# by, żeby



## Hal1fax

Hii,
 I am from Canada but I am going to Poland in July and I speak some Polish but I am not completely fluent, I am hoping to get better by the time I go anyways I was just wondering about what "by" and "zeby" mean because when I ask Polish people they can't explain it to me.
thankyou.


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## tkekte

żeby = so that, in order to
by = would... roughly


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## dn88

Welcome to the forums, Hal1fax!

Well, in most cases they mean the same thing and can be used interchangeably (there's also "aby", which means the same). So in general they can be translated as "in order to, so that, so as to, to". However, "by" is also sometimes used in conditional clauses, but that's yet another kettle of fish...


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## Thomas1

To me the meaning is the same, but _żeby_ would be my fist choice in an everyday conversation. _Aby_ is the same except for the fact that is sounds a bit formal. _By_ has almost literary overtones; for example:
_Żeby naprawić ten błąd, musisz zastosować polecenie o którym Ci mówiłem._ sounds normal
_Aby naprawić ten błąd, musisz zastosować polecenie o którym Ci mówiłem._ sounds normal, but a tad more formal than the previous one.
_By naprawić ten błąd, musisz zastosować polecenie o którym Ci mówiłem._ sounds kind of stilted to me, I don't think many Poles would employ it in a casual talk, and I don't hear it used often in this meaning. I would expect to see it rather in a writerly composition.

There are also contexts in which none of them is interchangeable.

Tom

PS: welcome to the forums.


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## dn88

Yeah, you're right Tom. But it's just occured to me that in certain circumstances "żeby" can mean "gdyby" ("by" can also mean "gdyby" though it is most likely to be heard only in an informal conversation). 

PS: What contexts had you thought of exactly?


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## Thomas1

_Żeby tak na niego trafiło..._
_Żeby mi się to więcej nie powtórzyło!_


_By_ as mentioned earlier on is a landmark of the conditional.

_Postąpił nierozsądnie, żeby nie powiedzieć głupio._
In this case, I'm waffling whether claiming that _by_ is also interchangeable with _żeby_ is sound (it doesn't sound as good to me as _żeby_, but there's a little grain of uncetainity...), and I don't like _aby_.

_Aby nie za późno._
I wouldn't swap _aby _by _żeby_ or _by_ here, I might employ _byle,_ perhaps _oby_ would be fine too.


Tom


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## dn88

Thomas1 said:


> [...] _Postąpił nierozsądnie, żeby nie powiedzieć głupio. _[...]



I think all the three words are acceptable here and none of them would be marked as incorrect. But I agree, "żeby" sounds best.


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## Hal1fax

So like 'Za pozno by klamac'-'Too late in order to lie'?


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## Thomas1

Hal1fax said:


> So like 'Za pozno by klamac'-'Too late in order to lie'?


Yes, that is a good example. 
I am only adding the diacritical marks:
_Za późno by kłamać._


Tom


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## tkekte

That _by_ kind of reminds me of Bulgarian _да_ and English _to_ in this case. 

A też to samo po polsku sprobuję:
W tym przypadku, _by_ mi trochę przypomina o bułgarskiem _да_ i angielskiem _to_. (poprawcie mnie proszę. )

bg. Седнах на пейката *да* го очаквам. (gram?)
eng. I sat on the bench *to* wait for him.

If so, is it ok to say "siadłem na ławce (ławkę?) by go czekać"?
And if it is, do you need to put a comma before the "by"? In english you certainly don't put commas before "to", not sure about Bulgarian.


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## dn88

Hello tkekte,

"(U)siadłem na ławce, by na niego (po/za)czekać"?

And we do need a comma before the "by" in my humble opinion.


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