Definition

1. Verb:
   • To stammer: To speak with involuntary pauses or repetitions of sounds and syllables, often due to hesitation, nervousness, or a speech impediment.

Usage Examples

• Verb:
  • Cậu bé ấy hơi cà lăm khi phát biểu trước đám đông. (That boy stammers a bit when speaking in front of a crowd.)
  • Anh ấy cà lăm vì quá hồi hộp. (He stammered because he was too nervous.)
  • Một số người có tật cà lăm từ nhỏ. (Some people have had a stammer since childhood.)

Advanced Usage

• The word "cà lăm" can be intensified by the reduplicative form "cà lăm cà lắp", which emphasizes a more severe or pronounced stammer.
  • Ông ấy nói cà lăm cà lắp, khó nghe lắm. (He speaks with a heavy stammer; it's very hard to listen to.)

Variants and Related Words

• Nói lắp (v): This is a more formal or standard synonym for "cà lăm," meaning "to stammer" or "to stutter."
  • Cô ấy đang tập trị liệu để giảm nói lắp. (She is undergoing therapy to reduce her stammer.)

Synonyms

• Stammer: To speak with sudden, involuntary pauses.
• Stutter: To involuntarily repeat sounds, especially initial consonants (this is a very close synonym, often used interchangeably with "stammer" in English).

Related Idioms

• Cà lăm cà lắp: An idiomatic, reduplicative phrase used to describe speech that is severely halting and broken by frequent stammering.
  • Nghe anh ta trình bày cà lăm cà lắp mà sốt ruột. (Listening to him present with such a severe stammer is frustrating.)

verb

1. To stammer
   • tật cà lăm
     to have a stammer, to speak with a stammer