ak / keby

Real Versus Unreal Conditions

Level 4

Use ak when the condition is real and possible. Use keby when you only imagine it or when it is not true.

How It Works

Real or imagined? English shows this difference by shifting the tense: if it rains versus if it rained. Slovak changes the conjunction and the mood instead: ak for a real condition, keby for an imagined one.

  • Real: ak + an ordinary tense (present, future or past). The main clause is in the present, the future or the imperative: Ak bude pršať, zostaneme doma.
  • Imagined or untrue: keby + l-form. The main clause is in the conditional with by: Keby pršalo, zostali by sme doma.

One situation, two views. Ak mám čas, pomôžem ti means that I may well have time. Keby som mal čas, pomohol by som ti means that I don't really have time, or that I am only imagining it. Keby is also used for things that are simply not true now: Keby som bol bohatý, kúpil by som si dom (If I were rich, I would buy a house).

Forms of keby. Keby takes the person words som, si, sme, ste right after it: keby som mal, keby si prišiel, keby sme vedeli. In the third person it is just keby and the l-form: keby prišiel, keby prišli. A comma always separates the two clauses.

The past. For an unreal condition about the past, careful Slovak uses the past conditional: Keby som bol vedel, bol by som ti zavolal. In everyday speech the simple conditional is also common when the context shows the past: Keby som to vedel, zavolal by som ti.

Polite keby. Keby can also make a real possibility sound softer, often with a request: Keby ste niečo potrebovali, zavolajte. (If you need anything, call.) In letters and notices, ak by does the same job.

Examples (6)

  1. Ak bude pršať, zostaneme doma.

    If it rains, we'll stay at home.

    Word by Word: If will-be raining, we-will-stay at-home.

    A real possibility: ak with a future form.

  2. Keby pršalo, zostali by sme doma.

    If it were raining, we would stay at home.

    Word by Word: If-would rained, stayed would we at-home.

    An imagined situation: keby with the l-form, and by in the main clause.

  3. Ak máš čas, pomôž mi.

    If you have time, help me.

    Word by Word: If you-have time, help me.

  4. Keby som mal čas, pomohol by som ti.

    If I had time, I would help you.

    Word by Word: If-would I-am had time, helped would I-am you.

  5. Keby som bol bohatý, kúpil by som si dom pri mori.

    If I were rich, I would buy a house by the sea.

    Word by Word: If-would I-am been rich, bought would I-am myself house by sea.

    Not true now, so keby.

  6. Keby ste niečo potrebovali, zavolajte mi.

    If you need anything, call me.

    Word by Word: If-would you-are something needed, call me.

    Polite keby for a real but uncertain possibility.

Common Mistakes

  • Using the present tense after keby.

    Keby mám čas, išiel by som s vami.
    Keby som mal čas, išiel by som s vami.

    Keby is always followed by the l-form, with som, si, sme or ste for I, you and we. It is never followed by the present tense.

  • Leaving by out of the main clause.

    Keby som mal peniaze, kúpil som si auto.
    Keby som mal peniaze, kúpil by som si auto.

    Without by, the main clause says that I really bought a car. An imagined result needs the conditional: kúpil by som.

  • Using ak with the past tense for an imagined situation.

    Ak som bol bohatý, kúpil by som si dom.
    Keby som bol bohatý, kúpil by som si dom.

    Ak som bol bohatý talks about a real past situation (if I was rich back then), which does not fit an imagined result. To imagine something that is not true, use keby.

How It Connects

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

ak / kebyLevel 4Real Versus Unreal Conditions

Learn This First

Before Real Versus Unreal Conditions, learn If It Were So: keby. The entry contrasts unreal keby with real ak.

Words in This Pattern

keby