Common Formal Forms
of Address in Vietnamese (Outside the home)
Pronoun
Vietnamese
equivalence
How to
use it
First person
(singular)
Toâi Tao *
Refer to yourself (formal)
Refer to yourself with close friends
Second
person
(singular)
Coâ Em Anh Chò OÂng Baø Maøy *
Miss.
Miss, girl (younger than you).
Mr. (older than you).
Miss or Mrs. in formal address.
Mr., gentlement
Mrs., lady
Address between close friends (to use with Tao (I as a first person))
Third person
(singular)
Em aáy Anh aáy
OÂng aáy
boy (younger
than you).
Mr. (older than you or slighly younger than you in formal address).
Mr., gentlement (older than you or person in higher status.)
Em aáy Coâ aáy Chò aáy Baø aáy
Miss, girl
(younger than you)
Miss.
Miss or Mrs. in formal address.
Mrs., lady (older than you or person in higher status.)
Caùi ñoù
thing in
general
First
person
(plural)
Chuùng toâi Chuùng ta Tuïi em *
refer to a
group of yourselve
"
refer to a group of yourselve (informal term)
Second
person
(plural)
Caùc em Caùc anh Caùc oâng Caùc coâ Caùc chò Caùc baø Tuïi em *
address to
boys&girls (younger than you).
a group of males (older than you).
a group of older males (Mr., gentlements)
a group of people (Miss)
a group of females (Miss or Mrs.).
a group of older females (Mrs., ladies)
boys and girls (younger than you - informal term)
address to a
group of people (in general) a group of friends (younger than you).
a group of friends
a group of friends
"
"
"
a group of people (in informal term)
"
Note!! *'s indicate that pronouns are not in the formal form of address.
Created by Hieu Nguyen
Dan Dan Tu
Audio by Trung Van Vo
