Don't associate with the dear ones, and never with those who are unloved.
Not seeing the dear ones is suffering - and seeing the unloved ones.

mā   piyehi samāgañchi appiyehi kudācanaṃ
|           |             |               |              |
neg. Adj.m.    V.act.      Adj.m.      Adv.
|       Ins.Pl.  2.Sg.aor.    Ins.Pl.          |
|______|_______|               |________|
     |___|                                    |
         |_____________________|

List of Abbreviations

piyānaṃ adassanaṃ dukkhaṃ appiyānaṃ ca  dassanaṃ
|                    |              |                |          |          |
Adj.m.     Nom.n.      N.n.         Adj.m.  conj.    N.n.
Gen.Pl.   Nom.Sg.  Nom.Sg.     Gen.Pl.     |     Nom.Sg.
|___________|              |                |______|_____|
         |______________|                      |___|
                     |______________________|

mā, neg.: not, do not. Used with verbs in imperative and aorist instead of the more usual negative particle na.

piyehi: piya-, Adj.: dear, agreeable. Ins.Pl.m. = piyehi.

samāgañchi, V.: meet, come together, associate with. The verb root is gam- (to go) with the prefixes ā- (towards) and sam- (together). 2.Sg.act.aor. = samāgañchi.

appiyehi: appiya-, Adj.: unpleasant, not agreeable. It is the word piya- (see above) negated by the negative prefix a-. Euphonic combination: a- + piya- = appiya-. Ins.Pl.m. = appiyehi.

kudācanaṃ, Adv.: at any time (mā kudācanaṃ, as in this verse: never).

List of Abbreviations

piyānaṃ: piya-, Adj.: see above. Gen.Pl. = piyānaṃ.

adassanaṃ adassana-, N.n.: invisibility, not seeing. It is a negated (by the negative prefix a-) word dassana-, N.n.: seeing, which is derived from the verb root das- (to see). Nom.Sg. = adassanaṃ.

dukkhaṃ: dukkha-, N.n.: suffering. Nom.Sg. = dukkhaṃ.

appiyānaṃ: appiya-, Adj.: see above. Gen.Pl.m. = appiyānaṃ.

ca, conj.: and.

dassanaṃ: dassana-, N.n.: seeing. It is derived from the verb root das- (to see). Nom.Sg. = dassanaṃ.

List of Abbreviations

    This verse consists of two syntactically separate sentences. They are:
    1) mā piyehi samāgañchi appiyehi kudācanaṃ (don't associate with the dear ones, and never with those who are unloved). This can be further analysed into two parts:
    a) mā piyehi samāgañchi (don't associate with the dear ones). The subject is omitted; the verb implies the second person singular pronoun. The verb is samāgañchi (associate, 2^nd person, singular, active, aorist). It is negated by the negative particle mā (do not). The object is the adjective piyehi (with the dear ones, instrumental plural).
    b) appiyehi kudācanaṃ (and never with those who are unloved). The subject and verb are omitted, the verb from the first part of the sentence (samāgañchi) is also the verb of this segment. It has an attribute, the adverb kudācanaṃ (always), which is negated by the negative particle mā (not) from the first part of the sentence. The object is the adjective appiyehi (with unloved ones, instrumental plural).
    2) piyānaṃ adassanaṃ dukkhaṃ appiyānaṃ ca dassanaṃ (not seeing the dear ones is suffering - and seeing the unloved ones). This can be further analysed into two segments:
    a) piyānaṃ adassanaṃ dukkhaṃ (not seeing the dear ones is suffering). The subject is the noun adassanaṃ (not seeing, nominative singular). It has an attribute, the adjective piyānaṃ (of dear ones, genitive plural). The verb is omitted, implying the verb "to be". The object is the noun dukkhaṃ (suffering, nominative singular).
    b) appiyānaṃ ca dassanaṃ (and seeing the unloved ones). The subject is the noun dassanaṃ (seeing, nominative singular). It has an attribute, the adjective appiyānaṃ (of the unloved ones, genitive plural). The verb is omitted; the verb "to be" is implied. The object is the noun dukkhaṃ from the previous part of the sentence.

    The story of this verse is identical with the one for the previous (DhP 209) and the following (DhP 211) verses.
    Meeting people one does not like is truly suffering. Therefore we should avoid seeing them at all. But what about the ones we love? We suffer when they are away or when they die. So, it is best to avoid meeting them too and rather concentrate on the goal and meditate with strong effort.

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

mā
piyehi
samāgañchi
appiyehi
kudācanaṃ
piyānaṃ
adassanaṃ
dukkhaṃ
appiyānaṃ
ca
dassanaṃ