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  What it means

  Literally “whoever spends time with someone becomes like them.” Means you are shaped by the company you keep — “you are who you hang out with,” “lie down with dogs, get up with fleas.”

  Vocabulary

  • przestawać z kimś — to associate with someone, to spend time with
  • stawać się — to become

  Grammar note

  'Z kim' — instrumental after 'z' (with whom). 'Takim' is instrumental of 'taki' — predicate instrumental after 'staje się' (becomes such).

  Cultural context

  A classic Polish folk warning about the influence of bad company — often said by parents to children about their friends.

  Intermediate

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