See also: byc

Old Polish edit

Etymology edit

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *byti. First attested in the 14th century.

Pronunciation edit

  • IPA(key): (10th–15th CE) /bɨt͡ɕ/
  • IPA(key): (15th CE) /bɨt͡ɕ/

Verb edit

być impf (indeterminate bywać)

  1. (intransitive) to be, exist
  2. (intransitive) to be (indicates sameness or membership in a class) [+nominative or instrumental]
    Jeśm kowalem.I am a blacksmith.
  3. (intransitive) to be (auxilary verb used for predication) [+adjective]
    Jeśm zmęczona.I am tired.
  4. (intransitive) in future tense, forms the compound future tense of imperfective verbs [+infinitive]
    Będę biegać.I'll be running.
  5. (intransitive) in present tense, forms the compound past tense [+past participle]
    Wczora to napisał jeśm.I wrote this down yesterday.
  6. (intransitive) in past tense, forms the pluperfect tense [+past participle]
    On to był zrobił przód tem.He had done it before.
  7. (intransitive) in aorist, forms the conditional mood [+past participle]
    My bychom tam poszli.We would have gone there.

Conjugation edit

This verb needs an inflection-table template.

Derived terms edit

adjectives
nouns
verbs

Descendants edit

  • Masurian: bicz
  • Polish: być
  • Silesian: być

References edit

Polish edit

Etymology edit

Inherited from Old Polish być.

Pronunciation edit

Verb edit

być impf (indeterminate bywać)

  1. (intransitive, copulative) to be indicates sameness or membership in a class [+nominative or instrumental]
  2. (intransitive) to be auxilary verb used for predication [+adjective]
    Jestem zmęczona.I am tired.
  3. (intransitive) in future tense, forms future tense of imperfective verbs [+infinitive or verb in past tense]
  4. (archaic, intransitive) in past tense, forms pluperfect tense [+verb in past tense]
    • 1859, Jean Jacques Rapet, Przewodnik moralności i ekonomii-politycznej dla użytku klass roboczych, Behr Bock, page 170:
      Gdybyś naprzykład, panie Rawski, był zjadł wszystko coś zarobił, to byś nie był zebrał majątku.
      If you for example, Mr Rawski, had eaten everything that you earned, then you would not have collected a fortune.
    • 1869, Charles Edmond, translated by Edmund Chojecki, Alkhadar: uste̜p z dziejów ojców naszych, F.A. Brockhaus, page 231:
      Nastusia na pół osunięta, na pół wsparta na dębie, na pół omdlała, z oczyma szeroko, nieruchomie otwartemi, utkwionemi w stronę, gdzie jastrząb dokonał był pomyślnych swoich łowów, strasznie dyszała.
      Nastusia, half-fallen, half-supported by the oak, with her eyes opened wide in a motionless manner, fixed in the direction where the hawk had successfully carried out its hunts, was panting terribly.
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)
    • 1871, Czesław Pieniążek, Włościanin: czasopismo ilustrowane dla ludu, Budweiser, page 34:
      Ale cóż, gdyby był poszedł tam w to miejsce, jakie przystało honorowi i jego osobie, toby był musiał co dzień kilka i kilkanaście złotych wydać; to cóż on robił?
      Oh well, if he had gone there into that place, as befitted his honour and his person, then he would have had to spend a few and a few dozen złoty; so what did he do?
  5. (intransitive) to be indicates location, there be
    Antonym: nie ma

Usage notes edit

The object is either in nominative or instrumental case; the former is often used when introducing oneself, and implies the object to be definite (Ja jestem Czesław, a to jest Marysia), in the latter the object is usually indefinite (Ona jest studentką "She is a college student"), although not exclusively (W tym momencie zorientował się, że Bruce Wayne jest Batmanem "In that moment he realised that Bruce Wayne is Batman").

Conjugation edit

Derived terms edit

verbs
adjective
nouns

Related terms edit

noun
verbs

Trivia edit

According to Słownik frekwencyjny polszczyzny współczesnej (1990), być is one of the most used words in Polish, appearing 2049 times in scientific texts, 1174 times in news, 1865 times in essays, 1791 times in fiction, and 2742 times in plays, each out of a corpus of 100,000 words, totaling 9621 times, making it the 3rd most common word in a corpus of 500,000 words.[1]

References edit

  1. ^ Ida Kurcz (1990), “być”, in Słownik frekwencyjny polszczyzny współczesnej [Frequency dictionary of the Polish language] (in Polish), volume 1, Kraków; Warszawa: Polska Akademia Nauk. Instytut Języka Polskiego, page 39

Further reading edit

Silesian edit

Etymology edit

Inherited from Old Polish być.

Pronunciation edit

Verb edit

być impf (indeterminate bywać)

  1. (intransitive) to be (indicates sameness or membership in a class) [+nominative or instrumental]
  2. (intransitive) to be (auxilary verb used for predication) [+adjective]
  3. (intransitive) in future tense, forms future tense of imperfective verbs [+infinitive or verb in past tense]
  4. (intransitive) in past tense, forms pluperfect tense [+verb in past tense]

Conjugation edit

Related terms edit

nouns
verb

Further reading edit

  • byc in dykcjonorz.eu
  • być in silling.org

Upper Sorbian edit

Etymology edit

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *byti.

Pronunciation edit

Verb edit

być impf

  1. to be

Conjugation edit

Derived terms edit

verbs

Further reading edit