Rather then a thousand speeches without meaningful words,
is better one meaningful word, after hearing which, one can attain calm.

sahassam api    ce     vācā     an+attha+pada+saṃhitā
|                |       |          |         |      |         |          |
Num.n.   part. part.    N.f.    neg. N.n.  N.n.    Adj.f.
Nom.Sg.    |____|    Nom.Pl.   |      |_____|     Nom.Pl.
|                    |              |         |          |_________|
|                    |              |         |__________|
|                    |              |__________|
|___________|_____________|
              |___|
                 |________________________________________________________

List of Abbreviations

ekaṃ     attha+padaṃ    seyyo       yaṃ        sutvā upasammati
|               |          |             |              |              |            |
Num.n.  N.n.    N.n.      Adj.n.   Rel.Pron.n. V.ger.  V.act.in.
Nom.Sg.   |    Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg.   Acc.Sg.        |      3.Sg.pres.
|               |_____|              |              |________|            |
|___________|                   |                     |___________|
         |_________________|_________________|
                             |______|
___________________|

sahassam: sahassa-, Num.n.: thousand. Nom.Sg. = sahassam.

api, part.: also, as well, even (often spelled pi).

ce, part.: if.

vācā: vācā-, N.f.: speech (derived from the verb root vac-, to speak). Nom.Pl. = vācā.

anatthapadasaṃhitā: anatthapadasaṃhita-, Adj.: without meaningful sayings. It is the word atthapadasaṃhita-, Adj.: with meaningful sayings, negated by the negative prefix an-. This word is a compound of:
    atthapada-, N.n.: profitable saying, word of good sense. This can be further analyzed into:
        attha-, N.n.: meaning, worth, sense.
        pada-, N.n.: saying, word, verse.
    saṃhita-, Adj.: connected, equipped with, possessed of. It is a p.p. of the verb dhā- (put)
    with the prefix saṃ- (together).
Nom.Pl.f. = anatthapadasaṃhitā.

List of Abbreviations

ekaṃ: eka-, Num.: one. Nom.Sg.n. = ekaṃ.

atthapadaṃ: atthapada-, N.n. see above. Nom.Sg. = atthapadaṃ.

seyyo: seyya-, Adj.: better. Nom.Sg.n. = seyyo.

yaṃ: yat-, Rel.Pron.: that, which. Acc.Sg.n.: yaṃ.

sutvā, V.ger.: having heard. The verb root is su- (to hear).

upasammati, V.: calms down, is appeased. The verb root is sam- (to be appeased) with the prefix upa- (towards). 3.Sg.act.in.pres. = upasammati.

List of Abbreviations

    This verse contains two connected sentences. They form the first and the second line of the verse respectively.
    In the first sentence, the subject is the noun vācā (speeches, nominative plural). It has two attributes, the numeral sahassam (thousand, nominative singular - note that the numeral sahassa- is always in neuter) and the compound anatthapadasaṃhitā (without meaningful words, nominative plural). There are two particles, api (also, even) and ce (if) which form a phrase api ce (even if).
    In the second sentence, the subject is the compound atthapadaṃ (meaningful word, nominative singular). It has the numeral ekaṃ (one, nominative singular) as an attribute. There is a clause, which forms an attribute to the subject: yaṃ sutvā upasammati (after hearing which, one can attain calm). The subject here is the relative pronoun yaṃ (which, accusative singular). There are two verbs, one is the gerundive sutvā (having heard) and one is upasammati (calms down, 3^rd person, singular, active, indicative, present tense). These two form the verbal phrase sutvā - upasammati (having heard, calms). The object of the sentence is the adjective seyyo (better, nominative singular).

Once there was a former public executioner named Tambadāṭhika. Once he went for a bath to the river and took some food with him. Just as he was leaving the house, Venerable Sāriputta stopped by his door on his way for almsfood. Tambadāṭhika offered him his food.
    After the meal, Sāriputta taught him the Dharma. But Tambadāṭhika's mind was not peaceful, because he was disturbed and feeling remorse recollecting his past work. This did not allow him to pay attention to the Dharma. Sāriputta asked him if he killed those people because he wanted to, out of hate or anger – or was it just an order. Tambadāṭhika replied that he was ordered to kill them by the king and personally did not feel hate towards them. So Sāriputta reassured him that he did nothing wrong. Tambadāṭhika then calmed down and listened to the Dharma attentively. He then accompanied Sāriputta on the way back to the monastery. But on the way back home he died due to an accident.
    The Buddha was told about this and he remarked that Tambadāṭhika was reborn in Tusita heaven. The monks wondered how it was possible for somebody who killed so many people in his life to be reborn there. The Buddha told them by this verse that just one meaningful sentence that helped his mind to calm down and concentrate on the Dharma helped him to achieve this goal. For if one dies with a peaceful mind, one's rebirth is good. If at the time of death our mind is confused or angry - we face a bad rebirth.

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

sahassam
api
ce
vācā
anatthapadasaṃhitā
atthapadasaṃhitā
saṃhitā
ekaṃ
atthapadaṃ
attha
padaṃ
seyyo
yaṃ
sutvā
upasammati