xuể
Definition
- Adverb (often used with "không"):
- To be able to finish / to manage to complete: Indicates the capability or sufficiency to finish a task or handle an amount of work, often used in the negative form "không xuể" to mean "cannot finish/manage all."
- To be too much to handle: Describes a situation where the quantity or difficulty of something exceeds one's capacity to deal with it completely.
Usage Examples
- Adverb:
- Công việc nhiều quá, một mình tôi làm không xuể. (There is too much work; I cannot manage it all by myself.)
- Khách mời đông quá, tiếp không xuể. (There are too many guests; we cannot attend to them all.)
- Bánh ngon quá, ăn mãi không xuể. (The cake is so delicious, one could eat it endlessly [and still not finish enjoying it].)
Advanced Usage
- The word "xuể" is almost exclusively used in the negative construction "không xuể" or in rhetorical questions implying impossibility. It follows the main verb (e.g., làm, ăn, tiếp) to express the idea of being overwhelmed.
- It can imply a sense of pleasant excess, not just difficulty, as in the cake example where the enjoyment seems limitless.
Variants and Related Words
- Xuể nào (phrase): Used in questions to emphasize the impossibility of finishing. It is a more emphatic or literary form.
- Việc chất đống, biết làm xuể nào? (The work is piled up; how could one possibly finish it all?)
Synonyms
- To manage (to finish): To succeed in handling or completing.
- To be able to cope with: To deal effectively with something difficult.
- To suffice: To be enough or adequate.
Related Idioms
Làm không xuể: A common phrase meaning "to have more work than one can handle."
- Mùa vụ này, nông dân làm không xuể. (This harvest season, the farmers have more work than they can handle.)
Kể không xuể: To be too numerous to count or recount.
- Những kỷ niệm đẹp thời đi học kể không xuể. (The beautiful memories from school days are too many to recount.)