One particle, бы, added to a past-tense form, does hypotheticals, wishes and the politest requests in the language.
I can make a polite request, express a wish and build a two-clause hypothetical.
Look at these examples. Can you spot the grammar pattern?
Я хацела б кубак гарбаты, калі ласка.
I would like a cup of tea, please.
Калі б было цяплей, мы паехалі б на раку.
If it were warmer, we would go to the river.
Калі будзе час, паедзем на Нарач.
If there is time, we will go to Narach.
Ці не маглі б вы паўтарыць?
Could you possibly repeat that?
Pay attention to the highlighted parts. What do they have in common?
Take the past-tense form and add бы. That is the whole construction - there is no separate conditional tense.
Because it is built on the past, it agrees in gender and number. The particle itself never changes; after a vowel it is usually shortened to б.
| Job | Example |
|---|---|
| Polite request | Я хацеў бы кубак гарбаты. |
| Wish | Хацелася б паехаць на мора. |
| Hypothetical | Калі б было цяплей, мы паехалі б. |
Калі б opens the condition and бы appears in the result as well - both halves carry it:
Belarusian does not distinguish present from past hypotheticals the way English does with "if I had" against "if I had had". One form covers both, and the context settles it.
Without бы, калі introduces something that may genuinely happen, and the verb is an ordinary future: Калі будзе час, паедзем. - If there is time, we will go. Adding бы moves it into the hypothetical.
Adding бы makes almost any request gentler: Ці не маглі б вы дапамагчы? - Could you possibly help? This is the politest register available and worth having ready.
Apply this grammar in A2 course exercises
Practice ExercisesTypical errors: leaving бы out of the result clause, and forgetting that the verb agrees in gender because it is a past-tense form.
Leaving бы out of the result clause
Both halves carry it: Калі б я меў час, я прыйшоў бы.
Not agreeing the verb in gender
It is a past-tense form: хацеў бы, хацела б, хацелі б.
Adding бы to a real condition
Калі будзе час, паедзем - a real possibility takes no бы.
Dropping ці from the polite question
Ці не маглі б вы...? - ці opens it.
Я хацела б кубак гарбаты, калі ласка.
I would like a cup of tea, please.
A woman speaking, so <em>хацела б</em> - the form agrees because it is built on the past.
Калі б было цяплей, мы паехалі б на раку.
If it were warmer, we would go to the river.
Both halves carry the particle: <em>калі б</em> and <em>паехалі б</em>.
Калі будзе час, паедзем на Нарач.
If there is time, we will go to Narach.
A real possibility, so no <em>бы</em> and an ordinary future.
Ці не маглі б вы паўтарыць?
Could you possibly repeat that?
The politest register: <em>ці</em> opens it, the negative softens it further, and <em>бы</em> makes it hypothetical.
Хацелася б паехаць у Белавежскую пушчу.
I would like to go to the Bielaviezhskaja Pushcha.
An impersonal wish - no subject at all, and the verb is neuter.
Practice in course
Apply this grammar in A2 course exercises
The current academic reference grammar; the linked edition serves the full text. Cited for its verb section, which treats the infinitive, transitivity and reflexivity before the conjugation paradigms, and gives the participle suffixes -уч- (-юч-), -ач- (-яч-) and -ш-, -ўш-, -т-, -н- alongside the gerund suffixes -ўшы, -шы and -учы (-ючы), -ачы (-ячы).