ma nhà chưa tỏ, ma ngõ đã thông
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
One problem is not yet solved, another arises
Literally: the ghost of the house is not yet clear, the ghost of the alley is already familiar
Examples
Mới giải quyết xong vấn đề này thì ma nhà chưa tỏ, ma ngõ đã thôngJust solved this problem, but another one arises
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 “ma nhà chưa tỏ, ma ngõ đã thông” mean?
One problem is not yet solved, another arises Literally: the ghost of the house is not yet clear, the ghost of the alley is already familiar
Is “ma nhà chưa tỏ, ma ngõ đã thông” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.