未見官府先打三大板 (mei6 gin3 gun1 fu2 sin1 daa2 saam1 daai6 baan2) — to pay the price before getting what one wants (lit., "hit three times without having seen the official") in Cantonese
meiˍ₆未gin˗₃見gunˉ¹官fuˊ²府sinˉ¹先daaˊ²打saamˉ¹三daaiˍ₆大baanˊ²板简 未见官府先打三大板
Mandarin Pinyin: wei4 jian4 guan1 fu3 xian1 da3 san1 da4 ban3
Meaning of 未見官府先打三大板
nounto pay the price before getting what one wants (lit., "hit three times without having seen the official")