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  What it means

  Once a tree has fallen, everyone chops it up and burns it. When someone powerful falls from grace, everyone is quick to take advantage or pile on.

  English equivalent

  When a tree falls, everyone runs to it with an axe.

  Vocabulary

  • drzewo — tree
  • powalić się — to fall, to be felled
  • rąbać — to chop, to hack
  • palić — to burn

  Grammar note

  'Powali' is perfective future used here in a conditional clause. 'Rąbie' is third person singular of 'rąbać'.

  Cultural context

  Used to describe how people turn on someone who has lost power or status.

  Intermediate

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