жил-был

Russian

Alternative forms

• жилъ-былъ (žil-byl) — Pre-reform orthography (1918)

Etymology

A pluperfect construction using жил (žil, “lived”) and был (byl, “had, was”), which is nonstandard in the current language.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˌʐɨɫ ˈbɨɫ]

Verb

жил-был • (žil-byl) (feminine жила-была, neuter жило-было)

1. (ungrammatical) masculine singular pluperfect indicative imperfective of жить (žitʹ)
2. (in the plural) once upon a time