• Listen

  What it means

  Literally means “across the tops” or “by the heads.” Figuratively, it describes doing something hastily, superficially, or sloppily — skimming the surface rather than doing a proper job. When you do something “po łebkach,” you rush through it, skip over important details, and cut corners. The opposite of careful, thorough work.

  Vocabulary

  • łebek — diminutive of łeb (head, top); also the head of a nail
  • łebkach — locative plural of łebek, used after po to indicate manner
  • po — preposition; here meaning 'across' or 'in the manner of'

  Grammar note

  Po followed by the locative case forms an adverbial phrase of manner. Here, po łebkach is a frozen adverbial phrase functioning like an adverb. The full construction modifies a verb: zrobić coś po łebkach (to do something sloppily). It cannot be declined further — the whole phrase is used invariably.

  Cultural context

  This neutral-to-colloquial phrase is widely used across all age groups. Its image likely comes from tapping the tops of nails without driving them in fully — suggesting incomplete, half-hearted work. You will often hear it in complaints: Zrobił to po łebkach (He did it sloppily). It is not vulgar and can be used in most casual contexts.

  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!