sống một đồng không hết, chết mười đồng không đủ
Alive, one coin lasts; dead, ten aren't enough — the funeral spends what the life saved.
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Where will you be? Anywhere Hà Nội & the NorthHuế / Đà Nẵng & the CenterSài Gòn & the SouthOnline slang Bắc ↔ Nam words
sống quê cha, ma quê chồng
Live in father's village, haunt the husband's — a woman's addresses, in life and after.
sống thì con chẳng cho ăn Chết thì xôi thịt, làm văn tế trời
Alive, you gave them nothing to eat; dead, you lay out feasts and read odes to heaven — the verse that shames performative mourning.
sống tích cực
To live positively — choosing the optimistic read of things; the motto version of "năng lượng tích cực".
sống vội
To live in a rush — sprinting through days without tasting them; the phrase songs and essays use to diagnose modern hurry.
sống đồng tịch đồng sàng, thác đồng quan đồng quách
One mat and bed in life, one coffin in death — the marriage vow at its most absolute.
sống ở làng, sang ở nước
Live by the village, shine by the nation — belonging local, honor national.
sứa đâu có nhảy khỏi đăng
The jellyfish never jumps the weir — children do not overleap their parents' word.
sức dài vai rộng
Sallow face, lead-grey skin — illness or want written on the complexion.
sự bất quá tam
Nothing goes past three — three tries tells the tale; the customary limit of patience and proof.
sự bất đắt dỉ
A matter past helping — necessity's signature on the unwanted deed.
sự cữu kiến nhơn tâm
Time discloses the heart — only the long acquaintance audits truly.
sự hữu thỉ chung, vật phân bổn mạc
Affairs have beginning and end, things root and branch — order is built into whatever exists.
ta nắm đằng chuôi
We hold the handle end — the safe grip in whatever is about to swing.
ta về ta tắm ao ta, dù trong dù đục, ao nhà vẫn hơn
Home again, I bathe in my own pond — clear or murky, the home pond is still better — belonging over perfection.
tai liền miệng đấy
Ears wired straight to mouth — much said, nothing retained, no one listening.
tai qua nạn khỏi
to get out of danger; to get away unscathed
tai to mặt lớn
having power or influence in society; powerful; influential
tai vách mạch dừng
walls have ears
tai vách, mạch rừng
"What you say may be overheard; used as a warning.".
tam ngu thành hiền
Three fools make a sage — enough dull heads together strike one wise spark.
tam ngôn lưỡng ngữ
Three words and two phrases — the briefest of exchanges.
tam nhơn đồng hành tất hữu ngã sư diên
Three walking together, one is my teacher — company always contains a lesson, counting yourself in.
tam sinh hữu hạnh
The luck of three lifetimes — an honor so great it must have been saved up across incarnations.
tam thập lục kế
The thirty-six stratagems — the classical Chinese playbook of ruses; in Vietnamese mouths almost always the punch line «tẩu vi thượng sách»: of all thirty-six tricks, running away is the best one.
tam đa, ngũ phước
The three abundances and five blessings — sons, wealth and rank; long life, riches, health, loved virtue, a good end.
tan cửa nát nhà
Gate shattered, house crushed — ruin completed at the architectural level.
tan làm chưa
"Off work yet?" — the check-in that starts evening plans; "tan làm" (work dissolves) is the lovely verb for clocking out.
tao khang
A wife who stayed with her partner since the beginning through thick and thin
tay bưng dĩa muối chấm gừng, gừng cay muối mặn xin đừng quên nhau
Hands lifting the salt dish and ginger — ginger hot, salt sharp: let us not forget each other — hardship shared is the bond.
tay không chơn rồi
Empty hands, idle feet — no estate, no employment, nothing yet begun.
tay làm hàm nhai
Close to the English saying: “He that does not work shall not eat.”.
tay nâng khăn gói sang sông Mồ hôi ướt đẫm, thương chồng phải theo
Bundle raised, she crosses the river — soaked in sweat, she follows for love of her husband.
tay sách nách mang
Hands full, armpits laden — carrying to capacity and past it.
TCN
initialism of trước Công Nguyên (“before the Common Era”)
tham buổi giỗ lổ buổi cày
Chasing the feast-day, forfeiting the plow-day — one gain always billed to another loss.
tham bát bỏ mâm
Grabbing the bowl and dropping the tray — snatching the small gain and losing the great one.
tham gia lớp thể dục
to take a fitness class
tham như mõ
Greedy as the town crier's clapper — hungry for every last thing.
tham sinh uý tử
to value one's life so much to the point of being cowardly
tham sinh úy tử
Clinging to life, cowering from death — survival at the price of all dignity.
tham thì thâm
Close to the English saying: “Grasp all, lose all.”.
tham thì thâm dầm thì đen
Greed cuts deep as soaking dyes dark — the grasping hand comes back stained.
tham thực cực thân
Greedy eating, weary body — the stomach writes checks the frame must cash.
tham vui chịu lận,
Chasing the fun, accepting the fleecing — the gambler pays admission to his own ruin.
tham vì nết, chẳng hết chi người
Covet the character, not the looks — nothing else in a person outlasts their conduct.
tham đắc vô yếm
Grasping without ever gorging — the appetite that no acquisition quiets.
tham đắc vô ỉm
Greed without ceiling — the snake that would swallow the elephant.
thanh danh ngõa giải
A name collapsing like roof-tiles — reputation shattering all at once.
thanh giả tự thanh
The clear clear themselves — the upright need no defense; time rinses them clean.
thanh niên hoi
A wisp of a youth — young but frail, with no strength in the body.
thanh phong minh nguyệt
Clear breeze and bright moon — nature's serenity, and a life content with it.
thanh uy thiên hạ
Renown ringing across the realm — a name all under heaven have heard.
thanh uy đại chấn
Prestige thundering out — a reputation detonating into every ear.
thanh vân đắc lộ
Finding the road through blue clouds — rising fast; a career taking wing.
thanh vấn vu thiên
A cry heard in heaven — sound, or grievance, carrying all the way up.
thanh xuất vu lam
Blue comes out of indigo — the student is dyed by the master, and may come out the deeper shade.
thao quang dưỡng hối
Shading one's light and nursing the dark — hiding talent and biding time.
thay lòng đổi dạ
to have a change of heart, especially toward unfaithfulness
thay trời hành đạo
to enforce the (moral) Way on behalf of Heaven, to take the law into one's own hands
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