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  What it means

  Literally “to give faith,” this idiom means to believe something or to give credence to a claim. It is most often used in the negative — ’nie dawać wiary’ — to express disbelief or shock at something hard to accept. The phrase carries a slight sense of emotional weight, as if the speaker is wrestling with whether to trust what they have heard. It sits between neutral and slightly elevated in register.

  Vocabulary

  • dawać — to give (imperfective)
  • wiara — faith, belief, trust
  • wiarę — faith (accusative case of 'wiara')
  • nie dawać wiary — to disbelieve, to not be able to believe

  Grammar note

  The noun 'wiara' appears in the accusative case ('wiarę') because it is the direct object of 'dawać.' The phrase follows the standard imperfective pattern and can be used across all tenses: 'nie dawałem wiary' (I didn't believe it), 'nie mogę dawać wiary' (I can't believe it).

  Cultural context

  The phrase is neutral to slightly formal and is heard in both speech and writing. The closest English parallel is 'I can't believe it' or 'I give no credence to that.' It is not slangy and suits professional contexts as well as everyday conversation.

  Intermediate

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