Vietnamese Cumulative Up to Module 4 (or exam 1)

Vietnamese language family

Austro-Asiatic

Vietnamese is spoken by ___ people in Vietnam

99 million

Vietnamese is spoken by __ people overseas

5 million

Vietnamese is the __ most spoken foreign language in the United States

Fifth

Number of vowels in the Vietnamese alphabet

11

Number of consonants in the Vietnamese alphabet

22

Number of letters in the Vietnamese alphabet

29

First characteristic of the Vietnamese language

Vietnamese is a tonal language

Number of tones in the Vietnamese language

6

Second characteristic of the Vietnamese language

Vietnamese is mono-syllabic (mostly)

Second and a half characteristic of the Vietnamese language

Vietnamese has no inflection

Third characteristic of the Vietnamese language

Vietnamese words do not change their forms (no plural, no feminine, no tense)

Fourth characteristic of the Vietnamese language

Vietnamese has subject, verb, object word order; noun, adjective word order as welll

Fifth characteristic of the Vietnamese language

Function words indicate grammatical meaning, like time.

không dấu

unmarked accent

dấu sấc

high rising accent mark

dấu hôi

falling accent / question mark

dấu huyền

grave accent mark

dấu ngã

tilde

dấu năng

dot

thanh điêu

tones

xuống

low falling

lên

rising

không

flat

huyên

grave

gãy

broken

dấu

accent

năng

dot

la

to shout

lá

leaf

lả

droop, hang down

lạ

strange

là

to be

lã

plainwater

Đơn tiết

mono-syllabic

môt

word

Vowels

i, ê, e, a, â, ă, ơ, ư, o, ô, u

rising accent (key)

s (key)

grave accent (key)

f (key)

question mark accent (key)

r (key)

tilde accent (key)

x (key)

dot accent (key)

j (key)

có không

Construction used to form questions

S + có + P + không

General grammatical form used for có không questions

Vâng (uses)

Commonly at the beginning of an affirmative response,

Rule for when the predicate is expressed by có

It is not used twice, only in the grammatical form.

Không (textbook uses)

In the negative response, at the beginning and immediately before the predicate.

Predicate

The part of a sentence that contains a verb and an object.

Rule for when an adjective functions as the predicate of a sentence

It is treated as a verb and follows the noun immediately, no là necessary

S (noun or pronoun) + P (adjective)

Sentence structure of a simple adjective-as-verb sentence.

Là (use)

To link the subject with the identification preterite, which may be represented by a noun or a pronoun.

Hải là ai?

Who is Hải?

Frame construction for questions containing là

S + có phải là + Identification Preterite + không

Frame construction for negation to questions containing là

không / không phải + S + không phải là + Identification Preterite

Đay

Location pronoun to refer to anything close to the speaker.

Đay/dó

Location pronoun to refer to a location close to the listener.

Kia

Location pronoun to refer to something away from the speaker and the listener.

ai?

Interrogative pronoun that can function as the preterite, subject, or object in a sentence.

Ai có ô tô?

Who has a car?

Nga vẽ ai?

Who is Nga drawing?

Position of ai when the subject of a question.

The very beginning

Position of ai when the identification preterite.

Directly after là

Position of ai when the object

Directly after the verb

Position of an adjective when it modifies a noun.

After the noun; never before.

Thing that is important to remember about chào

The personal pronoun that comes after, as it is a sign of respect.

The best practice to know the personal pronoun that comes after chào

Ask someone who is Vietnamese

Chào

Hello or goodbye

Xin chào

More formal hello or goodbye

Normal things that go after chào

Personal pronouns or titles.

Xin hỏi

“May I ask you” sentence starter

Cho hỏi

“May I ask you” sentence starter

Xin lỗi

“Excuse me” sentence starter

Cám on (South)

Thanks (informal)

Xin cảm on

Thank you (more formal)

Cảm on >name<

Thank you, name

Cảm on ban/anh/chị

Thank you

Cảm on nhiều / rất nhiều

Thank you very much / so much

Cảm on nhé

Thank you (more friendly)

Không có chi

It was nothing! (Literally: you’re welcome)

Không có gi / Đau có gi

It was nothing! (Literally: you’re welcome) (Options for southern dialect)

Da (usage in responses to thanks)

A polite addition to the beginning of a response to thank you.

S + V + O

A basic affirmative sentence pattern

S + là + O

A basic affirmative “subject is” sentence pattern

S + không + V + O

A basic negative sentence pattern

S + không phải + là + predicate

A basic negative “is not” sentence pattern

S + không + adj

A basic negative adjective-as-verb sentence pattern.

S + (có) V + O + không?

A basic interrogative sentence pattern

S + có phải + là + predicate + không?

A basic “is subject” interrogative sentence pattern

S + (có) ADJ + không?

A basic adjective-as-verb interrogative sentence pattern

chị

elder sister; you

anh

elder brother; you

tôi

me; I

cũng

also, too

rât

very

vui

glad, happy

được

to have an opportunity

làm quen

to meet someone for the first time

với

with

làm quen với

to meet, to be introduced to someone

rất vui được làm quen với chị/anh

nice to meet you