Verbs Taking the Instrumental

Most verbs put their object in the accusative: Я чытаю кнігу. A few common verbs take the instrumental instead. The best way to remember them is to learn each verb together with чым:

• цікавіцца чым (to be interested in): цікаўлюся, цікавішся, цікавіцца. In the я form в becomes ў before л: Я цікаўлюся гісторыяй. (I am interested in history.)
• займацца чым (to do, go in for, study): займаюся, займаешся. Ён займаецца спортам. (He does sports.) Чым ты займаешся? asks what someone does, for work or in their free time.
• кіраваць чым (to run, manage, steer): кірую, кіруеш, like other verbs in -аваць. Яна кіруе фірмай. (She runs a company.) With a car it means to drive: кіраваць машынай.
• карыстацца чым (to use): карыстаюся, карыстаешся. Можна карыстацца тэлефонам? (May I use the phone?)

The object takes the normal instrumental endings (instrumental singular endings): спорт → спортам, музыка → музыкай, гісторыя → гісторыяй. In the plural it is -амі or -ямі: карыстацца слоўнікамі (to use dictionaries). An adjective agrees in the same case: невялікай фірмай.

Three of these verbs end in -ся, but -ся alone does not decide the case. Many -ся verbs take no object at all, and others take a different case, such as баяцца цемры (to be afraid of the dark) with the genitive. Learn the case as part of each verb.

At higher levels you will meet more verbs of this kind, such as валодаць мовай (to have command of a language) and ганарыцца дачкой (to be proud of one's daughter): more verbs with the instrumental. Other verbs take the dative or the genitive.