Breakdown of Nauczyciel prosi, żebyście nie kłamali na teście.
na
on
nie
not
żeby
so that
nauczyciel
the teacher
Questions & Answers about Nauczyciel prosi, żebyście nie kłamali na teście.
What exactly is żebyście? Is it one word or two things stuck together?
Żebyście is made of two parts:
- żeby – a conjunction, roughly “so that / in order that / that”
- -ście – an ending that marks 2nd person plural (“you guys / you all”)
So żebyście literally means something like “so that you (plural)”. It introduces a subordinate clause expressing a wish, request, order, etc.
A useful pattern:
- żebym – so that I
- żebyś – so that you (singular)
- żeby – so that he / she / it / they
- żebyśmy – so that we
- żebyście – so that you (plural)
- żeby – so that they
In your sentence:
Nauczyciel prosi, żebyście nie kłamali na teście.
The teacher asks that you (plural) not lie on the test.
Why is kłamali used here? It looks like a past tense form, but the teacher is talking about the future test.