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  What it means

  Literally: “to walk on thin ice.” The image is of crossing frozen ground too fragile to hold weight safely: one wrong step and you fall through. Figuratively, “stąpać po cienkim lodzie” means being in a risky situation, especially at work or in social settings where one wrong word or action could cause serious harm. It is used when someone handles a sensitive topic, a fragile relationship, or a situation with legal or political risk. Example: “Kiedy rozmawia z szefem o podwyżce, chodzi po cienkim lodzie” (“When he talks to his boss about a raise, he’s walking on thin ice”).

  Vocabulary

  • stąpać — to step, to walk carefully (imperfective)
  • po — on, across (preposition + locative for surface traversal)
  • cienkim — thin (instrumental/locative adjective form of cienki)
  • lodzie — ice (locative of lód)

  Grammar note

  'Stąpać po cienkim lodzie' uses 'po' with the locative case — 'lodzie' is the locative of 'lód'. The adjective 'cienki' also takes the locative form 'cienkim'. The verb 'stąpać' is imperfective, describing an ongoing state of risk rather than a single moment. 'Chodzić po cienkim lodzie' is also widely used and means the same thing.

  Cultural context

  The expression is shared by many European languages: English has the identical 'to walk on thin ice', and German has 'auf dünnem Eis gehen'. In Polish it is common in every register, from casual talk to political commentary. It conveys danger and the need for great care and tact.

  Intermediate

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