• Listen

  What it means

  What the shell soaks up in youth, it smells of in old age — the habits, values, and knowledge absorbed in childhood stay with a person for life.

  English equivalent

  As the twig is bent, so grows the tree.

  Vocabulary

  • skorupka — little shell, eggshell
  • nasiąknąć — to soak up, to become saturated
  • za młodu — in youth
  • starość — old age
  • trącić — to smell of, to reek of

  Grammar note

  'Czym … tym' — correlative construction: 'what … that'. 'Na starość' — 'in old age', directional use of 'na' + accusative.

  Cultural context

  One of the most quoted Polish proverbs about upbringing and early education.

  Intermediate

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