Definition

1. Noun:

   • Prime of youth: The period when a person, especially a young man or woman, is at the peak of physical development and beauty.
   • Full season / Right time: The specific, optimal period for something to occur, such as the ripening season for fruit or the ideal time for an activity.

2. Conjunction:

   • Then (conditional): Used to connect a condition or hypothesis with its logical result or consequence.
   • Then (sequential): Used to indicate that one event follows another in time.
   • But / Whereas (contrastive): Used to contrast two different ideas, qualities, or situations within a single statement.
   • Emphatic particle: Used to emphasize or highlight a piece of information, often without a direct English translation, adding a tone of obviousness or focus.

Usage Examples

• Noun:

  • Chàng trai đang ở tuổi thì. (The young man is in the prime of his youth.)
  • Đúng thì nhãn chín. (It's exactly the right season for longans to ripen.)

• Conjunction:

  • Đói thì ăn. (If you're hungry, then eat.)
  • Tôi về đến nhà thì anh ấy cũng tới. (I arrived home, and then he also showed up.)
  • Người thì đẹp, nết thì xấu. (She is beautiful, but her character is bad.)
  • Tay thì bẩn, quần áo thì lem luốc. (His hands are dirty, and his clothes are all stained.)

Advanced Usage

• "thì" as a topic marker: In spoken Vietnamese, "thì" is often used to mark the topic of a sentence, especially when contrasting it with something else or responding to a previous statement. It can be translated as "as for..." or "regarding...".
  • Công việc thì nhiều, thời gian thì ít. (As for work, there's a lot; as for time, there's little.)
• "thì" in rhetorical questions: Used to express a rhetorical retort, often translating to "well" or conveying a sense of "obviously" or "what did you expect?".
  • Thì tôi đã bảo rồi mà! (Well, I told you so!)

Variants and Related Words

• Thì giờ (n): Time (as in hours and minutes).
  • Tôi không có thì giờ. (I don't have time.)
• Thì thầm (v): To whisper.
  • Họ thì thầm với nhau. (They are whispering to each other.)
• Dậy thì (n): Puberty.
  • Tuổi dậy thì (The age of puberty)

Synonyms

• Noun: Peak, season, prime.
• Conjunction (Conditional): If...then, when.
• Conjunction (Contrastive): But, while, whereas.
• Particle: Indeed, obviously (as an emphatic filler).

Related Idioms

• Lỡ thì: To miss the right season or opportunity; to be past one's prime (often used for women in a traditional context regarding marriage).
  • Sợ con gái mình lỡ thì. (Afraid their daughter would miss her chance to marry.)
• Phải thì: To be timely; to occur at the right moment.
  • Mưa nắng phải thì. (The rain and sunshine come at the proper time.)

noun

1. prime of youth full season

conj

1. then; but certainly, for sure