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ОглавлениеBasic Vietnamese Grammar
Vietnamese is written in the Roman alphabet and it is usually considered a monosyllabic language. Each single word (or syllable) can be formed by at least a vowel or vowel cluster and consonant and a tone marker. In this introductory basic grammar, we will look at the structural formation of words (single and compound) and sentences.
A. The Vietnamese Alphabet
There are 29 letters in the Vietnamese alphabet.
| I. | Vowels (V): There are 12 vowels: a, ă, â, e, ê, i, y, o, ô, ơ, u, ư. | |||
| II. | Consonants (C): There are 17 single consonants and 11 consonant clusters: | |||
| 1. 17 single consonants: b, c, d, đ, g, h, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, x. | ||||
| 2. 11 consonant clusters: ch, gh, kh, nh, ph, th, ng, ngh, gi, tr, qu. | ||||
| 3. Final consonants: only 8 can appear in the final position: p, c, m, n, t, ch, nh, ng. | ||||
| III. | Tone markers (T) | |||
| There are six tones, but only five tone markers. Four of them are put above and one under a vowel or a vowel cluster. | ||||
| TONE MARKER | NAME | EXAMPLE | MEANING | |
| a à ả ã á ạ | dấu ngang dấu huyền dầu hỏi dấu ngã dấu sắc dấu nặng | ma mà mả mã má mạ | ghost which tomb horse cheek rice seedling |
B. Word Forms
Single words:
A Vietnamese single word can be formed in one of the following four ways:
| a. | A vowel or vowel cluster with or without a tone marker. | ||
| Examples: | ô! | (oh!) | |
| ai | (who) | ||
| áo | (shirt) | ||
| b. | A vowel or vowel cluster with or without a tone marker plus a final consonant. | ||
| Examples: | ăn | (to eat) | |
| uống | (to drink) | ||
| ấm | (warm) | ||
| c. | An initial consonant plus a vowel or vowel cluster with or without tone markers. | ||
| Examples: | da | (skin) | |
| dạ | (yes) | ||
| dao | (knife) | ||
| d. | An initial consonant plus a vowel or vowel cluster with or without tone markers and a final consonant. | ||
| Examples: | cơm | (cooked rice) | |
| thương | (to love) | ||
| soạn | (to prepare) | ||
| buồn | (sad) |
The following chart is a summary of the structure formation of a single word/syllable:
a. V (T) b. C1V (T) c. V (T) C2 d. C1V (T) C2
Notes:
V is a vowel or vowel cluster.
T is a tone marker.
C1 is an initial consonant.
C2 is a final consonant.
Compound words
Two or more single words join together to form a compound word. There are three kinds of compound words according to semantic criteria.
Conjunctive compound words
A conjunctive compound word is formed by two different single words.
Reduplication compound words
A compound word may be formed by the reduplication of the entire stem, or by a part of it affixed to itself, or by a meaningful single word plus a meaningless structural element.
| Examples: | ||
| SINGLE WORD | COMPOUND WORD | |
| a. | nhỏ | nho nhỏ (slightly small) |
| xanh | xanh xanh (slightly blue) | |
| ngày | ngày ngày (everyday) | |
| b. | nhỏ | nhỏ-nhoi (unimportant) |
| nhanh | nhanh-nhẹn (quickly) | |
| vui | vui-vẻ (pleasant) | |
| c. | mua | mua-sắm (to buy) |
| khóc | khóc-lóc (to cry) | |
| xơ xác | xơ-xơ xác-xác (all ragged) | |
| ngày xưa | ngày xửa ngày xưa (once upon a time) |
Free compound words
A free compound word is formed by two or three single words, which do not follow the above formation. There are not many free compound words in Vietnamese.
| Examples: | ||
| cà-lăm (stammer) | ||
| bất thình lình (suddenly) | ||
| ấn loát (printing) | ||
| Important notes | ||
| 1. | Vietnamese words never change in number, gender, person or tense. Plurality in Vietnamese is expressed by a limited number of words called plural markers (number) which always precede the invariable names. | |
| 2. | More than half of Vietnamese words are derived from Chinese. Therefore, there are often two words to designate the same thing, one coming from Chinese and the other being pure Vietnamese. | |
| 3. | The Vietnamese words may be classified as follows: noun, pronoun, verb, adverb, adjective, conjunction, preposition, numeral, exclamation, adverbial particle. | |
| 4. | Idioms are phrases with a fixed structure. They have a special formation with rhythms. | |
| Examples: | ||
| Tiền rừng bạc bể | (very rich) | |
| Ba chìm bảy nổi | (up-and-down) | |
| Một nắng hai sương | (hardworking life) |
C. The Basic Sentence Structure
A sentence is made up of one or more phrases. It provides a complete expression of meaning. It expresses a statement, a question, a command or an exclamation. In the written form it begins with a capital letter and ends with a full stop, a question mark or an exclamation mark. Sometimes a sentence may not have a subject or a verb.
Phrases
A phrase is a compound of two or more words which together make up a particular element of a sentence (e.g. the subject or the predicate). There are four types of phrases: noun phrases, verb phrases, adjectival phrases and adverbial phrases.
Examples:
Hai người thanh niên đang đẩy một chiếc xe hơi.
Hai người thanh niên is a noun phrase.
đang đẩy một chiếc xe hơi is a verb phrase.
Simple sentences
The simple sentence is made up of a subject and a predicate. The subject and the predicate can be simple words or phrases. A simple sentence normally consists of two main parts, a subject and a predicate.
| Examples: | ||
| subject | predicate | |
| Ông Nam | vui. (Mr Nam is happy.) | |
| Xe tôi | chạy nhanh. (My car runs quicky.) | |
| Bạn tôi | đã mua sách. (My friend bought some books.) | |
| Cô ấy | học tiếng Việt không? (Does she learn Vietnamese?) | |
| Tôi | 20 tuổi. (I’m 20 years old.) |
In a simple sentence, there may be more than one subject or predicate.
| Examples: | |
| a. | Ông Nam và tôi đã đi ăn cơm Việt Nam. |
| (Mr Nam and I have had a Vietnamese meal.) —2 subjects + a predicate | |
| b. | Sinh viên sẽ học nghe, nói, đọc, viết tiếng Việt. |
| (Students will learn to listen to, speak, read and write Vietnamese.) —a subject + 4 predicates |
Optional parts of sentences
Many sentences have an optional part of a sentence which is dependent on the main part; it modifies the whole sentence. It cannot, therefore, stand independently as a sentence. The optional part can be an adverb or adverbial phrase of time, place, manner, purpose.
The optional part of a sentence may be put at the beginning of a sentence or at the end, but in Vietnamese, 80% of them have to be put at the beginning of a sentence.
| Examples: | ||
| OPTIONAL PARTS | MAIN PARTS | |
| Ngày Thứ Hai, | tôi sẽ đi học. | |
| (On Monday | I will go to school.) | |
| Ở trên bàn | có 3 quyển sách. | |
| (On the table, | there are three books.) | |
| or | ||
| Có 3 quyển sách | ở trên bàn | |
| (There are three books on the table) | ||
| Tôi sẽ đi học | ngày Thứ Hai. | |
| (I will go to school | on Monday.) |
Compound sentences
A compound sentence is made up of two simple sentences linked by a conjunctive particle.
| Examples: | ||
| 1. | Vì hôm nay trời đẹp nên tôi đi chơi. | |
| (Because it is a beautiful day, I am going out.) | ||
| – Hôm nay trời đẹp | is a single sentence. | |
| – Tôi đi chơi | is a single sentence. | |
| – Vì… nên… | is a conjunctive particle. | |
| 2. | Trong khi mẹ tôi làm việc thì em tôi học bài. | |
| (While my mother is working, my younger brother is studying.) | ||
| – Mẹ tôi làm việc | is a single sentence. | |
| – Trong khi… thì… | is a single sentence. | |
| – Em tôi học bài | is a conjunctive particle. |
