In the song Подмосковные вечера there's a "б" letter standing alone: Если б знали вы, как мне дороги
What does this mean? Thank you.
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Sign up to join this communityIn the song Подмосковные вечера there's a "б" letter standing alone: Если б знали вы, как мне дороги
What does this mean? Thank you.
б
is a variant of бы
that can be used (entirely optionally) if the preceding word ends with a vowel. Чтобы
, being что
+бы
, always has the variant чтоб
.
Similarly (with the same after-a-vowel rule), ли
has ль
and же
has ж
. The full and shortened forms are not entirely interchangeable; the shortened ones are stylistically non-neutral in most contexts, so when in doubt, use the full ones. You'll come across the short ones a lot in songs and poems, though, because they're a convenient way to lose an extra syllable.
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"б" is a short form for "бы" - "conditional construction"(CocoPop)
"Если б знали вы" means "If you would know"
I think it's just the way it sounds. The tension goes on "бы" and brakes the rhythm.
With "б" there is no tension in the middle of the sentence:
"Если б знали вы" = "Если бы вы знали" = "Если б вы знали" (less common)
I would compare it to "if you would know" & "If you would only know"