My dear man, know this: evil things are difficult to restrain.
Let not greed and injustice bring you suffering for a long time.

evaṃ bho purisa      jānāhi  pāpa+dhammā asaññatā
|          |        |              |          |           |             |
Adv. Ind.  N.m.      V.act.    Adj.    N.m.      Adj.m.
|          |   Voc.Sg.  2.Sg.imp.   |     Nom.Pl.  Nom.Pl.
|          |_____|             |          |______|              |
|________|__________|                |___________|
       |____|                                             |
           |___________________________|

List of Abbreviations

mā            taṃ       lobho   adhammo  ca  ciraṃ dukkhāya  randhayuṃ
|                  |              |             |          |        |           |                |
neg.        Pron.m.    N.m.       N.m.   conj. Adv.     N.n.         V.act.
|              Acc.Sg.  Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg.   |        |      Dat.Sg.      3.Pl.aor.
|                  |              |_______|          |        |______|                 |
|                  |                     |_________|              |                       |
|__________|_________________|____________|_____________|
                   |                              |           |______|
                   |_________________|_________|
                                   |________|

evaṃ, Adv.: thus, in this way.

bho, Ind.: sir, friend, a familiar term of address.

purisa: purisa-, N.m.: person. Voc.Sg. = purisa.

jānāhi, V.: know. The verb root is ñā- (to know). 2.Sg.act.imp. = jānāhi.

pāpadhammā: pāpadhamma-, N.m.: evil thing. It is a compound of:
    pāpa-, Adj.: evil, wrong. As an N.n.: evil, wrong doing.
    dhamma-, N.m.: here does not mean Buddha's teaching, but should be interpreted rather as "state" or even more generally "thing".
Nom.Pl. = pāpadhammā.

List of Abbreviations

asaññatā: asaññata-, Adj.: unrestrained, without self-control. It is a p.p. of the verb yam- (to restrain, to become tranquil) with the prefix sam- (together), negated by the negative prefix a-.
Nom.Pl.m. = asaññatā.

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

taṃ: tad-, Pron.: that. Nom.Sg.m. = taṃ.

lobho: lobha-, N.m.: greed. Nom.Sg. = lobho.

List of Abbreviations

adhammo: adhamma-, N.m.: injustice. It is the word dhamma-, N.m.: here meaning "justice", with the negative prefix a-. Nom.Sg. = adhammo.

ca, conj.: and.

ciraṃ, Adv.: for a long time. It is the word cira-, Adj.: long (time). Acc.Sg. = ciraṃ. Here as an Adv.

dukkhāya: dukkha-, N.n.: suffering. Dat.Sg. = dukkhāya.

randhayuṃ, V.: to be subject to, to be in ones' power. The verb root is randh-.
3.Pl.act.aor. = randhayuṃ.

List of Abbreviations

    This verse consists of two syntactically separate sentences. They are:
    1) evaṃ bho purisa jānāhi pāpadhammā asaññatā (my dear man, know this: evil things are difficult to restrain). This can be further analysed into two segments:
    a) evaṃ bho purisa jānāhi (my dear man, know this). The subject is the noun purisa (man, vocative singular). It has an attribute, the indeclinable bho (my dear). The verb is jānāhi (know, 2^nd person, singular, active, imperative). It has an attribute, the adverb evaṃ (thus).
    b) pāpadhammā asaññatā (evil things are difficult to restrain). The subject is the compound pāpadhammā (evil things, nominative plural). The verb is omitted, implying the verb "to be". The object is the adjective asaññatā (unrestrained, nominative plural).
    2) mā taṃ lobho adhammo ca ciraṃ dukkhāya randhayuṃ (let not greed and injustice bring you suffering for a long time). There are two subjects, the nouns lobho (greed, nominative singular) and adhammo (injustice, nominative singular). They are connected by the conjunction ca (and). The verb is randhayuṃ (subject, 3^rd person, plural, active, aorist). It is negated by the negative particle mā ([let] not). It has an attribute, the noun dukkhāya (to suffering, for suffering; dative singular) with its attribute, the adverb ciraṃ (for a long time). Thee object is the pronoun taṃ (him, accusative singular).

    The story for this verse is identical with the one for the two previous verses (DhP 246, DhP 247).
    As it is very difficult to observe the precepts and to lead a moral life, it is also very easy to break them. And it is also very easy to loose self-control. Once we lose it, it is extremely hard to get things back on track and to start our way towards Awakenment again. Therefore we will be suffering for a prolonged period of time.

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

evaṃ
bho
purisa
jānāhi
pāpadhammā
pāpa
dhammā
asaññatā
mā
taṃ
lobho
adhammo
ca
ciraṃ
dukkhāya
randhayuṃ