Powiedzonka
Fixed sayings. Deploying one correctly is the single fastest way to sound like you have lived there.
co ma piernik do wiatraka
phrase
- EN
- what's that got to do with anything
- RU
- при чём здесь это
Co ma piernik do wiatraka? Mówimy o czymś innym.
What's that got to do with it? We're talking about something else.
What has gingerbread to do with a windmill. The Polish answer to a non sequitur, and it is used constantly.
bez dwóch zdań
phrase
- EN
- without a doubt
- RU
- без вопросов, однозначно
Bez dwóch zdań, to najlepsza opcja.
Without a doubt, that's the best option.
Literally 'without two opinions' — there is only one view to be had. Uses the zdanie you already know in its opinion sense.
jak grochem o ścianę
phrase
- EN
- like talking to a brick wall
- RU
- как об стенку горох
Tłumaczę mu, a to jak grochem o ścianę.
I explain and it's like talking to a brick wall.
Peas thrown at a wall, same as the Russian. One of the handful that transfers whole.
co nagle, to po diable
phrase
- EN
- more haste, less speed
- RU
- поспешишь — людей насмешишь
Nie spiesz się tak — co nagle, to po diable.
Don't rush it — more haste, less speed.
What is done suddenly is the devil's. Rhymes in Polish, which is why it survived.
mieć w małym palcu
phrase · verb
- EN
- to know inside out
- RU
- знать как свои пять пальцев
Ma ten temat w małym palcu.
He knows that subject inside out.
In the little finger. Russian uses all five; Polish only needs the smallest one, which is a better boast.
nie ma zmiłuj
phrase
- EN
- there's no way round it
- RU
- деваться некуда
Termin jest termin, nie ma zmiłuj.
A deadline is a deadline, there's no way round it.
A frozen old imperative of zmiłować się, to have mercy. Ungrammatical by modern rules and completely standard.
od święta
phrase · adverb
- EN
- only very occasionally
- RU
- по большим праздникам
Gotuję od święta.
I cook only on high days and holidays.
Literally 'from a holiday'. The Russian phrase uses the same image of things happening only on feast days.
wyjść na swoje
phrase · verb
- EN
- to break even, to come out all right
- RU
- остаться при своих
Nie zarobiliśmy, ale wyszliśmy na swoje.
We didn't profit, but we came out even.
To come out onto your own. Uses wyjść, which by now you have in four other senses.
trzymać się kupy
phrase · verb
- EN
- to hold together, to make sense
- RU
- быть связным
Ten argument się nie trzyma kupy.
That argument doesn't hold together.
Kupa is a heap — and, in children's Polish, something else entirely, which is why the phrase raises a smile.
wisi mi to
phrase · colloquial
- EN
- I couldn't care less
- RU
- мне до лампочки
Szczerze? Wisi mi to.
Honestly? I couldn't care less.
Literally 'it hangs on me'. Blunt to the point of rudeness if the other person cares about the thing.
Drill these ten · earlier morning · later morning
Drill these ten