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  What it means

  “When a family lives in harmony, poverty will not reach it.” A united family can withstand hardship; discord weakens a household and makes it vulnerable to misfortune.

  English equivalent

  United we stand, divided we fall.

  Vocabulary

  • żyć — to live
  • zgoda — harmony, agreement
  • bieda — poverty, misery
  • dobodzić — to reach, to get to (dialectal/archaic)

  Grammar note

  'W zgodzie' is the locative of 'zgoda'. 'Nie dobodzie' is a negated perfective future — the poverty will not manage to reach them.

  Cultural context

  This proverb reflects the importance of family solidarity in Polish rural tradition, where collective effort was essential for survival.

  Intermediate

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