Idioms and set phrases

Why idioms come last and matter most

You can be grammatically flawless and still sound translated. Fixed phrases are what a native reaches for instead of building a sentence, and they are the part of the language a dictionary is worst at.

From the farm and the forest

Belarusian idiom is overwhelmingly rural in origin, which tells you where the language lived:

• як з гусі вада - like water off a goose, of someone unaffected by criticism
• ні пава ні варона - neither peacock nor crow, of someone who fits nowhere
• заблудзіцца ў трох соснах - to get lost among three pines, to fail at something trivial
• як мядзведзь на вуха наступіў - a bear stepped on his ear, tone-deaf
• біць бібікі - to idle, to do nothing useful

From the house

• як сыр у масле - like cheese in butter, living very comfortably
• сядзець на печы - to sit on the stove, to stay put and do nothing
• хлеб-соль - hospitality itself; the bread and salt greeting is still performed
• не з той нагі ўстаць - to get up on the wrong foot

About people

• душа ў душу - in perfect harmony
• мець залатыя рукі - to have golden hands, to be good with one's hands
• вадзіць за нос - to lead by the nose, to string along
• як дзве кроплі вады - like two drops of water, identical
• трымаць язык за зубамі - to keep quiet

Proverbs worth having whole

• Не такі страшны чорт, як яго малююць. - The devil is not as bad as he is painted.
• Хто рана ўстае, таму Бог дае. - Early risers are provided for.
• Свая хата - свая воля. - Your own house, your own rules.
• Пакуль сонца ўзыдзе, раса вочы выесць. - The dew will burn your eyes before the sun rises: help that comes too late is no help.

The trap

Many Belarusian and Russian idioms are near-identical, and a few are not. The dangerous ones are the near-misses: a Russian idiom translated word for word usually produces something a Belarusian speaker will understand and quietly register as not quite theirs.