rượu mua thì uống, rượu cho thì đừng
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Be cautious with gifts, especially if they come with strings attached
Literally: Bought wine drinks, given wine doesn't
Where it’s used:
Used
Toàn quốc & hải ngoại · Vietnam-wide & diaspora
Examples
Anh ấy đưa cho tôi một món quà đắt tiền, nhưng tôi nhớ câu rượu mua thì uống, rượu cho thì đừngHe gave me an expensive gift, but I recall the saying 'bought wine drinks, given wine doesn't'
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed on Vietnamese Wikiquote “Thành ngữ Việt Nam” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “rượu mua thì uống, rượu cho thì đừng” mean?
Be cautious with gifts, especially if they come with strings attached Literally: Bought wine drinks, given wine doesn't
Is “rượu mua thì uống, rượu cho thì đừng” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.