Making Telephone call: Gọi điện thoại

Talking on the phone in Vietnamese slightly the same as in English.

1. Answer the phone: Trả lời điện thoại.

When we pick the phone up, we usually say:
- Alo (Hello),
Tú xin nghe, ai gọi đấy nhi?
Tú's speaking, who's calling please?


When you make a phone call, you can say:

Hello, this is Nam' speaking. Can/May I speak to Mr/Mrs/Ms....?
Xin chào, tôi là Nam. Cho tôi nói chuyện với ông / bà, chị ...?

When you not sure whether the person from the other line is the one you want to talk to, you say:
Is that...?

Example:
Hello. Is that Martine?
Xin chào, có phải Martine không?

Yes, it's me.
Vâng, đúng là tôi đây.

No, wrong number.
Không, ông nhầm số rồi.

Sorry, He's not in.
Xin lỗi, Anh ấy không có ở đây.

Martine, it's for you.
Martine, Cuộc gọi của ông nè.

When you want to be transferred to other line, you say:

Hello. Will you please please put me to Room 2011?
Xin chào. Làm ơn nối máy cho tôi đến phòng 2011 được không?

Will you get me to extension 4, please
Làm ơn nối cho tôi tới máy lẻ số 4.

Note: Máy lẻ: Extension Number.
Nhân viên tổng đài: Operator.


When you want the other to hold the line, we can say:

Hold on, please! or Can you hold the line please?, Hang one please!
Xin vui lòng đợi máy.

Hello. This is Nam from ABC company, Is Mr. Crawford available?
Xin chào, Tôi là Nam từ công ty ABC. Ông Crawford có thể nghe điện thoại không?

Leave a message: Để lại lời nhắn.

May I leave a message?
Tôi có thể để lại lời nhắn được không?

Will you leave her a message?
Ông có muốn nhắn gì không?

Would you please tell her I called.
Làm ơn nhắn với cô ấy là tôi đã gọi nhé.

Hang up on sb: Gác máy / Dập máy.

I can't believe she hung up on me!
Tôi không thể tin là cô ấy đã dập máy với tôi.


May I call you some day?
Tôi có thể gọi cho anh ngày nào đó được không?

Of course.
Tất nhiên rồi.

What's your telephone number?
Số điện thoại của bạn là số mấy?

Đi xe buýt : On the Bus

Get on the bus to go shopping or commute around the city is normal to tourists.

1. Payment: Thanh toán

How much does it cost?
Vé hết bao nhiêu tiền?
The fare is a buck or the is one dollar.
Gía vé là 1 đo la.

How do I pay?
Trả tiền như thế nào?

Pay when you get on.
Trả tiền khi  bạn lên xe.

Put your money in the slot.
Bỏ tiền vào khe (của máy tính tiền)

Put your money right in the machine
Bỏ tiền vào máy.

2. time to travel: Thời gian di chuyển của xe.

How long does it take  (to the destination)?
Mất bao lâu để đến (nơi đích)?

It usually takes around twenty minutes.
Thường thì khoảng 20 phút để đến đó.

How many stops are there?
Từ đây đến đó có bao nhiêu trạm dừng?

There are 5 stops from here to downtown.
Có 5 điểm dừng từ đây đến trung tâm thành phố.

3. Where do you go to?: Ông đi đến đâu?

Please tell me where to get off.
Làm ơn cho tôi biết nơi ông xuống.

I will get off at City Square stop.
Tôi xuống trạm Quảng trường thành phố.

Please tell me one stop ahead.
Làm ơn cho tôi biết trước một trạm trước khi xuống.

Mua sắm: Go Shopping

When living in Vietnam, you have to go shopping for things. In this lesson, I will show you how to handle your shopping in Vietnamese.

1. Đổi tiền: Break the big money

When you buy things with amount smaller than the note you have, you have to ask for the change?

- Tiền Trả lại: Your change
Salesman: Ten dollars and twenty cents, please
Người bán hàng: 10 đô và  20 xu, thưa ông.

Customer: Will you break a 100 dollar bill?
Khách hàng: Anh có thể đổi tờ 100 đô không?

Salesman: Let me see, Yes, I think I can.
Người bán hàng: Để tôi xem. Vâng, tôi nghĩ là tôi có tiền trả lại

Salesman: Here your change, sir.
Người bán hàng: Tiền thối lại của ông đây.

In Vietnamese: Change can be Tiền thối lại mostly used in Center and South of Vietnam. Meanwhile, in the North, people tend to use "Tiền thừa, Tiền còn dư, or tiền trả lại".

2. Quên trả tiền: Forgot to pay the bill: 

Pay can be Trả tiền or Thanh toán (tiền)

Example:
Salesman: Hey, mister, you forgot to pay!
Người bán hàng: Thưa ông, ông quên trả tiền.

Customer: Oh, I'm terribly sorry. I was thinking how to get home in the heavy rain:
Khách hàng: Ồ, tôi vô cùng xin lỗi. Tôi đang mãi nghỉ làm sao tôi có thể về nhà khi trời đang mưa to.

Salesman: Yes, bad weather. Five dollar and fifty cents, please.
Người bán hàng: Vâng, thời tiết xấu quá, của ông hết 5 đo và 50 xu.

Heavy Rain: Mưa to, mưa nặng hạt, mưa lớn
Bad weather: Thời tiết xấu, Thời tiết chán quá.

3. Giờ mở cửa: Business hours

 

What time do you close?
Mấy giờ thì của hàng đóng cửa?

Salesman: (We will close at) 6:30 PM.
Người bán hàng: (Của hàng của tôi đóng cửa lúc) 6 giờ 30 tối.

What are your business hours?
Giở mở của cửa hàng là mấy giờ.

Salesman: From 8:00 AM to 9h00 PM.
Người bán hàng: Từ 8 giờ sáng đến 9 giờ tối.

4. Some basis sentence used during shopping.

Does this bus go downtown?
Xe buýt này có vào trung tâm thành phố không?

Sure it does!
Có chứ!

Get on, please!
Mời ông lên xe!

How much is it? or how much does it cost?
Hết bao nhiêu tiền? (of giá vé)

It costs one dollar.
Vé giá 1 đô.

Downtown is 10 stops from here.
Trung tâm thành phố cách đây 10 trạm (điểm dừng).

Please tell me where to get off.
Làm ơn cho tôi biết nơi xuống.


Please tell me one stop ahead.
Làm ơn cho tôi biết trước một trạm nhé.

I'm glad I can help you out.
Rất vui khi giúp được anh.

Predicative Elements: Vị ngữ

Vietnamese sentences have two main parts such as Subjective (Chủ ngữ) and Predicate Vị ngữ

Predicates usually start from the verbs that include the tense marker.

+ Be : Là
- Anh ấy là sinh viên: He is a student.
> Anh ấy: Subject
> Là sinh viên: Predicate

- Ông David và Ông Johnson là hai sinh viên Mỹ: Mr. David and Mr. Johnson are two American students.
+ Other verbs:
Aspect:
- Tháng sau tôi sẽ hai mươi tuổi: Next month, I'll be twenty years old.
> Tháng sau: Temporal aspect.
> Tôi: Subject
> sẽ hai mươi tuổi: Predicate

- Tôi sẽ đi: I'll will go.
- Chị ấy đã quên: She's forgotten.
 Present tense:
- Tôi hai mươi tuổi: I'm twenty years old.
- Tôi đi: I'm going.
- Chị ấy quên: She forgets.

Negatives in Predicative elements.

- There are some negative words in Vietnamese such as Không (Not),chẳng  or chả (definitely note), chưa (not yet) and chớ (Better not, don't)
Example:
- Cô ấy không có tiền: She has no money or She has not any money.
- Có ai thấy con chó ở đâu không?: Does any one see where the dog is?
Chẳng chè, chẳng chén sao say/ Chẳng thương, chẳng nhớ sao hay đi tìm?
-> No drink, no cup, how be drunk? / don't love, don't recall nostalgically, why so often go looking (fork saying)
- Chớ có uống rượu: You shouldn't drink liquor.
- Chị ấy chưa về: She hasn't returned home yet/

Family members between North and South of Vietnam

In a family, there are some ways to adress each other.

Father: Ba, bố, Cha, Thầy

In the north of Vietnam: Bố

in the South of Vietnam: Ba.

However, there are some derivations for the Father in Vietnamese such as: Tía, or cha used in the South and Cậu or Thầy used in the North

Mother: Mẹ, U, Ầm, Má

Similar to Father, Mother in Vietnamese also has some different equivalent words between the South and the North.

South: Má

North: Mẹ, sometimes used in the South

Derivation, in the North, there are some other ways to address Mother: U, Ầm, Mợ

Brother: anh trai, em trai

Older than you: Anh (trai)

Younger than you: Em trai.

Cousin: Anh họ, Em họ, Chị họ

Sister: Chị or em. 

Older than you: Chị (gái).

Younger than you: Em gái.

When you talk to you friend about you older brother or sister, we don't have to use the word "Trai" -Male or "Gái" - Female because "Anh" and "Chị" already imply gender. However, if you mention you younger brother or sister without the word "Trai" or "Gái", your audience will not know when gender of the person you are talking about.

Aunt: This word has some meaning as follows:

+ in the North:

- Dì: your mother's younger sister.

- Cô: your father's younger sister.

- Mợ: your mother's younger brother's wife.

- Thím: to address to your father's younger brother's wife

+ In the South or centre region of Vietnam

- Dì: used for both your mother's younger and older sister.

- Cô: used for both your father's younger and older sister.

- Mợ: your both mother's older and younger brother's wife

- Thím: to address to your father's younger brother's wife.

Older Aunt: your mother's or father's older sisters. Bác or Bá

Uncle: Chú or Bác, Dượng, Cậu

- Chú: for you father's younger brothers

- Bác: for your father's older brothers.

- Dượng: used in the centre and South only. This title is used for your mother's younger or older sisters' husbands and your father's younger or older sisters' husbands.

- Cậu: 

In the North: Your mother's younger brother

In the South and Centre: For both your mother's younger and older brother.

Oldest brother: 

North: Anh lớn, Anh cả

South: Anh Hai

Youngest Brother or sister: Em út

Oldest sister: 

North: chị lớn, chị cả

South: Chị Hai

In the South and Centre: Nephew and niece usually address their mother or father's sibling by the ordinal number:

Chú ba: Your father's younger brother born right after your father

Bác hai, Your father's older brother born right before your father.

In-law is used to call a female person that married to your male members in your family.

Mother in-law: Mẹ chồng

Father in-law: Cha chồng, bố chồng

Daughter in-law: Con dâu:

Sister in-law: Chị dâu or Em dâu.

Brother in-law: Anh rễ, Em rễ.

Son in-law: Con rễ

Grandchild in-law: Cháu rễ, cháu dâu (Used for grandpa address to sons' children's wife or husbands.

Nephew in-law: Cháu rễ, Cháu dâu

Niece in-law: Cháu rễ, cháu dâu:

Derivatives in Vietnamese

Derivatives is a way that language can expand its lexicons like English or other languages in the world.
In Vietnamese, Derivatives are called Từ Phái Sinh.

The great majority of derivatives are reduplicative :Từ láy

Rules of reduplicative:

A reduplicative should contain at least two words, the longest reduplicative has four words ; in some case, it's formed by three words (sạch sành sanh: completely clean or empty).

There are two required parts in reduplicative: Repetition (Lặp or Điệp) and changing parts (Đối).

Types of reduplicative:

Tonal affixes: two words have the same base but different tones:
Example: Bứ-bự (Very big)
Đen đẻn: Be rather black

Vocalic affixes: The vowel of the second word is different.
Lếu láo: be ill mannered. ếu differs from áo and the repetition is L's

Rhyme affixes: The second parts of the two words are the same.
Khóc lóc: Cry
Bối rối: be uneasy.

Alliterative affixes: The initial bases are the same;
La lết: be with much pain or difficulty
Rõ rệt: be very clear

Tones in Vietnamese Language

Tones in English are used to express the feelings of speakers or writers; Vietnamese Tones affects the meaning of the word itself.

There are six tones in Vietnamese as follows:

Sắc is high and rising
Symbol: ´
Example: You can see it in Sắc, Đá (stone or kick); Táo (apple)

Ngã: high and rising like Sắc; however, it pauses and last a little bit longer.
Symbol: ˜ : 
Example: You can see it in Ngã, Bão (storm); sữa (Milk), cũng (likewise)

Ngang tone is lax;
Symbol: there is no mark above or below the words
Example: Ba (three); Răng (tooth); Nhanh (fast)

Note: ˇ as in sắc and ˆ as in Một or mập are not tones. they are a part of a vowel letter in Vietnamese such as Ê, Ô, Â, Ă,

Huyền: is also lax, starts quite low and strails downward toward the bottom of the voice range.
Symbol: ˋ 
Example: Thuyền (boat), bà (grandpa); nhà (House)

Hỏi tone is tense; it starts somewhat higher than Huyền and drops rather abruptly.
Symbol: ˀ  
Example: mỏi (tired); tỏi (garlic); giỏi (talented);

Nặng is also tense; it starts somewhat lower than Hỏi.
Symbol: . ; this tone is placed under the vowel letters or under Y that stands alone.
Example: Nặng (Heavy); Mạnh (Strong); quỵ ( as in đột quỵ - Stroke)

Compare the meaning of the word when we change the tones.

Nha: Chinese based word: Means dental
Nhà: Huyền Tone is added: it means a house
Nhá: A exclamation word, like please or reminder
Nhã : as in nhã nhặn (Polite)
Nhạ : (no meaning)
Nhả : (Release)

Tones are used to change the meaning of the word root. Please try to learn and use them regularly.