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  What it means

  “Little hope in a housewife who sleeps when the rooster crows.” A hardworking household depends on the mistress rising early. Sleeping through the dawn cockcrow is a sign of laziness.

  English equivalent

  The early bird catches the worm.

  Vocabulary

  • gosposi — housewife, mistress of the house (dative/genitive of gospodyni)
  • nadzieja — hope
  • kogut — rooster, cockerel
  • piać — to crow (of a rooster)

  Grammar note

  'W gosposi' uses the locative of 'gospodyni'. 'Gdy' introduces a temporal clause. 'Pieje' is the third-person singular present of 'piać'.

  Cultural context

  Reflects traditional rural expectations that the woman of the house should be up before dawn to manage the household.

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