hai bàn tay trắng
two empty hands
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Where will you be? Anywhere Hà Nội & the NorthHuế / Đà Nẵng & the CenterSài Gòn & the SouthOnline slang Bắc ↔ Nam words
hai gái lấy một chồng
Two women, one husband — an arithmetic no harmony survives.
hai người đàn bà và một con vịt thành cái chợ
women are typically loud, talkative, prone to nagging and gossiping
hai năm rõ mười
Two fives make a plain ten — obvious beyond any need of proof.
hai sương một nắng
Two dews to one sunshine — the farmer's day, out before dawn's dew and back after dusk's.
hai vai gánh nặng hòa hai
Both shoulders loaded even — torn between two duties of equal weight; obliging one betrays the other.
ham ăn mắc bẩy
Greed at the bait springs the trap — the mouth leads the whole body into the snare.
hay chữ chẳng bằng hay giữ
Book-clever is less than conduct-clever — learning unpracticed is knowing the twig-ends only.
hay xoay vào lòng
Warming the cold bed, fanning the hot — filial care calibrated to every season; the classic duty from the primers.
hay ăn lăn vào bếp
Love eating? Roll toward the kitchen — appetite owes labor.
hiến mi cầu vinh
Selling one's eyebrows for advancement — the flatterer's trade of bending everything to please upward.
hiếu thuận hoàn sanh hiếu thuận tử, ngỗ nghịch hoàn sanh ngỗ nghịch nhi
The filial beget the filial; the defiant beget the defiant — households harvest their own temperament.
hiểm địa
dangerous place that is difficult to access and full of obstacles
hiện đại nhưng không hại điện
Modern but not power-hungry — a joke on the lái pair "hiện đại" (modern) ↔ "hại điện" (harms electricity), used of gadgets and of anything fashionably high-tech.
hoa cười ngọc thốt
Flower-smiles and jade-speech — a beauty whose smile blooms and whose words drop like gems.
hoa thơm ai chẳng muốn đeo, người khôn ai nỡ cứ theo nặng lời
A fragrant flower everyone would wear; a wise person no one burdens with harsh words — worth draws gentleness.
hom tranh bẻ hai
The thatch-lath snapped in two — division exactly even, grudge-proof.
hoàng thiên bất phụ hảo tâm nhơn
High heaven never betrays a good heart — do good, and good finds its way back.
hoạ vô đan chí, phúc bất trùng lai
Misfortune never calls once; good luck never calls twice — the traffic laws of fortune.
hoạ vô đon chí
Close to the English saying: “Misery loves company.”.
hoạ vô đơn chí
misfortunes never come singly; it never rains but it pours
hoạch tội vu thiên vô sở đảo dã
Sin against heaven and there is nowhere to pray — some wrongs cancel their own appeal.
hoạn bất tài, hà hoạn vô dụng
Fear lacking talent, never lacking employment — the able are never left on the shelf for long.
hoạn đắc hoạn thất
Fretting to gain, fretting to keep — a life spent clenched around having.
hoạnh tài bất phú
Windfall wealth enriches no one — money that arrives sideways leaves the same way.
hung trung vô vật
Nothing in the chest — a heart carrying no designs, wishing no one well or ill.
huynh đẹ như thủ túc
Brothers are limbs — clothes tear and mend, but a severed arm has no seamstress; spouses are garments, siblings are flesh.
huyện mãn nha môm không mãn
Magistrates rotate; the yamen stays — officials come and go, the clerks and their habits are forever.
huấn luyện viên cá nhân
personal trainer
huấn luyện viên phòng gym
gym instructor; personal trainer
huề cả làng
Everyone square, nobody hurt — calling it even all around; a good-natured draw.
hà cớ gì
why the hell; why in the world; why in God's name
hà địa bất sanh tài
What soil breeds no talent? — genius is native to everywhere.
hàm chó vó ngựa
The dog's jaw and the horse's hoof — know where each creature strikes from, and stand elsewhere.
hàm huyết phúng nhơn tiên ô tự khẩu
Spraying blood at another fouls your own mouth first — every curse debits the curser.
hàng thịt nguýt hàng cá
The meat stall glares at the fish stall — rival trades, permanent side-eye.
hành thuyền kị mã tam phân mạng
Boat and saddle carry three parts of your life — travel by water or horse, and hold the other seven tight.
hành tàng hư thiệt tự gia tri, họa phước nhơn do cánh vấn thùy
Your hidden deeds, you alone know; then ask no one else where your luck comes from — fortune is the audit of secrets.
hào ly chi sai, thiên lý chi mậu
A hair's-breadth off at the start, a thousand miles off at the end — small errors compound by the league.
há miệng chờ sung
To wait passively for good fortune instead of working for it.
hái củi ba năm thiêu một giờ
Three years' firewood, one hour's blaze — hoarded labor spent in a single carelessness.
hãy cho bền chí câu cua, dầu ai câu trạnh câu rùa mặc ai
Steady at crab-fishing, whatever others hook — keep to your own line though the next rod pulls up turtles.
hòn đất ném đi, hòn chì ném lại
A clod of earth thrown over, a lump of lead thrown back — retaliation upgrading the ammunition.
hóng hớt
To eagerly lurk for gossip and drama — front-row seat, popcorn ready.
hót như khướu
Chattering like a laughing-thrush — melodious, endless, and mostly noise.
hôi như cú
Rank as an owl — a smell with a reputation.
hôm nay là ngày bao nhiêu?
What’s today’s date?
hôm nay là thứ mấy?
What day of the week is it today?
hôm nay trời đẹp quá!
What a lovely day!
hôm qua tát nước đầu đình, Bỏ quên cái áo trên cành hoa sen. Em được thì cho anh xin, Hay là em để làm tin trong nhà
Last night bailing water by the đình, I left my shirt on the lotus branch — if you found it, give it back; or keep it as my pledge — the most beloved courtship verse in Vietnamese.
hôn dạ khất ai, kiêu nhơn bạch nhựt
Begging pity by night, strutting by day — servile in the dark, insolent in the light.
hùm chết để da, người ta chết để tiếng
The tiger dies leaving its skin; a person dies leaving their name — choose which fame survives you.
hùm mất thịt
A tiger robbed of its meat — rage on four feet; no safe approach.
húng mọc tía-tô cũng mọc
Where mint sprouts, perilla sprouts too — one appetite's success invites the neighbor's imitation.
hút độc rắn
Hút độc rắn — 'sucking snake venom': slang for oral sex.
húy tử tham sanh
Dreading death, clinging to life — the instinct all creatures share, and honor sometimes overrules.
hơi đâu mà
indicating the action one's about to state is not necessary: no use
hơn chẳng bõ hao
The winnings don't cover the wear — victory at a net loss.
hư bột hư đường
Spoiled flour, spoiled sugar — a job botched past saving.
hương đảng mạc như xỉ
In the village, nothing outranks age — the hamlet's law: gray hair above every title.