Runyoro-Rutooro to English -proverbs
Ababingere nyokoromi ntibanga ruka ngu amanya kuiruka.*Those who pursued my uncle came back that means
he knows to ru*
Aba marumi bagonza nyoko akaba*When your mother is still alive your uncles love you*
Abanyo charo bagonjanga okufuruka yenta emu ya tiga.*When the villagers wanted to migrate the person who
had one cow opposed the ide*
Abinga ibiri imusiga*The person pursues two things will miss all of them*
A chumbira enobiamare enguli*
The wife who is not loved cooks everything from the store*
A Chumbira enobi ekisura asaliza*She prepares a good meal, but the husband says there is too
much salt*
Agenda mpora akoma*The person who goes slowly arrive*
Akabo kagya nzweri kagya totabarayo akandi*The used basket to carry a gift to your neighbor will bring back
another gift*
Akaheru kaiza nyuma ye nzura*Help from far, comes after the rai*Akaraile kwe enyindo keugukira muka mwa*
Akaraile kwe enyindo keugukira muka mwa*What spends a night on your nose wakes up inside your mouth*
Akatimba timba rubungu asereiza ukanuka*The person who stirs the filth ends by smelling bad*
Akubinga muno akuijukya empirima*The person who pursues you continually reminds you your
weapon*
Akuha nomuha nizo engonzi itafwa*When you are given, give too that is how the love can be sure
and survive long*
Akunobire akweta nolya*The person who hates you, calls you when you are eating*
Akutera hangoto nuterahaliso*When a person strikes you in your back, strike his eyes*
Amagezi muro bagwisha nzweri*ntelligence is like fire people borrow it from neighbours*
Amagezi machande ba karanga nibanena*Wisdom is like peanuts, you eat them one after another*
Amagita gairaguza engoyi tari koto*It is just a small quantity of oil that will spoil the cloth*
Amagita yo omusaija akaba araire okumaguru*The oil of a man is one that he has oiled his leg*
Areire Kubi bamumanya mozinduka*The one who has spent a bad night with problems will wake
up early*
Bakamukwata yaachwa buli akasangwa anyway ineyo*He ran, because he got a friend there*
Bakugonza oyanire, olefwa ninuka*People love you when you succeed but when you are poor
you smell bad*
Batekereza abagurusi nibatekwa okubanja okufwa beiu omumazima
abasigazi nubo nibabanja.*People have the idea that the elders will die first, but it is
the young ones who die first*
Beitwa bakazi gasangwa bahara*Girls face the same issues that women face*
Bujune nuwe omwegesa*Suffering is a teacher*
Bwayeke kamara bukuru mukibira*Unity finished the greatness of the forest*
Ebibi byeyoleka musana*Evil is perceived in the light of the sun*
Ebiro byaba ebibi kandi be kaba ebikoto*The days may be bad but more*
Ebicha tibimanya obulemezi obwo mutwe*The meek does not know that the head is heavy*
Ebicha tibikusiga omtwe*The neck does not surpass the head*
Ebiroto obyo owenzara bitangu “omugati, omugati”*The dreams of a hungry person cry, “bread, bread*
Ebiya ruhanga nibikire*God’s promises are fair and perfect*
Ebyara egatereine gageyamba akulya*The fingers which are together helps each other to eat*
Echwanu niyo ita ekyogi kimariliza echwamu.*It is the plan which kills. But the weapon is just an instrument*
Ekintu kibi kiswaza*A bad thing shame*
Ekiroso kibi embwa teronja*The dog does not taste the meat of a bad animal*
Ekizoka omuzano bali enuniyene nkisobora okuleta
okufwa kwembuzi*Something that appears a play for a cow may bring death to
a goat*
Ekiniga mugenyi*Anger is a visitor*
Ekirungi ekitunda*What sells itself is a good on*
Ekintu otari okumanya ekaba ebigambo*What you did not know might be important*
Ekiringi kyetunda*A good thing sells itself*
Embwa egamba “obutubwogera abandi twebwe gera twenka*The dog said “when we do bark for others we bark for
ourselves too*
Empaka titerwa babiri*Discussion doesn’t work when two people speak at the same
time*
Empungu efwera hansi*The hawk dies on the earth*
Engeso ziyesereka omunjwara*The character is hidden in the garment*
Enjura ekagamba “nkaba manyisa nehumuliko omuseija
tekaniza enju yawe”*The rain said; “I have warned you through lightening, oh man
mend your hut*
Ente encheke achwe ekinaga egamba; kiki kyonansindikire*The weak cow broke the pot and said: I blame the person who
pushed me*
Ente embi,, ekaba ndungi*The bad cow is the best*
Entekanize eyo Bontu eli matonga ya meizi agabatekanize*The men’s plans are like collecting water drops*
Entekereza eya Bantu beingi ekabokonyera okuita enzoka*The idea of many people helped them to kill the snake*
Enswehera efwera omumate*A fly dies in milk*
Enswehera efwefa omumata*A fly dies in the milk*
Enzara ekagamba muntume omubata hurama*Famine said “send me to the people who do not unite*
Enzu ho mwibembezi ayemelire omugenyi tatunga ubwikazi*The visitor has no place in a house where the owner is standing*
Hobwo kuba akagamba nukwo omukazi omusihani ta sobora
okugamba nangwa*Having said yes, the adulterous woman is unable to say no*
nyuma zokuzika omwebembezi ogamba “omubili turugagaruko”*After the burial the responsible says: The bad will never come
back*
Marumi bagonza bulikizarwa na nyoko aikaire*Your uncles loves you when their sister is still alive*
Nkatia tungire omuntu ondi akumu swera, nukwo yaba
omukazi wogu’amusija*Having not found another person to marry she became the wife
of that person*
Nomutare reran a meiso, ibale ntilyekumbya iyonka*Nobody can see his own face and the stone cannot roll itself*
Nomuzana nomuro obwokuba tumanya nkoku gwocha*You are playing with fire because you do not know how it burns*
Nyina mudoma ntamanya kwegisa abana*A careless mother leave her kid on the way*
Obahwera ente no mugahwa banyegera omulisa*When people were judging between the cow and the rope they condemned
the herdsman*
Obusotalibaza kurungi nabantu aliferwa*if you do not talk well with people, you will fail*
Obwenyara ente eyoleka ensomi yenta endi*By urinating; the cow shows the nakedness of another cow*
Obwo ragaba nakusemererwa ensenene emu egarwa habili*When people are willing to share with joy even one grasshopper
can be divided for two people*
Obwo muntu achwa okugura genteye, ondi agifumwa ameiso*When somebody breaks the leg of his cow another will
gauge out its eye*
Okubamanyisize engo nko banabwe bukutwa embogo yagamba
embuzi*When the leopard was told that his cubs were killed by the buffalo,
he said no, it is the goat*
Omojo agoya neise*The boy is like the father*
Omubwiko, utagenda omukuhamura wiraru*when there is a conflict do not sit with fools*
Omugisa muyaga nogukinga nigutaha*Blessing is like wind even when doors are closed, it enters*
Omukama akugenza akutuna owangu*The king who loves you can send you to visit your family*
Omukazi mudoma tamanya museija*A careless wife does not know her husband*
Omulimi murungi tasorora enfuku*A good farmer does not discriminate among hoe*
Omugurusi akagamba, omuntu atagumisiriza talinda ente, azizara*The old man says: “the person who is no patient will not take
care of the cattle, he will slaughter them*
Omugurusi aetembya ebiro ebirungi ebya rabireho*Every old man speaks about good things he saw when he was
young*
Omugurusi amanyire ukubucha rundi nkobwa hungira oturo*The old man knows when dawn has come even when he is
sleeping*
Omukazi owitekaniza akwzina tasereko ekifuba*A woman who is ready to dance does not hide her chest*
Omukama akagamba mukore chona kandi mundetere mukore chona
kandi mundetere ekitasoboka*The kind said “Do the possible but bring me the impossible*
Omulyango ogwo tahiramu nugwo oturukiramu*The door which helps you to enter is the same that is used that is
used to go out*
Omumaiso bachura, omutima baseka*By seeing them, they cry but in their hearts they laugh*
Omunako nalya ameizi, muyonde nanywa amate*The poor person eat water but the rich drinks milk*
Omuntu atali omwabo bamweta ekisoro*A person in a foreign country is called animal*
Omuntu omu arora omugongo gwente nondi avora ogwimbuzi*This person sees the back of a cow and another sees the back of
a goat*
Omuntu owabeire munaku nuwe uli oya bungire muno noweine
obumanyi*The rich man who has become poor and the person who has
travelled a lot has much experience*
Omusaija uwempoka eyitirana owempaka*A rude person will meet a rude person*
Omusaiyo mpungu, nagwa nainuka*A man is like a hawk, when he falls, he stand again*
Omusiki nahondera isitamiro ya nyina*The girl is imitating the behavior of the mother*
Omutwe gwebembera okutaha omunzu*The head is the first to enter in the house*
Omwana munako azinera aruigi*A poor man’s child plays behind the door*
Omwana anyakueleta kurungi asemereze nyina nawe
asemereza wenka*The new born coming in the right position from the womb
relieves the mother and relieves himself*
Omwana omugezi arora eguru nyechya na kansi rweibajo*A wise child looks up in the morning and looks down in the
evening*
Omwigo eyeli hara tasobora okuita enzoka*The stick which is far cannot kill the snake*
Omwonjo owatamunyire enkungami ezo mumaka ya sweento ,eija
okuraramu*The boy was not aware of the problems in his uncle’s house;
this is why he went to spend night there*
Oterwa isemu ngu bakumbire*Beaten by two brothers you say they are two. No but they are one*
Rwebajo tabanowa muhingisa*Evening has no supplemet*
Tambwa tambwa enzu ekahya naiwe ngu tandikele tu byame*When someone is crying that the house is burning and you say
prepare the bed we sleep*
Tera ekisaka kandi orere kirarugamu*Beat the bush and see what will come out of it*
Tikisemire okweha obugambe*It is not good to appoint a newly enriched person as leader*
Tokusobera okukeikuza omukazi omugavu*You cannot make a lazy woman grow older*
Tumukusobora okuchwa echwara ekihuteire*You cannot cut your finger because it is wounded*s