Don't Push
the Horses.

Ukrainian sayings translated into English word for word. Then, if you insist, what they actually mean.

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🐴 ANIMALS · beginner

🤖 Literally, in English

“Don't chase the horses.”

Не жени коней. Ne zheny koney

🤨 What does it ACTUALLY mean? →

🇬🇧 What you'd actually say

“Don't rush things.”

also: “Take your time.” · “There's no hurry.”

📖 Meaning
Don't hurry. There is no need to rush this.
💡 Why it's funny
English happens to have its own horse idiom for this, but 'don't chase the horses' sounds like farm safety advice rather than a request to calm down.
🧭 Closest English idiom
“Hold your horses.”
📝 Explanation
Said to someone who is moving too fast — making a decision, telling a story, or pushing a plan forward before it is ready. Neutral and very common in everyday speech.
🏛 Cultural context
From the era when a cart and horses were the fastest thing a village had; driving them hard was the original definition of being in a hurry.

🧠 Learn

  • rush (verb) — to do something too quickly, without enough time — поспішати “Don't rush — we have plenty of time.”
  • take your time (phrase) — do it slowly and carefully, there is no hurry — не поспішай “Take your time, the deadline is next week.”

🗣 In context

Не жени коней, ми ще навіть договір не читали.

Don't rush things — we haven't even read the contract yet.

🎧 Hear the contrast

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Ukrainians say things that make perfect sense in Ukrainian and no sense at all word-for-word in English. This site shows you both — the absurd literal translation first, then what the phrase actually means, plus the English vocabulary you need to say it yourself.

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