Tsumo starting with P

Shona Proverbs

• Pabva bango / pasekesaOnce a pole is pulled out, a gap is left where it stood.
• Pabva utsi / pane motoWherever smoke rises, a fire is burning there.
• Pabva zino / rave vendeWhere a tooth has come out, a gap is left behind.
• Pachapwa madziva / mahono tichanyururaAt a rich man's funeral people usually eat their fill; his death is something they look forward to, since they expect some of what he owned to come to them.
• Pachapwa madziva / miramba tichanyururaThe barbel become ours to scoop up only after the pools have lost their water.
• Padoko-padoko / hapadzokeri pakareWork taken little by little may be slow, but it never has to be gone back over again.
• Padyira she padyira muranda.
• Paenda badza / haparevetekiWhere the hoe has gone to work, words count for nothing. Whoever puts their whole heart into a job gets something out of it in the end, while the lazy person who lets their hands hang idle gains nothing at all.
• Pagara murimi / pagara mupopotiA successful farmer is a hard worker, and he keeps pushing his workers and family to keep up, so he always sounds like he is complaining.
• Pakukutu hapaurayi.
• Pamudzimu usiri wako / usasungira nhehwe chenaThe white skin apron is not yours to tie on where the spirit being honoured belongs to another family.
• Pane danga pane mombe / pane hundi pagara hurudzaA cattle pen implies cattle, and a heap of chaff implies a skilled farmer. Visible signs tell you what lies behind them.
• Pane kudya / panoonekwa navaeniVisitors turn up wherever there is food to be had. People keep calling at a home where they know they will eat and drink their fill.
• Pane mapfunde / pane varimiWherever a crop such as sorghum is standing, there are people who cultivate it.
• Pane mutumbi ndipo pane magoraVultures gather wherever a carcass lies. In the same way, people crowd into the place where they expect to get what they want.
• Panoda kumera muswe / panotekenyedzaThe spot where a tail is going to sprout starts to itch beforehand.
• Panoda mwoyo / nzira haisvikiWhen the heart is set on reaching somewhere, the road there never seems to end.
• Panodya ishe / navaranda vanodyawoInviting the head of an area means inviting his followers along with him, since a man of rank rarely travels alone and arrives at any function with a group of his people. The chief's position brings benefit to those under him.
• Panomera mhanza / panovaviraThe place where a bald patch is going to appear itches beforehand; signs give warning of what is coming.
• Panonwiwa doro / panonzikwa nemhereBeer and noise go together: wherever drinking is going on there is a racket, whether of merriment or of drunken quarrelling and insults.
• Panorwa hama nehama / mutorwa bvira kureWhen kin are quarrelling with kin, an outsider should keep well out of it.
• Panotamba machinda / nherera sinyungweWhen the chief's sons take the dancing floor, an orphan keeps to the edges rather than pushing forward.
• Panotamba pwere / panosara katotsiWherever children have spent the day playing, something is sure to have been spoilt — play in a field, for instance, leaves some of the crop uprooted.
• Panotorerwa chirume demo / panosara matsunetsuneA man does not give up something he treasures without a struggle; even when force is brought against him he fights on to the very end. Wherever such a thing is wrested from him, the scene is left in a mess.
• Panotyoka gumbo / ziso rinobudisa misodziA broken leg makes the eye weep — one part of the body suffers for another. When a friend meets misfortune, his friend grieves and feels it with him.
• Papfumba / pava nomwenaGround that is constantly walked over eventually wears down into a hollow. Repeated pressure on one spot always leaves its mark.
• Parwendo rwousiku / anofa haazivikanwiWhen something is done by a large group, everyone feels bold and safe, since no one pictures himself as the one who will be caught by the danger.
• Parwizi hapasi pomunhu mumwe chete.
• Pashoma-pashoma / kudya kwendongweLittle by little, the way locusts eat, is still progress; slow but steady work beats work that has stopped altogether and will be finished eventually.
• Pasi hapaguti / panodya zvikombaThe earth is never full: it devours even the great and prominent. No one's standing spares them from the grave.
• Pasi mupindu / panopindukaThe world is a changeable thing, and change is exactly what it does.
• Paswerwa pane ziyaAny task, however trivial it looks, demands time, thought and exertion before it is finished. Nothing gets done without some effort being spent on it.
• Patemwa tsoka / rave bomho. (M)Once the trees have been felled, the place becomes bare grassland.
• Patsika remberi (gumbo) ndipo panotsika reshure
• Pavaviri / mhembwe yetatuTwo people can talk together and understand one another; once a third joins them, gossip and quarrelling start. A third party is simply one too many.
• Pazvarwa budzi / tsoka hadziperiWhere a squash has grown, footprints never cease. The elders used the "squash" for the birth of a daughter: once there is a girl in the home, the traffic to that homestead never ends, since a man wanting to marry her must first make his approach to her people as a sign that he has laid claim to their child.
• Pengera zvimwe, musvondo hamunzi kokoko.
• Pfavira ngoma / usiku urefuGo gently on the drum, since the night still has a long way to run; pace yourself rather than spending all your strength at the start.
• Pfini yenyoka / kungoruma icho isingadyiThe snake's malice shows in biting a creature it has no intention of eating. It describes harm done out of pure spite, with nothing to be gained from it.
• Pfuma inokura youripo, yousipo haikure.
• Pfuma yomukuwasha / idya uchichengeta mapfupaWhen you eat cattle that came from your son-in-law, hold on to the bones. Nothing entrusted or handed on to you is secure, since the real owner may come to reclaim it at any time, even while you are using it.
• Pfumo rimwe harina ukombaA single spear gives no real security; depending on just one thing is foolish, since it may be lost or ruined and leave you with nothing to fall back on.
• Pfumo rinobaya / ngerina hombarume.The spear that actually finds its mark is the one carried by a proven hunter. Results come from the person with the skill.
• Pfuti tsaru / haiririAn old gun will not go off. Anything left unused for a long stretch deteriorates until it no longer works properly.
• Potsi haarwirwi / tinorwira piriNobody quarrels over the first one; the fighting starts over the second. The first of something is taken for granted, while what comes after is contested.