One who lives together with fools will suffer for a long time.
The company of fools is always painful - like the company of an enemy.
And a wise one is pleasant to live with, like meeting with relatives.

bāla+saṅgata+cārī      hi   dīgham addhāna  socati
|             |         |          |         |           |             |
N.m.   Adj . Adj.m.  part.  Adj.m.   N.m.   V.act.in.
|_______|    Nom.Sg.   |    Acc.Sg. Acc.Sg. 3.Sg.pres.
      |_________|          |         |______|              |
               |__________|               |___________|
                        |____________________|

List of Abbreviations

dukkho   bālehi saṃvāso amittena   iva  sabbadā
|                  |          |             |           |         |
Adj.m.     N.m.    N.m.      N.m.    part.   Adv.
Nom.Sg. Ins.Pl. Nom.Sg.  Ins.Sg.     |         |
|                  |______|            |______|         |
|                        |_____________|              |
|____________________|                          |
                  |_________________________|

List of Abbreviations

dhīro       ca   sukha+saṃvāso ñātīnaṃ  va samāgamo
|                |       |            |             |          |         |
N.m.      conj. Adj.      N.m.      N.m.   part.   N.m.
Nom.Sg.    |       |      Nom.Sg.  Gen.Pl.    |    Nom.Sg.
|                |       |_______|             |_____|_____|
|                |              |                         |__|
|                |              |_______________|
|_________|_______________|
       |_____|

bālasaṅgatacārī: bālasaṅgatacārin-, Adj.: one who lives together with fools. It is a compound of:
    bāla-, Adj.: childish, young. As an N.m.: "like a child", fool, ignorant person.
    saṅgata-, Adj.: come together, met. It is a p.p. of the verb root gam- (to go) with the prefix saṃ- (together).
    cārin-, Adj.: living, acting. Derived by the suffix -in from the verb car- (to walk, to act).
Nom.Sg.m. = bālasaṅgatacārī.

hi, part.: indeed.

dīgham: dīgha-, Adj.: long. Acc.Sg.m. = dīgham.

addhāna: addhan-, N.m.: stretch, length (of time). Acc.Sg. = addhānaṃ (the form addhāna is often used in the phrase dīghaṃ addhāna).

socati,V.: to mourn, to grieve. The verb root is suc-. 3.Sg.act.in.pres. = socati.

List of Abbreviations

dukkho: dukkha-, Adj.: painful, unpleasant, causing suffering. Nom.Sg.m. = dukkho.

bālehi: bāla-, Adj, N.m..: see above. Ins.Pl. = bālehi.

saṃvāso: saṃvāsa-, N.m.: association, company. It is derived from the verb root vas- (to live) with the prefix saṃ- (together). Nom.Sg. = saṃvāso.

amittena: amitta-, N.m.: enemy. It is the word mitta-, N.m.: friend, negated by the negative prefix a-. Ins.Sg. = amittena.

iva, part.: like, as (another, more often used form of this word is va).
Euphonic combination: amittena + iva =amitteneva.

sabbadā, Adv.: always.

List of Abbreviations

dhīro: dhīra-, Adj.: wise, clever. Nom.Sg.m. = dhīro.

ca, conj.: and.

sukhasaṃvāso: sukhasaṃvāsa-, Adj.: pleasant to live with. It is a compound of:
    sukha-, Adj.: happy, agreeable, pleasant.
    saṃvāsa-, N.m.: see above.
Nom.Sg.m. = sukhasaṃvāso.

ñātīnaṃ: ñāti-, N.m.: relative. Gen.Pl. = ñātīnaṃ.

va, part.: like, as (another form of this word is iva).

samāgamo: samāgama-, N.m.: coming together, meeting. It is derived from the verb root gam- (to go) with the prefix saṃ- (together). Nom.Sg. = samāgamo.

List of Abbreviations

    This verse consists of three syntactically separate sentences. They are:
    1) bālasaṅgatacārī hi dīgham addhāna socati (one who lives together with fools will suffer for a long time). The subject is the compound bālasaṅgatacārī (one who lives together with fools, nominative singular). It is further stressed by the particle hi (indeed). The verb is socati (grieves, 3^rd person, singular, active, indicative, present tense). It has an attribute, the noun addhāna (period of time, accusative singular) with its attribute, the adjective dīgham (long, accusative singular).
    2) dukkho bālehi saṃvāso amitteneva sabbadā (the company of fools is always painful - like the company of an enemy). The subject is the noun saṃvāso (company, nominative singular). It has an attribute, the noun bālehi (with fools, instrumental plural). There is also a clause dependent on the subject, amittena iva (like with an enemy). The particle iva (like) connects the noun amittena (with an enemy, instrumental singular) to the subject. The verb is omitted; the verb "to be" is implied. The object is the adjective dukkho (painful, nominative singular). It has an attribute, the adverb sabbadā (always).
    3) dhīro ca sukhasaṃvāso ñātīnaṃ va samāgamo (and a wise one is pleasant to live with, like meeting with relatives). The subject is the noun dhīro (wise one, nominative singular). The verb is omitted, implying the verb "to be". The object is the compound sukhasaṃvāso (pleasant to live with, nominative singular). It has a dependent clause, ñātīnaṃ va samāgamo (like meeting with relatives). Here the subject is the noun samāgamo (meeting, nominative singular). It has an attribute, the noun ñātīnaṃ (with relatives, genitive plural). The particle va (as, like) connects the clause to the object of the main sentence. The conjunction ca (and) serves mainly for metrical purposes.

    The story for this verse is identical with the one for the previous verse (DhP 206) and the following one (DhP 208).
    The company of fools is not good for someone who wants to achieve his spiritual goal. In the company of fools we will learn nothing new, nothing important or good. We will only stagnate and eventually we will become just one of the fools.

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

bālasaṅgatacārī
bāla
saṅgata
cārī
hi
dīgham
addhāna
socati
dukkho
bālehi
saṃvāso
amittena
iva
sabbadā
dhīro
ca
sukhasaṃvāso
sukha
ñātīnaṃ
va
samāgamo