Breakdown of Babcia prosi, żebyśmy przyjechali ósmego października na rodzinny obiad.
obiad
the dinner (main meal)
na
for
my
we
rodzinny
family
Questions & Answers about Babcia prosi, żebyśmy przyjechali ósmego października na rodzinny obiad.
What does żebyśmy mean here?
Żebyśmy means so that we / that we / for us to in this kind of sentence.
It is made of:
- żeby = a conjunction often used after verbs of wanting, asking, requesting, etc.
- -śmy = the ending meaning we
So Babcia prosi, żebyśmy... literally means something like Grandma asks that we... or Grandma is asking us to...
Why is żeby used instead of że?
After verbs like prosić (to ask/request), Polish normally uses żeby when introducing the action someone wants another person to do.
So:
- Babcia prosi, żebyśmy przyjechali... = Grandma asks us to come...
Using że here would sound wrong, because że usually introduces a statement or fact, not a requested action.
Why does przyjechali look like a past tense form if the action is in the future?
That is a very common learner question.
After żeby, Polish uses a form built from the past-tense stem plus personal endings:
- żebym przyjechał = so that I come
- żebyś przyjechał = so that you come
- żebyśmy przyjechali = so that we come
So even though przyjechali looks like they came, here it does not mean past time. In this structure, it expresses a desired, expected, or requested action.