Log inSign up

Ona prosi, żebyśmy wybaczyli mu jego kłamstwa.

Ona prosi, żebyśmy wybaczyli mu jego kłamstwa.
She asks that we forgive him for his lies.

Breakdown of Ona prosi, żebyśmy wybaczyli mu jego kłamstwa.

ona
she
żeby
so that
jego
his
mu
him
kłamstwo
the lie
wybaczyć
to forgive
prosić
to ask
Elon.io is an online learning platform
We have an entire course teaching Polish grammar and vocabulary.

Start learning Polish now

Questions & Answers about Ona prosi, żebyśmy wybaczyli mu jego kłamstwa.

Why is there a comma after prosi in Ona prosi, żebyśmy wybaczyli mu jego kłamstwa?

In Polish, a comma is normally used before conjunctions that introduce subordinate clauses, such as że, żeby, bo, chociaż, etc.

Here żebyśmy wybaczyli mu jego kłamstwa is a subordinate clause expressing what she is asking for, so Polish spelling rules require a comma:

  • Ona prosi, żebyśmy wybaczyli mu jego kłamstwa.
    = She asks that we forgive him his lies.

Without the comma, the sentence would be considered incorrect in standard written Polish.

What exactly does żebyśmy mean, and why is it one word?

Żebyśmy is actually two elements fused into one word:

  • żeby – a conjunction roughly meaning so that / (in order) that / that
  • śmy – the clitic form of the 1st person plural pronoun ending, marking “we” in this subordinate clause

So żebyśmy wybaczyli ≈ so that we (would) forgive or that we forgive.

Polish often attaches these little person-marking particles (-śmy, -ście) to conjunctions or auxiliary verbs:

  • żebyśmy poszli – so that we would go
  • gdybyśmy mieli czas – if we had time
  • byśmy poszli – we would go

English expresses the subject with a separate word (“we”), but Polish can “bake it into” the verb or the conjunction like this.

Why is wybaczyli in the past tense if the meaning is about the future (forgiving now or later)?

Despite its form looking like a past tense (1st person plural past: my wybaczyliśmy = we forgave), after żeby this form functions like a subjunctive or “would” form in English.

  • Ona prosi, żebyśmy wybaczyli mu jego kłamstwa.
    Literally: She asks, so that we forgave him his lies.
    Idiomatic meaning: She is asking us to forgive him for his lies.

In Polish, after żeby expressing wishes, requests, purposes, etc., you often use:

  • perfective verb, past form to mean a desired completed action:
    żebyśmy wybaczyli – that we (would) forgive (and be done with it)
  • or imperfective, if focusing on process/repetition.

It’s not really “past” time here; it’s a special use comparable to an old-fashioned English subjunctive: She asks that we forgive him…

Why is it wybaczyli, not wybaczamy or wybaczyć?

Each option would change the grammar or nuance:

  1. żebyśmy wybaczyli (used in the sentence)

    • Verb: wybaczyć (perfective)
    • Form: 1st person plural past
    • Function after żeby: a requested/desired single completed act
    • Meaning: that we (would) forgive him (once, decisively)

  2. żebyśmy wybaczamy – incorrect

    • wybaczamy is present tense; after żeby expressing a wish/purpose, this is not how Polish works. You need the special “subjunctive-like” construction.

  3. żeby wybaczyć (infinitive)

    • Ona prosi, żeby wybaczyć mu jego kłamstwa.
    • Literally: She asks in order to forgive him his lies.
    • Grammatically possible, but a bit odd: it doesn’t explicitly say who should forgive. Context might imply “we”, but it’s less precise and slightly different stylistically.

So żebyśmy wybaczyli is the natural, explicit way to say that we forgive / that we would forgive in this kind of sentence.

What aspect is wybaczyli, and does aspect matter here?

Wybaczyli comes from wybaczyć, which is perfective.

  • wybaczać – imperfective: to forgive (in general, repeatedly, as a process)
  • wybaczyć – perfective: to forgive (once, completely)

In żebyśmy wybaczyli mu jego kłamstwa, the speaker wants us to fully and finally forgive him – a completed act. That’s why the perfective aspect is used.

If you said:

  • Ona prosi, żebyśmy wybaczali mu jego kłamstwa.
    this would sound more like: She asks that we keep forgiving him / forgive him habitually, implying repeated or ongoing tolerance of his lies. Different nuance.
What does mu mean here, and why not jemu?

Mu is the unstressed (clitic) dative pronoun meaning to him, to it.

  • wybaczyć komu? – to forgive whom? (dative)
  • wybaczyć mu – to forgive him

Jemu is the stressed/long form of the same pronoun.

  • mu – normal, unstressed, most common in the middle of a sentence
  • jemu – used for emphasis or contrast:
    • My mu wybaczyliśmy, ale oni jemu nie wybaczyli.
      We forgave him, but they did not forgive him.

In your sentence, there is no contrast or emphasis, so the short, clitic form mu is natural:

  • Ona prosi, żebyśmy wybaczyli mu jego kłamstwa.
Why do we need both mu and jego? Aren’t they both “him/his”?

They do different jobs:

  • mu – dative pronoun: to him (the person we forgive)
  • jego – possessive pronoun: his (describes kłamstwa – lies)

Grammatically:

  • wybaczyć (komu?) mu – forgive him
  • wybaczyć (co?) jego kłamstwa – forgive his lies

So the structure is:

  • wybaczyć mu jego kłamstwa
    = forgive him his lies
    = forgive him for his lies

English often merges this into forgive him for his lies, but in Polish both roles are marked separately: the indirect object (mu) and the possessed object (jego kłamstwa).

What case is kłamstwa, and why does it look like that?

Kłamstwo (a lie) is a neuter noun.

Declension (singular vs plural, key forms):

  • Singular:
    • Nominative: kłamstwo – a lie
    • Accusative: kłamstwo – a lie (same as nominative)
  • Plural:
    • Nominative: kłamstwa – lies
    • Accusative: kłamstwa – lies (same as nominative plural)

In the sentence we have:

  • wybaczyć co? – to forgive what? → (jego) kłamstwa
    So kłamstwa is accusative plural.

It just happens that for this noun, nominative plural and accusative plural look the same.

Could we change the word order to Ona prosi, żebyśmy mu wybaczyli jego kłamstwa? Is that better or worse?

Yes, that version is also correct:

  • Ona prosi, żebyśmy wybaczyli mu jego kłamstwa.
  • Ona prosi, żebyśmy mu wybaczyli jego kłamstwa.

Both sound natural. Polish word order is relatively flexible; clitic pronouns like mu often appear early in the verb phrase, so many speakers might actually prefer:

  • żebyśmy mu wybaczyli jego kłamstwa

The difference is tiny and mostly rhythmic. All of these are acceptable:

  • żebyśmy wybaczyli mu jego kłamstwa
  • żebyśmy mu wybaczyli jego kłamstwa

The version you gave is fully normal.

Why is it wybaczyli (masculine-personal) and not wybaczyły?

Polish past tense agrees in gender and number with the subject.

  • my wybaczyliśmy – we forgave (group including at least one male: masculine-personal plural)
  • my wybaczyłyśmy – we forgave (all-female group: non-masculine-personal plural)

In subordinate clauses, the ending is the same, just without -śmy:

  • żebyśmy wybaczyli – so that we (masculine-personal) would forgive
  • żebyśmy wybaczyły – so that we (all-female) would forgive

The sentence Ona prosi, żebyśmy wybaczyli mu jego kłamstwa assumes the group doing the forgiving is either mixed or masculine-personal. If the group is explicitly only women, you would say:

  • Ona prosi, żebyśmy wybaczyły mu jego kłamstwa.
Could we drop the subject pronoun Ona and just say Prosi, żebyśmy wybaczyli mu jego kłamstwa?

Yes.

Polish usually omits subject pronouns when the person is clear from context or the verb ending. So both are correct:

  • Ona prosi, żebyśmy wybaczyli mu jego kłamstwa.
  • Prosi, żebyśmy wybaczyli mu jego kłamstwa.

The second version is very natural in a context where “she” has just been mentioned, or is obvious from the situation. The first version simply makes “she” explicit.

What is the difference between Ona prosi, żebyśmy wybaczyli mu jego kłamstwa and Ona prosi nas o wybaczenie mu jego kłamstw?

Both can be translated as She asks us to forgive him for his lies, but the grammar is different:

  1. Ona prosi, żebyśmy wybaczyli mu jego kłamstwa.

    • Structure: She asks, that we forgive him his lies.
    • Uses żeby
      • “subjunctive-like” verb
    • The action is expressed as we forgiving him.

  2. Ona prosi nas o wybaczenie mu jego kłamstw.

    • Structure: She asks us for forgiveness to him for his lies.
    • prosi kogo? nas – asks whom? us
    • o co? o wybaczenie – for what? forgiveness
    • The requested thing is a noun (wybaczenie – forgiveness), not the verb forgiving.

Nuance:

  • Version with żebyśmy wybaczyli is a bit more direct and everyday.
  • Version with o wybaczenie is slightly more formal or abstract.

Both are correct and idiomatic.

Why isn’t it just jego kłamstwa without mu? Isn’t wybaczyć jego kłamstwa enough?

You can say:

  • Ona prosi, żebyśmy wybaczyli jego kłamstwa.
    = She asks that we forgive his lies.

This is grammatical and means we should forgive the lies themselves.

But wybaczyć komuś coś is the standard pattern: forgive someone something.
When you include mu, you are emphasizing forgiving the person:

  • wybaczyć mu jego kłamstwa
    = forgive him his lies (forgive him for what he did)

Both versions are possible; wybaczyć mu jego kłamstwa is more complete and typical in this context, clearly pointing to the person as the object of forgiveness.

Could jego come after kłamstwa, like kłamstwa jego?

Yes, that word order is possible:

  • jego kłamstwa – his lies
  • kłamstwa jego – his lies

Kłamstwa jego sounds more stylistic, poetic, or emphatic, and might appear in literary or rhetorical language. In neutral modern speech, jego kłamstwa (possessive before the noun) is more common and natural.

So:

  • Ona prosi, żebyśmy wybaczyli mu jego kłamstwa. – standard, neutral
  • Ona prosi, żebyśmy wybaczyli mu kłamstwa jego. – possible, but sounds marked / literary.
Is there any difference in meaning between żebyśmy wybaczyli and abyśmy wybaczyli?

They are very close in meaning; both can introduce clauses expressing purpose, wish, or requested action:

  • Ona prosi, żebyśmy wybaczyli mu jego kłamstwa.
  • Ona prosi, abyśmy wybaczyli mu jego kłamstwa.

Differences:

  • żeby – more colloquial, most common in everyday speech.
  • aby – slightly more formal, often used in written language, official documents, or more elevated style.

The basic meaning (that we forgive him his lies) stays the same.