жил-был

• ЖИЛ-БЫЛ folk

[VP; subj: human; past only; always precedes subj]

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⇒ the stock phrase used at the beginning of folk tales:

- once upon a time (there was <were, lived>).

     ♦ "Жил-был, здравствовал, изучал математику и прочие точные науки и никогда не думал, что стану таким "шовинистом"" (Шолохов 2). "Once upon a time I was a student of mathematics and other exact sciences. Little did I think I should live to become such a 'jingoist'" (2a).