Definition

1. Verb phrase:
   • To pass the day, to get through the day: Refers to the act of spending time, often in a mundane or aimless way, just to make time pass.
   • To eke out a living, to scrape by: Describes living with difficulty, barely managing to meet basic needs from one day to the next.

Usage Examples

• Verb phrase:
  • Họ chỉ đọc sách để qua ngày. (They just read books to pass the time / to kill time.)
  • Gia đình ấy phải làm việc vất vả để kiếm đủ tiền qua ngày. (That family has to work hard to earn enough money to scrape by / get through the day.)

Advanced Usage

• "Sống qua ngày": To live from hand to mouth; to live a day-to-day existence.
  • Sau khi mất việc, anh ấy chỉ sống qua ngày. (After losing his job, he just lived from hand to mouth.)
• "Cho qua ngày": For the sake of passing the day; to while away the time.
  • Cô ấy xem TV cho qua ngày. (She watches TV to while away the time.)

Variants and Related Words

• Qua ngày đoạn tháng (idiomatic phrase): To pass the days and months; implies a tedious, monotonous, or difficult existence over a long period.
  • Cuộc sống nghèo khó khiến họ chỉ biết qua ngày đoạn tháng. (A life of poverty meant they could only focus on getting through each day and month.)
• Qua loa (adj/adverb): Perfunctory, superficial, done just to get it over with. (Shares the sense of doing something minimally to "get past" it.)

Synonyms

• Giết thời gian: To kill time.
• Sống lay lắt / Sống cầm hơi: To eke out a living; to live a precarious existence.
• Chống chế: To get by; to manage somehow (often with difficulty).

Related Phrases

• Kiếm sống qua ngày: To earn a living day by day.
  • Công việc này chỉ đủ để tôi kiếm sống qua ngày. (This job is only enough for me to earn a living day by day.)

Related Idioms

• "Nước chảy qua cầu": Literally "water flows under the bridge"; meaning things pass by or time goes on, often with a sense of resignation. It shares the thematic connection of time passing.
• "Sống cho qua ngày": To live just to get through the day; implies a lack of purpose or joy, merely existing.
  • Không có mục tiêu, anh ta chỉ sống cho qua ngày. (Without a goal, he just lives to get through the day.)

1. to kill the time