See also: byc

Old PolishEdit

EtymologyEdit

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *byti, from Proto-Balto-Slavic *bū́ˀtei, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰúHt, the present forms are from *h₁ésti.

VerbEdit

być impf

  1. (intransitive) to be, exist
  2. (intransitive) to be (indicates sameness or membership in a class) [+nominative or instrumental]
    Jestem kowalem.I am a blacksmith.
  3. (intransitive) to be (auxilary verb used for predication) [+adjective]
    Jestem zmęczona.I am tired.
  4. (intransitive) in future tense, forms future tense of imperfective verbs [+infinitive or past participle]
    Będę biegać/biegał.I'll be running.

ConjugationEdit

This verb needs an inflection-table template.

Derived termsEdit

adjectives
nouns
verbs

ReferencesEdit

PolishEdit

EtymologyEdit

Inherited from Old Polish być, from Proto-Slavic *byti, from Proto-Balto-Slavic *bū́ˀtei. The aorist/infinitive stem derives from Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH-, the present stem from *h₁es-. Cognates include Latvian būt, Lithuanian būti, Irish , Avestan 𐬠𐬀𐬎𐬎𐬀𐬌𐬙𐬌(bauuaiti) and Sanskrit भवति (bhavati).

PronunciationEdit

  • IPA(key): /bɨt͡ɕ/
  • (file)
  • Rhymes: -ɨt͡ɕ
  • Syllabification: być

VerbEdit

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]
    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.
    • 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 notesEdit

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").

ConjugationEdit

Derived termsEdit

verbs
adjective
nouns

Related termsEdit

noun
verbs

TriviaEdit

According to Słownik frekwencyjny polszczyzny współczesnej (1990), być is one of the top 10,355 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, totaling 9621 times, making it the 3rd most common word in a corpus of 500,000 words.[1]

ReferencesEdit

  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 readingEdit

Upper SorbianEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Proto-Slavic *byti, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH-. Compare Lower Sorbian byś.

PronunciationEdit

VerbEdit

być

  1. to be

ConjugationEdit

Further readingEdit