Tsekanye and Dzekanye

Level 1Sounds Like cekanne í dzekanne

In Belarusian, т and д are always hard. Where a soft sound is needed, you get ц and дз instead: дзень (day), дзеці (children), цёплы (warm), ціха (quietly).

How It Works

What changed
Older soft т and д turned into soft ц [tsʲ] and дз [dzʲ]. Belarusian spelling writes these sounds, so many common words look different from Russian:

  • дзень (day) — Russian день
  • дзеці (children) — Russian дети
  • цёплы (warm) — Russian тёплый
  • цяпер (now) — Russian теперь
  • чытаць (to read) — Russian читать: the infinitive ends in -ць.

Changes inside one word
When an ending with a soft vowel is added, т and д switch to ц and дз: хата (house) — у хаце; вада (water) — у вадзе; брат — пра брата but аб браце.

Hard т and д
Т and д themselves only appear hard: before a, о, у, ы, э or a consonant. That is why loanwords are written with тэ, дэ: тэатр, тэлефон, студэнт, дэталь.

Two kinds of ц
The ц that comes from soft т is soft (ціха, цёплы). The old ц in words like цэнтр or цар is always hard; see Always-Hard Ж, Ш, Ч, Р and Ц. For the sounds дз and дж themselves, see The Digraphs ДЖ and ДЗ.

Examples (6)

  1. Добры дзень! Сёння цёпла.

    Hello! It is warm today.

    Word by Word: Good day! Today warm.

    дзень and цёпла: soft д and т appear as дз and ц.

  2. Дзеці гуляюць у двары.

    The children are playing in the yard.

    Word by Word: Children play in yard.

  3. Цяпер я хачу піць.

    Now I want to drink.

    Word by Word: Now I want to-drink.

    The infinitive піць ends in -ць.

  4. Мой дзядзька жыве ў Гродне.

    My uncle lives in Hrodna.

    Word by Word: My uncle lives in Hrodna.

  5. Гавары цішэй, калі ласка.

    Speak more quietly, please.

    Word by Word: Speak quieter, please.

  6. Мы ідзём у тэатр.

    We are going to the theatre.

    Word by Word: We go to theatre.

    ідзём has дз before ё; тэатр keeps a hard т, so it is written with э.

Common Mistakes

  • Writing д before a soft vowel, as in Russian.

    Дети гуляюць у двары.
    Дзеці гуляюць у двары.

    Belarusian has no soft д. Before е or і it becomes дз: дзеці.

  • Writing те in a loanword where т stays hard.

    Я іду ў театр.
    Я іду ў тэатр.

    Т is always hard, so an "e" sound after it is written э: тэатр, тэлефон, студэнт.

  • Ending an infinitive in -ть.

    Я люблю чытать.
    Я люблю чытаць.

    Most Belarusian infinitives end in -ць, because soft т became ц.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

Tsekanye and DzekanyeLevel 1

Learn This First

Tsekanye and dzekanye are seen before soft vowels.