• Listen

  What it means

  Literally “to give itself into signs/marks,” this idiom means to make itself felt, to cause persistent trouble or discomfort, or to leave a noticeable mark. It describes something that asserts its presence in an unpleasant, unavoidable way — a bad knee, harsh weather, a difficult boss. Example: “Stary uraz zaczął dawać mi się we znaki” — “The old injury started making itself felt.”

  Vocabulary

  • dawać się — to give itself, to let itself be (reflexive imperfective)
  • we — variant of w (used before znaki for phonetic ease)
  • znaki — signs, marks (accusative plural of znak)

  Grammar note

  The reflexive dawać się takes the prepositional phrase we znaki (accusative plural). The imperfective aspect emphasizes the ongoing, recurring nature of the problem. Note: we is an allomorph of w used before words beginning with certain consonant clusters. The dative of the person affected (mi, nam, ci) is inserted: dawać się komuś we znaki.

  Cultural context

  This is a neutral to slightly elevated idiom, common in both spoken and written Polish. It appears frequently in journalism when describing the persistent effects of weather, illness, or economic conditions. The English equivalent is 'to make itself felt,' 'to take its toll,' or 'to be a thorn in someone's side.'

  Intermediate

Noticed a typo, a wrong translation, or anything that doesn't look right? We'd love to fix it — just let us know via the contact page. Thank you!