Template:be-ndecl/documentation

Parameters
Normally there is only one parameter to specify, e.g. for :

which produces

Note that the lemma is given followed by angle brackets, and an accent needs to be placed on the appropriate syllable (it can be omitted in monosyllabic words). In some cases, properties need to be given inside of angle brackets, for example for :



which produces

Here, we specify two properties:  (a stress pattern indicator, in this case specifying that the noun is stem-stressed in the singular and end-stressed in the plural) and   (indicating that this is a personal noun, where the accusative is the same as the genitive rather than the nominative).

The general format is the accented noun lemma (the nominative singular, or nominative plural for plural-only nouns), followed by a spec in angle brackets. The format of the spec is

i.e. one or more properties, separated by periods. All properties are optional. The following properties are recognized:
 * Gender:  for masculine,   for feminine,   for nouns that can be either masculine or feminine,   for neuter. Most of the time this isn't needed, but it's required for certain nouns (e.g. most nouns ending in -ь and most masculine and neuter nouns ending in -а) to determine the correct declension type. Note that the gender must be given capitalized.
 * Stress pattern:,  ,  ,  ,   or  . These are based on Zaliznyak's Russian-language patterns. Multiple comma-separated stress patterns can be given. See below for more information.
 * Reducibility:  to indicate an alternation between a vowel (one of о, а, е, э or ё) and no vowel in the final syllable, where the vowel appears in endings that do not themselves contain a vowel (typically the nominative/accusative singular and/or the genitive plural). This code should be placed directly after or used in place of the stress pattern, e.g.   to indicate a reducible noun with stress pattern c,   to indicate a noun with stress pattern b that can be either reducible or non-reducible, and just   to indicate a reducible noun with the default stress pattern.
 * Reversed genitive plural stress:  to indicate that the genitive plural stress is the opposite of what the stress pattern calls for. This code should be placed directly after or used in place of the stress pattern, e.g.   to indicate a noun with stress pattern c and reversed genitive plural stress,   to indicate a reducible noun with stress pattern c and reversed genitive plural stress,   to indicate a noun with stress pattern d that can have either reversed or normal genitive plural stress, and just   to indicate a noun with reversed genitive plural stress and the default stress pattern.
 * Different genitive plural ending:  to indicate a null ending (or -ь in soft nouns);   to indicate an ending in -аў (or -яў in soft nouns, or the stressed equivalents -оў/-ёў);   to indicate an ending in -ей (or -эй after always-hard consonants, or the unstressed equivalent -ай). The default ending is аў-type in most masculines and neuters, null-type in feminines in -а/-я, and ей-type in feminines ending in -ь or a consonant.
 * Animacy:  for personal nouns,   for animal nouns,   for inanimate nouns. The default is almost always inanimate (except when   or   are specified); animate nouns need an animacy code given.
 * Number:  for singular-only nouns,   for plural-only nouns. If unspecified, nouns have both singular and plural.
 * Softness/hardness:
 * to indicate soft plural endings, e.g. for ;
 * to indicate hard plural endings, e.g. for.
 * Vowel alternations:
 * : indicates that an а in the lemma in the syllable preceding the stress will appear as э when stressed, as in (plural рэ́бры), or that a я in this syllable will appear as е whenever the stress moves, as in  (plural ве́рбы) or  (genitive singular календара́);
 * , : like   but applying to the second and third syllables preceding the stress, respectively;
 * : indicates that an а in the lemma in the syllable preceding the stress will appear as о when stressed, as in (plural баро́ды), or that a я in this syllable will appear as ё when stressed, as in  (plural бёдры);
 * , : like   but applying to the second and third syllables preceding the stress, respectively;
 * : indicates that an а in the lemma in the syllable preceding the stress will appear as во when stressed, as in (plural во́кны);
 * , : like   but applying to the second and third syllables preceding the stress, respectively;
 * : indicates that stressed во in the lemma will appear as а when unstressed, as in (plural астравы́);
 * : indicates that an ы in the lemma in the syllable preceding the stress will appear as о when stressed, as in (plural бло́хі);
 * , : like   but applying to the second and third syllables preceding the stress, respectively;
 * : indicates that stressed о in the lemma will appear as ы when unstressed, as in (genitive singular крыві́).
 * Special variants:
 * to indicate that a noun ending in -ін/-ын (e.g., ) loses this ending in the plural;
 * to indicate that a soft feminine plural-only noun is third-declension rather than first-declension (i.e. its singular would end in -ь or a consonant rather than -я or -а);
 * to indicate that the noun is a surname, in which case the vocative singular can be the same as the nominative singular in addition to its normal form (this implies, as surnames normally refer to people);
 * to indicate t-stem neuter nouns, i.e. that a neuter noun ending in -я (e.g. ) has a stem -ят/-яц in most forms (this implies, as nouns of this form usually refer to the young of animals);
 * to indicate n-stem neuter nouns, i.e. that a neuter noun ending in -мя has endings utilizing a stem in -ен/-ён in most singular forms (e.g. ).
 * Stem overrides:
 * to specify a different stem than the lemma's stem to use for endings beginning with a vowel;
 * to specify a different stem to use in the plural.
 * Specific form overrides: Examples are  to specify that the genitive singular ends in -у,   to specify that the locative singular ends in -у or -е,   to specify that the instrumental singular ends in -ем with stress on the stem (regardless of the accent pattern) and   to specify that the genitive plural has the value ладзе́й. These are explained more below.

The properties can be given in any order, but it is recommended that the following order be used:
 * 1) Gender
 * 2) Stress pattern, reducibility, reversed genitive plural stress, different genitive plural ending
 * 3) Adjectival indicator
 * 4) Animacy
 * 5) Number
 * 6) Softness/hardness
 * 7) Vowel alternations
 * 8) Special variants
 * 9) Stem overrides
 * 10) Specific form overrides

Gender
The gender can be specified using  for masculine,   for feminine,   for nouns that can be either masculine or feminine, and   for neuter. The gender can usually be omitted, but is required in certain cases, e.g. with some nouns ending in -ь. If the gender is omitted, it defaults as follows: The gender needs to be explicitly given in the following cases:
 * 1) Nouns ending in a consonant default to masculine.
 * 2) Nouns ending in a soft sign must have the gender explicitly given, except for nouns in unstressed -асць, which default to feminine.
 * 3) Nouns ending in -а default to feminine, except for nouns in unstressed -ства or -цтва, which default to neuter.
 * 4) Nouns ending in -о, -е or -ё default to neuter.
 * 5) Nouns ending in -я default to neuter if the code   (e.g. ) or   (e.g. ) is given, or if the noun ends in -мя (stressed or unstressed); otherwise they default to feminine.
 * 1) Nouns ending in a soft sign other than those mentioned above; e.g.  (masculine),  (feminine).
 * 2) Masculine or neuter nouns in -а (e.g., which is masculine, or , which is neuter).
 * 3) Feminine nouns ending in a consonant; e.g.,.
 * 4) Neuter nouns ending in -я other than the types mentioned above; e.g..

Examples:

1. (masculine) ends in a soft sign, and so needs the gender to be specified:



which produces

2. is feminine and ends in a consonant, and so needs the gender to be specified:



which produces

3. is neuter and ends in -а, and so needs the gender to be specified:



which produces

4. is masculine and ends in -а, and so needs the gender to be specified:



which produces

5. is either masculine or feminine and ends in stressed -я́. In this case, masculine and feminine nouns in -я́ have identical declensions, so the gender doesn't need to be given, but it's a good idea to specify it anyway, because it is needed when the same specification is used in.



which produces

Stress patterns and reducibility
The following table specifies where the stress falls (stem or ending):

NOTE: Boldfaced cases differ from the other cases in the same number (singular or plural).

The accusative plural is left out in the above table because it is derived from either the nominative plural or genitive plural, depending on the noun's animacy.

An example needing the stress pattern specified is, with stress pattern b (genitive singular кавуна́, nominative plural кавуны́, etc.):



which produces

Some nouns are reducible, meaning they have an alternation between a vowel (а, о, е, э or ё) before the final consonant in forms where the ending does not begin with a vowel, and no vowel in forms where the ending does begin with a vowel. The forms that use the unreduced stem variant are the nominative singular of masculine nouns; the accusative singular of inanimate masculine nouns; the genitive plural of feminine nouns in -а and -я, and of some neuter nouns; and the nominative, accusative and instrumental singular of third-declension feminine nouns. All other forms use the reduced stem variant.

An example is, where most forms use a stem свёкр- (genitive singular свёкра, nominative plural свёкры, etc.):



which produces

If both a stress pattern and the reducible indicator need to be given, they should be combined, as with (reduced stem сябр-, genitive singular ся́бра, nominative plural сябры́, etc.):



which produces

Multiple stress patterns can be given, comma-separated. An example needing this is, with nominative plural вужы́ and genitive singular either ву́жа (stem-stressed) or вужа́ (ending-stressed):



which produces

The default stress pattern is as follows:
 * if the lemma is reducible, ends in a consonant or soft sign, and the stress is on the reducible vowel (e.g., ).
 * if the lemma is plural-only and ends in a stressed vowel (e.g. ).
 * if the lemma is specified to be of type  (e.g. ).
 * if the lemma is specified to be of type  (e.g. ).
 * Otherwise,  if the lemma ends in a stressed vowel (-а́, -я́, -о́, -е́ or stressed -ё).
 * Otherwise, the default is.

Reversed genitive plural stress
Several nouns have unexpected stress in the genitive plural. This could be controlled using an override, but because of its commonness, a shortcut is available using the code. This code should be placed directly after the stress pattern, as with the reducible code. If both  and   need to be given, either order is possible, but by convention the order   should be used. Examples:

Examples:

1. is stem-stressed everywhere but in the genitive plural, which has either the form пе́чаў (with unexpected -aў ending) or пячэ́й (with the expected ending but expected end stressed). This can be specified as follows:



which produces

Here, the code  indicates the form with the unexpected -aў ending, and   indicates the unexpected stress.

2. is end-stressed in the singular and stem-stressed in the plural, e.g. nominative plural до́чкі, dative plural до́чкам (i.e. stress pattern  ), except for the genitive plural, which has the form дачо́к instead of expected *до́чак. This can be specified as follows:



which produces

Here we also supply  to indicate that the noun is reducible (i.e. it has an extra vowel in the genitive plural, whose ending does not begin with a vowel), and   to indicate that the unstressed а vowel in the lemma unexpectedly changes into о when stressed.

3. mostly follows stress pattern   (stem-stressed in the singular and in the nominative/accusative plural сме́рці, end-stressed elsewhere in the plural, e.g. dative plural смярця́м, locative plural смярця́х). The genitive plural can either be expected смярце́й (end-stressed, as is normal for pattern ) or unexpected сме́рцяў, with both unexpected stem stress and unexpected ending. This can be indicated as follows:



which produces

Here, the stress pattern is of two parts: either plain  or modified   (i.e. accent pattern   with the reversed genitive plural stress indicator   and the alternative genitive plural ending indicator  ).

Adjectival indicator
To indicate that a noun declines as if it were an adjective, use. An example is (genitive singular лю́тага):



which produces

Other indicators, such as animacy and number, can be included as necessary. An example is, which is a personal noun:



which produces

Another example is, which is singular-only:



which produces

Animacy
Animacy is specified using  for personal nouns and   for animal nouns. The code  for inanimate nouns can be given, but is almost never needed because nouns default to inanimate except in a few exceptional cases. (Specifically, the neuter variant code  defaults to   animacy as most terms with this code refer to the young of animals, and surnames with the   code default to   animacy.)

Examples:

1. is inanimate, so the animacy doesn't need to be given:



which produces

2. is an animal noun, so the animacy code   needs to be specified:



which produces

Note that this noun has its accusative plural the same as its genitive plural, as with all other animate (animal and personal) nouns, and its accusative singular the same as its genitive singular, as with other masculine and neuter animate nouns. On the other hand, the locative singular ends in -і, as with inanimate soft masculine nouns, rather than -ю, as personal soft masculine nouns do. (These sorts of locative singular distinctions are one of the primary reasons a distinction is made between animal and personal nouns.)

3. is a personal noun. Thus the animacy code  needs to be specified:



which produces

This declines similarly to the animal noun above, except for the locative singular in -ю rather than -і. All soft masculines make such a distinction in the locative singular, as do masculines in -й, -ц, and always-hard consonants (-р, -ш, -ж, -ч).

4. is a neuter animal noun of the t-stem type (genitive singular жарабя́ці, nominative plural жарабя́ты). Once  is specified, the animacy doesn't need to be given because code   implies animacy  :



which produces

Number
By default, all nouns are singular/plural, including proper nouns. (Many proper nouns, such as names and surnames, have plural forms.) To indicate that a noun is singular-only, use, as with :



which produces

Note that singular-only nouns are sometimes declined differently from singular/plural nouns. For example, for masculine nouns the genitive singular defaults to -у instead of -а.

To indicate that a noun is plural-only, use  and give the lemma in its plural form, as with :



which produces

As shown in the example, you will have to give the gender explicitly (, ,   or  ), so that the module knows how to generate the genitive plural. If you are not sure of the gender, look for a related singular/plural noun or for cognate nouns in other languages (especially Russian or Ukrainian), or base the gender on the genitive plural ( or   if the genitive plural ends in -аў or variant,   if the genitive plural ends in nothing, in -ь or in -ей). An example is, which should be indicated as feminine both because it has a null-ending genitive plural ваг and because it is in origin the plural of :



which produces

Some feminine plural-only nouns belong to the third declension, i.e. their singular equivalent would end in a consonant or -ь rather than -а or -я. This is shown most clearly by a genitive plural in -ей. An example is, with genitive plural дзвяре́й (compare 🇨🇬). This should be indicated using the code :



which produces

Here, the stress pattern is e (e.g. dative plural дзвяра́м), and the instrumental plural is irregular.

Softness and hardness
A small number of nouns are hard in the singular but soft in the plural, or vice-versa. These nouns sometimes have other irregularities, such as having a different stem in the plural. An example of a noun with no extra irregularities is, with unexpected soft plural сусе́дзі. To specify this, use :



which produces

The opposite case also exists, with nouns that are soft in the singular but hard in the plural; for that, use.

Vowel alternations
Many nouns in Belarusian have vowel alternations that manifest when the stress shifts. Some of these alternations are predictable. For example, stressed о always changes into а when unstressed, so the fact that follows stress pattern c means the plural will necessarily be бакі́, not #бокі́. However, some alternations are unpredictable, especially when the stress moves onto a vowel that is unstressed in the lemma. An example is, which has nominative plural го́ры. There is no way for the module to know that the vowel needs to change from а to о when stressed. In some words, e.g., an а changes into э (plural рэ́кі). In certain other words, the vowel doesn't change, e.g. (plural ва́гі), and in yet other words, the vowel changes into во, e.g.  (plural во́сы). For this reason, codes need to be given whenever unpredictable vowel alternations occur. For the case of, where а changes into о use  (with Latin letters, not Cyrillic letters):



which produces

Also use  to specify that unstressed я changes into stressed ё, as in  (plural гнёзды):



which produces

To specify that unstressed а changes into stressed э, use :



which produces

Also use  to specify that unstressed я changes into е when the stress moves. Unlike for the other vowel alternations, this can also occur without the stress moving onto the vowel, as in (plural каледнары́):



which produces

To specify that unstressed а changes into stressed во, use :



which produces

The opposite also occurs, with stresse во changing into unstressed а, as in (plural астравы́). For this, use :



which produces

To specify that unstressed а changes into stressed во, use :

Two more alternations occasionally found are unstressed ы changing into stressed о, and vice-versa. To specify this, use  for the former, as in  (plural бло́хі), and   for the latter, as in  (genitive singular крыві́):



which produces

and



which produces

Note that the latter example is somewhat complex, specifying the following:
 * 1) the gender   (feminine);
 * 2) the stress pattern   (pattern b would also work, as the noun is singular-only);
 * 3)   to indicate that the noun is singular-only;
 * 4)   to indicate that vowel alternation;
 * 5) an override of the instrumental singular.

Occasionally, more than one override is required in a single word. This is allowed, as in, whose plural свекрыві́ shows both a я-е alternation and о-ы alternation:



which produces

Here, additional specs are necessary to specify the gender, stress pattern, animacy and an instrumental singular override.

Finally, it should be noted that all of the alternation codes,  ,   and   apply specifically to the syllable directly preceding the stress. In almost all cases, this is correct. Occasionally, however, an alternation occurs in a prior syllable. An example is, with plural сто́раны, containing an alternation two syllables before the stress. To indicate this, use :



which produces

Here, the  alternation code is also needed because of the genitive plural старо́н, which shows an а-о alternation in the syllable directly preceding the stress.

Special variants
There are various miscellaneous codes that can be used to indicate special variant declensions.

Nouns in -ін/-ын
Some nouns in -ін or -ын lose this ending in the plural. An example is, with nominative plural расія́не. For these nouns, use :



which produces

These nouns have a special nominative plural ending in -е and a null genitive plural ending in place of normal -аў (e.g. расія́н). Both endings are automatically selected by.

If the stress is on the ending, it automatically moves to the preceding syllable in the plural. An example is (nominative plural славя́не):



which produces

A few nouns of this type end in -ын rather than -ін. An example is (nominative plural балга́ры). The same spec works for them:



which produces

The nominative plural in -ы rather than -е (as in nouns in -ін) is automatically selected. The default genitive plural would be балга́р, with a null ending as in nouns in -ін. However, this noun actually has two genitive plurals, either балга́р (the expected form for nouns in -ін) or балга́раў (the expected form for masculine nouns not in -ін).

Third-declension feminine nouns
Third-declension feminine nouns are those whose singular ends in -ь or a consonant rather than -я or -а. Normally this is autodetected, but this is not possible in the plural, where the ending -і is the same as for nouns ending in -я. To indicate this type of noun, use. See the section on number for an example.