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  What it means

  Literally “to lie at the foundations.” Means to be the fundamental basis or root cause of something — “to lie at the heart of,” “to underpin,” “to be at the root of.”

  Vocabulary

  • leżeć — to lie, to be situated
  • podstawa — foundation, basis

  Grammar note

  'U podstaw' uses the genitive plural of 'podstawa' after 'u' (at). Often: 'co leży u podstaw tego problemu?' — what lies at the root of this problem?

  Intermediate

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