býváji

Býváji is a historical or dialectal form related to the modern Czech verb form bývají, which is the third person plural present of the imperfective verb bývat (to be, to tend to be). In contemporary standard Czech the accepted form is bývají, used to express habitual or recurring states and actions (for example: V tomto kraji bývají časté mlhy — Mists are common in this region).

The form býváji appears in older Czech texts and in some regional dialects; it reflects earlier orthographic and phonological conventions in which the sequence -ají/-ají was sometimes rendered as -áji. It is nonstandard in modern written Czech and is generally encountered in historical literature, folklore transcriptions, or deliberate archaisation.

Etymology and cognates: bývat is derived from Proto-Slavic *byvati, related to the root of the verb být (to be). Cognate forms occur across Slavic languages (Polish bywają, Russian бывают) and share the habitual or iterative meaning.

Grammar and usage: as an imperfective verb, bývat and its plural form bývají indicate repeated or customary occurrences rather than a single completed action. It commonly appears with temporal expressions (often, usually, in spring) and with predicates describing states, conditions, or recurring events.

Because býváji is archaic or regional, learners and writers are advised to use the standard bývají in formal contemporary Czech.