lảng
Intransitive Verb:
- To slip away; to sneak away; to move away discreetly: To leave a place or situation quietly and often with the intention of avoiding someone or something.
- To avoid; to dodge (a topic, person, or responsibility): To intentionally steer clear of or divert attention from something.
Transitive Verb (used with "nói"):
- To talk evasively; to change the subject; to turn the conversation: To deliberately avoid addressing a specific topic by shifting the discussion to something else.
Intransitive Verb:
- Anh ấy lảng ra phía sau vườn để tránh gặp khách. (He slipped away to the back of the garden to avoid meeting the guests.)
- Thấy cô giáo đến, đám trẻ lảng đi hết. (Seeing the teacher coming, the children all sneaked away.)
- Đừng có lảng mỗi khi có việc khó! (Don't sneak away every time there's a difficult task!)
Transitive Verb (with "nói"):
- Khi tôi hỏi về khoản nợ, anh ta liền nói lảng sang chuyện thời tiết. (When I asked about the debt, he immediately changed the subject to the weather.)
- Cô ấy cứ nói lảng, không bao giờ chịu trả lời thẳng câu hỏi. (She keeps talking evasively, never willing to answer questions directly.)
"lảng đi": to slip away; to move away. This is a common collocation emphasizing the act of leaving.
- Nó lảng đi từ lúc nào không ai hay. (He slipped away at some point without anyone noticing.)
"lảng tránh": to avoid; to shirk; to evade. This compound form combines "lảng" with "tránh" (to avoid) for stronger emphasis on avoidance.
- Anh ta có thói quen lảng tránh trách nhiệm. (He has a habit of shirking responsibility.)
"lảng vảng": to loiter; to hang around aimlessly. This is a reduplicative form (lặp láy) with a distinct meaning.
- Có mấy thanh niên lảng vảng trước cổng trường. (There are some young men loitering in front of the school gate.)
lang lảng (reduplicative form): to discreetly turn away; to wander aimlessly. This form can imply a gentle, drifting movement or a discreet avoidance.
- Ánh mắt cô ấy lang lảng nhìn ra cửa sổ. (Her gaze drifted discreetly toward the window.)
lảng tránh (compound verb): to evade; to avoid. (See Advanced Usage).
lảng vảng (reduplicative form): to loiter. (See Advanced Usage).
- Tránh (verb): to avoid.
- Lẩn (verb): to hide; to slip away.
- Thoái thác (verb): to shirk; to evade (often responsibility).
- Nói quanh (verb phrase): to beat around the bush (specifically for speech).
Nói lảng (verb phrase): This is the primary phrasal verb form, meaning to speak evasively or to change the subject.
- Mỗi lần nhắc đến chuyện cưới xin là bà ấy lại nói lảng. (Every time the topic of marriage is mentioned, she changes the subject.)
Lảng ra lảng vào: to wander in and out; to be inconstant in presence.
- Cậu bé cứ lảng ra lảng vào trong bếp, chắc là đói bụng. (The boy keeps wandering in and out of the kitchen; he must be hungry.)
- The primary meanings are related to avoidance (physical or conversational).
- The dialectal meaning of "vô duyên, vớ vẩn" (tactless, silly) is less common in standard modern usage and is often considered colloquial or regional.
- The reduplicative forms (lang lảng, lảng vảng) have developed their own nuanced meanings related to movement.
- to slip away; to sneak away
- nói lảngto turn conversation