I bɛ du dɔn, i tɛ dudadu dɔn

Proverb:
I bɛ du dɔn, i tɛ dudadu dɔn.

Literal Translation:
You know the “du” but you don’t know the “dudadu”.

Meaning:
You don’t know everything.

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N b’o kɔrɔ dɔn. Ko: dò bè du dòn, o tè dudadu dòn

dudadu = an unfamiliar place

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@Dianna_Bell where did you get the specific definition of ‘dudadu’ from? :slightly_smiling_face: I’ve only known it from the Bamadaba… but I’ve wondered about it nonetheless. :slightly_smiling_face:

I actually like your original interpretation better, Christy. I’m not sure that we can gloss dudadu as having a specific definition like a regular noun, etc. The only usages that I see in the Bambara Reference Corpus all involve the expression with “du” vs “dudadu” so I would tend to view as a “sound riff” in the way that you captured it with your literal translation.

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