бы
See also: Appendix:Variations of "bi"
Adyghe
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [bəː]
Audio (file)
Letter
бы • (bə) (lower case, upper case Бы)
- The second of the Adyghe Cyrillic alphabet.
Noun
бы • (bə)
- den
- haunt
- nest
Declension
declension of бы
| case | singular | plural |
|---|---|---|
| nominative | быр (bər) | быхэр (bəxăr) |
| ergative | бым (bəm) | быхэмэ (bəxămă) |
| instrumental | бы(м)кӏэ (bə(m)č̣̍ă) | быхэ(м)кӏэ (bəxă(m)č̣̍ă) |
| invertive | быу (bəw) | быхыу (bəxəw) |
Russian
Alternative forms
- б (b) (abbreviation, especially after vowels)
- кабы́ (kabý) (colloquial)
Etymology
The word was the third-person singular aorist of быть (bytʹ, “to be”), an otherwise obsolete Russian tense (see Old Church Slavonic бꙑти (byti)).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [bɨ]
Audio (file)
Particle
бы • (by)
- A verbal particle used to render conditional and subjunctive patterns
- Я говори́л. ― Ja govoríl. ― I spoke.
- Я бы говори́л. ― Ja by govoríl. ― I would (should) have spoken.; I would speak.; I might speak.
Usage notes
- The particle бы is often shortened to б (b).
- The particle бы may come before or after the verb it is targeting.
- The particle бы is often omitted in colloquial settings. For example:
- словно бы → словно (бы)
Related terms
- е́сли бы то́лько (jésli by tólʹko)
- ка́к бы не (kák by ne)
- сло́вно бы (slóvno by)
- что́бы (štóby)