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POLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

żeby.

creates a subordinate clause expressing desire or wish; to, so that, for that, in order to

4 characters2 syllables approx.Polski language

Meaning & usage

conj/ˈʐɛ.bɘ//ˈʐɛ.bɨ/Middle, Polish
  1. creates a subordinate clause expressing desire or wish; to, so that, for that, in order to

    Chcę, żebyś ciężej pracował!
  2. creates a subordinate clause in which the speaker believes the following event would be good; to, that, had better, may

    Żeby mnie nie zabiło!
  3. creates a subordinate clause expressing aim or purpose, one's goal; to, so that, for that, in order to

    Czytam, żeby się uczyć.
  4. creates a subordinate clause expressing expressing means by which something is achieved; to, so that, for that, in order to

  5. 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.
  6. creates a subordinate clause expressing the speaker's position on the truthfulness of a given situation

    Żebyś wiedział!
  7. creates a subordinate clause emphasizing that the speaker thinks the contents of their statement are apt

    colloquial
    żeby nie wiem co
  8. creates a subordinate clause expressing doubt; that, if

    Nie wiem, żeby...
  9. 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
  10. creates a subordinate clause that expresses a lack of results; for the sake of

    colloquial
    gadać, żeby gadać
  11. creates a subordinate clause in which the speaker thinks something else should be reality rather than what truly is; so that, may; if only

  12. introduces a subordinate clause relating a following event with a previous one that is not caused by the first event; just to, only to

    literary
    Uciekał przez trzy lata, żeby skończyć w więzieniu.
  13. introduces a second action co-occurring with another; to

    colloquial
    żeby tak powiedzieć
  14. creates a subordinate clause expressing consequences; or else

    colloquial
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.