бы

See also: Appendix:Variations of "bi"

Adyghe

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [bəː]

• Audio

  (file)

Letter

бы • (bə) (lower case, upper case Бы)

1. The second of the Adyghe Cyrillic alphabet.

Noun

бы • (bə)

1. den
2. haunt
3. 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)

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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)

1. 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 after or precede 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)