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  What it means

  Literally “where wood is chopped, chips fly.” Means that any significant action or conflict will have collateral effects — you can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs. Used to justify unavoidable side effects or casualties of a decision.

  Vocabulary

  • drwa — firewood (archaic plural of 'drewno')
  • rąbać — to chop, to hew
  • wióry — wood chips, shavings
  • lecieć — to fly, to go flying

  Grammar note

  'Gdzie... tam...' correlative structure. 'Drwa' is an archaic plural form preserved in this fixed expression.

  Intermediate

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