Notes on patterns

Lesson 1
Phaąn B - Part B
Chuł thķch - Notes on Patterns
B 1 - Note on terms of Address and Reference

Except for the term toāi "I", Vietnamese has few pronouns. Even the term " toāi " at one time meant 'your servant', a polite way of referring to oneself. First, second, and third person distinctions are minimal in the language. In the context of most of the sentences in this text, term such as:

anh	(my) older brother
chņ	(my) older sister
em	(my) young sibling
coā	Miss (literally, 'my aunt'); female teacher
oāng	Sir (literally, 'my grandther')
baų	Madam (literally, 'my grandmother')
thaąy	male teacher

are used to address the person being spoken to and can all be translated into English as 'you' or 'your'. Later on you will learn that these same terms can mean 'he' or 'she' and , in particular contexts, even 'I', but in general they refer to the person being spoken to: 'you'. As might be expected, the last three and sometimes the fourth of these terms are more formal than the first four or three. More details in kinship terms and their use are in Lesson 8. It is more polite to use terms of address with 'Excuse me' than to use this expression by itself; that is

Xin loći coā, teān coā laų gģ? is more polite than Xin loći, teān coā laų gģ?

Chaųo by itself is not used at all. Also, when you use somebody's name, whether given or family name, it is usually better to procede the name with an appropriate term of address. However, do not do so when you give your own given name; that is, say

Teān toāi laų Mai not Teān toāi laų coā Mai.

Given names rather than family names are customarily used, even with Mr. and Mrs. More kinship terms see lesson 8. (In the labels for the sentences diagrams in these lessons, FULL CAPS designate a category in the sentence, small letters indicate the English meaning. Items in parentheses are optional in the context given.)

**Greet/beg pardon**	*Person*
Chaųo	oāng.
Xin loći	baų.
"	coā Taām.
"	anh Huy.
"	chņ.
"	thaąy.

B 2- Word Order in Sentences
In the phrases 'your name' and 'my name', notice that the word order in Vietnamese is different from that in English:

teān toāi	my name: name of me, name of mine
teān baų	your name: name of you (Mrs.)
teān anh	your name: name of you (Mr., older brother)

Notice also that the word order in questions that have question "wh" (gģ 'what' and ai 'who') is the same order as in the answer to that question. That is, the question word comes in the same place as the word or phrase that answers the question, as you can see in B2.1. Compare B2.2 and B2.3, both of which have ai.

B 2.1
Hear the Whole Drill

	*Name*	*Person*	is	*What / Name*
	Teān	oāng	laų	gģ?
	Teān	baų	laų	gģ?
	Teān	anh	laų	gģ?
	Teān	chņ	laų	gģ?
	Teān	coā	laų	gģ?
Daļ	teān	toāi	laų	Nam
Daļ	teān	toāi	laų	Haų
Daļ	teān	toāi	laų	Pierre
Daļ	teān	toāi	laų	Hoa
Daļ	teān	toāi	laų	Lan

B 2.2
Hear the Whole Drill

**Here / There**	is	*Who / Person*
Ńaāy	laų	ai?
Kia	laų	ai?
Ńaāy	laų	oāng Harris
Kia	laų	baų Mai
Ńaāy	laų	thaąy Linh
Kia	laų	chņ Cułc
Ńaāy	laų	coā Barbara

Who is this?	This is Mr. Harris
Who is that?	That is Mrs. Mai

Hear the Whole Drill

	*Who*	is	*Nationality/name*
	Ai	laų	ngöōŲi Vieät?
	Ai	laų	ngöōŲi Myõ?
	Ai	laų	Linh?
	Ai	laų	oāng Giang?
(Yes)	*Person*	is	*Nationality/name*
Daļ	chņ Hoąng	laų	ngöōŲi Vieät
Daļ	toāi	laų	ngöōŲi Myõ
Daļ	kia	laų	Linh
Daļ	Ńaāy	laų	oāng Giang

Who is Vietnamese?	Hong is Vietnamese.
Who (which one) is Lan?	That (one over there) is Lan.

B 3
Hear the Whole Drill

*Person*	is	*Person*	*Country*
Toāi	laų	ngöōųi	UŁc
Toāi	laų	ngöōųi	Vieät
Toāi	laų	ngöōųi	Ca-na-da
Toāi	laų	ngöōųi	Thałi
*Person*	is	*Name*
Toāi	laų	Kim
Toāi	laų	Höōng
Toāi	laų	Brian
Toāi	laų	Amara

TöŲ vöļng	Vocabulary
Ca-na-ńa	Canada (Canadian)
**Remember: Do not say: Toāi laų anh Kim. But**: Toāi laų Kim.

B 4
Hear the Whole Drill

*Person*	is	*Person*	*Country*	*Not so*
Baų (aįy)	laų	ngöōųi	UŁc,	phaūi khoāng?
Anh	laų	ngöōųi	Nhaät,	phaūi khoāng?
Thaąy	laų	ngöōųi	Ca-na-da,	phaūi khoāng?
Coā (aįy)	laų	ngöōųi	Phałp	phaūi khoāng?

*Yes*	*Person*	is	*Person*	*Country*
Vaāng,	toāi	laų	ngöōųi	UŁc.
Phaūi,	baų aįy	laų	ngöōųi	UŁc.
Phaūi,	toāi	laų	ngöōųi	Nhaät.

No	*Person*	*Not so*	is	*Person*	*Country*
Khoāng,	toāi	khoāng phaūi	laų	ngöōųi	Ca-na-ńa.
Khoāng,	coā aįy	khoāng phaūi	laų	ngöōųi	Phałp.

TöŲ vöļng	*Vocabulary*
Nhaät	Japan (Japanese)
Phałp	France (French)

Baų laų ngöōŲi UŁc, phaūi khoāng?	You (Mrs.) are Australian, aren't you?
Baų aįy laų ngöōŲi UŁc, phaūi khoāng?	She (that woman) is Australian, isn't she?

*Name*	*Person*	is	*Name*	*Not so*
Teān	anh	laų	Robert	phaūi khoāng?
Teān	chņ	laų	Sue	phaūi khoāng?
Teān	anh aįy	laų	Nam	phaūi khoāng?
Teān	chņ aįy	laų	Lan	phaūi khoāng?
Teān	baų aįy	laų	Naźm	phaūi khoāng?

Answer: yes/no

Vaāng, teān toāi laų name.

Khoāng, teān anh aįy laų name.

Questions:	Answers:
Anh laų ngöōŲi nöōŁc naųo?	Toāi laų ngöōŲi Vieät (Nam)
Coā aįy laų ngöōŲi mieąn naųo?	Coā aįy laų ngöōŲi Baéc.

B 7
Note that cuõng is always before the verb.
Example:

Coā aįy cuõng laų ngöōŲi Vieät.

Toāi cuõng laų ngöōŲi Baéc.

The word coųn at the beginning of a sentence implies a contrast with what has been said before. In the conversations in this lesson it means 'and as for you...'or' and on the other hand..'

Toāi teān laų Haų.

Coųn oāng, oāng teān gģ?

Toāi laų ngöōŲi Anh.

Coųn baų, baų laų ngöōŲi nöōŁc naųo?

Anh aįy laų ngöōŲi Vieät.

Coųn anh, anh laų ngöōŲi Nhaät, phaūi khoāng?

Ńaāy laų chņ Anh.

Coųn kia laų chņ AŁnh.