Protect yourself from blameworthy speech; guard your speech well.
Having renounced the wrong verbal deed, practice the right verbal action.

vacī+ppakopaṃ rakkheyya  vācāya saṃvuto   siyā
|               |              |               |           |             |
N.n.     N.m.       V.act.         N.f.   Adj.m.    V.act.
|          Acc.Sg.   3.Sg.opt.    Ins.Sg. Nom.Sg. 3.Sg.opt.
|________|               |               |______|             |
        |____________|                     |__________|

List of Abbreviations

vacī+duccaritaṃ hitvā   vācāya sucaritaṃ    care
|               |             |           |            |             |
N.n.     N.n.      V.ger.     N.f.       N.n.      V.act.
|         Acc.Sg.         |      Ins.Sg.  Acc.Sg. 3.Sg.opt.
|________|              |          |_______|             |
        |____________|                |___________|
                   |_____________________|

vacīppakopaṃ: vacīppakopa-, N.m.: blameworthy speech. It is a compound of:
    vacī: vaco-, N.n.: speech, words, saying. The compound form = vacī-.
    pakopa-, N.m.: anger.
Euphonic combination: vacī- + pakopa- = vacīppakopa-.
Acc.Sg. = vacīppakopaṃ.

rakkheyya, V.: should protect. The verb root is rakkh- (to protect). 3.Sg.act.opt. = rakkheyya.

vācāya: vācā-, N.f.: speech, voice. Ins.Sg. = vācāya.

saṃvuto: saṃvuta-, Adj.: restrained, governed, guarded. It is a p.p. of the verb var- (to obstruct) with the prefix saṃ- (together, completely). Nom.Sg.m. = saṃvuto.

siyā, V.: would be. The verb root is as-. 3.Sg.act.opt. = siyā.

List of Abbreviations

vacīduccaritaṃ: wrong verbal deed. It is a compound of:
    vācī: see above.
    duccarita-, Adj.: wrong-conduct, wrong action. It is the word carita-, N.n.: action, conduct (originally it is the p.p. of the verb root car-, to walk, to act), with the prefix du- (wrong, bad).
Acc.Sg. = vacīduccaritaṃ.

hitvā, V.ger.: having renounced, having left behind. It is a ger. of the verb hā- (to abandon, to leave).

vācāya: see above.

sucaritaṃ: sucarita-, Adj.: good-conduct, right action. It is the word carita-, N.n.: action, conduct (originally it is the p.p. of the verb root car-, to walk, to act), with the prefix su- (good, well).
Acc.Sg.m. = sucaritaṃ.

care, V.: should practice. The verb root is car- (to walk). 3.Sg.act.opt. = care.

List of Abbreviations

    This verse consists of three syntactically separate sentences. They are:
    1) vacīppakopaṃ rakkheyya (one should protect oneself from blameworthy speech). The subject is omitted; the verb implies the third person singular pronoun. The verb is rakkheyya ([one] should protect oneself, 3^rd person, singular, active, optative). The object is the noun vacīppakopaṃ (from blameworthy speech, accusative singular).
    2) vācāya saṃvuto siyā (one should be guarded as for the speech). The subject is omitted; the verb implies the third person singular pronoun. The verb is siyā ([one] should be, 3^rd person, singular, active, optative). The object is the past participle saṃvuto (guarded, nominative singular) with its attribute, the noun vācāya (by the speech, instrumental singular).
    3) vacīduccaritaṃ hitvā kāyena sucaritaṃ care (having renounced the wrong verbal deed, one should practice the right verbal action). This can be further analysed into two segments:
    a) vacīduccaritaṃ hitvā (having renounced the wrong verbal deed). The verb is in gerund, hitvā (having renounced). The object is the compound vacīduccaritaṃ (wrong verbal deed, accusative singular).
    b) vācāya sucaritaṃ care (one should practice the right verbal action). The subject is omitted; the verb implies the third person singular pronoun. The verb is care ([one] should practice, 3^rd person, singular, active, optative). The object is the noun sucaritaṃ (right action, accusative singular) with its attribute, the noun vācāya (by the speech, instrumental singular).

    The story for this verse is identical with the one for the previous verse (DhP 231) and the following ones (DhP 233, DhP 234).
    By this verse the Buddha stressed that both the right conduct in bodily deeds and the right conduct in verbal speech are equally important.

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

vacīppakopaṃ
vacī
pakopaṃ
rakkheyya
vācāya
saṃvuto
siyā
vacīduccaritaṃ
duccaritaṃ
hitvā
sucaritaṃ
care