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  What it means

  Literally “What the eyes do not see, the heart does not grieve.” If you do not know about something unpleasant, it cannot hurt you. People use it to excuse ignorance, distance, or choosing not to look too closely, often for self-protection.

  English equivalent

  What the eye doesn't see, the heart doesn't grieve over. / Ignorance is bliss.

  Vocabulary

  • czego — what (genitive of co, correlative with tego)
  • oczy — eyes (nominative plural)
  • widzieć — to see (imperfective)
  • serce — heart
  • sercu — for the heart (dative of serce)
  • żal — grief, regret, sorrow (predicative noun)

  Grammar note

  The structure uses a correlative genitive pair: czego... tego (what... of that). Sercu is the dative of serce, meaning 'for/to the heart.' Nie żal is a predicative construction: nie + żal (not + regret) means 'there is no grief.' Żal here functions as an impersonal predicate, common in Polish for emotional states.

  Cultural context

  A well-known proverb used in many settings. It can mean staying out of other people's business, or, more critically, choosing not to know. Like "ignorance is bliss," it links seeing something with feeling its pain.

  Intermediate

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