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  What it means

  “The owl wails on the roof — someone will die shortly.” A folk omen: hearing an owl cry near the house foretells a death in the family.

  Vocabulary

  • sowa — owl
  • dach — roof
  • kwilić — to wail, to whimper
  • umrzeć — to die
  • po chwili — shortly, in a moment

  Grammar note

  'Komuś umrzeć' is an impersonal dative construction meaning 'someone is to die'.

  Cultural context

  In Polish folk belief the owl's cry near a home was a death omen. This proverb reflects that superstition.

  Intermediate

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