• Listen

  What it means

  Literally “to go into stubbornness/denial,” this phrase means to stubbornly deny something or to dig your heels in and refuse to admit a fact even when confronted with clear evidence. It describes the behavior of someone who doubles down on a denial or position against all reason. For example: “On szedł w zaparte, mimo że wszyscy widzieli, co zrobił” — “He kept flatly denying it, even though everyone saw what he had done.”

  Vocabulary

  • iść — to go (imperfective)
  • w — into (preposition + accusative)
  • zaparte — stubborn denial, obstinate refusal (substantivized past passive participle of zaprzeć się)
  • zaprzeć się — to deny firmly, to renounce (perfective, reflexive)

  Grammar note

  The phrase uses the structure 'iść + w + accusative.' 'Zaparte' is a substantivized neuter past passive participle from 'zaprzeć się' (to firmly deny/renounce oneself). The accusative form is identical to the nominative for neuter nouns. The phrase is typically used in imperfective aspect (iść w zaparte) to describe ongoing stubborn behavior.

  Cultural context

  This is a colloquial phrase with a critical or exasperated tone — the speaker is judging the person as unreasonably obstinate. It is commonly used in arguments and descriptions of dishonest or stubborn behavior. Rough English equivalents include 'to dig one's heels in,' 'to flatly deny it,' or 'to stonewall.'

  Advanced

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!