đào chả thấy, lấy chả được
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Cannot get something because it is not available
Literally: dig but don't see, take but can't get
Examples
Anh ấy muốn mua nhà nhưng đào chả thấy, lấy chả được.He wants to buy a house but it's not available
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Discovered via Nam ngạn chích cẩm (Phạm Quang Sán, 1918; public domain, via vi.wikisource); retrieved 2026-08-01. Source: source ↗ Attested in Nam ngạn chích cẩm (Phạm Quang Sán, 1918). Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-08-01; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “đào chả thấy, lấy chả được” mean?
Cannot get something because it is not available Literally: dig but don't see, take but can't get
Is “đào chả thấy, lấy chả được” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.