Definition

1. Verb phrase:
   • To work for hire / to work as hired labor: The primary meaning of "làm thuê" is to perform work in exchange for wages, typically under the direction of an employer. It emphasizes a temporary or non-permanent employment relationship where one sells their labor.
   • To be employed / to work for someone else: It describes the state of being a worker or employee, not the owner or master of one's own work or business.

Usage Examples

• Verb phrase:
  • Ông ấy làm thuê cho một công ty xây dựng. (He works for hire for a construction company.)
  • Cả đời bà chỉ đi làm thuê. (Her whole life, she only worked as hired labor.)
  • Làm thuê thì phải nghe lời chủ. (When you work for someone else, you must obey the boss.)

Advanced Usage

• The phrase can imply a lack of autonomy or ownership over one's work and is often contrasted with being self-employed or owning a business.
• It can be used in a broader, sometimes figurative sense to describe working for others' goals without personal stake or control.

Variants and Related Words

• Làm công (verb phrase): to work as a laborer/worker. A near-synonymous phrase.
  • Anh ấy làm công nhật. (He works as a day laborer.)
• Đi làm thuê (verb phrase): to go to work as hired help. This emphasizes the action of going to a hired job.
  • Sáng nào cô ấy cũng đi làm thuê từ sớm. (Every morning she goes to her hired job early.)

Synonyms

• To work for wages: To labor in return for monetary payment.
• To be an employee: To be in a position of paid work under an employer.
• To hire oneself out: To offer one's labor services for pay.

Related Idioms

• Thân làm thuê, phận làm mướn: A saying describing one's fate or lot in life as being a hired laborer, often implying a hard life with little upward mobility.
  • Thân làm thuê, phận làm mướn, biết bao giờ mới khá. (A life of hired labor, when will things ever improve.)