akoby / ako keby

As if

Level 4

Akoby and ako keby compare what is really happening with something that only seems to be true.

How It Works

An imagined comparison. Akoby and ako keby mean exactly the same. They compare a real situation with one that is not true, or not certain: Tvári sa, akoby nič nevedel (He acts as if he knew nothing).

Forms. Both contain the conditional by, so the verb is the l-form, just as after keby: akoby som bol, akoby si vedel, akoby sme sa poznali. In the third person there is no person word: akoby bol chorý. The present tense is not possible here.

Time. The same l-form works for the present and the past: Tvári sa / Tváril sa, akoby ma nepoznal. For something that happened earlier, you may add bol, but it is often left out: vyzerá, akoby mu (boli) včely uleteli.

Spelling. Akoby is one word, but ako keby is two. Don't mix up akoby with ako by, which is the question word ako (how) plus the conditional: Neviem, ako by som mu to povedal (I don't know how I would tell him).

On its own. Akoby can also start a sentence without a main verb before it: Akoby sa nič nestalo, pokračoval v práci (As if nothing had happened, he went on working).

Examples (6)

  1. Tvári sa, akoby nič nevedel.

    He acts as if he knew nothing.

    Word by Word: He-makes-face himself, as-if nothing not-knew.

  2. Vyzerá, ako keby bol chorý.

    He looks as if he were ill.

    Word by Word: He-looks, as if-would was ill.

  3. Správaš sa, akoby si bol doma.

    You're behaving as if you were at home.

    Word by Word: You-behave yourself, as-if you-are been at-home.

    Si follows akoby for you.

  4. Hovorí po slovensky, akoby sa tu narodila.

    She speaks Slovak as if she had been born here.

    Word by Word: She-speaks in Slovak, as-if herself here was-born.

  5. Akoby sa nič nestalo, pokračoval v práci.

    As if nothing had happened, he went on working.

    Word by Word: As-if itself nothing not-happened, he-continued in work.

  6. Cítim sa, ako keby som mal dvadsať rokov.

    I feel as if I were twenty.

    Word by Word: I-feel myself, as if-would I-am had twenty years.

Common Mistakes

  • Using the present tense after akoby.

    Vyzerá, akoby je chorý.
    Vyzerá, akoby bol chorý.

    Akoby contains by, so it is followed by the l-form (bol), never by the present tense (je).

  • Writing akoby as two words.

    Tvári sa, ako by nič nevedel.
    Tvári sa, akoby nič nevedel.

    As if is akoby, one word, or ako keby. Ako by as two words means how would: Neviem, ako by som to urobil.

  • Writing ako keby as one word.

    Tvári sa, akokeby nič nevedel.
    Tvári sa, ako keby nič nevedel.

    Ako keby is always two words. Only the short form akoby is written together.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

akoby / ako kebyLevel 4As if

Learn This First

Before As If, learn If It Were So: keby. akoby contains by and describes an unreal comparison, like keby.

Words in This Pattern

akobykeby