• Listen

  What it means

  Literally “to catch a rubber.” In Polish automotive slang, this means to get a flat tire or a puncture. The “rubber” (guma) refers to the tire itself. It is the most common way for Polish drivers to describe the annoying event of finding a nail in a tire or having a blowout while driving.

  Vocabulary

  • łapać — to catch
  • guma — rubber / tire / chewing gum
  • opona — tire (technical term)

  Grammar note

  'Gumę' is in the accusative case as the direct object of the verb 'łapać'. Interestingly, Polish uses the verb "to catch" for flat tires, much like English uses "to catch a cold."

  Cultural context

  In very casual contexts, 'guma' can also mean a condom or chewing gum, but the context of "catching" it (łapać) almost always refers to car trouble.

  Beginner

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!