LinguaVietnamese has no all-purpose I
In English one word covers every situation: I. Vietnamese chooses the word for I out of a whole family of words, and the choice depends on who is standing in front of you. tôi is the neutral one, and it is the first one you learn.
bạn means you, and on its own it also means friend. It is the neutral you of textbooks, apps, adverts and song lyrics. Face to face, though, as soon as two people can see roughly how old the other one is, bạn gives way to a kinship word.
| Word | Meaning | Where you really hear it |
|---|---|---|
| tôi | I, neutral | with strangers, at work, on the phone, on forms |
| bạn | you, neutral | textbooks, apps, adverts, a stranger your own age |
| mình | I, and among friends also we | friends, couples, a warm register |
| tớ | I, young and casual | schoolmates, common in the north |
| cậu | you, young and casual, the partner of tớ | schoolmates, common in the north |
Chào bạn, tôi tên là Mai.Hello, my name is Mai.
tôi is neutral, not warm
tôi sets a polite distance. Two close friends who address each other with tôi and bạn sound like two colleagues writing an email. Among friends Vietnamese uses mình for I, or the pair tớ and cậu in the north, or simply each other's names.
Why kinship words take over
As soon as you can guess how old the other person is, Vietnamese expects the age word: anh, chị or em. That is the next lesson. There is also a third way out that beginners forget: leave the pronoun out altogether. Khỏe không? is already a complete question.
Bạn tên là gì?What is your name?
Words in this lesson
| Word | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| tôi | I, me (neutral) | Tôi là người nước ngoài. I am a foreigner. |
| bạn | you (neutral); friend | Bạn tên là gì? What is your name? |
| mình | I, me (warm, among friends) | Mình tên là Linh. My name is Linh. |
| tớ | I, me (casual, between young friends) | Tớ không biết. I don't know. |
| cậu | you (casual, the partner of tớ) | Cậu đi với tớ nhé. Come along with me. |
| gọi | to call, to address as | Người Việt gọi nhau theo tuổi. Vietnamese people address each other by age. |
| xưng hô | the way people address each other | Xưng hô đúng là phép lịch sự. Addressing people correctly is good manners. |
| ai | who | Người kia là ai? Who is that person over there? |
| người lạ | a stranger | Với người lạ thì dùng tôi. With a stranger, use tôi. |
Exercises
This lesson has 10 exercises in the app:
- multiple choice: 3
- fill the gap: 2
- match the pairs: 1
- build the sentence: 1
- translate the sentence: 2
- listen and type: 1
Try the first one
You are talking to a stranger at a counter. Which word do you use for *I*?
The answer, the other exercises, the audio and your progress are in the app – free at A0 and A1.