Impress people with these 5 modern slang in Vietnamese

If you want to sound cooler and impress people in your Vietnamese conversations, you have to know SLANG.

That's why today, we are going to learn some of most the popular Vietnamese slang that the young generation is using every day, especially on the internet.

So let's get started!

Trà xanh

trà xanh literally means "green tea". But it also refers to a girl who only appears to be innocent, when she is actually very calculating, with the intention of stealing someone's lover.

Example:

  • A: Ủa, Thư và Vũ chia tay rồi hả?
  • B: Đúng rồi. Nghe đồn có trà xanh xen vào.

Phát cẩu lương

Refers to an act of giving or showing affection between a couple in front of someone who is single, which makes that person feels really jealous.

The phrase phát cẩu lương literally means "to distribute dog food". It reminds you of the image of a hungry dog who can only look at its owner eating food but can't have any of it.

Example:

  • A: Ê, Valentine đi chơi không?
  • B: Không! Ra đường coi mọi người phát cẩu lương hả?
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Đỉnh của chóp

Both the words đỉnh and chóp refer to the top, or the highest part of something.

So đỉnh của chóp simply means "top of the top".

This phrase acts like an adjective/adverb that is used to describe something being top-notch or having the highest quality of its kind.

Example:

  • A: Coi phim Joker chưa?
  • B: Rồi! Phim đó đúng đỉnh của chóp!

Còn cái nịt

In the South, the word nịt refers to the belt, while in the North, it refers to the elastic band used to tie hair or stacks of money.

Còn cái nịt has the meaning of "only left with the elastic band". As a slang phrase, it refers to losing everything and having nothing left but the elastic band.

This slang first came from a video, where a Tiktoker talks about the act of finding and returning lost money. He said if the money value is low, people may return it. But if the value is high, people will take all the money and leave the person with nothing but the elastic band that is used to tie the stack the money.

Example:

  • A: Còn tiền không cho tao mượn.
  • B: Còn. Còn cái nịt! (Sarcasm)
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Xu cà na

Cà na actually refers to a type of fruit that has a very sour taste.

Xu doesn't have any meaning, but simply sounds similar to the word xui, which means "unlucky" in Southern dialect.

The phrase Xu cà na is used as an exclamation when something negative or unlucky happens that makes you feel unhappy or dissatisfied.

Example:

  • Xu cà na, hôm qua mua cái áo, rồi hôm nay nó giảm 50%!
    So unlucky, yesterday bought a shirt, then today it's reduced 50%!

Questions

Write these sentences in Vietnamese:

  1. A: Em còn yêu anh không? - B: Còn. [___]
  2. Quán bar này pha cocktail [___]
  3. Rất khó nhận ra ai đó là [___]
  4. Hai người đó lúc nào cũng [___]
  5. [___] rồi! Trời mưa mà quên mang dù!

Answers:

  1. (d) A: Em còn yêu anh không? - B: Còn. Còn cái nịt
  2. (c) Quán bar này pha cocktail đỉnh của chóp
  3. (a) Rất khó nhận ra ai đó là trà xanh
  4. (b) Hai người đó lúc nào cũng phát cẩu lương
  5. (e) Xu cà na rồi! Trời mưa mà quên mang dù!

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