быть

Inherited from Old East Slavic бꙑти (byti), from Proto-Slavic *byti, from Proto-Balto-Slavic *bū́ˀtei. Cognate with Ukrainian бути (buty), Belarusian быць (bycʹ), Polish być. Other cognates include Sanskrit भू (bhū, “to be”), Latin futūrus, and English be.

The present forms are suppletive, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ésti.

• IPA^(key): [bɨtʲ]

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• Rhymes: -ɨtʲ

быть • (bytʹ) impf

1. to be [with instrumental or nominative]

   Так бы́ло, так есть и так бу́дет всегда́!

   Tak býlo, tak jestʹ i tak búdet vsegdá!

   So it was, so it is, and so it will always be! [from the State Anthem of the Russian Federation]

   быть под каблуко́м ― bytʹ pod kablukóm ― to be henpecked

2. there be

   У меня есть яблоко.

   U menja jestʹ jabloko.

   I have an apple.

   (literally, “Of my possession there is (an) apple.”)

• Omitted in the present tense except in the third-person singular есть (jestʹ), which is used occasionally to express possession or definition or for emphasis. есть (jestʹ) was originally the third-person singular, but is now used for all persons, e.g.

Я и есть тот челове́к.

Ja i jestʹ tot čelovék.

I am that person.

See also —.

• Negative forms with не (ne) feature stress on the particle in standard Russian for masculine, neuter and plural forms of the past tense: не́ был (né byl), не́ было (né bylo), не́ были (né byli).

Notes on present tense forms:

• есть (jestʹ) is the only present tense form used in everyday language. In works of literature, it can be used as a copula for emphasis.
• есмь (jesmʹ) is only used in philosophical contexts, as in «Я мыслю, следовательно, я есмь» (“I think, therefore I am”).
• суть (sutʹ), an archaic form, has become confused with the related noun суть (sutʹ, “essence”), so may occur in formal styles with the vague meaning "is in essence", indiscriminately of person and number.
• Rarely, the archaic forms есь (jesʹ), еси́ (jesí), есмы́ (jesmý), and е́сте (jéste) appear in some styles of literature, though they are not understood by most speakers.

• есть (jestʹ)
• суть (sutʹ)
• бытие́ (bytijé)
• существова́ние (suščestvovánije)
• мо́жет быть (móžet bytʹ)
• быва́ть (byvátʹ) iterative aspect
• — (тире́ (tirɛ́), used as a verb for noun pairs)
• 3rd person negative (there is/are no):

  нет (net), не́ту (nétu) (non-standard)

• past negative: (note the stress)

  не́ был (né byl), не была́ (ne bylá), не́ было (né bylo), не́ были (né byli)

• future active participle:

  бу́дущий (búduščij)

• conditional/subjunctive particle:

  бы (by), б (b)