Learning Vietnamese from English
Created: 2019-03-01
Streak Extended: 2023-11-02
Timezone: UTC+9
Last update: 2023-11-02 12:06:22 GMT+3
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anh ấy · bánh mì · bé gái · bạn · cô gái · cô ấy · cậu bé · học · là · muốn · một · người · nước · nước ép · phụ nữ · táo · tôi · uống · ăn · đàn ông · đứa trẻ
21 words
Welcome to the Vietnamese course!
Here are some basic grammar rules for you to get started with:
Like most languages, word order in Vietnamese is simple:
There is no conjugation or modification at all. Words with different tones (for example, ga and gà) are not considered conjugation/modification but two different words. In general, the meaning of sentence changes when we add or remove word(s), or change their order.
In Vietnamese, there are no articles similar to those in English. You use the word một to represent a quantity of “1” and that is all.
For the learning purpose throughout the skill tree, you should follow this pattern of using articles:
For the sake of this course, all pronouns used in answers will be simplified as in this table:
| English Pronoun | Vietnamese Pronoun |
|---|---|
| I | Tôi |
| You (singular) | Bạn |
| He | Anh ấy |
| She | Cô ấy |
| It | Nó |
| We | Chúng tôi |
| You (plural) | Các bạn |
| They | Họ |
In Vietnamese, there are words that are used to accompany other nouns in order to "classify" them based on physical/non-physical appearance or quantity.
You will learn about these classifiers in latter skills. In this skill, a few classifiers are introduced:
an · ca · con · cà phê · cá · cái · có · cắn · dê · dì · dơ · dơi · gà · găng tay · một · nhà ga · ong · và · ô · ăn · đu quay · đu đủ · ở
23 words
Welcome to the Vietnamese course!
This skill is for you to get started with the Vietnamese alphabet and the way the meaning of a word changes with different tones.
For basic grammar rules, please refer to skill Basics 1
There are six tones in Vietnamese language:
| Name | Diacritic | Example |
|---|---|---|
| flat | (no mark) | me (tamarind) |
| grave | \ | mè (sesame) |
| acute | / | mé (to cut off) |
| hook | ? | mẻ (fermented) |
| tilde | ~ | mẽ (appearance) |
| dot | . | mẹ (mother) |
Vietnamese alphabet does not have the letters f, j, w and z.
These are also vowels in Vietnamese alphabet (except d and đ, which are consonants).
In Vietnamese, there are words that are used to accompany other nouns in order to "classify" them based on physical/non-physical appearance or quantity.
You will learn about these classifiers in latter skills. In this skill, a few classifiers are introduced:
của · mình
2 words
Possessive words in Vietnamese are simple. You just need to add của before subject/object pronouns. (Note: subject pronouns and object pronouns are the same. No difference at all).
The following table may help you to recall what we learned about subject pronouns:
| Subject Pronoun | Translation | Possessive | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| I | Tôi | My | Của tôi |
| You (singular) | Bạn | Your | Của bạn |
| He | Anh ấy | His | Của anh ấy |
| She | Cô ấy | Her | Của cô ấy |
| It | Nó | Its | Của nó |
| We | Chúng tôi | Our | Của chúng tôi |
| You (plural) | Các bạn | Your | Của các bạn |
| They | Họ | Their | Của họ |
của can be optional when you are talking about "friend", "dad", "brother" or any family members. This only works with "your" and "my". You will see some example in the skill Family below.
In English, you sometimes use possessive pronouns to avoid repeating the noun. For example: "It is my car, not your car" = "It is my car, not yours" = "The car is mine, not yours".
In Vietnamese, again, there is no difference between possessive adjectives and possessive pronouns. In both case, you use the same word as presented in the table above. For example: "The book is hers.” = "Quyển sách là của cô ấy.” and “Her book" = "Quyển sách của cô ấy”.
Just like other languages, we hate repetition.
Take a look at this sentence "Cô ấy bán quyển sách của cô ấy" (She sells her book). It is grammatically correct, but the word cô ấy is repeated twice. And that is not nice.
To avoid that, one uses của mình. Here is the simple rule: của mình can replace any possessive adjectives or possessive pronouns above if and only if the noun(s) (in the sentence) belong to the same subject (of that sentence).
For instance, let's reuse the sentence above:
Note: Của mình should only be used to avoid repetition, that is, for sentences that have noun(s) belonging to the same subject like "I sell my car", "she wants her book", "he cooks his food" and so on. Của mình cannot be used if sentence has noun(s) not belonging to subject pronoun, such as "I sell his book", "he wants her money", "they need our car".
kia · này · đây · đó
4 words
In English, demonstratives are “this”, “that”, “these” and “those”. This skill will teach you to use demonstratives in Vietnamese.
Important: Technically, đây and này are the same. They are both equivalent to English "this/these" and they both can be used as adjective for a noun or as an independent subject. However, for the sake of this course, đây will NOT be used as adjective and này will NOT be used as independent subject.
Important: For the rest of the skill tree, the word kia will NOT appear frequently. Most commonly used demonstratives are đây, đó, and này so you are recommended to use these words if you encounter sentences with demonstratives.
các · những
2 words
To indicate plurality, one can simply place những or các before plural noun. If a plural noun has adjective(s), những or các must be placed before them in this order: những/các + classifier + plural noun + adjective(s). Note that you usually need a classifier whenever you have những or các. You will learn about classifiers later in the course.
There are more ways to indicate plurality in Vietnamese but two words những and các are the most common ones. Later in the course, you will learn that when there is a number, you don't use these plural markers.
Important: những and các are to demonstrate plurality only. They are not equivalent to "some", "a few", "many"..... Lessons about this area will be provided later.
The two words những and các do not have any meaning other than indication of plurality so do not try to translate them. They can be used interchangeably throughout the skill tree.
Những and các can and should combine with the demonstratives. Please refer to the skill Demonstratives in the same row for more information.
Example: những cậu bé này (these boys); các quả táo kia (those apples)
chia sẻ · chim sẻ · cây tre · dũng cảm · ghi âm · ghét · ghế · giàu · giấu · me · mây · mẫu giáo · mẹ · ngã · phà · phòng · phường · sấm sét · sợi dây · thư · tờ giấy · vĩnh viễn · vẽ · xe đạp · đom đóm · đá
26 words
This skill gives you another overview of the Vietnamese alphabet in addition to the first Alphabet skill as the nightmare does not end there.
Besides additional letters, tones and additional consonants, there are:
(I took the liberty to not include some diphthongs/triphthongs that are extremely uncommon in daily usage to simplify the list)
Note: You do not need to learn these by heart. This is just to provide an overview.
Each can combine with any consonant and any tones to create a different word, with different meaning and slightly different sound. Imagine all the possibilities? Don't worry. You will master it eventually. Just think about thousands of strokes to remember when learning Mandarin/Japanese, you will feel better.
bánh · báo · cam · chúng tôi · cơm · gọi · hay · họ · ly · mỹ · nó · sách · sữa · thích · thực đơn · trà · tạp chí · tập · việt nam · đĩa · đọc
21 words
No new content in this lesson. You may want to refer to previous grammar notes if you need help. Remember that we use simplified pronouns in this course, which are:
| English Pronoun | Vietnamese Pronoun |
|---|---|
| I | Tôi |
| You (singular) | Bạn |
| He | Anh ấy |
| She | Cô ấy |
| It | Nó |
| We (not including "you") | Chúng tôi |
| We (including "you") | Chúng ta |
| You (plural) | Các bạn |
| They | Họ |
All other pronouns, despite being correct in certain context, will be marked wrong.
Cultural note: Inappropriate uses of pronouns in Vietnamese can mean anything from impoliteness, rudeness, awkwardness or intentional insult. Even the same two persons may use different pronouns over time depending on how their emotion, gender, social role, relationship or situation changes (falling in love, hating, threatening, anger, happiness, joking, honoring…). However, Vietnamese people are tolerant towards foreigners speaking Vietnamese so if you happen to use inappropriate pronouns, you are very likely to be excused!
không · không phải là
2 words
To indicate negation, one simply places the word không before the verb. Không means “no”. So literally, all sentences with negative verb will mean: subject + no + verb. Example: "I no go to school", "she no study", "I no like but love Duolingo".
Note: you can use không when the sentence involves the use of adjective(s), such as "I am no happy", "she is no fun", "he is no cruel". But continue reading the case below!
Same with không, but không phải là is for “no to be something”. You cannot use không phải là with regular verbs. In short, không phải là is used when you say something/someone is not something/someone in a sense of identity. Example: "I am no student", "she is no my girlfriend", "she is no teacher".
Note: this phrase is used with the sense of identity only. You CANNOT use it to describe emotion, quality or any qualitative characteristics (good, bad, sad, happy, old...). If that is the case, refer to the use of không above.
anh · buổi · bình thường · bằng · chào · chào mừng · cảm ơn · cẩn thận · cứ tự nhiên · hẹn gặp lại · khoẻ · làm ơn · lặp lại · nói · sáng · tiếng · tên · tạm biệt · việt · vâng · vẫn · xin · xin lỗi · ổn
24 words
You are learning basic greetings in Vietnamese. There will be no new grammar notes in this lesson but just some basic phrases for you to start a conversation.
About Hello in Vietnamese: Unlike popular belief that Vietnamese greeting is always Xin chào!, it is not the case. I rarely hear anyone use Xin chào anymore except in formal speech or movies. Instead, the Vietnamese commonly say "Chào + a person’s first name or a suitable pronoun". Chào standing alone works fine too.
Although we teach the phrase Chào buổi sáng (Good morning), the phrase “Good morning” does not actually exist in Vietnamese. There is no specific greeting for each period of a day (morning, afternoon, evening). Instead, one simply says Chào as above. You are recommended not to use Chào buổi sáng in conversation.
The name “Việt Nam” is a variation of Nányuè (南越), literally meaning “Southern Viet”. In that, the word Việt applied to an ethnic group living in southern China and Vietnam (pre-history) and was gradually adapted to represent Vietnamese people and Vietnamese language while the word Nam is not required.
In this course, we will use tiếng Việt as the Vietnamese language (with tiếng = language) and người Việt as Vietnamese people (with người = people/humans).
chiếc · cuốn · cái · quyển · quả · trái · tờ
7 words
Classifiers are used to accompany a noun but not to modify it. It precedes a noun in order to demonstrate a physical/non-physical appearance or quantity of that noun. Classifier System is not featured in English but some other languages do have similar system.
Word order of a noun is: classifier + noun + adjective.
Just like noun gender in some languages, this is something one has to learn by heart. It is important to know which classifier goes with which noun. There can be more than one classifier that can match with a noun but not all nouns will have two or more classifiers.
In this skill, you will start with 7 classifiers:
bò · chim · chuồn chuồn · chuột · chó · con · cá sấu · gấu · heo · khỉ · mèo · ngựa · rùa · rắn · rồng · sở thú · thỏ · trâu · voi · vịt · động vật
21 words
In this lesson, we will learn about animals. The classifier word for animals is: con.
Example: con mèo (the cat), con chó (the dog)....
You may ask this question: does a noun always have to be accompanied by a classifier? What is the difference between a noun without a classifier and a noun accompanied by one? The answer is no. Vietnamese people give little or no preference about this minor detail. As long as it makes sense, they can fully understand you.
But in fact, there are certain differences in interpreting the two. Here is the table for you to compare:
| Noun with classifier | Noun without classifier | |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning | Describing characteristic of that specific thing/object only. Equivalent to "the" in English | Implying characteristic of that noun as a whole. Demonstrating a truth/fact about that noun |
| Use | Very frequent in daily communication because people tend to talk about specific object only. Exception may apply. | More frequent in written Vietnamese, newspapers, research papers, journal. Still possible to use in daily communication. |
| Example | Con mèo thích tôi - The cat likes me. (Meaning: that specific cat likes me) | Mèo di chuyển trên bốn chân - Cat walks on four feet. (Meaning: all cats walk on four feet) |
Most sentences on Duolingo will have classifiers preceding nouns.
cởi · giày · khoác · khăn quàng · mang · mũ · mặc · quần · thắt lưng · tất · váy · áo · áo lạnh · đôi · đầm · đội · ủng
17 words
In English, one verb “to wear” can pretty much cover all kinds of clothes, such as “to wear a hat", "to wear a shirt", "to wear shoes”. In Vietnamese, there are more than one verb for “to wear”, depending on what clothes you are talking about. Check out this table:
| Type of clothes | Verb | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Hat (anything worn on head) | đội; mang | Tôi đội/mang một cái mũ. (I wear a hat) |
| Shirt, Coat (anything worn on body) | mặc | Tôi mặc một cái áo. (I wear a shirt) |
| Pants (anything worn from waist from ankles) | mặc; mang | Tôi mặc/mang một cái quần. (I wear pants) |
Depending on the regions and dialects, the uses of these verbs may vary. However, to simplify the learning process on Duolingo, we will go with these only two verbs: đội for anything worn on head and mặc for any kinds of shirts and pants. These are the most commonly used and understood by any Vietnamese speakers.
bữa · canh · chanh · chay · chuối · cà chua · cà phê · dầu ăn · gà · khoai tây chiên · muối · mì ý · mì ăn liền · món · nấm · phở · rau · rượu · thịt · thức ăn · trái cây · trưa · trứng · tối · với · đường · ớt
27 words
Món is the classifier for all kinds of food. It can precede all nouns that indicate food. If there is no noun, món can stand alone and mean “dish” (as in: delicious dish, not as in: plate of food). In this case, it is best to used with demonstratives: món này, món đó (this dish, that dish) if used in conversation.
Note: Món can signify different status of animal. A living animal, the noun must be accompanied by con (con gà - the chicken). But if món accompanies the noun instead, it means a cuisine/dish made from that animal (món gà - the chicken, but meaning the dish of chicken instead).
Bữa means “meal” and can be considered as classifier for meals of a day. We have sáng, trưa, chiều, tối, respectively meaning “morning, noon, afternoon, evening”. Therefore, bữa sáng, bữa trưa, bữa chiều, bữa tối respectively means “breakfast, lunch, teatime/afternoon snack, dinner”.
Thức ăn means food or dishes in general. But unlike món, it is not a classifier. You should just use thức ăn to generally indicate food (Example: I saw her food, The food is delicious…)
Cultural note: Canh is, technically, soup. But it is not identical to Western soup (for this, we have the word “xúp”, pronounced the same as soup, meaning “Western soup”). In this course, the answer “soup” is accepted for canh.
For trứng, classifier word is quả or trái, just like fruits. But we usually use quả rather than trái.
Chay means “vegetarian” (adjective) but its use is unique compared to English. To say “I am vegetarian” in Vietnamese, you say “Tôi ăn chay” - literally, I eat “vegetarianly”. In this case, chay must always go with the verb ăn (to eat).
ai · gì · khi · nào · phải không · sao · tại · vì · đâu · ở
10 words
This lesson contains some important words for the rest of this course
To form yes-no question, you simply place phải không at the end of the sentence. The question formula is like this: S + V + O + phải không?. Technically, phải không is equivalent to “right?", "eh?” in English sentences. Example: Bạn thích cô ấy phải không? (literally, You like her, right?)
Another way to form yes-no question: you add có before the verb or adjective(s) and place không at the end of the sentence. The question formula will become like this: S + có + V/Adj + O (optional) + không?. Example: Bạn có hạnh phúc không? (hạnh phúc = happy -> adj.) (Are you happy?), Bạn có muốn ăn không? (Do you want to eat?)
| Subject | Verb | Question Word |
|---|---|---|
| Bạn | ở đâu? | |
| Bạn | học | như thế nào? |
| Cô ấy | đang làm | gì? |
Example:
| English Question | Where | are | you? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vietnamese Translation | Bạn | ở | đâu? |
| Word-by-word | You | are | where? |
In this skill, you will learn how to form questions with where, what, who, why, and when
Using where - đâu
Đâu is placed at the end of the sentence.
Đâu is often used with ở, which means at. Literally, ở đâu means at where.
Using what - gì
Just like other question words, gì is placed at the end of the sentence.
Gì can associate (follow by) with either a verb or a classifier, or both. For example: gì placed after the verb ăn, ăn gì literally means “eat what”, used in the question asking someone eating what. And con is the classifier for animals. Therefore, con gì means “what animal”. For example, Đó là con gì? (What animal is that?)
Cái is the most commonly used classifier word, representing almost every tangible object, thus, cái gì means “what thing/object” associating with the verb of that question sentence. For example: Đây là cái gì? (What is this?, literally What thing/object is this?)
It is possible for cái gì to be used as subject. Example: Cái gì cắn tôi? (What bites me?).
Using who - ai
Using when - khi nào
Khi nào can be placed at the beginning or at the end of the question without changing any meaning. Preferably, our answer database has more questions containing khi nào at the beginning so you are recommended to follow.
E.g: Khi nào bạn ăn bữa sáng? (When do you eat the breakfast?)
Using why - vì sao/tại sao
To answer with “because”, you say tại vì, bởi vì or just simply vì, then followed by regular SVO.
E.g: Tại sao chúng tôi mặc quần? (Why do we wear pants?) or Vì sao bạn ăn cái bánh? (Why do you eat the cake?) – Tại vì nó ngon. (Because it is good/delicious.)
biết · bán · bơi · bắt đầu · bộ · cho · chơi · chạy · cười · cần · dùng · giúp · hát · khóc · luyện · làm · lấy · lắng nghe · mua · múa · mở · nghe · nghĩ · ngồi · ngủ · nhảy · nấu · thấy · thử · tìm · tập · viết · việc · xem · yêu · đi · để · đỡ · đứng · ủng hộ
40 words
Cho can be an independent verb (meaning “to give”, “to allow”) but in this lesson, it acts as preposition “to” as in viết cho (to write to (sb)). Note: cho is not universally used as “to” for every word.
Regarding the verb nghe, it can mean both “hear” and “listen to” in English. There is no need to use preposition with nghe as it is simply followed by noun or pronoun, respectively for “hear” and “listen to”.
Thấy in this lesson means “to see”. Interestingly, it accompanies other verbs to emphasize the action in the sense of “already done it”, such as nghe thấy (to hear, and already hear), nhìn thấy (to see, and already see), tìm thấy (to find, and already find).
Notice the verb thử, which means "to try doing sth". When using this verb, you just need to add another verb after it. Example: Tôi thử ăn một quả chuối (I try eating a banana). For "to try to do sth", we will give you its correspondence verb in Vietnamese later.
Yêu means “to love”. Unlike thích (to like), yêu cannot go with another verb like in English (love eating, love to work…). But you can use thích + another verb (thích ăn, thích học, thích cười…).
Okay, lắng nghe contains the word nghe, so it must mean “to hear”/“to listen to” right? That is true! lắng nghe does mean so but emphasizing the action of hearing/listening. However, this word is not common in regular conversation but quite common in poetry, novel, speech.
The verb đi means “to go” and đi bộ means “to walk” in the sense of to go jogging. Additionally, throughout the skill tree, you will see this form a lot: đi + another verb. Example: đi ăn (go eat), đi ngủ (go sleep), đi bán (go sell)… It is commonly used in daily conversation to emphasize actions. In fact, it is more natural to use this form when speaking with or without the urgency of the action. Vietnamese people love emphasizing what they did/are doing/will be doing!
Luyện tập means “to practice”. Breaking it down, luyện independently can mean “to practice” but we will not use it in this course, and tập means “to practice” but in the sense of “just start learning something”.
Giúp đỡ means “to help” in a narrative sense, giúp alone works well and sounds more natural. In case of saying “help me”/“help + sb”, use giúp only.
Review this case: thấy in this lesson means “to see” and it accompanies other verbs to emphasize the action in the sense of “already done it”.
In this lesson, we learn the word tìm (to find). tìm alone means one has the purpose of going find something and not yet finds it, while tìm thấy means one already finds something.
Làm means “to work”. đi làm means “to go to work”. It commonly goes with việc to become làm việc (also meaning “to work” but specifically talking about working for an employer). Additionally, special form: làm + (sb) + adjective/verb = to make + sb + adjective/verb. Example: Tôi làm cô ấy cười (I make her smile), Anh ấy làm tôi buồn (He makes me sad).
Để is a verb, meaning “to put (something on/at/in something)”. When using with pronoun or person’s name, it means “to let + (sb) + verb/adjective”. Moreover, để can be used as conjunction, “to” as in “in order to” or “to + verb” which we will learn later on.
In Vietnamese, a stative verb (such as đứng - stand, ngồi - sit, nằm - lie) can combine with another verb to describe an action that is done in the state.
For example: Cậu bé đó đang ngồi đọc sách. - The boy is sitting and reading a book.
You can see in this example, the stative verb ngồi (sit) is combined with đọc sách (read a book), so the sentence describe the boy reads a book while sitting.
bàn · bát · chai · cửa sổ · ghế · giường · gương · muỗng · máy tính · pin · thuốc lá · tivi · túi · ví · điện thoại · đèn · đồng hồ
17 words
There is no new grammar in this skill.
Important review: for most objects in this skill, classifier words cái and chiếc are applicable and interchangeable.
Important review: classifier word is not always required. It depends on the noun’s usage itself. If one wants to use a noun with general meaning (Ex: animals eat to survive), then there is no classifier needed. If one wants to point at a specific noun (Ex: the ice cream (that you bought) is tasty), then classifier is needed.
In this course, when in doubt, use classifier!
In lesson 2, máy tính is supposedly means “computer” in general. However, the original word is máy vi tính but máy tính replaced the original one and is widely used. Note: máy tính can also mean “portable scientific calculator” but we will not use it in this course.
bao · câu · hỏi · làm sao · nhiêu · như · thế nào · trả lời · đáp án
9 words
You will continue to learn how to form questions in Vietnamese.
Using how - như thế nào and làm sao
Asking how much/how many - bao nhiêu
Trả lời means “to answer” while đáp án means “answer” (as a noun). We also use câu trả lời to represent “answer” as a noun.
cam · hồng · màu · nhạt · nâu · trắng · tím · vàng · xanh da trời · xanh lá cây · xám · đen · đậm · đỏ
14 words
What a colorful life!
You will learn handful of basic colors here: red, white, black, orange, blue, green, brown, gray, pink and violet.
Classifier for all colors is màu (meaning “color”). So literally, to mention color, one will say, in Vietnamese, color red, color green, color brown and so on.
In English, you use “to be” to describe color (the shirt is red, the dog is brown, the computer is black, etc.). In Vietnamese, we do not use “to be” but the verb “to have” - có.
Cultural note: there are many Vietnamese words associating with blue and green but we will only learn xanh da trời and xanh lá cây. Xanh separately can mean green or blue, causing confusion. Xanh da trời literally means “blue as the skin of the sky” and xanh lá cây means “green as tree leaves”.
This video is for those who want to know more about colors in different languages.
buồn · bình thường · bướng bỉnh · chậm · cũ · cần thiết · dài · dễ · giàu · hay · hiện đại · hoàn hảo · hài hước · hạnh phúc · khó · kiên nhẫn · lạc quan · lịch sự · lớn · mới · nghiêm túc · nghèo · ngon · nguy hiểm · ngắn · nhanh · nhỏ · nặng · nổi tiếng · phức tạp · quan trọng · rất · rẻ · sai · thân thiện · thật · tiện lợi · trung thực · truyền thống · trưởng thành · tích cực · tệ · tốt · xa xỉ · ích kỷ · đúng · đơn giản · đắt · đặc biệt · đẹp · độc lập
51 words
In this lesson, you will learn some basic adjectives.
Unlike English, Vietnamese language does not require the use of “be” when having a subject accompanied with adjective(s). However, for teaching and learning purpose, the course will have this rule: for all sentences that have the structure subject-adjective, except for negative sentences and questions, you must use rất (very).
Literally, all sentences will appear to be like this: he very happy, I very tired, she very smart…
Example:
BUT:
Why? It is not the case that the Vietnamese love to exaggerate everything. Using very simply helps you to distinguish between a sentence (subject-very-adjective) and a modified noun (noun-adjective(s)).
Note: You may encounter some sentences in this course that do not always have the word very. That is because they have other indications as a sentence already, such as I am happy and sad (with “and”).
Note: These instructions are for learning purpose only. In real conversation, you may or may not use rất (very) and your sentences still make sense. In fact, avoid using rất in every sentence, it’s exaggerative!
Very straightforward, thật is equivalent to “really” to accompany adjective(s). It is not used for expressing surprise like “Really?” in English. However, thật will not be used much in this course.
With đúng (right) and sai (wrong), you do not have to use “very”.
bởi vì · cả · hoặc · khi · khi nào · không phải · mà còn · mà cũng · nhưng · nên · nếu · thì · trong khi · trước · tuy · đều · để
17 words
There is this useful phrase: Nếu… thì…. It is equivalent to “If… then…” in English.
Another useful phrase for you: Không những… mà còn…, which is equivalent to “Not only… but also…” in English.
Useful expression: cả + subject + đều + verb/adj which is similar to “both” in English. It illustrates both mentioned subjects do the same action or have the same characteristic.
Nên in this lesson is used as “so” between two clauses or two sentences. Most of the time, it is placed at the beginning of the clause/sentence to indicate cause and effect relation.
Để in this lesson is used as “in order to” or simply “to”. Additionally, you can have this structure “in order for (sth/sb) to…” by saying: “để + sb/sth + verb in Vietnamese”.
Useful expression: không phải…mà cũng không phải OR không…mà cũng không, equivalent to “neither…nor…” in English. This expression can be used as subject or object.
ba · bảy · bốn · chín · hai · lăm · lẻ · mươi · mười · mốt · nghìn · nhiều · năm · nửa · sáu · số · triệu · trăm · tám · tư · tổng cộng · tỷ · đủ
23 words
Firstly, here are numbers from 0-10:
| English | Vietnamese |
|---|---|
| Zero | Không |
| One | Một |
| Two | Hai |
| Three | Ba |
| Four | Bốn |
| Five | Năm |
| Six | Sáu |
| Seven | Bảy |
| Eight | Tám |
| Nine | Chín |
| Ten | Mười |
From 11-19, you say mười (ten) + any number from one to nine from table above. Literally, it means “ten one” (11), “ten two” (12) and so on.
For the rest of the number, you simply combine any number from two to nine (table above) + mươi + any number from two to nine. Example: hai mươi ba (23, literally two ten three), chín mươi chín (99, literally nine ten nine).
Vietnamese currency (Vietnam dong - Việt Nam đồng or just simply đồng) starts with thousand-level so if you plan to travel, I recommend you to pay attention to the word nghìn (thousand) and triệu (million).
bây giờ · hiện tại · lúc này · vào · đang
5 words
You’ll learn how to form continuous tense in Vietnamese, that is, to demonstrate the actions that are taking place.
One must add đang before verb(s) of a sentence to indicate continuity.
Example:
Note: Vietnamese language does distinguish between present tense (I eat -> habit, fact) and continuous tense (I am eating -> going on right now). So does this course.
That is all!
cuối cùng · lần · thứ · đầu tiên
4 words
Ordinary numbers in English are “first”, “second”, “third”, fourth, fifth, something-th
In Vietnamese, you simply add thứ before a number to form ordinary number(s). Check the skill Numbers if you need to review about numbers in Vietnamese.
Example:
bảo vệ · bật · cho phép · cố gắng · dừng · giao tiếp · gửi · hiểu · hy vọng · hôn · nhìn · phát minh · phân biệt · sản xuất · sống · thay đổi · thành công · thảo luận · thất bại · thắng · thử thách · tin · trở thành · trở về · tìm hiểu · tắt · tặng · tồn tại · xuất bản · ôm · đưa · đồng ý
32 words
chiều · chủ nhật · giây · giờ · hè · hôm nay · lịch · mùa · mỗi · nay · ngày · ngày mai · ngày sinh · năm · phút · sáng · thiên niên kỷ · thu · tháng · tháng một · tháng tư · thập niên · thế hệ · thế kỷ · thời gian · thứ · thứ tư · tuần · tuổi · tối · tối nay · xuân · đông
33 words
In Vietnamese, it is common to use number to illustrate a weekday or a month (example: thứ 3 (Tuesday) or tháng 7 (July)). However, in this lesson, please do not write in number.
For days of the week, one use thứ + any number from 2 to 7. For Sunday, it’s exceptional: Chủ nhật.
| English | Vietnamese |
|---|---|
| Monday | Thứ hai |
| Tuesday | Thứ ba |
| Wednesday | Thứ tư |
| Thursday | Thứ năm |
| Friday | Thứ sáu |
| Saturday | Thứ bảy |
| Sunday | Chủ nhật |
Note: Yes, you remember it right. These are exactly like ordinary numbers (second, third, fourth… seventh).
For months of the year, you use tháng + any number from 1 to 12.
| English | Vietnamese |
|---|---|
| January | Tháng một |
| February | Tháng hai |
| March | Tháng ba |
| April | Tháng bốn |
| May | Tháng năm |
| June | Tháng sáu |
| July | Tháng bảy |
| August | Tháng tám |
| September | Tháng chín |
| October | Tháng mười |
| November | Tháng mười một |
| December | Tháng mười hai |
Note: for April, the more common use is tháng tư. However in general, both tháng bốn or tháng tư are acceptable.
anh · bà · bố · bố mẹ · chú · chị · chồng · con · em · gia đình · gái · hôn nhân · họ · họ hàng · trai · vợ · ông
17 words
From tips & notes in the skill Basics 1, we learn that Vietnamese pronouns vary depending on context, polite level, gender, superiority, emotion, and age. Thus, I have to simplify and limit the total accepted pronouns in this course.
The same with this case. How you call your parents, brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts… will vary depending on regions.
Here is the simplified and universally understood translations that we will use in this course.
| English | Vietnamese |
|---|---|
| Older brother | Anh (trai) |
| Younger brother | Em (trai) |
| Older sister | Chị (gái) |
| Younger sister | Em (gái) |
| Child/Son | Con (trai) |
| Child/Daughter | Con (gái) |
| Dad/Father | Bố |
| Mom/Mother | Mẹ |
| Grandpa/Grandfather | Ông |
| Grandma/Grandmother | Bà |
Note: These Vietnamese words can actually be used as pronouns but we are not going to use it in this course. There will be separate post in discussion forum explaining this.
Cultural note: for grandpa/grandma, Vietnamese people always distinguish between paternal grandparents (ông/bà nội) and maternal grandparents (ông/bà ngoại).
hơn · như · nhất · so sánh · ít
5 words
Vietnamese people use comparison in conversation very frequently.
Superiority: Subject + adjective + hơn + object
Equality: Subject + adjective + như + object
Note: There is inferior comparison of adjectives but it is not very common to use.
Superiority: Subject + verb + object 1 (optional) + nhiều hơn + object 2
Equality: Subject + verb + object 1 (optional) + nhiều như + object 2
Inferiority : Subject + verb + object 1 (optional) + ít hơn + object 2
Superiority: Subject + verb + adverb + hơn + object
Equality: Subject + verb + adverb + như + object
Note: Inferior comparison of adverb is rare. People tend to use opposite adverb instead (slowly =/ fast).
Note: You can always place any additional object (optional) after verb.
This is a bit complicated. Superlative adjective should be accompanied by a noun (for instance, the best person, most intelligent student, fastest man…). You can’t simply say “I am the best”, “She is the most intelligent” like in English.
General formula (for standalone noun): noun + adjective + nhất (in this case, this standalone noun can be subject or object of a sentence, or just by itself).
Formula: Subject + verb + object (optional) + nhiều nhất.
Example: Cô ấy học nhiều nhất. (She studies the most - the most content of something)
Formula: Subject + verb + object (optional) + adverb + nhất.
Example: Anh ấy ăn nhanh nhất. (He eats “fast-est” - this form does not really exist in English)
It is also frequent to say you have something more or less than someone else does.
Subject + có + nhiều + noun + hơn + object (optional).
Example: Tôi có nhiều tiền hơn (bạn). (I have more money (than you)).
Subject + có + ít + noun + hơn + object (optional).
Example: Tôi có ít tiền hơn (bạn). (I have less money (than you)).
Subject + có + nhiều/ít + noun + nhất
Example: chúng tôi có nhiều/ít thành viên nhất. (We have the most/fewest members)
Note: the plural indicators những and các are NOT needed.
cùng · ngoài · phía sau · phía trước · sau khi · trong · trước khi · từ · về · đến
10 words
This skill introduces some basic prepositions in Vietnamese.
There is no new grammar point. However, you may want to review previous grammar notes, especially skills Question 1 and Question 2.
Good luck!
bắc · châu · hướng · la bàn · lượng mưa · nam · nam cực · phi · thung lũng · tây · á · âu · đông · đại dương · đảo · địa hình · đồng bằng
17 words
There is no new grammar in this skill.
chia buồn · chúc mừng · hãy · không có gì · nhanh lên · tai nạn · thật không · vừa mới · đợi · đừng · ư
11 words
Here are some more common expressions.
hãy + verb: this word is similar to the phrase “let’s” but it does not have equivalent meaning. Instead of “let us”, it indicates “let you” or “you should”. The target audience is someone else not you.
Note: actually, people don’t use hãy much in daily conversation. But you will see the use of hãy a lot on advertisement, instruction panel or formal speech, implying you or all of you in general, should do something.
đừng + verb: so this is another form of negation, very similar to không, meaning “do not + verb”. One uses đừng when strongly demanding someone not to do something. When traveling in Vietnam, watch out for red signs starting with đừng. It is either a law that you should not violate or something could harm you (example: Do not enter).
ư: this word is put at the end of sentence to indicate a yes-no question, besides phải không. Refer to skill “Question 1” if you need to review this. However, ư indicates a question with an expression of surprise.
không có gì: literally meaning “there is nothing”, this phrase is similar to “you’re welcome” or “no problem”, used to respond to thank-you.
vừa mới: this phrase is used in this formula: subject + vừa mới + verb, demonstrating that someone has just done something. This phrase indicates action occurred the past but only a moment ago. Note: Vietnamese people love to talk about what they just did. You are recommended to add this phrase to your vocabulary list.
In this lesson, you also learn to form commands or requests. Nothing new here. Learn it yourself!
bồ đào nha · cộng hoà séc · hà lan · hàn quốc · nga · ngôn ngữ · nhật · nước · pháp · quốc gia · quốc tịch · thuỵ sĩ · thủ đô · trung quốc · tây ban nha · văn hoá · úc · đến từ · đức · ấn độ
20 words
In general, most names of countries have origin from Sino-Vietnamese (chữ Nôm). Thus, many sound very similar to their counterparts in Chinese language. For reference, here is a long list of Vietnamese names for countries and cities around the world: Vietnamese exonyms
Note: Do not learn by heart. Most Vietnamese would not understand or use these Vietnamese-written names, only a handful of those (which will be taught here). For the rest of the countries and cities, you should use original English names as that is how Vietnamese people preferably use.
Classifier for country is nước. It also means “water” as you already learn. So nước + <
sự · sự bắt đầu · sự kiên nhẫn · sự lịch sự · sự nghiêm túc · sự phức tạp · sự thay đổi · sự thành công · sự thân thiện · sự thật · sự đơn giản · sự đồng ý · sự ủng hộ
13 words
The term nominalization means converting a word into a noun. In this skill, I particularly refer to the conversion of an adjective or a verb into a noun.
In English, you have “stupidity” as noun form of “stupid”, “eagerness” as noun form of “eager”.
In Vietnamese, one simply adds sự before a verb or an adjective to convert it into noun.
Example:
While most adjectives can be converted to noun form with the word sự, not all verbs can! We will learn more about this in another skill.
Ultimately, a number of adjectives cannot be converted! Despite not being grammatically wrong, doing so to some adjectives or in some contexts can sound weird, awkward or unnatural.
We will try to create a post in forum to list words that should not be used with sự.
bác sĩ · ca sĩ · công nhân · cảnh sát · diễn viên · diễn viên hài · doanh nhân · giáo viên · học sinh · kiến trúc sư · kế toán · kỹ sư · luật sư · nghề nghiệp · nghệ sĩ · ngư dân · nha sĩ · nhà báo · nhà khoa học · nhà lãnh đạo · nhà sư · nhà thiết kế · nhà toán học · nhạc sĩ · nông dân · sự nghiệp · thuyền trưởng · thư ký · y tá · đầu bếp
30 words
ngày mốt · sau · sắp · sẽ · tương lai · tới
6 words
Technically, Vietnamese doesn't have tense like English or other European languages.
In Vietnamese, time is implied by adverbs or contexts instead of verb conjugation. These adverbs can be time: ngày mai (tomorrow), năm sau (next year), tuần sau (next week), etc. They can be also a specialized adverb for time reference - for past, it's "đã"; for continuous present, it's "đang"; for future, it's "sẽ".
To be precise, these are actually adverbs marking perfect, continuous, and prospective aspects, respectively, but with the assumption that you're without linguistic background, you can understand this as relative time reference.
Drawing time from context is harder and cannot be taught in this course. We recommend you to do further practice in real life situations to get used to Vietnamese time reference.
For convenience, colloquially, such references to past, present, and future, are called "tense" - be careful.
To express an action that is going to or will probably happen, simply put sẽ (equivalent to “will”) before the verb.
Example:
To express negation, please refer to the skill Negation as the grammar rule is the same.
You already learned ngày mai (tomorrow), here are some more common expressions.
bảo thủ · bất cẩn · bất lịch sự · bất lợi · chuyên nghiệp · chất lượng · cạnh tranh · cả tin · khiêm tốn · linh hoạt · lười biếng · lợi thế · may mắn · quan tâm · siêng năng · tham lam · thông minh · tính cách · tôn trọng · tập trung · tử tế · vẻ đẹp · xấu tính · đam mê
24 words
No new grammar point in this skill, only new vocabulary.
Some attributes can be used as noun or adjective without nominalization. In this skill, those words are:
Ultimately, using nominalization (sự) with these words is acceptable.
dám · giữ · hỗ trợ · hợp tác · khuyên · khẳng định · luyện tập · nhận ra · phát hiện · thoả mãn · trở lại · trừng phạt · tìm ra · tắm · xứng đáng · đánh giá cao · đối mặt
17 words
chăm chỉ · hơi · no · quen thuộc · trống rỗng · xấu
6 words
In the sentence structure:
It + be + adj + (for + S.O) to + verb + ... there is no word-by-word translation
For example:
1.1) It is hard to wake up early ( It+ be +adj+ to +verb)
Translation: Khó/Rất khó (mà/để - optional but more natural to add) dậy sớm
In the Vietnamese translation, we will ignore "It is" there and just translate the rest.
1.2) It is hard for a teacher to pay attention to all.
Translation: Một giáo viên khó mà quan tâm hết.
Now here, we will use "a teacher" as the subject to start our translation.
hiếm khi · không bao giờ · luôn · thường xuyên · đôi khi
5 words
Adverbs of frequency describe how often something occurs.
In this skill, there are five common adverbs of frequency to learn.
The adverb of frequency is placed between subject and verb in a sentence.
Example:
Minor notes:
bong bóng · bàn chải · bàn phím · búa · bút chì · bột · chìa khoá · cờ · dao · diều · giấy · hộp · kéo · kính · liềm · lược · màn hình · máy · máy giặt · máy tính bảng · máy ảnh · nam châm · nhẫn · nhật ký · quà · quạt · thang · thiệp · thư · thẻ tín dụng · tủ lạnh · từ điển · vật thể · ảnh
34 words
cho dù · chỉ · cũng · hơn nữa · mặc dù · một khi · như vậy · trừ khi · tuy nhiên · vậy · vậy mà · vậy nên
12 words
vậy mà is equivalent to “but” in English and it connects two opposing clauses in one sentence. vậy mà can be used interchangeably with nhưng.
như vậy is a bit unique. Despite having various English interpretation, I limit its translation into two only (as shown in hint): “like that” (as in “I am like that”, “I work like that”, etc) and “as a result” (placed at the beginning of the clause).
mặc dù and tuy nhiên are equivalent to “although” or “though”. They can be used interchangeably. If your answer containing either one of these is marked wrong, please report to us.
cũng is a helpful word to demonstrate someone also does something. Following this formula: subject (tôi/anh ấy/An/người đàn ông…) + cũng + verb. - cũng vậy is another way to shorten similar clauses. Using this structure: subject (tôi/anh ấy/An/người đàn ông…) + cũng vậy, it can replace sentences in this format “so am I/so do I/me too/I do too”. - Note: standalone vậy has many uses but mostly, it is equivalent to sentence-initial “so”, as being used as a pause during conversation.
bỗng · chưa · cuối cùng · cùng nhau · dù sao · gần như · hoàn toàn · khoảng · lại · một cách · ngay lập tức · nói chung · suýt · thậm chí · với nhau · xung quanh · ở đây
17 words
In general, Vietnamese people do not use adverbs that often in daily conversation. Additionally, they rarely use adverbs to accompany adjectives as in English (such as “incredibly strong”, “unbelievably amazing”, etc.). Therefore, one should avoid use too many adverbs as much as possible.
This skill provides a handful of adverbs that is most frequently used.
Unlike English, Vietnamese do not modify an adjective to convert it into adverb. Instead, one places một cách before an adjective to create an “adverb phrase”. Literally, it means “in a way that is (adj)”. For instance, một cách hạnh phúc (happily) in Vietnamese literally means “in a way that is happy”.
Example: một cách hoàn hảo (perfectly), một cách may mắn (fortunately), một cách hạnh phúc (happily).
Exception: some adjectives require one additional word when forming “adverb phrase”. For instance, chậm (slow) and nhanh (fast) are adjectives but in “adverb phrase”, one says một cách chậm chạp (slowly - “chạp” is added), một cách nhanh chóng (fast - “chóng” is added).
Some common adverbs provided in this skill do not follow the “adverb phrase” structure above.
"Chung" means "common", "general", but it also has a homophone SV root meaning "end" - which gives it two meanings:
Meaning #1: "In general" or "Generally"
Meaning #2: "To conclude", "to sum up"
In a colloquial sense, it works as a signal "Let's settle on this conclusion, I don't want to talk about it anymore, switch the topic".
In some cases, it can mean either, but it some cases, it can only mean either of them. The best strategy is probably to try both and see which one makes sense.
có thể · cần phải · không nên · không thể · không được · nên · phải
7 words
Apart from being used for passive voice and adjective/adverb, "được" can have two meanings as a modal particles, depending on where it stands. Look at these two sentences for example:
Tôi được chạy.
Tôi chạy được.
What is the difference between these sentences? When standing before verb, it means be allowed to, while standing after verb, it mean be able to. So, the first sentence means "I am allowed to run", while the second one means "I can run".
In English, must + V means you have to do something, but must not + V doesn't mean you don't have to do something, but rather you are not allowed to do something.
In contrast, in Vietnamese, phải + V means you have to do something, and không phải + V means you don't have to do something.
If you want to say you are not allowed to do something, you should say không được + V, where được here means "is allowed to do something".
biên giới · bãi biển · bưu điện · bảo tàng · bếp · bệnh viện · chùa · chợ · con đường · công viên · cầu · hang · hiệu sách · khu vực · khách sạn · làng · lâu đài · ngân hàng · ngôi · nhà · nhà ga · nhà hàng · nhà hát · nhà thờ · nhà tù · nông trại · nơi · phòng khách · phòng ngủ · phòng tắm · quán cà phê · quảng trường · quận · rạp phim · siêu thị · sân · sân bay · thành phố · thư viện · thị trấn · tiệm bánh · toà nhà · trung tâm · trung tâm thương mại · trạm xe buýt · trụ sở chính · tù · vùng · văn phòng · đường · đường hầm · đường phố · địa chỉ
53 words
hỏi giờ · kém · lúc · mấy giờ · rưỡi
5 words
kém
ai cập · ba lan · bỉ · canada · hy lạp · indonesia · nam phi · phần lan · thuỵ điển · thái lan · thổ nhĩ kỳ · đan mạch · đài loan
13 words
hôm qua · năm ngoái · trước · đã · đã từng
5 words
Technically, Vietnamese doesn't have tense like English or other European languages.
In Vietnamese, time is implied by adverbs or contexts instead of verb conjugation. These adverbs can be time: hôm qua (yesterday), tuần trước (last week), năm ngoái (last year), trước đây (before), 10 năm trước (10 years ago), etc. They can be also a specialized adverb for time reference - for past, it's "đã"; for continuous present, it's "đang"; for future, it's "sẽ".
To be precise, these are actually adverbs marking perfect, continuous, and prospective aspects, respectively, but with the assumption that you're without linguistic background, you can understand this as relative time reference.
Drawing time from context is harder and cannot be taught in this course. We recommend you to do further practice in real life situations to get used to Vietnamese time reference.
For convenience, colloquially, such references to past, present, and future, are called "tense" - be careful.
ba lô · bản đồ · chuyến bay · cuộc phiêu lưu · danh lam thắng cảnh · du khách · du lịch · hành lý · hành trình · hộ chiếu · lái · máy bay · nội địa · quốc tế · thăm · thế giới · thị thực · tàu hoả · tàu thuỷ · xe buýt · xe hơi · xe máy · đại sứ quán
23 words
bay · cho rằng · chờ · cảm thấy · cấm · dành · ghét · giải thích · giới thiệu · gặp · gọi · kết thúc · liên hệ · làm bạn · ngưỡng mộ · nhận được · nhập khẩu · phản bội · sở hữu · theo · thông báo · tiếp tục · trộn · tạo ra · vâng lời · xuất hiện · xuất khẩu · xây dựng · đến · định nghĩa · đợi
31 words
dành >< giành
bị · bởi · được
3 words
In Vietnamese, sentences in passive voice distinguish between "positive" and "negative" passive.
For "positive" passive sentence, that is, when the subject of the sentence gains benefit from the action, you use "được" (gain) as the copula. For "negative" passive sentence, that is, when the subject lose something because of the action, you use "bị" (suffer).
How to form a passive voice sentence:
Active voice: S + V + O
--> English passive: O + be + past participle [+ by S]
--> Vietnamese passive: O + bị/được [+ S] + V
Example:
"Anh ấy đã bị [ai đó] nhìn thấy trong khi đang bán cái điện thoại của tôi."
"He was seen [by someone] while selling my phone."
bên · cạnh · dưới · giữa · ngoại trừ · phải · trái · trên
8 words
dùng kết hợp với "ở"
bài giảng · bài kiểm tra · bài thuyết trình · báo cáo · chương · chương trình · ghi chú · giáo dục · giáo sư · học bổng · khoá học · kiến thức · lớp học · nghiên cứu · nghiên cứu sinh · ngành · trường · ví dụ · văn bản · ý tưởng · đại học
21 words
Nghiên cứu vs. học
These both words can be translated to English as "study". However, their usages are not the same in Vietnamese. Generally, nghiên cứu results in new knowledge, while học is studying a pre-existing knowledge. A rule of thumb is, when it's possible to replace "study" with "research", then it's nghiên cứu; when it's replaceable with "learn", then it's học.
cho đến khi · còn hơn · có lẽ · có vẻ · cũng được · hết · làm phiền · lạc · mà · một chút · mời · quá · rằng · rồi · so với · thà · thật sự · được không · đến lúc
19 words
rồi = then = t/lai
rồi = already = q/khứ
đến lúc + sb + phải + rồi
cho đến + time reference.
Because a clause (S+V) in Vietnamese can't be a time reference, unlike in English, so you can't say "...cho đến tôi làm xong việc này" but it must be "cho đến khi tôi làm xong việc này". That's why "until" is usually translated as "cho đến khi" when it stands alone.
"Hôm nay" is already a time reference, so it doesn't need "khi" to turn it to be. You will see this comes up in other exercises.
bản thân · tự · tự mình
3 words
bất kỳ ai · bất kỳ cái gì · cái gì đó · cả hai · khác · không ai · không có gì · mọi · mọi người · mọi thứ · một ai đó · tất cả
12 words
điều này điều đó
tất cả không ai
việc · điều
2 words
anh hùng · bạn gái · bạn trai · con người · cá nhân · công cộng · cưới · dân số · hội thảo · khách hàng · kẻ thù · kẻ ác · loài người · ly hôn · lịch sử · mối quan hệ · tình bạn · tình yêu · tính nhân đạo · uỷ ban · đám cưới · đồng nghiệp
22 words
bằng chứng · cơ hội · cấp độ · danh sách · di chúc · dịch vụ · giá trị · giải pháp · giải thưởng · hiện tượng · hành động · hệ thống · hồ sơ · kết quả · loại · lượt · lựa chọn · mục đích · nhóm · niềm hy vọng · nội dung · phiên bản · sự bảo vệ · sự lựa chọn · thiết kế · thoả thuận · thành viên · trò chơi · trường hợp · tài khoản · tâm trí · tình hình · vai trò · vấn đề · điều ước · ảnh hưởng
36 words
năm lần bảy lượt = many times
bắt nguồn · chuẩn bị · chạm · chỉ trích · chọn · chứa · chứng minh · cứu · dạy · dậy · gia nhập · hết hạn · khắc phục · kiểm soát · kéo dài · lan truyền · liệt kê · mơ · nổ · sửa · tham gia · thu hút · thức khuya · toả sáng · trở nên · xây · xảy ra · đăng ký · đại diện · đầu tư · ước
31 words
chân · cá heo · cá mập · cáo · cò · cú · cừu · gấu trúc · lạc đà · muỗi · nhện · sói · sừng · tê giác · vẹt · đuôi · ếch
17 words
báo chí · bình luận · công cụ tìm kiếm · diễn đàn · internet · kênh · kết nối · mạng · mạng lưới · mạng xã hội · mật khẩu · phóng viên · phản hồi · thông tin · thời sự · tin nhắn · truyền thông · trực tuyến · đăng nhập
19 words
biển · bầu trời · cánh đồng · cát · cây · cơn bão · cảnh quan · cỏ · gió · hoa · hành tinh · hòn đá · khí hậu · khói · không khí · lá · lửa · môi trường · mưa · mặt trăng · mặt trời · ngôi sao · ngọn đồi · núi · núi lửa · rễ · rừng · sóng · sông · thiên nhiên · thời tiết · thực vật · trái đất · vật chất · ánh sáng · đất
36 words
an toàn · bình tĩnh · bình đẳng · bất ngờ · cao · công · căng thẳng · cổ · cụ thể · duy nhất · gần · hiệu quả · hào phóng · lạnh · mạnh mẽ · nóng · phù hợp · phổ biến · quý giá · sẵn sàng · sớm · sợ · thích hợp · thấp · thất vọng · trẻ · tàng hình · tò mò · tư nhân · tạm thời · tự do · ven biển · yên lặng · yên tĩnh · đau đớn
35 words
cành · cố tình · dép · dừa · hình ảnh · kể · nô lệ · ria mép · thiết bị · tre · tàu ngầm · tượng đài · vệ sinh · ám chỉ · ở trọ
15 words
an ninh · bài diễn văn · bạo lực · bắt giữ · bỏ phiếu · chiến dịch · chiến lược · chiến tranh · chính phủ · chính sách · chính trị · chính trị gia · chủ quyền · cuộc bầu cử · cuộc xung đột · công dân · cơ sở hạ tầng · hiến pháp · hoà bình · hải quân · khủng bố · khủng hoảng · kinh tế · kế hoạch · luật · mối đe doạ · nghĩa vụ · nguyên nhân · nữ hoàng · phát triển · phúc lợi · quyết định · quyền · quyền lực · quân đội · quốc hội · sự giàu có · sự đầu tư · tham nhũng · thuế · thị trưởng · toà án · tổng thống · tội phạm · từ chức · tỷ lệ · vua · xã hội · yêu cầu · ý kiến · đình công · ứng cử viên
52 words
There are two titles for head of state in Vietnamese that are both translated into English as "president": Tổng thống and Chủ tịch nước.
Chủ tịch nước is a title of a president of a communist country, such as Vietnam, China, or Cuba. Tổng thống is for other countries.
In the exercise, we only introduce Tổng thống, which is applied for American president. However, both answers are accepted.
bàn thắng · bóng · bóng bầu dục · bóng chuyền · bóng rổ · chức vô địch · cầu thủ · huy chương · huấn luyện viên · quần vợt · sân vận động · thể thao · trận đấu · trọng tài · vé · vận động viên · điểm · đội
18 words
buổi hoà nhạc · bài hát · bộ sưu tập · cuộc thi · khán giả · nghệ thuật · nhiếp ảnh · nhạc · phim · phong cách · sáo · thơ · thời trang · văn học · vĩ cầm · âm thanh
16 words
biểu tượng · bí mật · bóng · chú ý · chữ ký · cuộc sống · danh dự · giấy phép · hành vi · hậu quả · không gian · kinh nghiệm · ký hiệu · ký ức · lối thoát · lỗi · lợi · niềm tin · niềm vui · nỗ lực · nụ cười · sự cố gắng · sự kiện · sự sợ hãi · thiệt hại · thành tích · thái độ · truyền thống · trách nhiệm · trạng thái · tình huống · tín hiệu · tính thực tế · tôn giáo · vị trí · xu thế · ích
37 words
Bring sb sth = mang đến cho sb sth
bài · bản · bộ · bức · cây · cơn · giấc · môn · tấm · viện · vị · đoá · đàn
13 words
mảnh - mảnh đất -> đặt sau bài nature
giấc mơ =/ ước mơ
hoạ sĩ · nhà nghiên cứu · nhà sử học · nhà thơ · nhà triết học · nhà văn · nhân viên · thuỷ thủ · thông dịch viên · thợ làm tóc · thợ mộc · thủ thư · tài xế · tác giả
14 words
bàn chân · bàn tay · bác sĩ thú y · bệnh · bệnh nhân · chăm sóc · chấn thương · chế độ ăn kiêng · chữa · cuộc hẹn · cánh tay · cơ thể · cảm cúm · cẳng chân · cổ · da · dịch bệnh · gãy · khuôn · khám · kiểm tra · làn · lây lan · lưng · lưỡi · miệng · mái · máu · mũi · mắt · mặt · ngón tay · ngực · não · răng · sức khoẻ · sự điều trị · tai · thuốc · thị lực · trái tim · trường hợp khẩn cấp · tóc · ung thư · xe cấp cứu · đau · đầu
47 words
In Vietnamese, to talk about illness, you can say:
<subject> + <illness name>
However, you can also use passive voice (which is, in fact, the more preferred way):
<subject> + bị + <illness name>
Note that "bị" is linked with negativity. Illness is certainly a negative thing.
chú ý classifier được dạy kèm từ vựng chỉ bộ phận cơ thể - ckhadung
bài báo · chi tiết · chiều · công nghệ · công thức · cơ học lượng tử · dự án · giảm · giới hạn · hoá học · khoa học · khoảng cách · khái niệm · khám phá · khối lượng · kết luận · mét · mẫu vật · nhiệt độ · năng lượng · phòng thí nghiệm · phương pháp · sinh học · số lượng · sự phân tích · thuyết · thí nghiệm · thể tích · toán · triết học · trọng lượng · tăng · tốc độ · vận tốc · vật lý · đo · địa lý · định nghĩa · độ sâu
39 words
bảo hiểm · chi phí · chứng khoán · cuộc họp · cuộc phỏng vấn · công nghiệp · công ty · giao dịch · giá · giám đốc · hoá đơn · hợp đồng · kinh doanh · kinh phí · lệ phí · lợi nhuận · nhãn hiệu · phá sản · quảng cáo · quỹ · rủi ro · séc · sản phẩm · thị trường · tiền · tiền mặt · tiền tệ · toàn cầu hoá · trốn thuế · tập đoàn · tổ chức · tỷ giá · vàng · đa quốc gia · đô la · đồng
36 words
hệ mặt trời · kính viễn vọng · năm ánh sáng · sao diêm vương · sao hoả · sao hải vương · sao kim · sao mộc · sao thiên vương · sao thuỷ · sao thổ · thiên hà · thiên thạch · thiên văn học · tàu vũ trụ · vũ trụ · vệ tinh
17 words
closet to sth = gần sth nhất Name of planets: Sao + Name or Name + Tinh (Sino-Vietnamese)
bất thường · chính · chính thức · cô đơn · dễ thương · ghen tị · giận dữ · lạ · mồ côi · nghiêm trọng · ngoan · ngu ngốc · nổi bật · rõ ràng · rộng · say · thật là · tuyệt vời · tuyệt đối · tối thiểu · tối đa · tự hào · vinh quang · vô nghĩa · vững chắc · xa · xinh · đáng nể · ổn định
29 words
bao gồm · biến mất · biểu tình · buộc · chạy trốn · chấp nhận · cải thiện · cầu nguyện · di trú · duy trì · dự đoán · giải quyết · giết · hoãn · hình thành · lên · mất · nhấc · nhắc đến · nhớ · núp · phát huy · quên · quản lý · ràng buộc · rửa · sụp đổ · sử dụng · thuộc về · trang bị · trồng · tuyên bố · điều tra · đánh giá thấp · đầu hàng · đập vỡ
36 words
di sản · huế · hà nội · lì xì · lễ hội · múa rối nước · nón lá · nền văn minh · phong kiến · phong tục · sài gòn · thần thoại · thờ · triều đại · truyền thuyết · truyện kiều · trầu · trống đồng · tết · tổ tiên · vịnh bắc bộ · áo dài · đạo khổng · đạo phật
24 words
English "worship" can be translated to Vietnamese as thờ or tôn thờ. These two words have different meaning.
To thờ someone, that person must be either dead or a deity, and this act is a religious ritual. On the other hand, you can tôn thờ any living person, or probably not a person, like your idol; this act is not religious. Sometimes tôn thờ can be religious as well, but that's for deities exclusively.
Synonyms of tôn thờ are: tôn sùng, thần tượng, sùng bái
Synonym of thờ: cúng, thờ cúng
Examples:
bóc lột · bất bình đẳng · bắt giam · chiến đấu · chết · chống lại · chủ nghĩa · cách mạng · công lý · cộng hoà · cộng sản · di tản · dân chủ · dân thường · giai cấp · người chiến thắng · người tị nạn · nổi dậy · nội chiến · phát xít · thuộc địa · thống nhất · tuyên truyền · tàn phá · tư bản · xâm lược · đe doạ · đảng
28 words
bản án · câu chuyện · hình phạt · hệ quả · kỹ năng · lý do · lương tâm · nguồn gốc · nền tảng · quá khứ · sức mạnh · trình độ · trời · tầm nhìn · yếu tố · đạo đức · đề tài · ứng dụng
18 words
noun + gì = any (dùng trong câu phủ định)
chiến thuật · chiến thắng · chỉ huy · chống · căn cứ · cố thủ · doanh trại · du kích · huy động · hạt nhân · không quân · lính · lực lượng · nhắm · phòng thủ · phục kích · quân phục · quân sự · súng · thiết giáp · tiểu đoàn · trận chiến · trực thăng · tuyên chiến · tàu chiến · tên lửa · tù binh · tăng · tấn công · vũ khí · vũ trang · xe · đạn · đổ bộ
34 words
With vehicle, classifier = chiếc. need to note in grammar Classifier quả for tên lửa
cúng · huyền bí · kiếp · linh hồn · lá bùa · lời nguyền · ma · mê tín · phép thuật · số phận · thiên thần · thiên đường · thầy bói · tử vi · ám · địa ngục
16 words
chuyến · cuộc · căn · hòn · nền
5 words
béo bở · bưng bít · bảnh bao · bụi bặm · bừa bãi · bực bội · che chở · chen chúc · chiều chuộng · chín chắn · chậm chạp · cằn nhằn · cộc cằn · dang dở · dõng dạc · dễ dàng · dịu dàng · dụ dỗ · dửng dưng · gan góc · gắt gỏng · gặp gỡ · lo lắng · lung linh · lơ lửng · lạnh lùng · mệt mỏi · ngẩn ngơ · nhanh nhẹn · vui vẻ · vớ vẩn · ăn năn
32 words
dõng dạc = adv more than adj
dính dáng = use in negative sense most of the time
bó tay · bóc lịch · bẩn tính · chặt chém · cơm bụi · cắt cổ · cứng đầu · cửa · dài cổ · dở hơi · leo cây · làm ăn · mất sổ gạo · nhận gạch · nổ · qua đời · run lập cập · thức trắng đêm · trúng gió · tây ba lô · viêm màng túi · ăn cháo đá bát
22 words
Note on overprice: use as verb here, but usually use as adj
Cơm bụi (lit. dust meal) is a cheap meal that is served at working-class restaurant. There are several explanations on the etymology of this word, one of which is that these street restaurants are sometimes on the sidewalk, so there is dust from the street.
Because this is hard to translate, it'll be translated as "working-class meal" like in this article
bụ bẫm · chứa chan · hân hoan · khó khăn · lang thang · lưỡng lự · lặng lẽ · nặng nề · nồng nàn · rộn ràng · tha thứ · tự tin · vòng vo · vẻ vang · đanh đá · đông đúc
16 words
Possessive words in Vietnamese are simple. You just need to add của before subject/object pronouns. (Note: subject pronouns and object pronouns are the same. No difference at all).
The following table may help you to recall what we learned about subject pronouns:
| Subject Pronoun | Translation | Possessive | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| I | Tôi | My | Của tôi |
| You (singular) | Bạn | Your | Của bạn |
| He | Anh ấy | His | Của anh ấy |
| She | Cô ấy | Her | Của cô ấy |
| It | Nó | Its | Của nó |
| We | Chúng tôi | Our | Của chúng tôi |
| You (plural) | Các bạn | Your | Của các bạn |
| They | Họ | Their | Của họ |
của can be optional when you are talking about "friend", "dad", "brother" or any family members. This only works with "your" and "my". You will see some example in the skill Family below.
In English, you sometimes use possessive pronouns to avoid repeating the noun. For example: "It is my car, not your car" = "It is my car, not yours" = "The car is mine, not yours".
In Vietnamese, again, there is no difference between possessive adjectives and possessive pronouns. In both case, you use the same word as presented in the table above. For example: "The book is hers.” = "Quyển sách là của cô ấy.” and “Her book" = "Quyển sách của cô ấy”.
Just like other languages, we hate repetition.
Take a look at this sentence "Cô ấy bán quyển sách của cô ấy" (She sells her book). It is grammatically correct, but the word cô ấy is repeated twice. And that is not nice.
To avoid that, one uses của mình. Here is the simple rule: của mình can replace any possessive adjectives or possessive pronouns above if and only if the noun(s) (in the sentence) belong to the same subject (of that sentence).
For instance, let's reuse the sentence above:
Note: Của mình should only be used to avoid repetition, that is, for sentences that have noun(s) belonging to the same subject like "I sell my car", "she wants her book", "he cooks his food" and so on. Của mình cannot be used if sentence has noun(s) not belonging to subject pronoun, such as "I sell his book", "he wants her money", "they need our car".
In English, demonstratives are “this”, “that”, “these” and “those”. This skill will teach you to use demonstratives in Vietnamese.
Important: Technically, đây and này are the same. They are both equivalent to English "this/these" and they both can be used as adjective for a noun or as an independent subject. However, for the sake of this course, đây will NOT be used as adjective and này will NOT be used as independent subject.
Important: For the rest of the skill tree, the word kia will NOT appear frequently. Most commonly used demonstratives are đây, đó, and này so you are recommended to use these words if you encounter sentences with demonstratives.
To indicate plurality, one can simply place những or các before plural noun. If a plural noun has adjective(s), những or các must be placed before them in this order: những/các + classifier + plural noun + adjective(s). Note that you usually need a classifier whenever you have những or các. You will learn about classifiers later in the course.
There are more ways to indicate plurality in Vietnamese but two words những and các are the most common ones. Later in the course, you will learn that when there is a number, you don't use these plural markers.
Important: những and các are to demonstrate plurality only. They are not equivalent to "some", "a few", "many"..... Lessons about this area will be provided later.
The two words những and các do not have any meaning other than indication of plurality so do not try to translate them. They can be used interchangeably throughout the skill tree.
Những and các can and should combine with the demonstratives. Please refer to the skill Demonstratives in the same row for more information.
Example: những cậu bé này (these boys); các quả táo kia (those apples)
To indicate negation, one simply places the word không before the verb. Không means “no”. So literally, all sentences with negative verb will mean: subject + no + verb. Example: "I no go to school", "she no study", "I no like but love Duolingo".
Note: you can use không when the sentence involves the use of adjective(s), such as "I am no happy", "she is no fun", "he is no cruel". But continue reading the case below!
Same with không, but không phải là is for “no to be something”. You cannot use không phải là with regular verbs. In short, không phải là is used when you say something/someone is not something/someone in a sense of identity. Example: "I am no student", "she is no my girlfriend", "she is no teacher".
Note: this phrase is used with the sense of identity only. You CANNOT use it to describe emotion, quality or any qualitative characteristics (good, bad, sad, happy, old...). If that is the case, refer to the use of không above.
Classifiers are used to accompany a noun but not to modify it. It precedes a noun in order to demonstrate a physical/non-physical appearance or quantity of that noun. Classifier System is not featured in English but some other languages do have similar system.
Word order of a noun is: classifier + noun + adjective.
Just like noun gender in some languages, this is something one has to learn by heart. It is important to know which classifier goes with which noun. There can be more than one classifier that can match with a noun but not all nouns will have two or more classifiers.
In this skill, you will start with 7 classifiers:
This lesson contains some important words for the rest of this course
To form yes-no question, you simply place phải không at the end of the sentence. The question formula is like this: S + V + O + phải không?. Technically, phải không is equivalent to “right?", "eh?” in English sentences. Example: Bạn thích cô ấy phải không? (literally, You like her, right?)
Another way to form yes-no question: you add có before the verb or adjective(s) and place không at the end of the sentence. The question formula will become like this: S + có + V/Adj + O (optional) + không?. Example: Bạn có hạnh phúc không? (hạnh phúc = happy -> adj.) (Are you happy?), Bạn có muốn ăn không? (Do you want to eat?)
| Subject | Verb | Question Word |
|---|---|---|
| Bạn | ở đâu? | |
| Bạn | học | như thế nào? |
| Cô ấy | đang làm | gì? |
Example:
| English Question | Where | are | you? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vietnamese Translation | Bạn | ở | đâu? |
| Word-by-word | You | are | where? |
In this skill, you will learn how to form questions with where, what, who, why, and when
Using where - đâu
Đâu is placed at the end of the sentence.
Đâu is often used with ở, which means at. Literally, ở đâu means at where.
Using what - gì
Just like other question words, gì is placed at the end of the sentence.
Gì can associate (follow by) with either a verb or a classifier, or both. For example: gì placed after the verb ăn, ăn gì literally means “eat what”, used in the question asking someone eating what. And con is the classifier for animals. Therefore, con gì means “what animal”. For example, Đó là con gì? (What animal is that?)
Cái is the most commonly used classifier word, representing almost every tangible object, thus, cái gì means “what thing/object” associating with the verb of that question sentence. For example: Đây là cái gì? (What is this?, literally What thing/object is this?)
It is possible for cái gì to be used as subject. Example: Cái gì cắn tôi? (What bites me?).
Using who - ai
Using when - khi nào
Khi nào can be placed at the beginning or at the end of the question without changing any meaning. Preferably, our answer database has more questions containing khi nào at the beginning so you are recommended to follow.
E.g: Khi nào bạn ăn bữa sáng? (When do you eat the breakfast?)
Using why - vì sao/tại sao
To answer with “because”, you say tại vì, bởi vì or just simply vì, then followed by regular SVO.
E.g: Tại sao chúng tôi mặc quần? (Why do we wear pants?) or Vì sao bạn ăn cái bánh? (Why do you eat the cake?) – Tại vì nó ngon. (Because it is good/delicious.)
Welcome to the Vietnamese course!
Here are some basic grammar rules for you to get started with:
Like most languages, word order in Vietnamese is simple:
There is no conjugation or modification at all. Words with different tones (for example, ga and gà) are not considered conjugation/modification but two different words. In general, the meaning of sentence changes when we add or remove word(s), or change their order.
In Vietnamese, there are no articles similar to those in English. You use the word một to represent a quantity of “1” and that is all.
For the learning purpose throughout the skill tree, you should follow this pattern of using articles:
For the sake of this course, all pronouns used in answers will be simplified as in this table:
| English Pronoun | Vietnamese Pronoun |
|---|---|
| I | Tôi |
| You (singular) | Bạn |
| He | Anh ấy |
| She | Cô ấy |
| It | Nó |
| We | Chúng tôi |
| You (plural) | Các bạn |
| They | Họ |
In Vietnamese, there are words that are used to accompany other nouns in order to "classify" them based on physical/non-physical appearance or quantity.
You will learn about these classifiers in latter skills. In this skill, a few classifiers are introduced:
Welcome to the Vietnamese course!
This skill is for you to get started with the Vietnamese alphabet and the way the meaning of a word changes with different tones.
For basic grammar rules, please refer to skill Basics 1
There are six tones in Vietnamese language:
| Name | Diacritic | Example |
|---|---|---|
| flat | (no mark) | me (tamarind) |
| grave | \ | mè (sesame) |
| acute | / | mé (to cut off) |
| hook | ? | mẻ (fermented) |
| tilde | ~ | mẽ (appearance) |
| dot | . | mẹ (mother) |
Vietnamese alphabet does not have the letters f, j, w and z.
These are also vowels in Vietnamese alphabet (except d and đ, which are consonants).
In Vietnamese, there are words that are used to accompany other nouns in order to "classify" them based on physical/non-physical appearance or quantity.
You will learn about these classifiers in latter skills. In this skill, a few classifiers are introduced:
You will continue to learn how to form questions in Vietnamese.
Using how - như thế nào and làm sao
Asking how much/how many - bao nhiêu
Trả lời means “to answer” while đáp án means “answer” (as a noun). We also use câu trả lời to represent “answer” as a noun.
This skill gives you another overview of the Vietnamese alphabet in addition to the first Alphabet skill as the nightmare does not end there.
Besides additional letters, tones and additional consonants, there are:
(I took the liberty to not include some diphthongs/triphthongs that are extremely uncommon in daily usage to simplify the list)
Note: You do not need to learn these by heart. This is just to provide an overview.
Each can combine with any consonant and any tones to create a different word, with different meaning and slightly different sound. Imagine all the possibilities? Don't worry. You will master it eventually. Just think about thousands of strokes to remember when learning Mandarin/Japanese, you will feel better.
No new content in this lesson. You may want to refer to previous grammar notes if you need help. Remember that we use simplified pronouns in this course, which are:
| English Pronoun | Vietnamese Pronoun |
|---|---|
| I | Tôi |
| You (singular) | Bạn |
| He | Anh ấy |
| She | Cô ấy |
| It | Nó |
| We (not including "you") | Chúng tôi |
| We (including "you") | Chúng ta |
| You (plural) | Các bạn |
| They | Họ |
All other pronouns, despite being correct in certain context, will be marked wrong.
Cultural note: Inappropriate uses of pronouns in Vietnamese can mean anything from impoliteness, rudeness, awkwardness or intentional insult. Even the same two persons may use different pronouns over time depending on how their emotion, gender, social role, relationship or situation changes (falling in love, hating, threatening, anger, happiness, joking, honoring…). However, Vietnamese people are tolerant towards foreigners speaking Vietnamese so if you happen to use inappropriate pronouns, you are very likely to be excused!
You are learning basic greetings in Vietnamese. There will be no new grammar notes in this lesson but just some basic phrases for you to start a conversation.
About Hello in Vietnamese: Unlike popular belief that Vietnamese greeting is always Xin chào!, it is not the case. I rarely hear anyone use Xin chào anymore except in formal speech or movies. Instead, the Vietnamese commonly say "Chào + a person’s first name or a suitable pronoun". Chào standing alone works fine too.
Although we teach the phrase Chào buổi sáng (Good morning), the phrase “Good morning” does not actually exist in Vietnamese. There is no specific greeting for each period of a day (morning, afternoon, evening). Instead, one simply says Chào as above. You are recommended not to use Chào buổi sáng in conversation.
The name “Việt Nam” is a variation of Nányuè (南越), literally meaning “Southern Viet”. In that, the word Việt applied to an ethnic group living in southern China and Vietnam (pre-history) and was gradually adapted to represent Vietnamese people and Vietnamese language while the word Nam is not required.
In this course, we will use tiếng Việt as the Vietnamese language (with tiếng = language) and người Việt as Vietnamese people (with người = people/humans).
In this lesson, we will learn about animals. The classifier word for animals is: con.
Example: con mèo (the cat), con chó (the dog)....
You may ask this question: does a noun always have to be accompanied by a classifier? What is the difference between a noun without a classifier and a noun accompanied by one? The answer is no. Vietnamese people give little or no preference about this minor detail. As long as it makes sense, they can fully understand you.
But in fact, there are certain differences in interpreting the two. Here is the table for you to compare:
| Noun with classifier | Noun without classifier | |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning | Describing characteristic of that specific thing/object only. Equivalent to "the" in English | Implying characteristic of that noun as a whole. Demonstrating a truth/fact about that noun |
| Use | Very frequent in daily communication because people tend to talk about specific object only. Exception may apply. | More frequent in written Vietnamese, newspapers, research papers, journal. Still possible to use in daily communication. |
| Example | Con mèo thích tôi - The cat likes me. (Meaning: that specific cat likes me) | Mèo di chuyển trên bốn chân - Cat walks on four feet. (Meaning: all cats walk on four feet) |
Most sentences on Duolingo will have classifiers preceding nouns.
Ordinary numbers in English are “first”, “second”, “third”, fourth, fifth, something-th
In Vietnamese, you simply add thứ before a number to form ordinary number(s). Check the skill Numbers if you need to review about numbers in Vietnamese.
Example:
In English, one verb “to wear” can pretty much cover all kinds of clothes, such as “to wear a hat", "to wear a shirt", "to wear shoes”. In Vietnamese, there are more than one verb for “to wear”, depending on what clothes you are talking about. Check out this table:
| Type of clothes | Verb | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Hat (anything worn on head) | đội; mang | Tôi đội/mang một cái mũ. (I wear a hat) |
| Shirt, Coat (anything worn on body) | mặc | Tôi mặc một cái áo. (I wear a shirt) |
| Pants (anything worn from waist from ankles) | mặc; mang | Tôi mặc/mang một cái quần. (I wear pants) |
Depending on the regions and dialects, the uses of these verbs may vary. However, to simplify the learning process on Duolingo, we will go with these only two verbs: đội for anything worn on head and mặc for any kinds of shirts and pants. These are the most commonly used and understood by any Vietnamese speakers.
Món is the classifier for all kinds of food. It can precede all nouns that indicate food. If there is no noun, món can stand alone and mean “dish” (as in: delicious dish, not as in: plate of food). In this case, it is best to used with demonstratives: món này, món đó (this dish, that dish) if used in conversation.
Note: Món can signify different status of animal. A living animal, the noun must be accompanied by con (con gà - the chicken). But if món accompanies the noun instead, it means a cuisine/dish made from that animal (món gà - the chicken, but meaning the dish of chicken instead).
Bữa means “meal” and can be considered as classifier for meals of a day. We have sáng, trưa, chiều, tối, respectively meaning “morning, noon, afternoon, evening”. Therefore, bữa sáng, bữa trưa, bữa chiều, bữa tối respectively means “breakfast, lunch, teatime/afternoon snack, dinner”.
Thức ăn means food or dishes in general. But unlike món, it is not a classifier. You should just use thức ăn to generally indicate food (Example: I saw her food, The food is delicious…)
Cultural note: Canh is, technically, soup. But it is not identical to Western soup (for this, we have the word “xúp”, pronounced the same as soup, meaning “Western soup”). In this course, the answer “soup” is accepted for canh.
For trứng, classifier word is quả or trái, just like fruits. But we usually use quả rather than trái.
Chay means “vegetarian” (adjective) but its use is unique compared to English. To say “I am vegetarian” in Vietnamese, you say “Tôi ăn chay” - literally, I eat “vegetarianly”. In this case, chay must always go with the verb ăn (to eat).
Vietnamese people use comparison in conversation very frequently.
Superiority: Subject + adjective + hơn + object
Equality: Subject + adjective + như + object
Note: There is inferior comparison of adjectives but it is not very common to use.
Superiority: Subject + verb + object 1 (optional) + nhiều hơn + object 2
Equality: Subject + verb + object 1 (optional) + nhiều như + object 2
Inferiority : Subject + verb + object 1 (optional) + ít hơn + object 2
Superiority: Subject + verb + adverb + hơn + object
Equality: Subject + verb + adverb + như + object
Note: Inferior comparison of adverb is rare. People tend to use opposite adverb instead (slowly =/ fast).
Note: You can always place any additional object (optional) after verb.
This is a bit complicated. Superlative adjective should be accompanied by a noun (for instance, the best person, most intelligent student, fastest man…). You can’t simply say “I am the best”, “She is the most intelligent” like in English.
General formula (for standalone noun): noun + adjective + nhất (in this case, this standalone noun can be subject or object of a sentence, or just by itself).
Formula: Subject + verb + object (optional) + nhiều nhất.
Example: Cô ấy học nhiều nhất. (She studies the most - the most content of something)
Formula: Subject + verb + object (optional) + adverb + nhất.
Example: Anh ấy ăn nhanh nhất. (He eats “fast-est” - this form does not really exist in English)
It is also frequent to say you have something more or less than someone else does.
Subject + có + nhiều + noun + hơn + object (optional).
Example: Tôi có nhiều tiền hơn (bạn). (I have more money (than you)).
Subject + có + ít + noun + hơn + object (optional).
Example: Tôi có ít tiền hơn (bạn). (I have less money (than you)).
Subject + có + nhiều/ít + noun + nhất
Example: chúng tôi có nhiều/ít thành viên nhất. (We have the most/fewest members)
Note: the plural indicators những and các are NOT needed.
There is no new grammar in this skill.
Cho can be an independent verb (meaning “to give”, “to allow”) but in this lesson, it acts as preposition “to” as in viết cho (to write to (sb)). Note: cho is not universally used as “to” for every word.
Regarding the verb nghe, it can mean both “hear” and “listen to” in English. There is no need to use preposition with nghe as it is simply followed by noun or pronoun, respectively for “hear” and “listen to”.
Thấy in this lesson means “to see”. Interestingly, it accompanies other verbs to emphasize the action in the sense of “already done it”, such as nghe thấy (to hear, and already hear), nhìn thấy (to see, and already see), tìm thấy (to find, and already find).
Notice the verb thử, which means "to try doing sth". When using this verb, you just need to add another verb after it. Example: Tôi thử ăn một quả chuối (I try eating a banana). For "to try to do sth", we will give you its correspondence verb in Vietnamese later.
Yêu means “to love”. Unlike thích (to like), yêu cannot go with another verb like in English (love eating, love to work…). But you can use thích + another verb (thích ăn, thích học, thích cười…).
Okay, lắng nghe contains the word nghe, so it must mean “to hear”/“to listen to” right? That is true! lắng nghe does mean so but emphasizing the action of hearing/listening. However, this word is not common in regular conversation but quite common in poetry, novel, speech.
The verb đi means “to go” and đi bộ means “to walk” in the sense of to go jogging. Additionally, throughout the skill tree, you will see this form a lot: đi + another verb. Example: đi ăn (go eat), đi ngủ (go sleep), đi bán (go sell)… It is commonly used in daily conversation to emphasize actions. In fact, it is more natural to use this form when speaking with or without the urgency of the action. Vietnamese people love emphasizing what they did/are doing/will be doing!
Luyện tập means “to practice”. Breaking it down, luyện independently can mean “to practice” but we will not use it in this course, and tập means “to practice” but in the sense of “just start learning something”.
Giúp đỡ means “to help” in a narrative sense, giúp alone works well and sounds more natural. In case of saying “help me”/“help + sb”, use giúp only.
Review this case: thấy in this lesson means “to see” and it accompanies other verbs to emphasize the action in the sense of “already done it”.
In this lesson, we learn the word tìm (to find). tìm alone means one has the purpose of going find something and not yet finds it, while tìm thấy means one already finds something.
Làm means “to work”. đi làm means “to go to work”. It commonly goes with việc to become làm việc (also meaning “to work” but specifically talking about working for an employer). Additionally, special form: làm + (sb) + adjective/verb = to make + sb + adjective/verb. Example: Tôi làm cô ấy cười (I make her smile), Anh ấy làm tôi buồn (He makes me sad).
Để is a verb, meaning “to put (something on/at/in something)”. When using with pronoun or person’s name, it means “to let + (sb) + verb/adjective”. Moreover, để can be used as conjunction, “to” as in “in order to” or “to + verb” which we will learn later on.
In Vietnamese, a stative verb (such as đứng - stand, ngồi - sit, nằm - lie) can combine with another verb to describe an action that is done in the state.
For example: Cậu bé đó đang ngồi đọc sách. - The boy is sitting and reading a book.
You can see in this example, the stative verb ngồi (sit) is combined with đọc sách (read a book), so the sentence describe the boy reads a book while sitting.
There is no new grammar in this skill.
Important review: for most objects in this skill, classifier words cái and chiếc are applicable and interchangeable.
Important review: classifier word is not always required. It depends on the noun’s usage itself. If one wants to use a noun with general meaning (Ex: animals eat to survive), then there is no classifier needed. If one wants to point at a specific noun (Ex: the ice cream (that you bought) is tasty), then classifier is needed.
In this course, when in doubt, use classifier!
In lesson 2, máy tính is supposedly means “computer” in general. However, the original word is máy vi tính but máy tính replaced the original one and is widely used. Note: máy tính can also mean “portable scientific calculator” but we will not use it in this course.
What a colorful life!
You will learn handful of basic colors here: red, white, black, orange, blue, green, brown, gray, pink and violet.
Classifier for all colors is màu (meaning “color”). So literally, to mention color, one will say, in Vietnamese, color red, color green, color brown and so on.
In English, you use “to be” to describe color (the shirt is red, the dog is brown, the computer is black, etc.). In Vietnamese, we do not use “to be” but the verb “to have” - có.
Cultural note: there are many Vietnamese words associating with blue and green but we will only learn xanh da trời and xanh lá cây. Xanh separately can mean green or blue, causing confusion. Xanh da trời literally means “blue as the skin of the sky” and xanh lá cây means “green as tree leaves”.
This video is for those who want to know more about colors in different languages.
In this lesson, you will learn some basic adjectives.
Unlike English, Vietnamese language does not require the use of “be” when having a subject accompanied with adjective(s). However, for teaching and learning purpose, the course will have this rule: for all sentences that have the structure subject-adjective, except for negative sentences and questions, you must use rất (very).
Literally, all sentences will appear to be like this: he very happy, I very tired, she very smart…
Example:
BUT:
Why? It is not the case that the Vietnamese love to exaggerate everything. Using very simply helps you to distinguish between a sentence (subject-very-adjective) and a modified noun (noun-adjective(s)).
Note: You may encounter some sentences in this course that do not always have the word very. That is because they have other indications as a sentence already, such as I am happy and sad (with “and”).
Note: These instructions are for learning purpose only. In real conversation, you may or may not use rất (very) and your sentences still make sense. In fact, avoid using rất in every sentence, it’s exaggerative!
Very straightforward, thật is equivalent to “really” to accompany adjective(s). It is not used for expressing surprise like “Really?” in English. However, thật will not be used much in this course.
With đúng (right) and sai (wrong), you do not have to use “very”.
Firstly, here are numbers from 0-10:
| English | Vietnamese |
|---|---|
| Zero | Không |
| One | Một |
| Two | Hai |
| Three | Ba |
| Four | Bốn |
| Five | Năm |
| Six | Sáu |
| Seven | Bảy |
| Eight | Tám |
| Nine | Chín |
| Ten | Mười |
From 11-19, you say mười (ten) + any number from one to nine from table above. Literally, it means “ten one” (11), “ten two” (12) and so on.
For the rest of the number, you simply combine any number from two to nine (table above) + mươi + any number from two to nine. Example: hai mươi ba (23, literally two ten three), chín mươi chín (99, literally nine ten nine).
Vietnamese currency (Vietnam dong - Việt Nam đồng or just simply đồng) starts with thousand-level so if you plan to travel, I recommend you to pay attention to the word nghìn (thousand) and triệu (million).
Technically, Vietnamese doesn't have tense like English or other European languages.
In Vietnamese, time is implied by adverbs or contexts instead of verb conjugation. These adverbs can be time: ngày mai (tomorrow), năm sau (next year), tuần sau (next week), etc. They can be also a specialized adverb for time reference - for past, it's "đã"; for continuous present, it's "đang"; for future, it's "sẽ".
To be precise, these are actually adverbs marking perfect, continuous, and prospective aspects, respectively, but with the assumption that you're without linguistic background, you can understand this as relative time reference.
Drawing time from context is harder and cannot be taught in this course. We recommend you to do further practice in real life situations to get used to Vietnamese time reference.
For convenience, colloquially, such references to past, present, and future, are called "tense" - be careful.
To express an action that is going to or will probably happen, simply put sẽ (equivalent to “will”) before the verb.
Example:
To express negation, please refer to the skill Negation as the grammar rule is the same.
You already learned ngày mai (tomorrow), here are some more common expressions.
There is this useful phrase: Nếu… thì…. It is equivalent to “If… then…” in English.
Another useful phrase for you: Không những… mà còn…, which is equivalent to “Not only… but also…” in English.
Useful expression: cả + subject + đều + verb/adj which is similar to “both” in English. It illustrates both mentioned subjects do the same action or have the same characteristic.
Nên in this lesson is used as “so” between two clauses or two sentences. Most of the time, it is placed at the beginning of the clause/sentence to indicate cause and effect relation.
Để in this lesson is used as “in order to” or simply “to”. Additionally, you can have this structure “in order for (sth/sb) to…” by saying: “để + sb/sth + verb in Vietnamese”.
Useful expression: không phải…mà cũng không phải OR không…mà cũng không, equivalent to “neither…nor…” in English. This expression can be used as subject or object.
Adverbs of frequency describe how often something occurs.
In this skill, there are five common adverbs of frequency to learn.
The adverb of frequency is placed between subject and verb in a sentence.
Example:
Minor notes:
You’ll learn how to form continuous tense in Vietnamese, that is, to demonstrate the actions that are taking place.
One must add đang before verb(s) of a sentence to indicate continuity.
Example:
Note: Vietnamese language does distinguish between present tense (I eat -> habit, fact) and continuous tense (I am eating -> going on right now). So does this course.
That is all!
In Vietnamese, it is common to use number to illustrate a weekday or a month (example: thứ 3 (Tuesday) or tháng 7 (July)). However, in this lesson, please do not write in number.
For days of the week, one use thứ + any number from 2 to 7. For Sunday, it’s exceptional: Chủ nhật.
| English | Vietnamese |
|---|---|
| Monday | Thứ hai |
| Tuesday | Thứ ba |
| Wednesday | Thứ tư |
| Thursday | Thứ năm |
| Friday | Thứ sáu |
| Saturday | Thứ bảy |
| Sunday | Chủ nhật |
Note: Yes, you remember it right. These are exactly like ordinary numbers (second, third, fourth… seventh).
For months of the year, you use tháng + any number from 1 to 12.
| English | Vietnamese |
|---|---|
| January | Tháng một |
| February | Tháng hai |
| March | Tháng ba |
| April | Tháng bốn |
| May | Tháng năm |
| June | Tháng sáu |
| July | Tháng bảy |
| August | Tháng tám |
| September | Tháng chín |
| October | Tháng mười |
| November | Tháng mười một |
| December | Tháng mười hai |
Note: for April, the more common use is tháng tư. However in general, both tháng bốn or tháng tư are acceptable.
From tips & notes in the skill Basics 1, we learn that Vietnamese pronouns vary depending on context, polite level, gender, superiority, emotion, and age. Thus, I have to simplify and limit the total accepted pronouns in this course.
The same with this case. How you call your parents, brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts… will vary depending on regions.
Here is the simplified and universally understood translations that we will use in this course.
| English | Vietnamese |
|---|---|
| Older brother | Anh (trai) |
| Younger brother | Em (trai) |
| Older sister | Chị (gái) |
| Younger sister | Em (gái) |
| Child/Son | Con (trai) |
| Child/Daughter | Con (gái) |
| Dad/Father | Bố |
| Mom/Mother | Mẹ |
| Grandpa/Grandfather | Ông |
| Grandma/Grandmother | Bà |
Note: These Vietnamese words can actually be used as pronouns but we are not going to use it in this course. There will be separate post in discussion forum explaining this.
Cultural note: for grandpa/grandma, Vietnamese people always distinguish between paternal grandparents (ông/bà nội) and maternal grandparents (ông/bà ngoại).
Apart from being used for passive voice and adjective/adverb, "được" can have two meanings as a modal particles, depending on where it stands. Look at these two sentences for example:
Tôi được chạy.
Tôi chạy được.
What is the difference between these sentences? When standing before verb, it means be allowed to, while standing after verb, it mean be able to. So, the first sentence means "I am allowed to run", while the second one means "I can run".
In English, must + V means you have to do something, but must not + V doesn't mean you don't have to do something, but rather you are not allowed to do something.
In contrast, in Vietnamese, phải + V means you have to do something, and không phải + V means you don't have to do something.
If you want to say you are not allowed to do something, you should say không được + V, where được here means "is allowed to do something".
This skill introduces some basic prepositions in Vietnamese.
There is no new grammar point. However, you may want to review previous grammar notes, especially skills Question 1 and Question 2.
Good luck!
Here are some more common expressions.
hãy + verb: this word is similar to the phrase “let’s” but it does not have equivalent meaning. Instead of “let us”, it indicates “let you” or “you should”. The target audience is someone else not you.
Note: actually, people don’t use hãy much in daily conversation. But you will see the use of hãy a lot on advertisement, instruction panel or formal speech, implying you or all of you in general, should do something.
đừng + verb: so this is another form of negation, very similar to không, meaning “do not + verb”. One uses đừng when strongly demanding someone not to do something. When traveling in Vietnam, watch out for red signs starting with đừng. It is either a law that you should not violate or something could harm you (example: Do not enter).
ư: this word is put at the end of sentence to indicate a yes-no question, besides phải không. Refer to skill “Question 1” if you need to review this. However, ư indicates a question with an expression of surprise.
không có gì: literally meaning “there is nothing”, this phrase is similar to “you’re welcome” or “no problem”, used to respond to thank-you.
vừa mới: this phrase is used in this formula: subject + vừa mới + verb, demonstrating that someone has just done something. This phrase indicates action occurred the past but only a moment ago. Note: Vietnamese people love to talk about what they just did. You are recommended to add this phrase to your vocabulary list.
In this lesson, you also learn to form commands or requests. Nothing new here. Learn it yourself!
In general, most names of countries have origin from Sino-Vietnamese (chữ Nôm). Thus, many sound very similar to their counterparts in Chinese language. For reference, here is a long list of Vietnamese names for countries and cities around the world: Vietnamese exonyms
Note: Do not learn by heart. Most Vietnamese would not understand or use these Vietnamese-written names, only a handful of those (which will be taught here). For the rest of the countries and cities, you should use original English names as that is how Vietnamese people preferably use.
Classifier for country is nước. It also means “water” as you already learn. So nước + <
Lái - fly/ride/drive
The term nominalization means converting a word into a noun. In this skill, I particularly refer to the conversion of an adjective or a verb into a noun.
In English, you have “stupidity” as noun form of “stupid”, “eagerness” as noun form of “eager”.
In Vietnamese, one simply adds sự before a verb or an adjective to convert it into noun.
Example:
While most adjectives can be converted to noun form with the word sự, not all verbs can! We will learn more about this in another skill.
Ultimately, a number of adjectives cannot be converted! Despite not being grammatically wrong, doing so to some adjectives or in some contexts can sound weird, awkward or unnatural.
We will try to create a post in forum to list words that should not be used with sự.
dùng kết hợp với "ở"
No new grammar point in this skill, only new vocabulary.
Some attributes can be used as noun or adjective without nominalization. In this skill, those words are:
Ultimately, using nominalization (sự) with these words is acceptable.
In the sentence structure:
It + be + adj + (for + S.O) to + verb + ... there is no word-by-word translation
For example:
1.1) It is hard to wake up early ( It+ be +adj+ to +verb)
Translation: Khó/Rất khó (mà/để - optional but more natural to add) dậy sớm
In the Vietnamese translation, we will ignore "It is" there and just translate the rest.
1.2) It is hard for a teacher to pay attention to all.
Translation: Một giáo viên khó mà quan tâm hết.
Now here, we will use "a teacher" as the subject to start our translation.
vậy mà is equivalent to “but” in English and it connects two opposing clauses in one sentence. vậy mà can be used interchangeably with nhưng.
như vậy is a bit unique. Despite having various English interpretation, I limit its translation into two only (as shown in hint): “like that” (as in “I am like that”, “I work like that”, etc) and “as a result” (placed at the beginning of the clause).
mặc dù and tuy nhiên are equivalent to “although” or “though”. They can be used interchangeably. If your answer containing either one of these is marked wrong, please report to us.
cũng is a helpful word to demonstrate someone also does something. Following this formula: subject (tôi/anh ấy/An/người đàn ông…) + cũng + verb. - cũng vậy is another way to shorten similar clauses. Using this structure: subject (tôi/anh ấy/An/người đàn ông…) + cũng vậy, it can replace sentences in this format “so am I/so do I/me too/I do too”. - Note: standalone vậy has many uses but mostly, it is equivalent to sentence-initial “so”, as being used as a pause during conversation.
In general, Vietnamese people do not use adverbs that often in daily conversation. Additionally, they rarely use adverbs to accompany adjectives as in English (such as “incredibly strong”, “unbelievably amazing”, etc.). Therefore, one should avoid use too many adverbs as much as possible.
This skill provides a handful of adverbs that is most frequently used.
Unlike English, Vietnamese do not modify an adjective to convert it into adverb. Instead, one places một cách before an adjective to create an “adverb phrase”. Literally, it means “in a way that is (adj)”. For instance, một cách hạnh phúc (happily) in Vietnamese literally means “in a way that is happy”.
Example: một cách hoàn hảo (perfectly), một cách may mắn (fortunately), một cách hạnh phúc (happily).
Exception: some adjectives require one additional word when forming “adverb phrase”. For instance, chậm (slow) and nhanh (fast) are adjectives but in “adverb phrase”, one says một cách chậm chạp (slowly - “chạp” is added), một cách nhanh chóng (fast - “chóng” is added).
Some common adverbs provided in this skill do not follow the “adverb phrase” structure above.
"Chung" means "common", "general", but it also has a homophone SV root meaning "end" - which gives it two meanings:
Meaning #1: "In general" or "Generally"
Meaning #2: "To conclude", "to sum up"
In a colloquial sense, it works as a signal "Let's settle on this conclusion, I don't want to talk about it anymore, switch the topic".
In some cases, it can mean either, but it some cases, it can only mean either of them. The best strategy is probably to try both and see which one makes sense.
kém
Technically, Vietnamese doesn't have tense like English or other European languages.
In Vietnamese, time is implied by adverbs or contexts instead of verb conjugation. These adverbs can be time: hôm qua (yesterday), tuần trước (last week), năm ngoái (last year), trước đây (before), 10 năm trước (10 years ago), etc. They can be also a specialized adverb for time reference - for past, it's "đã"; for continuous present, it's "đang"; for future, it's "sẽ".
To be precise, these are actually adverbs marking perfect, continuous, and prospective aspects, respectively, but with the assumption that you're without linguistic background, you can understand this as relative time reference.
Drawing time from context is harder and cannot be taught in this course. We recommend you to do further practice in real life situations to get used to Vietnamese time reference.
For convenience, colloquially, such references to past, present, and future, are called "tense" - be careful.
dành >< giành
In Vietnamese, sentences in passive voice distinguish between "positive" and "negative" passive.
For "positive" passive sentence, that is, when the subject of the sentence gains benefit from the action, you use "được" (gain) as the copula. For "negative" passive sentence, that is, when the subject lose something because of the action, you use "bị" (suffer).
How to form a passive voice sentence:
Active voice: S + V + O
--> English passive: O + be + past participle [+ by S]
--> Vietnamese passive: O + bị/được [+ S] + V
Example:
"Anh ấy đã bị [ai đó] nhìn thấy trong khi đang bán cái điện thoại của tôi."
"He was seen [by someone] while selling my phone."
Nghiên cứu vs. học
These both words can be translated to English as "study". However, their usages are not the same in Vietnamese. Generally, nghiên cứu results in new knowledge, while học is studying a pre-existing knowledge. A rule of thumb is, when it's possible to replace "study" with "research", then it's nghiên cứu; when it's replaceable with "learn", then it's học.
rồi = then = t/lai
rồi = already = q/khứ
đến lúc + sb + phải + rồi
cho đến + time reference.
Because a clause (S+V) in Vietnamese can't be a time reference, unlike in English, so you can't say "...cho đến tôi làm xong việc này" but it must be "cho đến khi tôi làm xong việc này". That's why "until" is usually translated as "cho đến khi" when it stands alone.
"Hôm nay" is already a time reference, so it doesn't need "khi" to turn it to be. You will see this comes up in other exercises.
điều này điều đó
tất cả không ai
teach the form: Thật là - ckhadung
năm lần bảy lượt = many times
There are two titles for head of state in Vietnamese that are both translated into English as "president": Tổng thống and Chủ tịch nước.
Chủ tịch nước is a title of a president of a communist country, such as Vietnam, China, or Cuba. Tổng thống is for other countries.
In the exercise, we only introduce Tổng thống, which is applied for American president. However, both answers are accepted.
Bring sb sth = mang đến cho sb sth
mảnh - mảnh đất -> đặt sau bài nature
giấc mơ =/ ước mơ
In Vietnamese, to talk about illness, you can say:
<subject> + <illness name>
However, you can also use passive voice (which is, in fact, the more preferred way):
<subject> + bị + <illness name>
Note that "bị" is linked with negativity. Illness is certainly a negative thing.
chú ý classifier được dạy kèm từ vựng chỉ bộ phận cơ thể - ckhadung
closet to sth = gần sth nhất Name of planets: Sao + Name or Name + Tinh (Sino-Vietnamese)
English "worship" can be translated to Vietnamese as thờ or tôn thờ. These two words have different meaning.
To thờ someone, that person must be either dead or a deity, and this act is a religious ritual. On the other hand, you can tôn thờ any living person, or probably not a person, like your idol; this act is not religious. Sometimes tôn thờ can be religious as well, but that's for deities exclusively.
Synonyms of tôn thờ are: tôn sùng, thần tượng, sùng bái
Synonym of thờ: cúng, thờ cúng
Examples:
noun + gì = any (dùng trong câu phủ định)
With vehicle, classifier = chiếc. need to note in grammar Classifier quả for tên lửa
dõng dạc = adv more than adj
dính dáng = use in negative sense most of the time
Note on overprice: use as verb here, but usually use as adj
Cơm bụi (lit. dust meal) is a cheap meal that is served at working-class restaurant. There are several explanations on the etymology of this word, one of which is that these street restaurants are sometimes on the sidewalk, so there is dust from the street.
Because this is hard to translate, it'll be translated as "working-class meal" like in this article