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  What it means

  Literally “both the wolf is full and the goat is whole/unharmed,” this proverb-like idiom describes a situation where two opposing interests are both satisfied, a real win-win. The image is a paradox: wolves eat goats, so having both fed and alive seems impossible. That is the point; someone who achieves this outcome has found a clever solution. Poles say it to admire a compromise that leaves nobody worse off.

  Vocabulary

  • i … i … — both … and … (emphatic double conjunction)
  • syty — full, satiated (short predicative adjective, masculine)
  • cała — whole, intact, unharmed (short predicative adjective, feminine)

  Grammar note

  Both syty and cała are short-form predicative adjectives that agree with their subjects in gender: syty with wilk (masculine), cała with koza (feminine). Short-form adjectives in Polish are used only predicatively (after a linking verb or in a nominal sentence like this one), never attributively. The double conjunction i … i … ('both … and …') gives the phrase its balanced, proverbial rhythm and is distinct from the ordinary conjunction i ('and').

  Cultural context

  This is a well-known Polish folk idiom, used in politics, business, family life, and daily problem-solving. It shows admiration for clever compromise and good solutions. The closest English equivalent is 'having your cake and eating it too,' though the Polish phrase is more positive; it means that everyone is truly satisfied, not that someone is greedy or asking the impossible.

  Intermediate

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