Belarusian is natively spoken by about 3.6 million people, primarily in Belarus, with smaller communities in Russia, Poland, and Ukraine. It is a significant aspect of Belarusian cultural identity, reflected in its folklore, literature, and traditional music. Written in the Cyrillic alphabet, Belarusian grammar features a free word order, noun cases, and verb conjugations based on tense and aspect, similar to other Slavic languages.