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  What it means

  What little Jasio cannot learn, grown-up Jan will no longer be helped by , what is not learned in childhood cannot easily be remedied in adulthood.

  English equivalent

  You can't teach an old dog new tricks.

  Vocabulary

  • Jasio — little Johnny (diminutive of Jaś)
  • nauczyć się — to learn, to master
  • dorosły — adult, grown-up
  • pomóc — to help

  Grammar note

  'Temu dorosłemu Janowi' , dative case, 'it will no longer help grown-up Jan'. The dative of the person helped is standard with 'pomagać/pomóc'.

  Cultural context

  A longer, more elaborate variant of the Jaś/Jan proverb family.

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