• Listen

  What it means

  “He who doesn’t listen to his father and mother listens to the dog’s hide.” A declarative variant of the same warning: disobedience to parents results in physical punishment.

  English equivalent

  Spare the rod, spoil the child.

  Vocabulary

  • słuchać — to listen to, to obey
  • psi — dog's (adjective)
  • skóra — skin, hide, leather strap

  Grammar note

  Structurally parallel to the 'niech' variant but uses 'ten słucha' (declarative) instead of 'niech słucha' (imperative/optative).

  Cultural context

  Two variants of the same proverb exist — one as a threat ('niech'), one as a statement of fact ('ten'). Both are in common folk use.

  Intermediate

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