• Listen

  What it means

  “The cat injured the kitten, the cat will treat the kitten.” The one who caused harm is now expected to fix it — often said ironically about situations where the wrongdoer poses as the healer.

  English equivalent

  Set a thief to catch a thief.

  Vocabulary

  • kot — cat
  • kotka — female cat, kitten
  • okaleczył — injured, maimed (past tense)
  • leczyć — to treat, to heal

  Grammar note

  'Okaleczył' and 'będzie leczył' show the contrast between perfective past and imperfective future, emphasising the irony of the reversal.

  Intermediate

Noticed a typo, a wrong translation, or anything that doesn't look right? We'd love to fix it — just let us know via the contact page. Thank you!