Czego się Jasio nauczyć nie może, temu dorosły Jan już nie pomoże
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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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