• Listen

  What it means

  Literally “to drill a hole in someone’s belly,” this vivid idiom means to pester or nag someone relentlessly — usually to get them to do something or agree to something. The image is of persistent, irritating pressure, like a drill boring through the body. Poles use it when someone won’t stop asking, begging, or demanding something, and the repeated requests have become exhausting.

  Vocabulary

  • wiercić — to drill, to bore (imperfective)
  • komuś — to someone (dative of ktoś)
  • dziurę — a hole (accusative of dziura)
  • brzuchu — belly, stomach (locative of brzuch)

  Grammar note

  'Wiercić' is imperfective, emphasizing the ongoing, repetitive nature of the nagging. 'Komuś' is the dative case indicating the person being pestered. 'Dziurę' is accusative (direct object), and 'w brzuchu' is a locative prepositional phrase. The full structure is: wiercić [komuś] [dziurę] [w brzuchu].

  Cultural context

  This is a very colloquial and widely understood expression across all age groups. It appears frequently in everyday speech and informal writing. The English equivalent is 'to pester someone to death,' 'to nag relentlessly,' or 'to bend someone's ear.' Tone is usually mildly exasperated rather than hostile.

  Intermediate

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