Antos 6 | 18 13 Oct 2007 / #1What'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 / #2versus = 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 | 973 13 Oct 2007 / #3I 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 | 3,964 18 Oct 2007 / #4żeby 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..."
