À-bí-ì-kọ́; à-kọ́-ì-gbà; òde ló ti ńkọ́gbọ́n wálé.
Ìpilẹ̀
À-bí-ì-kọ́; à-kọ́-ì-gbà; òde ló ti ńkọ́gbọ́n wálé.
Ìtumọ̀ ọ̀rọ̀-sí-ọ̀rọ̀
- À-bí-ì-kọ́ one-born-and-not-taught; à-kọ́-ì-gbà one-taught-and-not-accepting; òde outside ló ti ńkọ́gbọ́n wálé is-where he-will-learn-wisdom home.
Ìtumọ̀ Gẹ̀ẹ́sì
"A-child-that-was-never-taught-how-to-behave, a-child-that-was-taught-but-refused-to-heed-instruction: it is from outside the home that he will learn wisdom."
Orísun náà kò dárúkọ ẹni tí ó túmọ̀ rẹ̀.
Ohun tí ó túmọ̀ sí
A child not formed at home will be formed by the world, on the world's harsher terms.
Ìgbà tí a ń lò ó
Owomoyela: "Look well to your child's upbringing" Also said resignedly about an adult already past correction.
Àkíyèsí lórí ìtumọ̀
The two compressed nominals are formed by the à-... ì- pattern that makes a noun out of a whole clause, and each names a distinct failure: never taught, and taught but unwilling. English needs a hyphenated chain to hold them, as Owomoyela's rendering shows. This proverb is the standard Yorùbá text on the household as the site of moral formation and is treated further in `owe-omoluabi-moral-formation`.