• Listen

  What it means

  Literally “even in Paris they can’t make rice from oats.” Means you can’t make something from nothing — no matter how sophisticated the setting, you can’t transform something into what it fundamentally isn’t.

  Vocabulary

  • Paryż — Paris
  • owies — oats
  • ryż — rice

  Grammar note

  'Z owsa' uses the genitive after 'z' — making something from oats. 'Ryżu' is the genitive of 'ryż' as the result.

  Cultural context

  Paris represents the pinnacle of sophistication and skill in Polish folk imagination — if even Paris can't do it, it truly cannot be done.

  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!