bán trời không văn tự
Selling heaven with no deed in hand — outrageous big talk; recklessly brazen behavior.
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bán tống bán tháo
To dump goods at any price just to be rid of them — a fire-sale clear-out.
bán đổ bán tháo
To sell off at any price, even at a loss, just to clear it out quickly.
bánh sáp đi, bánh chì lại
A wax cake goes out, a lead cake comes back — trade fairly, weight for weight, or not at all.
báo thủ
A walking disaster — someone whose “help” reliably creates expensive problems for family and friends.
bát trong song, còn có khi động
Bowls in one rack will knock sometimes — people under one roof cannot help but clatter.
bây giờ là chín giờ
It’s nine o’clock.
bây giờ là chín giờ mười lăm
It’s quarter past nine.
bây giờ là chín giờ rưỡi
It’s half past nine.
bây giờ là mười giờ kém mười lăm
It’s quarter to ten.
bây giờ là mười giờ sáng
It’s 10 a.m.
bây giờ mận mới hỏi đào, vườn hồng có lối ai vào hay chưa. Mận hỏi thì đào xin thưa, vườn hồng có lối nhưng chưa ai vào
Now the plum asks the peach: is there a path into the rose garden yet? The peach replies: a path there is, but none has entered — courtship's most elegant negotiation.
bè
a raft (flat, floating structure)
bè ai người ấy chống
Each poles their own raft — everyone fends for themselves; no one will paddle for you.
bè lim sào gậy
An ironwood raft with only a walking-stick for a pole — a heavy task far beyond one's slender means.
bèo giạt mây tan
Duckweed scattered, clouds dispersed — attachments blown apart by the weather of fortune.
bé bằng củ khoai, cứ vai mà gọi
Kinship terms follow family rank, not age — even a tiny child is addressed by their place in the family hierarchy.
bé hạt tiêu
little body, great mind
bé người chơi trèo
Small, and climbing high — presumption above one's size.
bé xé ra to
To tear a small thing large — to blow a trifle up into a crisis.
béo chê ngậy gầy chê tanh
Plump — 'too rich'; thin — 'too fishy' — the fault-finder's menu has no acceptable dish.
bên cồn
Over on the islet — miền Tây for the sandbar hamlets mid-river, catapulted into national slang by Lê Tuấn Khang’s «đám giỗ bên cồn» TikTok saga; now shorthand for that whole rural-Southern comedy universe, or a cheerfully vague «over there».
bên trời góc bể
remote place; faraway
bì phấn với vôi
Comparing face-powder with lime — setting the refined beside the crude; an absurdly unequal comparison.
bình chân như vại
Steady as a stoneware vat — completely unruffled while everyone around is panicking.
bình cũ rượu mới
old vase, new liquor
bình phong tuy phá, cốt cách du tồn
The screen may shatter; the frame survives — good breeding outlasts its own disgrace.
bòn tro đải trấu
Sifting ash and winnowing chaff — scraping the leavings for every last grain.
bóc drama
To unwrap a scandal for an audience — narrating and dissecting online drama piece by piece, the way commentary channels serve it.
bóc phốt
To expose someone publicly with receipts — posting the evidence of shady behavior for the internet to judge.
bói người ra ma
Divine at a person and you'll find a ghost — go looking for fault and fault appears.
bói ra ma
Divining conjures a ghost — look for trouble by augury and augury supplies it.
bói ra ma, quét nhà ra rác
being a medium and getting "possessed" at some point is as predictable as sweeping your home and getting trash
bói rẻ hơn ngồi không
A cheap fortune-telling beats sitting idle — small earnings outrank none.
bóng chim tăm cá
Something as untraceable as a bird's shadow or a fish's ripple — a person or news that has vanished without a trace.
bóng xế nhành dâu
The sun sinking behind the mulberry branch — old age drawing on; the closing years of a life.
bôi tro trát trấu
to tarnish; to besmirch
bôi trung xà ảnh
The snake in the wine cup — a shadow mistaken for poison; illness by imagination.
bõ công má hồng
Worth the rosy cheeks' while — effort repaid; the beauty's pains not wasted.
bĩ cực thái lai
it is always darkest before the dawn
bưng kín miệng bình
Cinch the purse-string tight — thrift at the drawstring.
bưng miệng vò miệng lọ, ai bưng được miệng thiên-hạ
You can cover a jar's mouth or a crock's — nobody covers the world's — the one vessel without a lid.
bưng tai giả điếc
Covering the ears, playing deaf — refusal upgraded to disability.
bạ ăn bạ nói
Eating anywhere, talking anyhow — grazing and blurting with no manners at all.
bạc đầu còn dại
White-haired and still foolish — age without its promised wisdom.
bạch mao nữ
A woman whose hair turns white before its time — from the Chinese tale of the White-Haired Girl, an image of deep suffering.
bạch ốc khởi công khanh
From a white hut rise ministers — greatness starts in unpainted houses.
bạn bao nhiêu tuổi?
How old are you?
bạn còn phòng không
The check-in question: "do you have rooms left?" — "còn" (still have) is the load-bearing word for any availability question.
bạn có con không?
Do you have any children?
bạn duật tương trì, ngư ông đắc lợi
Clam and snipe locked fast, the fisherman profits — the full-length telling of the two rivals and the third who wins.
bạn khỏe không
The textbook "how are you?" — fine with strangers your age, but real speech swaps "bạn" for the right kinship word: "anh/chị/em khỏe không?".
bạn khỏe không?
How are you?
bạn làm gì?
What do you do for work?
bạn làm nghề gì?
What do you do for a living?
bạn làm ở đâu?
Where do you work?
bạn nói gì cơ?
Sorry? What did you say?
bạn sống ở đâu?
Where do you live?
bạn đang đi làm hay đi học?
Do you work or study?
bạn đã kết hôn hay còn độc thân?
Are you married or single?
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