• Listen

  What it means

  “Whoever is stupid by nature won’t buy themselves any sense even in Paris.” No amount of travel or education can fix innate foolishness. Paris was historically seen as the pinnacle of culture and learning.

  English equivalent

  You can't fix stupid.

  Vocabulary

  • przyrodzenie — nature, natural disposition
  • głupi — stupid, foolish
  • rozum — reason, sense, intelligence
  • kupić — to buy

  Grammar note

  'Sobie rozumu nie kupi' — 'sobie' is the dative reflexive pronoun (for oneself), 'rozumu' is the genitive of 'rozum' after a negated verb.

  Cultural context

  Paris appears as the symbol of sophistication and learning, reflecting the historical prestige of French culture in Polish noble society.

  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!