Gdy święty Andrzej ze śniegiem przybieży, sto dni śnieg na polu leży
Listen
What it means
“When Saint Andrew arrives with snow, the snow lies in the field for a hundred days.” If it snows on Saint Andrew’s Day (November 30), expect snow to remain on the ground for a hundred days — well into late winter.
Vocabulary
- święty Andrzej — Saint Andrew (feast day: November 30)
- śnieg — snow
- przybyć — to arrive, to come
- pole — field
- leżeć — to lie, to remain
Grammar note
'Ze śniegiem przybieży' — 'ze śniegiem' is the instrumental, meaning 'with snow'. 'Przybieży' is the perfective future of 'przybyć'.
Cultural context
Saint Andrew's Day (Andrzejki) is also famous in Poland for folk fortune-telling traditions, especially among young women.
Intermediate
Noticed a typo, a wrong translation, or anything that doesn't look right? We'd love to fix it — just let us know via the contact page. Thank you!
More Polish proverbs
- "A stepmother, even if made of sugar, is always bitter." No matter how kind a stepmother tries to …
- "For a wise head, two words are enough." A clever person needs only a brief hint to understand; …
- "A Pole is wise after the damage is done." Poles (or people in general) tend to learn from mistakes …
- "The wise will accept advice; the fool will scorn it." Intelligent people are open to counsel, while …