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English term (edited): �� ������ ������� ������

to teach/give a (useful, painful, etc.) lesson (not formal)
1) to make (a person) learn to improve his behaviour, esp. by punishing him: eg. Oh, it wo'nt do him any harm. Teach him a useful lesson, I hope. (Terence Rttigan), I decided to teach my young brother a lesson after I caught him hurting our cat.
2) to learn (one's) lesson. To learn sth useful or advantageous, esp. sth that improves one's behaviour after one has made a mistake or suffered for sth one has done: eg. I learned my lesson when I slipped and broke my leg, and I'll never go climbing in bad weather again.

Also for (2) only: to learn a (painful, sharp, etc.) lesson

Sense (1) is often used in phrases with forget, eg. to teach someone a lesson he won't forget (in a hurry)

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to learn/discover/find out the hard way, coll to learn (sth, esp. an unpleasant fact) from one's own experience rather than from the experience and advice of others: eg. she found out the hard way that life can be cruel for a woman alone in a big city.

όλα από το:

Longman Dictionary of English Idioms, Longman Group Ltd. 1979

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Note added at 1 hr 16 mins (2005-06-25 10:46:49 GMT)
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διόρθωση: won\'t

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Note added at 6 hrs 38 mins (2005-06-25 16:08:17 GMT)
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διόρθωση: Rattigan