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I'm looking to translate "To get your ducks in a row". In English, this more or less translates into "To be fully prepared for something that is going to happen".

When I look for this in similar phrases the things I get back are more or less literal expressions like Приведи свои дела в порядок. However, I've also seen this Так что выстраивай своих уточек Is the latter phrase used much at all?

Would the following expression suffice?

Едешь на день, хлеба бери на неделю

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    please, don't add thanks at the end of your posts - it's redundant.
    – shabunc ♦
    Aug 15, 2020 at 15:42
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    apart from the explanation, can you provide example(s) of usage if this phrase in English?
    – shabunc ♦
    Aug 15, 2020 at 15:43
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    @shabunc "They should have had all their ducks in a row beforehand, so they were ready to start the job when required."
    – user14825
    Aug 15, 2020 at 15:45
  • @shabunc I just considered it common courtesy if someone is going to answer my post I should thank them. I didn't think it was implied.
    – user14825
    Aug 15, 2020 at 15:46

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I've found one more translation of the expression 'Get one’s ducks in a row. As for me it's ok in your context. In Russian it can mean 'собраться с мыслями, привести мысли в порядок'.To be translated litrally it sounds like 'put your thoughts in order' and means 'to analise the situation, to think a lot before doing somethung important'.

here's the link https://set_expressions_en_ru.academic.ru/632/ducks_in_a_row

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It's a dictionary thing. “Get one’s ducks in a row” is heavily context-dependent, the main ways to say it in Russian being собрать все силы, привести дела в порядок, подготовиться как следует. Use the Reverso Context online dictionary to see word combinations / expressions / idioms used in sentences with translations.

Here is a way your example can be translated:

They should have had all their ducks in a row beforehand, so they were ready to start the job when required. — Им следовало бы заранее как следует подготовиться, чтобы начать работу вовремя.

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  • Do you generally find the Reverse Context site to be faithful for translations? I can't tell how it works and I know that some machine translations aren't great. It appears to use some form of crowdsourcing but beyond that, I can't tell.
    – user14825
    Aug 15, 2020 at 16:22
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    @Banach - Yes, I think it's rather faithful, at least most of the sentence pairs are plausible. One of its pros is there are many examples you can choose from, and also you can see how the phrase in question works, you see where you can vary, alter it.
    – Yellow Sky
    Aug 15, 2020 at 16:35

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