гэта не + Noun

Negative Identification with Гэта Не

Level 1Sounds Like géta ne + nazoŭník

Гэта не + a noun means "this is not ...": Гэта не мой тэлефон (This is not my phone).

How It Works

To deny an identification, place не between гэта and the noun: Гэта кава becomes Гэта не кава. Nothing else changes. There is still no verb, and the noun stays in its dictionary form.

Adding the correction. Belarusian often names the right thing straight away:

  • Гэта не кава, гэта гарбата. (This is not coffee, it is tea.)
  • Гэта не кава, а гарбата. (This is not coffee but tea.) The word а marks the contrast; see і and а.

Не or няма? Не denies what something is. Няма says that something is absent or that you do not have it, and it needs the genitive: Тут няма кавы (There is no coffee here). Do not mix the two. See not having with няма.

With a verb, не works the same way: it stands right before the verb, as in Я не ведаю. See negating verbs.

Examples (5)

  1. Гэта не кава, гэта гарбата.

    This is not coffee, it is tea.

  2. Гэта не мой тэлефон.

    This is not my phone.

  3. Гэта не кава, а гарбата.

    This is not coffee but tea.

    А introduces the correct answer.

  4. Не, гэта не я.

    No, that is not me.

  5. Гэта не праблема.

    That is not a problem.

Common Mistakes

  • Using няма instead of не.

    Гэта няма мой тэлефон.
    Гэта не мой тэлефон.

    Няма means "there is no" or "I do not have". To say what something is not, use не.

  • Putting the noun in the genitive after не.

    Гэта не кавы.
    Гэта не кава.

    The genitive follows няма, not an identification with гэта не. The noun stays in the nominative.

How It Connects

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

гэта не + NounLevel 1Negative Identification with Гэта Не

Learn This First

Negative identification builds on гэта + noun.

Words in This Pattern

гэтане