за + Accusative

Time Taken and Reason with За

Level 3Sounds Like za + vínavalʹny

За + accusative answers two questions: how long did it take? (за гадзіну, in an hour) and for what? (Дзякуй за дапамогу, thanks for the help).

How It Works

1. Time taken to finish. With a perfective verb, за + accusative tells how long it took to complete the action:

  • Я зрабіў гэта за гадзіну. (I did it in an hour.)
  • Мы даехалі да Віцебска за тры гадзіны. (We got to Vitebsk in three hours.)

2. The reason for thanks or an apology. Дзякуй за дапамогу (thanks for the help), Дзякую вам за ўсё (thank you for everything), Прабачце за спазненне (sorry for being late). See thanking.

3. Price and payment. Колькі ты заплаціў за квіток? (How much did you pay for the ticket?) Я купіў ровар за сто рублёў. (I bought a bike for a hundred rubles.)

4. Before a moment. За + a length of time + да says how long before something: за тыдзень да свята (a week before the holiday).

5. Other uses of за. With the instrumental, за means behind: за домам (see position words). In comparisons, за + accusative means than: Ён старэйшы за мяне (see comparisons).

Spelling: за ends in a vowel, so a following у becomes ў: за ўсё, за ўвагу.

Examples (6)

  1. Я зрабіў гэта за гадзіну.

    I did it in an hour.

    Гадзіна → гадзіну: the time it took to finish.

  2. Мы даехалі да Віцебска за тры гадзіны.

    We got to Vitebsk in three hours.

  3. Дзякуй за дапамогу!

    Thanks for the help!

    Дапамога → дапамогу in the accusative.

  4. Дзякуй за ўвагу.

    Thank you for your attention.

    У becomes ў after за.

  5. Колькі ты заплаціў за квіток?

    How much did you pay for the ticket?

  6. Я купіў гэты ровар за сто рублёў.

    I bought this bike for a hundred rubles.

    The price follows за.

Common Mistakes

  • Using на instead of за to say how long reading the book took.

    Я прачытаў кнігу на дзень.
    Я прачытаў кнігу за дзень.

    За gives the time needed to finish. На gives how long a result is meant to last, as in Я ўзяў кнігу на дзень.

  • Leaving the reason in the nominative.

    Дзякуй за дапамога!
    Дзякуй за дапамогу!

    За takes the accusative, so дапамога becomes дапамогу.

  • Writing у instead of ў after за.

    Дзякуй за усё!
    Дзякуй за ўсё!

    After a word ending in a vowel, у at the start of the next word is written ў.

How It Connects

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

за + AccusativeLevel 3Time Taken and Reason with За

Learn This First

За takes the accusative. Perfective aspect is relevant to its time-to-completion use, while thanks, payment and purchase use the same case without that aspect requirement.

Words in This Pattern

за