Definition

1. Verb:
   • To call out to heaven; to implore heaven/God: Expressing a desperate plea, cry for help, or lamentation directed towards heaven or a divine power, often in a moment of extreme distress, injustice, or unbearable suffering.
   • To exclaim in despair: To cry out in a way that expresses profound helplessness, shock, or complaint about an unfair or overwhelming situation.

Usage Examples

• Verb:
  • Người dân vùng lũ kêu trời vì mất hết nhà cửa. (The flood victims cried out to heaven because they lost all their homes.)
  • Nghe tin đó, bà ấy chỉ biết kêu trời. (Upon hearing that news, she could only exclaim in despair.)
  • Giá cả tăng cao khiến người tiêu dùng kêu trời. (Soaring prices make consumers cry out in complaint.)

Advanced Usage

• Used as an exclamation: Often used as a standalone exclamatory phrase "Trời ơi!" or "Ôi trời ơi!" to express sudden shock, complaint, or appeal. While "kêu trời" is the verbal action, these exclamations are the direct utterances.
  • Trời ơi! Sao lại có chuyện này? (Heavens! How could this happen?)
• Implies powerlessness: The phrase carries a strong connotation that the speaker has exhausted all human solutions and is turning to a higher power, emphasizing a sense of injustice or unbearable circumstance.

Variants and Related Words

• Than trời (v): To complain to heaven; to lament one's fate. Focuses more on the act of complaining rather than imploring.
  • Ông ấy ngồi than trời trước số phận. (He sat there lamenting his fate to heaven.)
• Kêu than (v): To cry and complain; to lament. A more general term for voicing distress.
• Cầu trời (v): To pray to heaven/God; to wish desperately for something. Focuses on wishing or praying for an outcome.
  • Tôi chỉ biết cầu trời cho mọi chuyện ổn thỏa. (I can only pray to heaven for everything to be alright.)

Synonyms

• Kêu gào (v): To wail, to cry out loudly (often in pain or anger).
• Than van (v): To whine, to complain persistently.
• Cầu khẩn (v): To beseech, to entreat earnestly.

Related Phrases / Idioms

• Kêu trời không thấu: To cry out to an unhearing heaven; to complain without anyone listening or helping. Emphasizes the futility of the plea.
  • Bị oan mà không biết kêu ai, anh ấy kêu trời không thấu. (Wronged with no one to turn to, he cried out to a deaf heaven.)
• Trời ơi đất hỡi: An intensified exclamatory idiom meaning "Oh heavens and earth!", expressing even greater shock, despair, or complaint.
  • Trời ơi đất hỡi! Ai làm thế này? (Good heavens! Who did this?)

1. Implore, God, entreat God