nín như thóc
Quiet as stored paddy — not one grain of a word.
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nói chi
Central Vietnamese "say what?" — either a genuine "what did you say?" or a mild "what are you even saying", depending on tone.
nói chín thì nên làm mười Nói mười làm chín kẻ cười người chê
Say nine, then do ten; say ten and do nine, and the world will laugh — deeds must outrun words.
nói chín thì phải làm mười
Promise nine, deliver ten — whatever you commit to out loud, your hands must slightly outdo; talk writes checks that work has to over-cash.
nói chậm thôi
"Please speak slowly" — the second-best friend; native speed drops instantly and with sympathy.
nói có sách, mách có chứng
Claims must be backed by sources and accusations by evidence — speak with proof.
nói dễ, làm khó
Easier said than done.
nói gì thì nói
anyway, anyhow, in any case, be that as it may, nevertheless
nói gần nói xa chẳng qua nói thật
Talk near, talk far — nothing beats talking straight — circumlocution's one-line refutation.
nói hay hơn hay nói
Speaking well beats speaking often — few words that land outrank a stream that doesn't.
nói hươu nói vượn
to chat idly; to shoot the breeze
nói lại được không
"Could you say that again?" — the learner's best friend; politer with a vocative and endlessly reusable.
nói lời phải giữ lấy lời Đừng như con bướm đậu rồi lại bay
Give your word and keep your word — don't be the butterfly that lands and flits away.
nói mười làm chín, kẻ cười người chê
Say ten, do nine — and the crowd will laugh and jeer: fall even one notch short of your own boasting and the shortfall is all anyone remembers.
nói một tấc đến giời
Talking an inch and reaching heaven — exaggeration achieving orbit.
nói ngang cành bứa
Talk crosswise as a bứa branch — argument that grows at right angles to sense.
nói người phải ngẫm đến ta Thử sờ lên gáy xem xa hay gần Nói người phải ngẫm đến thân Thử sờ lên gáy xem gần hay xa
Speaking of others, weigh yourself — feel the back of your own neck and judge how near it lands.
nói ngọt lọt đến xương
Sweet words slip through to the bone — honeyed speech penetrates where force cannot.
nói như phát, nhát như cheo
Loud as an axe, timid as a mouse-deer — the boom of the voice inversely sized to the nerve.
nói như rót vào tai
Speech poured straight into the ear — persuasion that flows without a drop spilled.
nói như rồng
Talking like a dragon — grand speech; delivery outrunning substance.
nói như rựa chém xuống đất
Words like a machete into earth — speech that lands once, deep, and stays.
nói thật đấy
"I'm serious" — drops the joking frame; what follows is meant. Southern speech says "nói thiệt đó".
nói thằng cuội
Talking like the Man in the Moon — Cuội's own genre: fluent, charming, false.
nói trước bước không qua
Close to the English saying: “Don't count your chickens before they're hatched. (Mr. B Lam).”.
nói trước quên sau
Saying it first, forgetting it after — memory expiring at the end of the sentence.
nói đâu quên đấy
forgetful; blithe; having a tendency for things to go in one ear and out the other
nói đóng đanh
Words driven like nails — speech that fixes itself in place.
nói để ngoài tai
Words parked outside the ear — advice received at the threshold and left there.
nóng như lửa
Hot as fire — temper or fever at flashpoint.
nóng quá
"So hot" — weather, soup, or temper by context; as weather-talk it is the country's most spoken sentence from April to September.
nôm na là cha mách qué
The plain vernacular is the father of impudence — so sneered the mandarins at honest nôm; plain speech wears the insult proudly.
nôm na mách qué
Homespun and impudent — plain speech with its elbows out; the old sneer at vernacular writing.
núi ai đắp mà cao, bể ai đào mà sâu
Who banked the mountain so high, who dug the sea so deep — the rhetorical awe that opens the oldest verses.
núi cao còn có núi cao hơn
do not be smug about your achievements, as there are always people who do even better
núi non trùng điệp
Range upon range of mountains — distance folded on distance; a hard, far separation.
năm bè bảy mối
Five rafts and seven strands — splintered into factions and loose ends; a group, family or organization pulling in every direction at once.
năm cha ba mẹ
Five fathers, three mothers — provenance hopelessly mixed; a jumble of origins.
năm châu bốn biển
The five continents and four seas — everywhere on Earth, the whole wide world; the stock frame for talking about global reach or far-flung friends.
năm mươi năm mươi
Fifty-fifty — even odds or an even split; the borrowed percentages worn as a Vietnamese idiom, spoken exactly as written.
năm ngón tay có ngón dài ngón ngắn
Five fingers on one hand, some long, some short — even siblings of one palm differ.
năm nắng mười mưa
Five suns and ten rains — hardship upon hardship, weathered without complaint; fixed in the language by Tú Xương’s poem about his wife («năm nắng mười mưa dám quản công»).
năm Thìn bão lụt
years of the Dragon are prone to large storms and floods.
năm ăn năm thua
Five to win, five to lose — a coin-flip: even odds, could go either way.
năng lượng tích cực
Positive energy — the wellness-era staple for an uplifting mood, person, or place; what everyone promises their feed will radiate.
năng may hơn dày giẻ
Frequent stitching beats thick cloth — small renewals outwear one stout provision.
năng nhặt chặt bị
pick up stuff without fail and you'll get a full bag in no time
năng thuyết bất năng hành
Able to say, unable to do — eloquence with no hands attached.
nơm-nớp như cá nằm trên thớt
Trembling like a fish on the chopping block — dread with the blade already visible.
nươc chảy đâu đâu cũng tới
Flowing water reaches everywhere — no corner escapes what moves like water; the law, or the flood.
nước chảy bèo trôi
Water flows, duckweed drifts — letting things slide wherever they will.
nước chảy chỗ trũng
Water flows to the hollow — wealth pools where wealth already sits.
nước chảy đá mòn
Close to the English saying: “Constant dripping wears the stone.”.
nước chẩy bè chôi
Water flows, the raft drifts — carried along without a say.
nước gáo tắm cho voi
A gourd of water to bathe an elephant — provision comically beneath the need.
nước lã quấy nên hồ
Stirring plain water into paste — building something from nothing at all.
nước mắt cá sấu
crocodile tears
nước nóng còn có khi nguội
Hot water cools in time — so does hot temper; wait it out.
nước sôi
(noun) Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see nước, sôi.
nước sông gạo chợ
River water, market rice — the boat-dweller's rootless housekeeping.
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