LinguaOne question before you speak
Vietnamese makes you answer one question before the first word leaves your mouth: who is this person to me? The answer chooses two words at once – the one for them and the one for you. Everything in this unit fits into the table below.
| The other person | You call them | You call yourself |
|---|---|---|
| Your own age and just met | bạn | tôi |
| A few years older, a man | anh | em |
| A few years older, a woman | chị | em |
| Younger than you, and you are a man | em | anh |
| Younger than you, and you are a woman | em | chị |
| A female teacher | cô | em |
| A male teacher | thầy | em |
| Your parents' age, a woman | cô | cháu |
| Your parents' age, a man | chú | cháu |
| Clearly older than your parents | bác | cháu |
| Your grandparents' age, a man | ông | cháu |
| Your grandparents' age, a woman | bà | cháu |
The pair is fixed
The two words always arrive together. anh goes with em, chị goes with em, cô and thầy go with em at school, and chú, bác, ông, bà all go with cháu. So if you hear the word someone uses for you, you already know the word to use back.
Chị tên là gì? – Em tên là Lan.What is your name? – My name is Lan.
The same person, two different words
Nam is 25. Mai, who is 20, calls him anh. Hùng, who is 30, calls him em. Both are right at the same moment, because the word measures the distance between two people and not the person standing there.
Em chào anh ạ.Hello. (to a man a few years older)
Cháu chào ông ạ.Hello. (to a man of your grandfather's age)
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? |
| anh | older brother; a man older than you | Anh hơn em ba tuổi. You are three years older than me. |
| chị | older sister; a woman older than you | Chị tên là gì? What is your name? (to a woman older than you) |
| em | younger sibling; a person younger than you | Em tên là Mai. My name is Mai. (said by the younger person) |
| cô | a woman of your parents' generation; a female teacher | Em hỏi cô một câu ạ. May I ask you a question? |
| chú | a man of your parents' generation | Chú là bạn của bố cháu. You are a friend of my father. |
| ông | grandfather; an old man | Ông ngồi đây ạ. Please sit here. |
| bà | grandmother; an old woman | Bà kể chuyện rất hay. You tell stories beautifully. |
| cháu | I, me (a young person to an older one) | Cháu là học sinh ạ. I am a student. |
Exercises
This lesson has 11 exercises in the app:
- multiple choice: 4
- fill the gap: 2
- match the pairs: 1
- build the sentence: 1
- translate the sentence: 2
- listen and type: 1
Try the first one
Nam is 25 and Hùng is 30. What does Hùng call Nam?
The answer, the other exercises, the audio and your progress are in the app – free at A0 and A1.