I ten złodziej, co kradnie, i ten, co złodziejowi drabinę trzyma.
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What it means
“Both the thief who steals and the one who holds the ladder for the thief are thieves.” Helping with a wrong act makes you guilty too. A person who actively helps a crime is not an innocent bystander.
English equivalent
The receiver is as bad as the thief.
Vocabulary
- złodziej — thief
- kraść — to steal
- drabina — ladder
- trzymać — to hold
Grammar note
'Co kradnie' and 'co trzyma' are relative clauses with 'co', a common relative pronoun. 'Złodziejowi' is dative of 'złodziej', meaning "for the thief."
Cultural context
This folk saying states a legal and moral idea: helping a crime makes someone an accessory to it.
Intermediate
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