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  What it means

  “One must not oversleep if one wants to get bread.” Success and sustenance require early rising and hard work — laziness leads to going hungry.

  English equivalent

  The early bird catches the worm.

  Vocabulary

  • dospać — to oversleep, to sleep in
  • trzeba — one must, it is necessary
  • chleb — bread

  Grammar note

  'Nie dospać trzeba' uses the infinitive with 'trzeba' (impersonal necessity). 'Dostać chleba' uses the genitive of 'chleb' after 'dostać' in the partitive sense.

  Intermediate

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