żeby.
creates a subordinate clause expressing desire or wish; to, so that, for that, in order to
Meaning & usage
creates a subordinate clause expressing desire or wish; to, so that, for that, in order to
Chcę, żebyś ciężej pracował!
creates a subordinate clause in which the speaker believes the following event would be good; to, that, had better, may
Żeby mnie nie zabiło!
creates a subordinate clause expressing aim or purpose, one's goal; to, so that, for that, in order to
Czytam, żeby się uczyć.
creates a subordinate clause expressing expressing means by which something is achieved; to, so that, for that, in order to
creates a subordinate clause in which one states the possibility of something depends on something else; to, so that, for that, in order to
Zjadłem za dużo, żeby teraz biegać.
creates a subordinate clause expressing the speaker's position on the truthfulness of a given situation
Żebyś wiedział!
creates a subordinate clause emphasizing that the speaker thinks the contents of their statement are apt
żeby nie wiem co
creates a subordinate clause expressing doubt; that, if
Nie wiem, żeby...
creates a subordinate clause expressing the speakers doubt with relation to the goodness of a given event; roughly, to think that
żeby też
ale żeby
creates a subordinate clause that expresses a lack of results; for the sake of
gadać, żeby gadać
creates a subordinate clause in which the speaker thinks something else should be reality rather than what truly is; so that, may; if only
introduces a subordinate clause relating a following event with a previous one that is not caused by the first event; just to, only to
Uciekał przez trzy lata, żeby skończyć w więzieniu.
introduces a second action co-occurring with another; to
żeby tak powiedzieć
creates a subordinate clause expressing consequences; or else
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ís Proto-Balto-Slavic *is Proto-Slavic *jь Proto-Indo-European *gʰe Proto-Balto-Slavic *ge Proto-Slavic *že Proto-Slavic *jь že Old Polish że Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- Proto-Indo-European *-t Proto-Indo-European *bʰúHt Proto-Indo-European *h₁es- Proto-Indo-European *h₁ésti Proto-Balto-Slavic *bū́ˀtei Proto-Slavic *byti Proto-Slavic *by Old Polish by Old Polish -by Old Polish żeby Polish żeby Inherited from Old Polish żeby. By surface analysis, że + -by. Compare Kashubian żebë.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.