Definition

1. Verb:
   • To complain at length, to whine: To talk repeatedly and in detail about one's own difficulties, problems, or grievances, often in a way that seeks sympathy or is perceived as tiresome.
   • To narrate tediously, to go on and on: To tell a story or explain something in an excessively long, detailed, and often boring manner.

Usage Examples

• Verb:
  • Anh ấy cứ kể lể về những khó khăn trong công việc. (He keeps complaining at length about the difficulties at work.)
  • Đừng kể lể nữa, hãy tập trung vào giải pháp. (Stop whining and focus on the solution.)
  • Bà ấy kể lể câu chuyện gia đình suốt cả buổi tối. (She tediously narrated the family story all evening long.)

Advanced Usage

• "kể lể lể thống": To complain and lament incessantly, emphasizing a continuous and sorrowful tone.
  • Sau khi mất việc, anh ta suốt ngày kể lể lể thống. (After losing his job, he spent all day long complaining and lamenting.)

Variants and Related Words

• Than vãn (verb): To lament, to complain. This is a close synonym but can sometimes imply a more sorrowful tone than the often more nagging or tedious connotation of "kể lể."
• Kể lể dông dài (phrase): To tell a long-winded story. This phrase explicitly adds the meaning of being long-winded.
• Lể (verb - less common): An archaic or dialectal form related to telling or narrating, often found in the compound "kể lể."

Synonyms

• Than phiền: To complain, to grumble.
• Càu nhàu: To grumble, to mutter complaints (often under one's breath).
• Rên rỉ: To whine, to moan (often about pain or discomfort).

Related Phrases (Phrasal Verbs)

• Kể lể con cà con kê (idiomatic phrase): To go into trivial and unnecessary details; to nitpick and talk about every little thing. This phrase vividly describes the act of tedious narration.
  • Bài phát biểu của ông ấy toàn kể lể con cà con kê, chẳng có điểm chính nào. (His speech was just going into trivial details, with no main points.)

Related Idioms

• Kể lể như đám ma: To complain or narrate as if at a funeral (i.e., in a very long, drawn-out, and mournful manner). This idiom emphasizes the excessively tedious and sorrowful nature of the speech.
  • Cứ gặp là nó lại kể lể như đám ma về chuyện tình tan vỡ. (Every time we meet, he goes on and on as if at a funeral about his broken relationship.)

1. Spin a long yarn, tell in a lengthy way, tell a shaggy-dog story (mỹ)
   • Bà cụ kể lễ về công việc của cháu chắt
     The old lady spun a long yarn about her descendant's jobs