Hết nước thấy cá
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Only when in a desperate situation do you realize the value of something
Chỉ khi trong tình huống tuyệt vọng mới nhận ra giá trị của điều gì
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Examples
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Headword listed in the vdict.com proverb dictionary index (discovery source; headword only — no source content copied). Entered as candidate 2026-08-05; definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-08-06; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “Hết nước thấy cá” mean?
Only when in a desperate situation do you realize the value of something Literally: out of water see fish
Is “Hết nước thấy cá” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.