Chleb ma rogi, nędza nogi.
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What it means
“Bread has horns, poverty has legs.” Earning bread is hard (it fights back), and poverty moves fast — it can catch up with you quickly. A warning about the difficulty of life and the speed of destitution.
Vocabulary
- chleb — bread
- rogi — horns
- nędza — poverty, misery
- nogi — legs
Grammar note
A parallel structure: 'X ma Y, Z ma W'. Both 'rogi' and 'nogi' are accusative plurals.
Cultural context
The rhyme (rogi/nogi) makes this easy to remember — a hallmark of Polish folk proverbs.
Beginner
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