Hello: chào and the address word

chào is a verb

Vietnamese has no word that means just hello. chào is a verb – 'to greet' – and a verb needs someone to greet. That someone is the address word: the noun you use for the person in front of you. So you never say chào on its own; you say chào anh, chào chị, chào em, chào cô, chào bạn. Saying only Chào. to an older person sounds as abrupt as a nod.

xin chào is the polite, all-purpose hello. xin is the word that softens a phrase and makes it formal. You will hear Xin chào on television, at a hotel desk, and whenever someone addresses a room. With a stranger whose age you cannot judge it is the safe choice; between close friends it sounds distant. các bạn means 'you all', so Xin chào các bạn greets a whole group.

Chào chị.Hello (to a woman a little older than you).

The particle ạ

ạ is a tiny word with a heavy job. Put it at the very end of a sentence and the whole sentence turns respectful towards the listener. A younger person says Em chào anh ạ; a pupil says Em chào cô ạ. Use ạ with anyone older than you, with a teacher, and in a shop or an office. Adding it is never a mistake – dropping it where it belongs is what sounds rude.

Em chào anh ạ.Hello (politely, from a younger person to an older man).

chào also says goodbye: Chào anh at the door means 'bye'. The bookish word for goodbye is tạm biệt – you meet it in textbooks and formal letters more often than in the street. hẹn gặp lại means 'see you again' and is the warm way to close a meeting.