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být. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
být, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
být in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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Czech
Etymology
Inherited from Old Czech býti, from Proto-Slavic *byti.
Pronunciation
Verb
být impf
- to be
- Ten kabát je vlhký ― The coat is wet.
- to be (to exist)
- Synonym: existovat
- bylo nebylo ― once upon a time.
- (auxiliary) used to form past tense forms of verbs with past participles
- Jel jsem do Prahy. ― I went to Prague.
- (auxiliary) used to form future tense forms of verbs with infinitives
- Budu ti pomáhat. ― I will be helping you.
- (auxiliary) used to form conditional mood forms of verbs with past participles
- Já bych to neudělal. ― I would not do it.
- (auxiliary) used to form passive voice forms of verbs with passive participles
- Jsem překvapen. ― I am surprised.
- (auxiliary) used to form conditional forms of verbs with past and passive participles
- Byl by tam šel, kdyby ho byli pozvali. ― He would have gone there if they had invited him.
Conjugation
Conjugation
Participles |
Past participles |
Passive participles
|
|
singular |
plural |
singular |
plural
|
masculine animate
|
byl |
byli |
— |
—
|
masculine inanimate
|
byly |
—
|
feminine
|
byla |
—
|
neuter
|
bylo |
byla |
— |
—
|
Antonyms
Derived terms
Further reading
- “býti”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
- “býti”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
- “být”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech)
- František Št. Kott (1878) “býti”, in Česko-německý slovník zvláště grammaticko-fraseologický (in Czech), Prague: Josef Kolář, page 113
- František Št. Kott (1887) “býti”, in Česko-německý slovník zvláště grammaticko-fraseologický (in Czech), Prague: František Šimáček, page 1102
- František Št. Kott (1893) “býti”, in Česko-německý slovník zvláště grammaticko-fraseologický (in Czech), Prague: František Šimáček, page 1208
- Vavřinec Josef Dušek (1887) “Slovesa bezpříznaká v dialektech česko-slovenských. 1. Jsem, býti.”, in Listy filologické, volume 14, Prague: Jednota českých filologů, Edvard Grégr, page 373