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Żeby and Aby, versus in polish


Antos  6 | 18  
13 Oct 2007 /  #1
What's the difference between Żeby and Aby?
Żeby mieć konia to trzeba.....
Aby mieć konia to trzeba....

The meaning to me sounds the same, yet I want to know when to use what word and why.

Also what's the Polish equivalent for the English vs(versus).
Thanks
Bednar87  1 | 3  
13 Oct 2007 /  #2
versus = kontra or przeciw.

żeby = aby in most cases, but sometimes you can't use them interchangeably. Look at the example below :

żeby nie Tomasz, nie wydostalibyśmy się = hadn't it been for Thomas, we wouldn't have escaped. In this example, you can't use aby.

Generally, we use aby and żeby interchangeably if they mean "in order to"; "so that"
Krzysztof  2 | 971  
13 Oct 2007 /  #3
I always use aby (in the meaning of "to/in order to"), because I'm afraid that I may misspell żeby and make "żaby" of it (żaby = frogs) and no word editor would correct that for me :)
z_darius  14 | 3960  
18 Oct 2007 /  #4
żeby nie Tomasz, nie wydostalibyśmy się = hadn't it been for Thomas, we wouldn't have escaped. In this example, you can't use aby.

I'm not sure I'd agree.
"zeby" does not sound right here. It should be:

"gdyby nie Tomasz..."

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