Vietnamese/Lesson 1
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[edit] Đối thoại - Conversations
[edit] Chào hỏi - Greetings
When Vietnamese greet each other, they will use Chào and the relevant personal pronoun, or the title, or name. Unlike English, they do not distinguish between the times of the day (morning, afternoon, evening).
- A: Chào ông!
- B: Chào bà!
Chào is a term that can be used to greet someone at any time. Ông is the term to address elderly men (aged around 50). Bà is the term to address elderly ladies (aged around 45).
- A: Chào anh!
- B: Chao chị!
Anh is a term to address older men, while chị is to address older women.
- A: Chào cụ ạ.
- B: Chào em.
Cụ is a term to call a very old person. em is a term to call a child, or a younger person. ạ at the end of a sentence indicates respect.
- A: Chào William.
- B: Vâng, chào Nam.
vâng means yes.
- A: Xin chào.
- B: Chào.
This is a simple, yet not very elegant, greeting formula.
- A: Chào ông Tomita.
- B: Chào bà Lee.
[edit] Hơi thăm sức khỏe - Inquiring about health
- A: Ông có khoẻ không?
- B: Cám ơn bà, tôi khoẻ.
khoẻ stands for good or fine, không for not. Adding không at the end of an affirmative sentence is one of the many ways to form a question. Please refer to the grammar part for more details. Cám ơn means thank you.
- A: Anh có khoẻ không?
- B: Cám ơn ông, tôi rất khoẻ. Còn ông?
- A: Tôi cũng rất khoẻ.
rất means very. còn, at this place, means and. cũng stands for also.
- A: Bạn có khoẻ không?
- B: Khoẻ, cám ơn. Còn bạn?
- A: Mình khoẻ, cám ơn bạn.
bạn means friend and takes the place of a personal pronoun here. mình is, next to tôi, a personal pronoun meaning I, it also stands for body.
- A: Chị có khoẻ không?
- B: Cám ơn anh, tôi bình thường. Còn anh?
- A: Tôi vẫn khoẻ.
bình thường means normal. vẫn means still.
[edit] Giới thiệu - Introduction
- A: Chào ông! Tôi là Hoà.
- B: Chào chị! Toi là Jack. Rất vui được gặp chị.
là means to be. vui means glad, gặp stands for meet and được for can, may.
- A: Nam, đây là Jack, bạn tôi.
- B: Chào anh Jack. Rất vui được gặp anh.
đây means this, here. bạn tôi means my friend.
- A: Chào, mình tên A. Bạn tên gì? <Hi, my name is A. What's your name?>
- B: Mình tên là B. <My name is B.>
- A: Rất vui được gặp bạn. <Nice to meet you.>
- B: Mình cũng vậy. <Nice to meet you, too>.
[edit] Tạm biệt - Saying good bye
- A: Tạm biệt ông.
- B: Tạm biệt bà.
Tạm biệt is the most common formula for saying good-bye in Vietnamese.
- A: Tạm biệt anh.
- B: Chào Jack!
Also chào can have this meaning.
[edit] Expressions
[edit] Vocabulary
- ạ - a particle at the end of the sentence to express respect
- anh - you, Mr. (to address a young man)
- bà - Madam, you, Mrs. (used to address an elderly woman)
- bạn - friend, you
- bình thường - normal
- cám ơn - thank you
- chào - Hello (most common greeting formula)
- chị - you, Mrs., Miss (used to address a young woman)
- còn - and
- cụ - you, Sir, Madam, Mr., Mrs. (used to address very old persons)
- cũng - also
- đây - this, here
- được - can, may
- gặp - meet
- khoẻ - good
- không - not
- là - to be
- mình - body, I
- ông - Sir, you, Mr. (to address an elderly man)
- rất - very
- vẫn - still
- vui - glad
- xin chào - Hello (simple greeting formula)
[edit] Grammar
[edit] Personal pronouns
In this lesson, we have learned a number of personal pronouns. In Vietnamese, personal pronouns can be used as subjects or objects but, unlike English, they never change their forms.
Usage, however, is fundamentally different. There is not simply a word meaning you, but Vietnamese actually use different pronouns depending on the relation between the speaker and his/her audience. This relation takes gender, age, and status into account. Basically, Vietnamese refer to everyone as a family member.
Here are the personal pronouns we have encountered so far:
- tôi and mình: I
- ông: literally grandfather, old man, a formal way to address a male who is older than the speaker
- bà: literally grandmother, old lady, a formal way to address a female who is older than the speaker
- anh: literally brother, a formal way to address a male who is older than the speaker
- chị: literally sister, a formal way to address a female who is older than the speaker
- em: literally younger sister or younger brother to address a female/male who is younger than the speaker (such as a child)
- bạn: literally friend, an informal, but not casual way to address familiar people.
For more, go to the grammar section directly: Personal pronouns.
[edit] Sentence structure
The basic Vietnamese sentence structure consists of a subject and a predicate.
| Subject | Predicate |
| Nam | gặp Jack. |
| Tôi | cũng khoẻ. |
| Tôi | là Hoà. |
[edit] Yes-no-question
There are several ways to form a question in Vietnamese. The most simple form is to add không at the end of an affirmative sentence to turn it into a yes-no-question.
Examples:
- Statement: Ông khoẻ. You are well.
- Question: Ông khoẻ không? Are you well? Or How are you?
- Statement: Anh là Jack. You are Jack.
- Question: Anh là Jack không? Are you Jack?
