• Listen

  What it means

  Literally “to divide the bear’s skin while it’s still on the bear.” Means to count your chickens before they hatch — to divide up profits or spoils before the outcome is certain.

  Vocabulary

  • dzielić — to divide / to share
  • skóra — skin / hide
  • niedźwiedź — bear

  Grammar note

  'Na niedźwiedziu' uses the locative of 'niedźwiedź' after 'na' — the skin is still on the bear.

  Cultural context

  A hunting metaphor — celebrating before the bear is actually caught. The full proverb is 'nie dziel skóry na niedźwiedziu' (don't divide the bearskin while it's still on the bear).

  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!