«اِلزَّمَانْ يِقْلِبْ وِيْعَايِرْ»

The saying pictures time as a miller working a millstone. It keeps turning the grain over and setting how fine or coarse the flour comes out. The second verb resembles a word for taunting, but here it means adjusting the grind. People are the grain, ground at whatever setting time chooses.

The broader point is that the passing years act on everyone, bringing reversals, hardships and changes of condition that cannot be resisted. It is a resigned acknowledgment that circumstances shape and wear down a person, rather than a prediction of any particular good or bad outcome.

Use it as a rueful remark when someone's fortunes have shifted sharply, or when hardship has worn a person down or reshaped them. It suits reflective, sympathetic conversation about life's reversals rather than blame directed at the person affected.