Lesson 8 Grammar

Lesson 8
Phaàn B - Chuù thích (Notes on Patterns)

B 1
Questions:

*Person*	*Have*	*Object*	*or Not*
Coâ Ba Anh chò Hoaøng Anh Chò aáy	coù " " " " "	rañioâ ñoàng hoà ti-vi tieàn naêm ñoàng choàng	khoâng? " " " " "

Yes/ No	Person	Have or Not have	Object
Coù, Khoâng coù, Coù, Khoâng coù, Coù, Khoâng coù	toâi toâi chuùng toâi toâi toâi chò aáy	coù khoâng coù coù khoâng coù coù khoâng coù	(rañioâ). (ñoàng hoà). (ti-vi). (tieàn). (naêm ñoàng). (choàng).

TöØ vöïng	Vocabulary
ñoàng hoà	watch, clock
tieàn	money
ñoàng	Vietnamese "piastre, dollar"
choàng	husband

*At place*	*have*	*Object*	*or Not*
ÔÛ lôÙp ÔÛ phoá ÔÛ tieåu bang naøy	coù " "ù	sinh vieân Vieät Nam hieäu aên Vieät thaønh phoá lôÙn	khoâng? " "

Answers:
Affirmative:

*Yes*	*At place*	*Have*	*Object*
Coù,	ôÛ lôÙp	coù	sinh vieân Vieät Nam.

Coù, ôÛ phoá coù hieäu aên Vieät.

Coù, ôùÛ tieåu bang naøy coù thaønh phoá lôÙn.

Negative:

No	*At place*	*Not have*	*Object*
Khoâng,	ôùÛ lôÙp	khoâng coù	sinh vieân Vieät Nam.

Khoâng, ôÛ phoá khoâng coù hieäu aên Vieät.

Khoâng, ôÛ tieåu bang naøy khoâng coù thaønh phoá lôÙn.

B 3
Note that, in a statement, chöa comes before the verb while roài comes at the end of the sentence.
Hear the Whole Drill

*Person*	*Have*	*Object*	*or Not yet*
Anh Caùc chò Baø aáy Coâ aáy	coù " " "ù	töØ ñieån ñoàng hoà tieàn choàng	chöa? " " "

Affirmative answer:

*Already / not yet*	*Person*	*(not yet) have*	*Object*	*Already*
Roài Chöa	(toâi) (toâi)	coù chöa coù	(töØ ñieån ) (töØ ñieån).	roài.

B 4
The world ñaõ is often used with chöa, whether action or description is involved.
Questions:
Hear the Whole Drill

*Person*	*Already*	*State*	*or Not yet*
Coâ Caùc anh Chò OÂng Baø noäi	ñaõ (coù) ñaõ ñaõ	meät ñoùi no giaø	chöa? " "
*Person*	*Already*	*Action*	*or Not yet?*
Anh aáy Chò OÂng baø noäi	( ñaõ) " "	ñi laøm hieåu aên saùng	chöa? " "

Affirmative Answer:

*Yes*	*Person*	*Already*	*State/ Action*	*Already*
Roài, Roài,	chuùng toâi toâi	ñaõ "	ñoùi hieåu	roài. "

Negative Answer:

No	*Person*	*Not yet*	*State / Action*
Chöa, " "	baø aáy toâi anh aáy	chöa chöa chöa	giaø. hieåu. ñi (laøm)

TöØ vöïng	Vocabulary
ñaõ Verb	already Verb, past
oâng baø noäi	paternal grandparents
ñi laøm	to go to work

B 5 Classifiers

Many things, especially objects, are classified according to what kind or shape of thing they are. If we want to talk about how many of a particular thing there are or any other definite specification, we have to use another noun, called a classifier, which states which category the object belongs to. For example, the most general classifier in Vietnamese is the one meaning 'thing'. To say 'the table' one says caùi baøn 'thing table' and to say there are two tables or four TV sets or three dictionaries, that is, when speaking of tables or TV sets or dictionnaries as discreet items, one says:

coù hai caùi baøn	have two (thing) tables
coù boán caùi ti-vi	have four (thing) TVs
coù ba quyeån/cuoán töØ ñieån	have three volume dictionaries

coù hai baøn	have two tables
coù boán ti-vi	have four TVs
coù ba töØ ñieån	have three dictionaries

General outline for classifier constructions when specifying definiteness:

*Qualifier*	*Classifier*	*Item*	*Modifier*
Number maáy bao nhieâu nhieàu, (moät) vaøi	*______*	*______*	ñoù/ñaáy naøy Adjective possessor

B 5.1
Here are some examples of some classes of things. Practice saying them.

Classifier	Item
quyeån cuoán quyeån/cuoán " ______ caùi " " " " " " " "	töØ ñieån saùch saùch hoïc vôÛ ______ buùt vieát vieát chì baøn gheá radioâ cöÛa cöÛa soå nhaø

TöØ vöïng	Vocabulary
nhieàu	many
(moät) vaøi	(a few), several
saùch	book
saùch hoïc	study text
	text book
vôÛ	notebook,
caùi	thing, general
	classifier
buùt (No.)	pen
caùi vieát (So.)	pen
buùt/vieát chì	pencil
baøn	table
gheá	chair
cöÛasoå	window
ngöôØi con trai	the grown son
ngöôØi con gaùi	the grown daughter
ñaøn oâng	men
ñaøn baø	women
ngöôØi ñaøn oâng	the man
ngöôØi ñaøn baø	the woman
ba ngöôØi vieân	three public
chöÙc	servants

B 5.2
A classifier can occur with only a number and/ or an adjective, that is, without the other noun, if the context makes it clar what thing the classifier refers to.
Hear the Whole Drill

Number

Classifier

Adjective

moät
saùu
taùm
______

taùm
moät
saùu
baûy
möôØi

ñöÙa
"
"
______

caùi
quyeån
"
"
"

lôÙn
nhoû
beù
______

lôÙn
beù
nhoû
môÙi
cuõ

TöØ vöïng	Vocabulary
moät ñöÙa lôÙn	one big one (child)
beù	be small
môÙi	be new
cuõ	be old (Of things)

B 6
Hear the Whole Drill

Person

Have

How many

Classifier

Item

Anh
"
______

Coâ aáy
"
______

Hoï
"
"
______

(Toâi)
Coâ aáy
Hoï

coù
"
______

coù
"
"
______

coù
"
"

maáy
"
______

maáy
bao nhieâu
"
______

hai
boán
moät

ñöÙa
"
______

quyeån
cuoán
______

caùi
"
"
______

ñöÙa
quyeån
caùi

con?
con gaùi?
______

töØ ñieån?
saùch?
______

baøn?
buùt?
nhaø?
______

(con gaùi).
(töØ ñieån).
(baøn)

B 7
Hear the Whole Drill

Person

How many

Years

Already

ÑöÙa con trai
ÑöÙa lôÙn
Em
______

maáy
bao nhieâu
"
______

taùm

tuoåi
"
"
______

tuoåi

(roài)?
"
"
______

(roài).

Note on kin terms and personal reference

Addressing people and referring to oneself or to others is a complicated business in Vietnamese. In general there are no pronouns such as 'you', 'she', 'he'. People refer to themselves and to others, including people they are talking to, in terms of the relationship that exists between the speaker and the hearer, the speaker and the third person referred to, or the hearer and the third person referred to. The relationship in these lessons are primarily those between speakers and hearer, speaker and hearers usually being the students of the language.

The basic unit in Vietnamese society is the family, and this factor plays an important role in the expression of personal relationships. Almost all terms of reference are kinship terms. In this way the language constantly reaffirms and maintains meaningful relationships. For example, a child referring to itself in speaking to its parents will use the kin term con meaning ' your child/ offspring'. An older brother referring to himself in speaking to a younger brother or sister will use anh ' older brother and address that younger sibling as em 'younger sibling'. If Mrs. A and Mrs.B, both young mothers are good friends, they will call each other chò "older sister and refer to themselves as em or toâi ' I (general)'; they will address each other's children by Chaùu 'niece, nephew', and in speaking to those chldren refer to themselves as dì , coâ or baùc ' mother's sister'. If John, from abroad, is a university student in Hanoi and goes to visit his good friend (anh) Phong, he addresses both Phong's parents in a very respectful way as baùc 'older uncle' (and "Mrs. older uncle'). He will address his male teachers as thaàøy' teacher, master' and address his female teachers as coâ 'respected aunt' and refer to himself as em or toâi. Teachers will address such a student as em or by his/her given name and will refer to themselves as thaày or coâ if the student is younger. If the students is old than the teacher, the teacher will address the students as anh or chò and refer to himself/herself as toâi.

Kin terms used in addressing people who are older than oneself (oâng, baø, anh, chò, coâ, boá, ba, me, maù, thaàøy, dì, chuù, thím, baùc, cuï, caäâu ) are often combined with aï (with dot under ) to make a more polite form of greeting:

' (Chaøo) oâng aï is' more respecful than 'Chaøo oâng 'and '(Chaøo) baùc aï' is more polite than 'Chaøo baùc'.

This chart gives most of the commonly used terms of address and reference. Almost all these terms are used as both 'you' and 'I' and most of them can be used to designate 'he' or 'she'.

Kinship terms and their use

	*kin meaning*	*Extended general meaning*
cuï	great grandfather/mother	(older) male friend of father, very old gentlemen.
oâng	grandfather	Mr., Sir
baø	grandmother	Mrs., Madam, older woman (respectful)
cha	father	priest( catholic, protestant)
boá, ba	father	older male colleague/friend (friendly, joking)
meï, maï, maù	mother	older female colleague/friend (friendly, joking)
baùc	uncle (father's older brother or wife of father's older brother.	older man/woman;inferior man (respectful)
chuù	uncle (father's younger brother)	male friend of father, same age man (polite)
thím	wife of father's younger brother	young married woman
coâ	father's sister	Miss, young woman, female teacher.
caäu	uncle (mother's brother), father	young male friend
dì	mother's sister	older female, female friend of mother
anh	older brother	male friend/acquaintance; male sweetheart
chò	older sister	female friend/acquaintance;
em	younger sibling	child, young friend/student, female sweetheart
con	offspring	young child of friend
chaùu	grandchild; niece, nephew	child of close friend/acquaintance.

Here are a few non-kin terms in common use:

thaày	male teacher, Buddhist monk, (sometimes father)
toâi	I (formely: your servant)
mình	self (more intimnate than toâi), you/we (intimate)