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  What it means

  Literally “a product of first necessity,” this phrase means a staple good or basic essential — something absolutely indispensable to daily life. It is used both literally (for food, medicine, hygiene products) and figuratively (for anything treated as indispensable), much like the English “essential” or “basic necessity.”

  Vocabulary

  • produkt — product, good, item
  • pierwszej — of first (genitive feminine of 'pierwszy')
  • potrzeby — of necessity, of need (genitive of 'potrzeba')

  Grammar note

  Both the adjective and noun are in the genitive case: 'pierwszej potrzeby' (of first necessity), modifying 'produkt' in a standard Polish nominal phrase.

  Cultural context

  The phrase gained heightened resonance during periods of rationing and economic hardship in 20th-century Poland, when basic goods were formally categorized as 'artykuły pierwszej potrzeby.'

  Intermediate

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