Checkpoint: Time and days

What this unit gave you

You can now ask Mấy giờ rồi? and answer it to the minute, with rưỡi for the half hour and kém for the minutes that are still missing. You can name any day of the week by counting from chủ nhật, tie an action to a day with vào, and give a full date in the Vietnamese order, day before month before year. Everything in this unit rests on one habit: the number comes first and the unit word – giờ, phút, thứ, ngày, tháng, năm – comes after it.

The clock in one line

The number goes in front of giờ, the minutes go behind it with phút, and the part of the day closes the phrase because Vietnamese has no a.m. and no p.m. rưỡi replaces the thirty minutes on its own and takes no number after it. kém turns the count round: name the hour you are heading towards, then the minutes that have not arrived yet. Ten to four is bốn giờ kém mười, and there is no other way to read it.

Bây giờ là bốn giờ kém năm chiều.It is five to four in the afternoon.

Why Monday is number two

Because the counting starts one day earlier. chủ nhật opens the week and keeps its own name instead of a number, so the first numbered day is already the second: thứ hai. From there the count is mechanical up to thứ bảy, with the one shape you have to remember, thứ tư. Put vào in front of any of them to say when something happens, and drop it once you feel confident – Vietnamese speakers do.

A date runs from small to big

Day, then month, then year, each with its own word in front of the number. Months are numbered exactly like weekdays, so tháng plus a digit names all twelve, and the only irregular one is tháng tư. Written short, a Vietnamese date puts the day first: 15/6 is the fifteenth of June. And sinh nhật takes the same shape as any other date, because that is all a birthday is.

Hôm nay là thứ sáu, ngày 15 tháng 6.Today is Friday, the fifteenth of June.