# All Slavic languages: How many lives do cats have?



## sesperxes

Dear foreros,

I've learnt a Croatian expression that says "imati devet života kao mačka" and I'm surprised because in Latin languages (Spanish, Catalan, Italian, French and Portuguese, at least), cats have only SEVEN lifes since always. 

In Britain, cats have nine lives as well but, how many lifes have cats in your different Slavic languages?

Thanks.

(The correct thread title is "How many liVes...: could any moderator change it?)


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## ilocas2

In Czech I know that cat has nine lives, but Google shows some results for seven lives too. (1840 results for *Kočka má devět životů* (Cat has nine lives) and 217 results for *Kočka má sedm životů* (Cat has seven lives)


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## TriglavNationalPark

In Slovenian, *M**ačka **ima devet* *življenj* is the most common expression, but *M**ačka ima sedem življenj *also returns some Google hits.


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## Gnoj

Nine lives in Macedonian. Мачката има девет животи / Mačkata ima devet životi


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## Selyd

Ukrainian:
Українська кішка має дев'ять життів (9).


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## rusita preciosa

In Russian I'm most familiar with 9 (*у кошки девять жизней*), but 7 is also possible (*у **кошки семь жизней*). 
Google returns about 25% more hits for nine compared to seven.


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## Azori

Slovak:

*Mačka má deväť životov. *(9)

*Mačka má sedem životov.* (7)


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## Vanja

BCS: 9 lives. 7 is a Biblical number, 9 came from oral (folk) literature, legends and fairy tales, I believe. (Iza devet brda/gora/šuma....) 



> Nine : 9 -- .... that it normally deals with judgment or the finality of things. Basically, it's used when judging man and all of his works.



So with 9th life comes "the finality of things". No more lives!


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## Gergana

In Bulgarian: *Котките имат девет живота.*


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