三天不打，上房揭瓦 in English san1 tian1 bu4 da3 , shang4 fang2 jie1 wa3 Meaning

Meanings

• three days without a beating, and a child will scale the roof to rip the tiles (idiomatic expression)
• spare the rod, spoil the child

Pinyin

san1 tian1 bu4 da3 , shang4 fang2 jie1 wa3

Literal

Literal explanation, with pronunciation and meaning of each character.

三san1surname San 天tian1day 不bu4(negative prefix) 打da3dozen (loanword) ， 上shang4see 上聲|上声[shang3 sheng1] 房fang2surname Fang 揭jie1to take the lid off 瓦wa3roof tile