-сьці

Belarusian

Alternative forms

-ści — Łacinka (Belarusian Latin alphabet)

Etymology

Clearly an extended form of -сь (-sʹ), although the origin of -ці (-ci), which has not been found appended elsewhere standalone, is uncertain. Possibly formed by phonological analogy of -асці (-asci) or -осці (-ósci), genitive form of -асць (-ascʹ) or -осць (-oscʹ), although this is speculation.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [sʲt͡sʲi]

Suffix

-сьці • (-sʹci)

appended to relative/interrogative pronouns to form indefinite pronouns; some-
Synonyms: -сь (-sʹ), -не́будзь (-njébudzʹ)

Usage notes

Never stressed and indeclinable; the pronoun to which it attaches declines as normal, for instance чыйго́сьці (čyjhósʹci) from чы́йсьці (čýjsʹci). Also never spelt as *-сці (*-sci) despite that being a homophone.
Generally more common than its ancestral counterpart -сь (-sʹ), which may now be considered only a colloquial variant.
Certain words only have an indefinite form using -не́будзь (-njébudzʹ); for example, there exists адкуль-не́будзь (adkulʹ-njébudzʹ, “from somewhere”), but *адкульсьці (*adkulʹsʹci) is at least poorly attested. However, all -сьці (-sʹci) indefinite pronouns also have a -не́будзь (-njébudzʹ) variant: хто-не́будзь (xto-njébudzʹ), які-не́будзь (jaki-njébudzʹ), and so forth.

Derived terms

Belarusian terms suffixed with -сьці