có tật
Definition
- Adjective phrase:
- Having a defect, flaw, or bad habit: Refers to a person, animal, or object possessing a physical defect, a moral shortcoming, or a deeply ingrained bad habit.
- Having a vice or a guilty conscience: Often implies a hidden fault or a sense of guilt about one's own shortcomings.
Usage Examples
- Adjective phrase:
- Con ngựa đó có tật ở chân sau. (That horse has a defect in its hind leg.)
- Anh ta là người có tật nghiện rượu. (He is a person with the bad habit of alcoholism.)
- Người có tật thường hay giật mình. (A person with a guilty conscience is often easily startled.)
Advanced Usage
- "Có tật giật mình": A common Vietnamese idiom literally meaning "having a defect, one startles easily." It describes the psychology of a person who, because they have a fault, secret, or guilty conscience, is overly sensitive, defensive, or easily frightened when a related topic is mentioned.
- Đừng nói chuyện tham nhũng trước mặt ông ấy, có tật giật mình mà. (Don't talk about corruption in front of him; you know, "he who is guilty runs at the sound of a leaf.")
Variants and Related Words
- Tật xấu (n): Bad habit, vice.
- Hút thuốc là một tật xấu. (Smoking is a bad habit.)
- Khuyết tật (n): Disability, defect.
- Một trung tâm hỗ trợ người khuyết tật. (A support center for people with disabilities.)
- Tật nguyền (adj): Crippled, disabled.
- Chú chó bị tật nguyền sau tai nạn. (The dog was crippled after the accident.)
Synonyms
- Có khuyết điểm: To have a shortcoming/defect.
- Mắc tội: To be guilty of a sin/crime (stronger, more specific to wrongdoing).
- Có thói hư: To have a bad habit.
Related Idioms
- "Có tật giật mình": As explained above, equivalent to English idioms like "He who is guilty runs at the sound of a leaf" or "A guilty conscience needs no accuser."
- "Người có tật hay giật mình": A fuller proverb form of the same idiom.