Definition

1. Verb phrase:
   • To be worth the trouble/effort, to be worthwhile: Indicates that the result or outcome sufficiently compensates for the effort, time, or trouble invested. It expresses that an action was not in vain.
   • To be worth one's while: Suggests that the benefit gained makes the expended effort justifiable.

Usage Examples

• Verb phrase:
  • Làm việc này thật bõ công. (Doing this work is really worth the effort.)
  • Nếu cô ấy vui thì cũng bõ công tôi chuẩn bị. (If she is happy, then my preparation was worth it.)
  • Chăm chỉ ôn tập, thi đỗ cũng bõ công. (Studying hard, passing the exam makes it all worthwhile.)

Advanced Usage

• "cũng đã bõ công": has already been worth the effort (often used to reflect on a completed action).
  • Nhìn thành quả hôm nay, những năm tháng vất vả cũng đã bõ công. (Looking at today's results, the difficult years have already been worth it.)
• "cho bõ công": so that it's worth the effort (expressing purpose or desired outcome).
  • Chúng ta phải cố gắng hơn nữa cho bõ công mọi người tin tưởng. (We must try even harder to make it worth everyone's trust.)
• Used in negative or rhetorical questions to express that something is worthwhile.
  • Thế này thì có bõ công không? (Is this even worth the trouble?)

Variants and Related Words

• Công đâu (phr.): A rhetorical question fragment meaning "What's the point of the effort?" often used to express that something is not worthwhile.
  • Làm thế công đâu? (What's the point of doing that?)
• Xứng đáng (adj.): Deserving, worthy. While similar, it is a general adjective and does not specifically connote compensating for effort like bõ công.
  • Phần thưởng xứng đáng. (A deserving reward.)

Synonyms

• Đáng công: Worth the effort (very close in meaning, often interchangeable).
• Xứng với công sức: Commensurate with the effort.

Related Phrases (Phrasal Verbs)

• Bõ công bõ sức: (Idiomatic reinforcement) Worth all the trouble and physical effort.
  • Thu hoạch một vụ mùa bội thu thật bõ công bõ sức. (Harvesting a bumper crop is truly worth all the toil and trouble.)

Related Idioms

• Có công mài sắt, có ngày nên kim: (Proverb) "Persistence wears away stone" or "Constant effort yields success." This proverb shares the thematic idea that sustained effort (công) leads to a worthwhile (bõ) result.
  • Hãy kiên nhẫn, có công mài sắt có ngày nên kim, rồi sẽ bõ công thôi. (Be patient, persistence pays off, it will be worth it someday.)

1. Be worth troubling about, be worth one's while
   • Như thế cũng bõ công anh
     It was worth your while