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  What it means

  Literally ‘Don’t say hop until you’ve jumped over it,’ this idiom is the Polish equivalent of ‘Don’t count your chickens before they hatch.’ It cautions against celebrating, boasting, or assuming success before a task is actually completed. The image is of an athlete shouting ‘hop!’ to mark a jump — but only after they’ve made it. Poles use it to temper overconfidence or premature declarations of victory.

  Vocabulary

  • hop — hop! (exclamation used when jumping)
  • mówić — to say, to speak (imperfective verb)
  • przeskoczyć — to jump over, to clear (perfective verb)
  • póki nie — until (temporal conjunction with negation)

  Grammar note

  'Nie mów' is the negative imperative of 'mówić' (imperfective, 2nd person singular). 'Przeskoczysz' is the perfective future of 'przeskoczyć.' The conjunction 'póki nie' (until) with a perfective verb creates a temporal clause indicating a boundary condition that must be met first. This perfective/imperfective contrast is central to Polish aspect.

  Cultural context

  A widely known saying across Poland, used affectionately as a caution by parents, coaches, and friends. It is informal and warm, not harsh. The English parallels are 'Don't count your chickens before they hatch' and 'Don't speak too soon.' It is equally common in spoken and written Polish and carries no regional variation.

  Intermediate

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