Definition

1. Adverb:
   • In a fragmentary, intermittent, or halting manner; defectively; with gaps in understanding or execution: Describes an action performed or knowledge possessed in a non-fluent, incomplete, or broken way, often with parts missing or poorly grasped. It implies a superficial or partial grasp of a subject, especially a language or a memorized text.

Usage Examples

• Adverb:
  • Tôi chỉ nhớ bập bõm mấy câu thơ đó. (I only remember those few lines of poetry in a fragmentary way.)
  • Anh ấy nghe tiếng Anh còn bập bõm, câu được câu mất. (He still understands English haltingly, catching some sentences but missing others.)
  • Cô ấy nói tiếng Nhật bập bõm. (She speaks Japanese in a broken manner.)

Advanced Usage

• "bập bà bập bõm": A reduplicated, emphatic form of "bập bõm". It intensifies the meaning, suggesting something is even more fragmented, intermittent, or poorly done.
  • Đứa trẻ đọc bập bà bập bõm từng chữ một. (The child read very haltingly, word by word.)

Variants and Related Words

• Lõm bõm: An adverb with a very similar meaning, describing an action done in a scattered, intermittent, or unsteady way (e.g., học lõm bõm - to study in a patchy manner).
• Ngắc ngoải: While often meaning "on the verge of death", it can colloquially imply something is done feebly or with great difficulty, sometimes overlapping with the sense of poor execution found in "bập bõm".

Synonyms

• Không thành thạo: Not proficient.
• Lõm bõm: In a patchy, scattered manner.
• Không trôi chảy: Not fluently.

Related Idioms

• "Biết bập bõm": To know something superficially or only in bits and pieces.
  • Tôi biết bập bõm về lịch sử nước đó. (I know only fragments about that country's history.)

adv

1. Defectively
   • nhớ bập bõm mấy câu thơ
     to remember defectively a few verses
   • nghe bập bõm câu được câu mất
     to understand defectively a few sentences
   • nói tiếng Pháp bập bõm
     to speak a smatter of French
   • bập bà bập bõm
     very defectively