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  What it means

  Literally “in the blink of an eye,” this idiom is the same as the English version. It describes something that happens very fast, almost instantly. You might use it for a car speeding past, a computer crash, or how quickly a holiday seems to end.

  Vocabulary

  • mgnienie — blink / twinkle
  • oko — eye
  • szybko — fast / quickly

  Grammar note

  'Oka' is the genitive singular of 'oko.' 'Mgnieniu' is the locative case of the verbal noun 'mgnienie' (the act of blinking), triggered by the preposition 'w.'

  Cultural context

  This phrase exists in many languages and has a slightly poetic or literary feel in Polish, but people often use it in everyday speech to stress speed.

  Beginner

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