English
Proverb
when the cat’s away the mice will play
- In the absence of a controlling entity, subordinates will take advantage of circumstances.
Translations
in the absence of a controlling entity, subordinates will take advantage of circumstances
- Afrikaans: as die kat weg is, is die muis baas (af) (literally “when the cat's away the mouse is boss.”)
- Albanian: iku macja, lozin minjtë
- Arabic: please add this translation if you can
- Azerbaijani: atlar ölüb, itlərin bayramıdır
- Chinese:
- Cantonese: please add this translation if you can
- Mandarin: 山中無老虎，猴子稱大王 / 山中无老虎，猴子称大王 (shānzhōng wú lǎohǔ, hóuzi chēng dàwáng), 老虎不再山，猴子稱大王 / 老虎不再山，猴子称大王 (lǎohǔ bù zài shān, hóuzi chēng dàwáng)
- Cimbrian: balda di khatz velt, di maüs tåntzan
- Czech: když kocour není doma, myši mají pré (cs)
- Danish: når katten er ude, spiller musene på bordet
- Dutch: als de kat van huis is, dansen de muizen op tafel (nl)
- Esperanto: kiam kato promenas, la musoj festenas
- Estonian: kui kassid läinud, on hiirtel pidu
- Finnish: kun kissa on poissa, hiiret hyppivät pöydällä
- French: quand le chat n'est pas là, les souris dansent (fr), le chat parti, les souris dansent (fr)
- German: ist die Katze aus dem Haus, tanzen die Mäuse auf dem Tisch (de) (literally “if the cat's out of the house, the mice dance on the table”)
- Greek: όταν λείπει η γάτα χορεύουν τα ποντίκια (ótan leípei i gáta chorévoun ta pontíkia)
- Hungarian: ha nincs otthon a macska, cincognak az egerek (hu)
- Icelandic: þegar kötturinn er frá fara mýsnar á stjá
- Irish: nuair a bhíonn an cat amuigh, bíonn na lucha ag rince
- Italian: quando il gatto non c'è, i topi ballano
- Japanese: 鬼いぬ間の洗濯 (おにいぬまのせんたく, oni inu ma-no sentaku), 鼬無き間の貂誇り (いたちなきまのてんほこり, itachi naki ma no ten hokori), 鼬無き間の鼠 (いたちなきまのねずみ, itachi naki ma no nezumi)
- Khmer: ឆ្មាមិននៅ កណ្ដុរឡើងរាជ្យ (cmaa mɨn nɨv kɑndol laəŋ riec)
- Kikuyu: hiti ciathiĩ mbwe ciegangara, ngatia ciathiĩ hiti cĩeragara
- Korean: 고양이가 없으면 쥐가 살판이 난다 (goyang'iga eopseumyeon jwiga salpani nanda)
- Kumyk: мишик ёкъ ерде чычкъан баш гётерир (mişik yoq yerde çıçqan baş göterir)
- Kurdish:
- Northern Kurdish: kitik ne li mal e, navê mişkî Evdal e
- Latin: audācem reddit fēlis absentia murem, fēle comprehensā saltant murēs in mensā, quō nōn versantur cattī mures dominantur
- Luxembourgish: wann d’Kaz fort ass, sinn d’Mais Meeschter (literally “when the cat is gone, the mice are masters”)
- Norwegian: når katten er borte, danser musene på bordet (when the cat’s away, the mice are dancing on the table)
- Persian: در خانه کسی که گربه نباشد موش کدخداست
- Polish: gdy kota nie ma, myszy harcują (pl), hulaj dusza – piekła nie ma (pl)
- Portuguese: quando o gato sai, os ratos fazem a festa (pt)
- Romanian: când pisica nu-i acasă, joacă șoarecii pe masă (literally “when the cat isn't home, the mice are dancing on the table”)
- Russian: без кота́ мыша́м раздо́лье (bez kotá myšám razdólʹje), кот из дома - мыши в пляс (kot iz doma - myši v pljas)
- Scottish Gaelic: tha fios aig an luch nach eil an cat a-staigh
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: где мачке у кући нема ту мишеви коло воде
- Roman: gde mačke u kući nema tu miševi kolo vode
- Sorbian:
- Lower Sorbian: gaž jo kócor z domu, ga maju myšy swóju wólu
- Spanish: cuando el gato no está, bailan los ratones, cuando el gato no está los ratones están de fiesta, cuando el gato no está, los ratones bailan (es)
- Swedish: när katten är borta, dansar råttorna på bordet (sv)
- Tagalog: kapag wala ang pusa, naglalaro ang mga daga, kapag wala ang pusa ay pista ng mga daga
- Telugu: రౌతు మెత్తనైతే గుర్రం మూడు కాళ్ళ మీద పరిగెత్తుతుంది (rautu mettanaitē gurraṁ mūḍu kāḷḷa mīda parigettutundi)
- Thai: แมวไม่อยู่ หนูระเริง, แมวไม่อยู่ หนูร่าเริง
- Turkish: kedi olmayan yerde meydan farelere kalır
- Vietnamese: vắng chủ nhà, gà vọc niêu tôm
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References
- Gregory Y. Titelman (1996) Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings, →ISBN, page 367