# bývat / být



## JGIC

Can someone explain the difference between bývat and být?  I see that bývat means "to reside in," but I also see the word used in contexts, where it acts the same as "to be."

See the following translations from bývat - English translation - bab.la Czech-English dictionary

_Obecně bývám v takovýchto případech spíše skeptický, protože to často bývá omluva pro celní ochranu vůči výrobkům z jiných zemí._
Generally I am rather sceptical when we do this, because quite often it is an excuse for protectionism against products from other countries
_(DE) Pane předsedající, rád bych se omluvil, bývám obvykle velmi dochvilný, ale dochvilnost má vždy dvě strany a tato doba vyhrazená pro otázky má zpoždění._
(DE) Mr President, I would like to apologise. I am normally very punctual, but there are always two sides to punctuality and this question time has been delayed.


----------



## Mori.cze

Hi JGIC,

_bývat_ is a form of the verb _být, _to be. I am not exactly sure how it fits into grammatical system, but quick search shows that it is known as _stupňování vidu_, so probably something like gradation of verb aspect (hopefully some linguist might fill the correct term in). Meaning of this particular verb declension is: often repeated action or habit. In your cases the meaning is transferred with _generally I am_, _quite often it is_, _I am normally_ respectively. You can do this magic to other verbs, too, as in:

Spím do sedmi = I sleep until 7 a. m.
Spávám do sedmi = Usually I sleep until 7. a. m.
Good news: the verb form is not obligatory, you can just as well say _Obvykle spím do sedmi._

Side note: you can also apply the magic twice and come up with _bývávám_


As for "to reside in", you have probably seen _obývat_, which etymologically is a derivation of _být_, but now works as a standalone verb.


----------



## JGIC

Wow this opens up a whole new aspect of Czech grammar for me!  Thanks!


----------



## Enquiring Mind

Hi JGIC, there's an existing thread about this "iterative" tense here, where the poster was actually asking about nesedávej, but the grammatical principle is the same. Mori.cze has explained the sense of the iterative verb and how to form it in #2.

I would merely add that it tends to be used more in the literary language, though you will still hear it quite often in spoken Czech too when the speaker wants to stress that the action of the verb is frequent, repeated or habitual. In particular, I would echo Mori.cze's comment "Good news: the verb form is not obligatory, you can just as well say _Obvykle spím do sedmi._" So recognise it when you see or hear it (to describe a repeated or habitual action), but you don't need to worry about using it actively.

In the present tense, the iterative can often be translated by "tends to";
_"Před asi půl rokem jsme s kamarádem začali na novém projektu. *Jak to už bývá,* nadšení bylo větší než plánování. Sice jsme si před samotným začátkem jakž takž řekli co a jak, ale i to bylo málo." _(source: tomasadl.cz) .... *as tends to be the case / as is often the case / as usually happens *....

In the past tense, the iterative form of any verb can often be translated by "used to":
Svět už nebude takový, jaký *býval* (source: sedmagenerace.cz): the world will no longer be what *it used to be.*

Bývat in its past tense forms can also occur not in an iterative sense, but as an auxiliary verb form in unreal conditionals in Czech (though this is not obligatory either), and in expressing the distant past (rather like the English pluperfect), but you don't need to worry about that at this stage, and you don't need to actively use it in these senses either.



> I see that bývat means "to reside in"


 Bývat' means "to live (somewhere)" in Slovak, but not in standard Czech, though you may come across it in this sense in some Moravian dialects.


----------

