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  What it means

  A fly is good for a dog when there is no bread. In times of scarcity, one accepts whatever is available.

  English equivalent

  Beggars can't be choosers.

  Vocabulary

  • chleb — bread
  • nie ma — there is no / there are no

  Grammar note

  'Nie ma chleba' — genitive after negation: 'there is no bread'.

  Cultural context

  Variant of the 'dobra psu i mucha' family of proverbs, invoking bread — the staple of Polish peasant diet — as the baseline of sufficiency.

  Beginner

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