This phrase is perhaps the most common Vietnamese phrase. Its English translation is "oh my God". As you can imagine, this phrase can be used in almost all situations. For example, when you want to express surprise, disbelief, pain, ... I will show you some example:
A: Mày học bài chưa? mai kiểm tra rồi đấy! B: Chưa. A: Úi giời ơi!! A: Have you reviewed the papers? tomorrow we will have the test! B: not yet. A: oh my God. A: Uống tí chè nhé! B: ừ... (một lúc sau) úi giời ơi! Đắng thế! A: would you like some tea? B: yeap... (after a while) oh my God, it's too bitter! Còn lâu.
This expression is a very common one. If you translate it literally, it can be quite confusing. “còn” means still, “lâu” means something that takes a lot of time. So as you can imagine, it is used in response to the question “How long”. But, “Còn lâu” is also used when you want to say you don’t agree with something, or when you dislike something. Let’s look at some examples: A: Này, cho tôi vay ít tiền nhé. B: Còn lâu! A: Lend me some money please! B: No way! I hope that no one uses this expression with you! See you on the next post! Have a nice day! So, basically this word means "delicious", to describe a good food, as you already know. But colloquially, people also use this word, as an expression, to compliment on anything that is good for them. It's like saying "được" (Good!).
For example: A: May qúa, trời hết mưa rồi. Mai chắc là trời đẹp đấy. B: Ngon, thế là đi leo núi được rồi. A: What a luck. it has stopped raining, tomorrow the weather will be good! B: Good! then we can go hiking! A: Cái áo này nhìn thế nào? B: Ngon. A: How does this shirt look (on me)? B: Good! Using "Ngon" to describe an attractive woman might sound a bit informal, even offensive to some. So, be careful. See you! This expression is easy to understand, right? It means " are you crazy?" , used when you want to show complete disagreement, when you find something others do completely incomprehensible, something that makes no sense! Others expressions with the same meaning are: "Dở hơi à? / Thần kinh à?"...
I will show you some examples: A: Mai đi biển nhé? B: Điên à? trời lạnh thế này! A: let's go to the beach tomorrow! B: are you crazy? It's cold! A: Tao định đi học tiếng Latinh. B: Điên à? học làm gì? A: I plan to study Latin. B: really? what for? So, Have you ever been told "Điên à?" tell me the story in Vietnamese in the comment below! See you soon! |
AuthorMy name is Huyen, Vietnamese teacher on ITALKI. Archives
February 2017
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