дзве (dzvie)/два (dva) [2], тры (try) [3], чаты́ры (čatýry) [4], пяць (piać) [5], шэсць (šesć) [6], сем (siem) [7], во́сем (vósiem) [8], and дзе́вяць (dziéviać) [9]
• The tens are formed by adding the word for ten (дзесят, dziesiat) at the end of the digits from fifty to eighty, the other tens being quite irregular: дзе́сяць (dziésiać) [10], два́ццаць (dváccać) [20], тры́ццаць (trýccać) [30], со́рак (sórak) [40], пяцьдзеся́т (piaćdziesiát) [50], шэ́сцьдзесят (šésćdziesiat) [60], се́мдзесят (siémdziesiat) [70], во́семдзесят (vósiemdziesiat) [80], and дзевяно́ста (dzievianósta) [90].
• Numbers form eleven to nineteen are formed starting with the unit, directly followed by -на́ццаць (-náccać): адзіна́ццаць (adzináccać) [11], двана́ццаць (dvanáccać) [12], трына́ццаць (trynáccać) [13], чатырна́ццаць (čatyrnáccać) [14], пятна́ццаць (piatnáccać) [15], шасна́ццаць (šasnáccać) [16], сямна́ццаць (siamnáccać) [17], васямна́ццаць (vasiamnáccać) [18], and дзевятна́ццаць (dzieviatnáccać) [19].
• Compound numbers are formed by saying the ten, then the digit separated by a space (e.g.: два́ццаць тры (dváccać try) [23], дзевяно́ста дзе́вяць (dzievianósta dziéviać) [99]).
• Hundreds are formed by setting the multiplier digit before the word for hundred (сто, sto) which takes different forms, except for one hundred: сто (sto) [100], дзве́сце (dzviéscie) [200], тры́ста (trýsta) [300], чаты́рыста (čatýrysta) [400], пяцьсо́т (piaćsót) [500], шэсцьсо́т (šesćsót) [600], семсо́т (siemsót) [700], восемсо́т (vosiemsót) [800], and дзевяцьсо́т (dzieviaćsót) [900].
• Thousands are formed by setting the multiplier digit before the word for thousand (ты́сяча, týsiača), except for one thousand. It takes a different form after the multipliers two, three and four: ты́сяча (týsiača) [1,000], дзве ты́сячы (dzvie týsiačy) [2,000], тры ты́сячы (try týsiačy) [3,000], чаты́ры ты́сячы (čatýry týsiačy) [4,000], пяць ты́сяч (piać týsiač) [5,000], шэсць ты́сяч (šesć týsiač) [6,000], сем ты́сяч (siem týsiač) [7,000], во́сем ты́сяч (vósiem týsiač) [8,000], and дзе́вяць ты́сяч (dziéviać týsiač) [9,000].
• The word for million is мільён (miĺjon), and the word for billion is мілья́рд (miĺjárd).

Write a number in full in Belarusian

Let’s move now to the practice of the numbering rules in Belarusian. Will you guess how to write a number in full? Enter a number and try to write it down in your head, or maybe on a piece of paper, before displaying the result.

Books

Links

• Belarusian transliteration

East Slavic languages

Belarusian, Russian, and Ukrainian.

Other supported languages

As the other currently supported languages are too numerous to list extensively here, please select a language from the full list of supported languages.