đòn sóc hai đầu
The carrying-spike sharp at both ends — the middleman who wounds both sides.
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đòn xóc nhọn hai đầu
The carrying-stick sharpened at both ends — the go-between who pricks each party toward the other; duplicity as hardware.
đói cho sạch, rách cho thơm
One must remain decent and honorable in spite of hardship.
đói cơm rách áo
Hungry for rice, ragged of coat — destitution with no way out.
đói khóc no cười
Racing in strength and racing in breath — rivalry down to the last lungful.
đói lòng ăn hột chà là, để cơm nuôi mẹ, mẹ già yếu răng
Hungry, I eat date-palm fruit and keep the rice for mother — her teeth are old and weak — filial piety at its plainest table.
đói lòng ăn nửa trái sim, uống lưng bát nước đi tìm người thương Người thương, ơi hỡi, người thương, đi đâu mà để buồng hương lạnh lùng
Hungry, I eat half a sim-berry and drink half a bowl of water to go find my love — appetite deferred to longing.
đói no một vợ một chồng Một miếng cơm tấm, giàu lòng ăn chơi. Đốn cây ai nỡ dứt chồi Đạo chồng nghĩa vợ, giận rồi lại thương
Hungry or full, one wife one husband — a bowl of broken rice, and rich in play of heart; who fells the tree tears off the shoot? Anger passes, love returns.
đói quá
"So hungry" — a state report and a proposal in one; the natural next line is "ăn gì đây?" (what shall we eat?).
đói sanh kẻ dử
Hunger breeds the desperate — courtesy is a fed virtue.
đói thì đầu gối phải bò, cái chân hay chạy cái giò hay đi
Hunger sets the knees crawling — feet learn to run and legs to go when the stomach commands.
đói ăn bánh vẽ, chiêm bao thấy vàng
Painted cakes for hunger, dreamt gold for wealth — comforts with no calories; the currency of illusion.
đói ăn rau đau uống thuốc
Hungry, eat greens; ailing, take medicine — each want has its own plain remedy; don't cross the prescriptions.
đói đầu gối hay bò
Hunger teaches the knees to crawl — necessity is the body's own instructor.
đóng cửa dạy nhau
to shut the door and teach each other
đôi ta bắt gặp nhau đây, như con bò gầy gặp bãi cỏ hoang
We two meeting here: a starved ox finding fallow grass — hunger's luck, said with a grin.
đôi ta cùng bạn chăn trâu, cùng mặc áo vá nhuộm nâu một hang. Bao giờ cho gạo bén sang, cho trăng bén gió, cho nàng bén anh
We two herded buffalo together in patched brown-dyed shirts — may the rice take to the basket, the moon to the wind, and you to me.
đôi ta như lúa đòng đòng, đẹp duyên nhưng chẳng đẹp lòng mẹ cha Đôi ta như chỉ xe ba, thầy mẹ xe ít, đôi ta xe nhiều
We two are rice in the milk-ripe ear — matched in love, unmatched to our parents' liking; threads the elders spun thin, we spun thick.
đôi ta như lửa mới nhen, như trăng mới mọc, như đèn mới khêu
We two are fire new-kindled, moon new-risen, lamp new-trimmed — everything at its brightest first hour.
đôi ta như ngãi Phan Trần, khi xa ngàn dặm, khi gần bên đôi
We two are Phan and Trần of the old tale — a thousand leagues apart, then side by side.
đôi ta như rượu với nem, đang say ngây ngất, ai dèm chớ xa
We two are wine and fermented pork — mid-intoxication; let no one's whisper part us.
đôi ta như rắn liu điu, nước chảy mặc nước, ta dìu lấy nhau
We two are little water-snakes — let the current run as it will, we hold each other up.
đôi ta như thể đồng tiền, đồng sấp, đồng ngửa, đồng nghiêng, đồng nằm
We two are a coin's two faces — heads, tails, tilted or flat, still one coin.
đôi ta như tượng mới tô, như chuông mới đúc, như chùa mới xây
We two are a figure fresh-molded, a bell fresh-cast, a temple fresh-built — love in its unchipped first gloss.
đôi ta thương mãi nhớ lâu, như sông nhớ nước, như nhành dâu nhớ tằm
We two love long and remember longer — as the river holds its water, as the mulberry branch holds the silkworm.
đôn chề
Designer-knockoff flashy — dressing head-to-toe in fake luxury (the word is a Vietnamized «Dolce») and carrying it with total confidence; names both the counterfeit goods and the loud aesthetic built on them.
đông có mây tây có sao
Clouds in the east, stars in the west — company on every horizon; a gathering in full assembly.
đông tay hơn hay làm
Many hands beat skilled ones — numbers out-produce virtuosity.
đông tay vỗ nên kêu
Many hands make the clap loud — collective effort gets results a lone pair of hands cannot; the communal cousin of "many hands make light work".
đông the hè đụp
Silk in winter, rags in summer — provision perfectly out of season.
đù má
A softened Southern expletive — the minced cousin of «đụ má», keeping the rhythm of the curse with most of the sting sanded off; punctuation for frustration or disbelief among friends.
đùa thôi
"Just kidding" — the retraction that saves friendships; deploy fast after a joke lands wrong.
đùm đùm đề đề
many large, bulky, and cumbersome items
đúng không
The tag question "right?" — turns any statement into a check-in; the listener's nod is half of Vietnamese conversation.
đúng rồi
"That's right" — plain confirmation; stretch it to "đúng rồi đó!" and it becomes delighted agreement.
đăng cao tất tự ti, hành viễn tất tự nhỉ
The climb starts low, the journey starts near — no summit skips the foothills.
đũa bếp khuấy nồi bung
A kitchen spoon stirring a cauldron — the implement lost in the job's scale.
đơ như cây cơ
Frozen stiff — stunned into a blank stare, buffering like a crashed app.
đơn giản như đang giỡn
Ridiculously easy — literally "as simple as joking around"; the two halves are nói lái of each other, which is the whole charm.
đơn thương độc mã
on one's own; by oneself
đưa thú cưng đi khám thú y
to take a pet to the vet
đười-ươi giữ ống
The orangutan guarding the tube — holding the container and missing the contents; possessive and outwitted.
đường dài ngựa chạy biệt tăm, người thương có nghĩa trăm năm cũng về
The road is long and the horse gallops out of sight, but one bound by love returns though it take a hundred years.
đường đi không khó vì ngăn sông cách núi, mà chỉ khó vì lòng người ngại núi e sông
The road is not hard for its rivers and mountains, but for the heart that fears them — the obstacle is in the traveler.
đường đi ở miệng
The road lives in your mouth — ask, and any strange town becomes navigable.
đường đường chính chính
just and dignified
được cá quên nơm
Fish landed, trap forgotten — gratitude expiring at the moment of success.
được làm vua, thua làm giặc
might makes right; the winner is always in the right and the loser is always in the wrong.
được lòng ta, xót-xa lòng người
Near the rich, a toothache from their young rice; near thieves, a broken back from their beatings — proximity to either costs.
được mùa cau đau mùa lúa
A good areca year hurts the rice — the seasons trade their favors; no year blesses both.
được rồi
"Alright / that's enough / okay then" — agreement, sufficiency, or gentle wrap-up depending on tone; a workhorse of daily talk.
được voi đòi tiên
Given something great, to immediately demand something even greater — insatiable escalating demands.
được vạ thì má đã sưng
By the time damages are won, the cheek has long been swollen — compensation never undoes the blow.
được ăn cả, ngã về không
it's all-or-nothing; you either go big or go home
được ăn được nói, được gói đem về
Getting to eat, to speak, and to carry a parcel home — the full sweep of a privileged visit; every advantage at once.
đại khí vãn thành
Great vessels finish late — the largest talents are longest on the wheel.
đại mộc lưu giang, bất đắc hồi cố
Great timber down the river never returns — the drifted life, past rowing home.
đại ngôn bất tàm
Big talk, no blush — bragging past the reach of shame.
đại ngôn vô thật
Big words, no substance — the boast is the inventory.
đại nhơn năng dung tiểu nhơn
The great contain the small — capacity is what magnanimity literally means.
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