ngau4 m4 jam2 seoi2 m4 gam6 dak1 ngau4 tau4 dai1牛唔飲水唔撳得牛頭低牛唔饮水唔揿得牛头低
Definition
You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink; you cannot force someone to do what they are unwilling to do.
How it's used
This proverb highlights the futility of coercion when the subject lacks internal motivation. It is frequently used in parenting or workplace contexts to explain why a person is failing to perform a task despite external pressure. The imagery of a cow resisting being led to water is deeply rooted in rural agricultural life, making it a very traditional yet still common way to express the limits of influence.
Examples
Common mistake
Learners often try to translate the English idiom word for word, but using horse instead of cow will sound unnatural to native speakers. Stick to the traditional phrasing using cow to ensure the proverb is immediately recognizable.
Grammar color guide
Grammar guides
- In 30 secondsThe whole language at a glance. No tenses, no plurals, six tones, sentence particles. Read this before you dive into any specific topic.
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- Possession (嘅)How to say my, your, and his, and how to link a describing word to a noun, all with the little word 嘅 (ge3).
