VIETNAMESE

LONDON ORIENTAL AND

AFRICAN LANGUAGE LIBRARY

Editors
Theodora Bynon
David C. Bennett
School of Oriental and African Studies
London

Masayoshi Shibatani
Kobe University

Advisory Board
James Bynon, Bernard Comrie, Judith Jacob, Gilbert Lazard,
Christian Lehmann, James A. Matisoff, Vladimir P. Nedjalkov,
Robert H. Robins, Christopher Shackle

The LONDON ORIENTAL AND AFRICAN LANGUAGE LIBRARY aims to make

available a series of reliable and up-to-date descriptions of the grammatical structure of a
wide range of Oriental and African languages, in a form readily accessible to the non-
specialist. With this in mind, the language material in each volume will be in roman script,
fully glossed and translated.
The Library is based at the School of Oriental and African Studies of the University of
London, Europe's largest institution specializing in the study of languages and cultures of
Africa and Asia. Each volume is written by an acknowledged expert in the field who has
carried out original research on the language and has first-hand knowledge of the area in
which it is spoken.

Volume 9

Nguyen Dình-Hoà

Vietnamese
VIETNAMESE
TIENG VIET KHÔNG SON PHAN

NGUYEN DÌNH-HOA
Southern Illinois University, Carbondale

JOHN BENJAMINS PUBLISHING COMPANY

AMSTERDAM/PHILADELPHIA
 The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
American National Standard for Information Sciences — Permanence of
Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Nguyen Dình-Hoa, 1924-
Vietnamese = Tieng Viet Khong Son Phan / Nguyen Dinh-Hoa.
p. cm. -- (London Oriental and African language library, ISSN 1382-3485 ; v. 9)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Vietnamese language-Grammar. I. Title. II. Series.
PL4374.N427 1997
495.9'228421-dc21 97-4965
ISBN 90 272 3809 X (Eur.) / 1-55619-733-0 (US) (alk. paper) CIP
© Copyright 1997 - John Benjamins B.V.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, or any
other means, without written permission from the publisher.
John Benjamins Publishing Co. • P.O.Box 75577 • 1070 AN Amsterdam • The Netherlands
John Benjamins North America • P.O.Box 27519 • Philadelphia PA 19118-0519 • USA
 CONTENTS

Preface ix
Chapter 1. Introduction 1
1.1 Vietnamese as a national language 1
1.2 Affinity with Chinese 2
1.3 Genetic relationship 2
1.4 Class-related dialects? 4
1.5 Language and religion 5
1.6 History of the language 5
1.7 Writing systems 6
1.8 Diversity 9
1.9 Kinesics 11
1.10 Syllabic Structure 11
1.11 Morphemes, words and larger sequences 15
Chapter 2. The sound system 17
2.0 An isolating language 17
2.1 Syllabic structure 18
2.2 Number of possible syllables 28
2.3 Below the syllable 28
2.4 Syllable boundaries 30
2.5 Stress and intonation 31
2.6 Earlier records and recent reforms 33
Chapter 3. The lexicon 35
3.0 The word in Vietnamese 35
3.1 Monosyllables and polysyllables 35
3.2 Full words vs. empty words 36
3.3 Sino-Vietnamese (Hán-Viêt) 36
3.4 Morphemes 38
3.5 The simple word 40
3.6 Morphological processes 41
3.7 Reduplications 44
Chapter 4. The lexicon (continued) 59
4.0 Affixation and compounding 59
4.1 Prefixes 60
4.2 Suffixes 63
vi CONTENTS

4.3 Compounding 66
4.4 More on Sino-Vietnamese 76
4.5 Other foreign borrowings 78
4.6 Nominalization 79
4.7 Unanalyzed forms 81
4.8 Concluding remarks about the unit called tieng 81
Chapter 5. Parts of speech 83
5.0 Parts of speech 83
5.1 Nouns 88
5.2 Locatives 98
5.3 Numerals 101
Chapter 6. Parts of speech (continued) 107
6.0 Predicatives 107
6.1 (Functive) Verbs 108
6.2 Stative verbs 119
6.3 Substitutes 123
Chapter 7. Parts of speech (continued) 139
7.0 Function words 139
7.1 Adverbs 140
7.2 Connectives 162
7.3 Particles 165
7.4 Interjections 168
7.5 Multiple class membership 168
Chapter 8. The noun phrase 171
8.0 Phrase structure 171
8.1 The noun phrase 172
Chapter 9. The verb phrase 185
9.0 The verb phrase 185
9.1 Preverbs 186
9.2 The relative positions 188
9.3 Postverbs 189
9.4 The complement before and after the head verb 197
9.5 The di.... ve construction 198
9.6 The positions of postverb determiners 199
9.7 The adjectival phrase 200
9.8 Coordination
 CONTENTS VII

Chapter 10. The sentence 209

10.0 The sentence as unit of communication 209
10.1 The simple sentence 209
10.2 The subject-less sentence 210
10.3 The sentence without a predicate 212
10.4 The subject-less sentence with a reduced predicate 213
10.5 The kernel <S-P> sentence 213
10.6 Adjuncts to the kernel <S-P> sentence 224
10.7 Sentence expansion 230
Chapter 11. The sentence (continued) 233
11.1 Types of sentences 233
11.1.1 The affirmative sentence 233
11.1.2 The negative sentence 233
11.1.3 The interrogative sentence 237
11.1.4 The imperative sentence 242
11.1.5 The exclamatory sentence 243
11.2 The compound sentence 244
11.2.1 Concatenation of simple sentences 244
11.2.2 Correlative pronouns 245
11.2.3 Connectives of coordination 245
11.3 The complex sentence 251
11.3.1 The embedded completive sentence 251
11.3.2 The embedded determinative sentence 253
Appendix 1. Parts of speech 256
Appendix 2. Texts 257
1. Folk verse about the lotus 257
2. Excerpt from a novel 258
3. Excerpt from a newspaper advertisement 261
Bibliography 263
Index 276
 PREFACE

This is not a complete grammar of Vietnamese, but only an essential,

descriptive introduction to a Southeast Asian language that has over seventy
million speakers. It is based on lecture notes I prepared for Vietnamese
language and grammar classes taught in several institutions, including
Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, where I had to earn my rice by
means of courses in general and applied linguistics as my main teaching load
between 1969 and 1990.
The book gives a conservative treatment to phonology, lexicon, and
syntax, with relevant comments on semantics and a few historical remarks,
particularly in connection with the writing systems, the loanwords and the
syntactic structures.
Being a native speaker of it, I have made sure I trust less my intuition
than the early analyses undertaken by pioneer linguists from France, Great
Britain, the USA, and Vietnam itself. I am particularly indebted to Le Van
Ly, Murray B. Emeneau, Andre Haudricourt, Patrick Honey, R. B. Jones &
Huynh Sanh Thong, and Laurence C. Thompson, etc. for their works, that
appeared in the 1950s, as well as to the next wave of grammarians of
Vietnamese (Bui Dúc Tinh, Truong Van Chinh, Nguyen Hien Le, Nguyen
Qui-Hung, Duong Thanh Binh, Dào Thi Hoi, Nguyen Dang Liem, Buu Khai,
Pham Van Hai, Tran Trong Hai, Marybeth Clark, etc.), whose publications
came out in the 1960s and 1970s.
While having the advantage of consulting nearly all the excellent
monographs and journal articles produced by French authors of the last
century as well as by Vietnamese academics around the Institute of
Linguistics (established in Hanoi in 1969) , I was handicapped in not being
able to use the voluminous research work by Russian linguists—my foreign
language baggage being limited to French, English and Chinese, with only a
smattering of Latin, Spanish and Thai. Luckily, the relevant courses (in
x PREFACE

general linguistics, English grammar, ESL methodology, Vietnamese

grammar, language planning, and lexicography) at SIU-Carbondale, provided
me with opportunities to do several contrastive analyses and to learn first-
hand from many native speakers of non-European languages, including
Chinese, Japanese, and such Southeast Asian systems as Thai, Khmer and
Malay-Indonesian. I am thus very grateful for such an enriching exposure to
a large variety of typological and areal features.
Next I would be remiss if I failed to mention the highly significant
contributions of my esteemed colleagues of the Saigon Branch of S.I.L.
(Summer Institute of Linguistics), including those who did field work on the
minority languages in South Vietnam between 1957 and 1975: I certainly
benefited from various insights offered by Richard Pittman, David Thomas,
Kenneth Gregerson, Jean Donaldson, Richard Watson, Ralph Haupers, to
name only a few, regarding the salient features of Vietnamese in contrast
with other languages of the region.
I am also indebted to the French Bibliothèque Nationale, the British
Library, and Japan's Toyo Bunko Library, to several stateside libraries that
have respectable Southeast Asia holdings, and to the Fu Tsu-Nien Library of
Academia Sinica in Nankang, Taipei, for many valuable materials. Finally
my thanks go to Professors Theodora Bynon, Matt Shibatani and David
Bennett of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London,
where I spent my first sabbatical leave in 1975, and to the editors of John
Benjamins Publishing Company in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, for their
extremely helpful assistance in editorial matters.
I fervently hope that this monograph—meant to be titled "Vietnamese
Without Veneer" following my former supervisor Andre Martinet's Le
Francais sans fard—will help both teachers and students of Vietnamese in
different institutions of higher learning as well as in secondary and primary
schools around the world. This compact sketch of the workings and functions
of a truly wonderful tongue is dedicated first of all to my parents, uncles and
aunts, brothers and sisters, cousins, children and grandchildren, and beyond
the Nguyen clan, to all my former teachers of language and literature (in
Vietnam and abroad), and last but not least to all my former students.

Nguyen Dình-Hoa
 Chapter 1
Introduction

1.1 Vietnamese as a National Language

The language described here is known to its native speakers as tiêhg Viêt-
nam, tiêhg Viet, or Viêt-ngũ, and is used in daily communication over the
whole territory of Vietnam, formerly known as the Empire of Annam (whose
language was known as "Annamese" or "Annamite"), It is the mother tongue
and the home language of the ethnic majority: the seventy-five million
inhabitants who call themselves nguòi Viêt or nguòi kinh, and who occupy
mainly the delta lowlands of the S-shaped country. The other ethnic groups
such as Cambodians, Chinese, Indians, and the highlanders (once called
"montagnards"inFrench, and now referred to as dông-bào Thuong, dân-tôc
thhếu-sô, dân-tôc ít nguòi in Vietnamese) also know Vietnamese as the
mainstream language and use it in their daily contacts with the Vietnamese,
Neighboring Kampuchea (or Cambodia), Laos and Thailand all have
Vietnamese settlements, just as the greater Paris area and southern France as
well as former French territories in the Pacific (New Caledonia, New
Hebrides) and in parts of Africa can count thousands of Vietnamese settlers.
In addition, over two million people have during the past twenty-odd years
chosen to live overseas---in France, Great Britain, Germany, Switzerland,
Denmark, Norway, the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, etc. A
large number among those recent expatriates—for instance 1,115,000 in
North and South America and 386,000 in Europe, according to the United
Nations---left their country following the fall of South Vietnam in 1975.
After settling in those host countries, they have been trying to preserve their
native language as part of their cultural heritage to be handed down to
second- and third-generation community members through both formal
instruction offered on weekends and active participation in educational and
2 VIETNAMESE

cultural activities organized on festive occasions and traditional holidays.

Formal courses in the Vietnamese language are taught in a number of foreign
universities (in France, England, Germany, the United States, Australia,
Japan, China, etc.), and some secondary schools in France, Australia and the
U.S., etc. allow their students to choose Vietnamese as a foreign language.

1.2 Affinity with Chinese

Vietnam was ruled by China for ten centuries, from 111 B.C. to A.D. 939:
hence many Chinese loanwords have entered the Vietnamese scholarly,
scientific and technical vocabulary. Indeed, until the early decades of the
twentieth century, Chinese characters were used in the local system of
education (with Confucian classics being the prescribed books for the
grueling literary examinations that used to open the door to officialdom), and
the Chinese script served at the same time as the medium of written
communication among the educated people (like Latin in medieval Europe)
and the vehicle of literary creations either in verse or in prose. This
predominant role of written Chinese in traditional Vietnam has often led to
the hasty statement that Vietnamese is "derived from Chinese" or is "a dialect
of Chinese". This is not true: Vietnam was merely under the cultural
influence of China, just as Japan and Korea also owe several features of their
culture to Sinitic culture. In fact, like Japanese and Korean, Vietnamese is
not genetically related to Chinese.

1.3 Genetic Relationship

Vietnamese belongs instead to the Mon-Khmer stock—that comprises Mon,

spoken in Burma, and Khmer (Cambodian), which is the language of
Kampuchea, as well as several minority languages (Khmu, Bahnar, Bru, etc.)
of Vietnam—within a large linguistic family called the Austro-Asiatic family.
The latter, first mentioned by W. Schmidt [1907-08], includes several major
language groups spoken in a wide area running from the Chota Nagpur
plateau region of India in the west to the Indochinese peninsula in the east.
 INTRODUCTION 3

1.3.1 In 1924, Jean Przyluski, a French scholar, after comparing Vietnamese

with Miòng, a sister language spoken in the midlands of northern provinces
(Phú-tho, Son-tây, Hoà-bînh) and central provinces (Thanh-hoá, Nghe-an),
wrote that Ancient Vietnamese was closely related to the Mon-Khmer
languages, which have several affixes, but no tones. The similarities between
Vietnamese and Muòng can be seen in the following table as being closer than
the similarities between either of them and other Mon-Khmer tongues (Mon,
Khmer, Chrau, Bahnar and Ro-ngao, for example):

Viêt Muòng Mon Khmer Chrau Bahnar Rongao

EYE măt măt mat mat mat mat

NOSE mui muy muh cromuh muh muh muh
HAIR tóe thác sok sak sok sok
FOOT chân chon jon cong jon jen
CHILD con con kon koun con kon con
THREE ba pa Pi bej pe pen Pi
FOUR bon pon pan buon puôn puon pun
FIVE nam dãm pram pram podam bodăm
BIRD chim chim cem sêm cim
BUFFALO trail tlu krobej kpu
BETEL tràu tlu joblu mlu bolow bo1au
RIVER sông không klang krong krong

1.3.2 Another French scholar, Henri Maspero, also using etymology to

compare names of bodily parts (such as "neck, back, belly") among other
vocabulary items, placed Vietnamese in the Tai family, all members of
which—including Thai, or Siamese, the language of Thailand—are tonal.
Maspero stated [1912, 1952] that modern Vietnamese resulted from a mixture
of many elements, whose diversity is due to its long contacts with Mon-
Khmer, with Tai, and with Chinese.

1.3.3 Only in 1954 was André Haudricourt, a French botanist-linguist,

able to trace the origin of the Vietnamese tones, arguing that, as a non-tonal
language in the Mon-Khmer phylum at the beginning of the Christian era,
4 VIETNAMESE

Vietnamese had developed three tones by the sixth century, and that by the
twelfth century it had acquired all the six tones of modern Vietnamese, all
this at the cost of losing final consonants /-? , -h/. This explanation about
"tonogenesis" has thus enabled specialists to state fairly safely the genetic
relationship of the Vietnamese language: together with Muòng, the language
of Vietnam forms the Viêt-Muòng group within the Mon-Khmer phylum of
the Austro-Asiatic family.

1.4 Class-related Dialects?

Up to the late nineteenth century, traditional Vietnamese society comprised

the four classes of scholars, farmers, craftsmen, and merchants, with the class
of military men trailing behind (sĩ, nông, công, thuong, binh). The 80-year-
long French colonial administration, brought to an end in 1945, had created a
small bourgeoisie of functionaries and civil servants, physicians, lawyers,
pharmacists, compradores, importers and exporters, etc. within and around
major urban centers (Hanoi, Saigon, Håi-phòng). Until the mid 1950s the
language of the working masses of rice farmers and handicraftsmen in
rural areas retained dialectal particularities both in grammar and in
vocabulary, while that of city dwellers, including the inhabitants of Hanoi—
the capital city of the whole colony of French Indochina—accepted and
absorbed a large number of loanwords from both Chinese and French, the
latter being the official language during more than eight decades.
Since 1945, as the omnipresent tongue of wider communication,
Vietnamese has achieved greater uniformity thanks to marked progress in
education. Owing to increasing demographic and socio-economic mobility,
chiefly as a result of the migration of rural people toward Hanoi on the one
hand, and of the exodus from North Vietnam to south of the seventeenth
parallel following the 1954 Geneva Armistice Agreement, on the other hand,
differences among geographical and social dialects have lessened. Among
other things, Vietnamese has replaced French as the medium of instruction in
all the schools of the land, from kindergarten to the primary, secondary and
tertiary levels.
 INTRODUCTION 5

1.5 Language and Religion

Up to 90 percent of the population practice either the Mahayana "Great

Vehicle" or the Hinayana ''Little Vehicle" form of Buddhism although
traditionally the Vietnamese follow all the three major religions of C h i n a -
Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism (Phât, Nho, Lão)—as well as the
Buddhist sects Cao-dài and Hoà-hao in southern Vietnam, together with the
cult of spirits and the worship of ancestors Approximately 10 percent of the
population are Catholics, and more recently there has been an increasing
number of followers of various Protestant denominations. The Buddhist
church requires of its clergy advanced knowledge of Pali and Sanskrit,
although prayers in Mahayana temples are chanted in. a mixture of
Vietnamese and Sino-Vietnamese.
The language used by Christian priests and ministers sometimes reveals
distinctive features of local dialects, with natives of Bui-chu and Phát-diêm
districts in North Vietnam speaking the distinct "Catholic-accent" local dialect
of those areas. However, with the exception of the Taoist jargon in which a
spiritualist attempts to communicate with the spirits of the dead by means of
incantations and medium séances, there is no religious language which is
different from the ordinary language.

1.6 History of the Language

The history of Vietnamese was sketched by Maspero in his important 1912

article. He distinguished six stages:
1. Pre-Vietnamese, common to Vietnamese and Muòng prior to their
separation;
2. Proto-Vietnamese, before the formation of Sino-Vietnamese;
3. Archaic Vietnamese, characterized by the individualization of Sino-
Vietnamese (tenth century);
4. Ancient Vietnamese, represented by the Chinese-Vietnamese glossary
Hua-yi Yi-yu [Hoa-di Dich-ngũ] (fifteenth century);
5. Middle Vietnamese, reflected in the Vietnamese-Portuguese-Latin
dictionary by Alexandre de Rhodes (seventeenth century); and
6. Modern Vietnamese, beginning in the nineteenth century.
6 VIETNAMESE

1.7 Writing Systems

The language has made use of three different writing systems: first, the
Chinese characters, referred to as chü nho 'scholars' script' or chũ Hán
'Han characters', then the demotic characters called chũ nôm (< nam 'south')
'southern script', then finally the Roman script called (chü) quóc-ngü
'national language / script'.

1.7.1 Chü nho or chũ Hán

Chinese written symbols, shared with Japanese and Korean—the two other
Asian cultures that were also under Sinitic influence—for a long time served
as the medium of education and official communication, at least among the
educated classes of scholars and officials. Indeed from the early days of
Chinese rule (111 B.C. to A.D. 939) the Chinese governors taught the
Vietnamese not only Chinese calligraphy, but also the texts of Chinese
history, philosophy and classical literature (while the spoken language
absorbed a fairly large number of loanwords that were thoroughly integrated
into the recipient language).
The "Sino-Vietnamese" (Han- Viêt) pronunciation of those Chinese graphs,
which formed part of learnèd borrowings, is based on the pronunciation of
Archaic Chinese, taught through the scholarly writings of Chinese
philosophers and poets. Since these writings constituted the curriculum of an
educational system sanctioned by triennial civil service examinations, the vast
majority of peasants found themselves denied even a modicum of education
dispensed in private village schools. Often the schoolteachers were either
unsuccessful candidates in those examinations or scholars of literary talent
and moral integrity; who preferred the teaching profession to an
administrative career.

1.7.2 Chü nom

While continuing to use Chinese to compose luât-thi 'regulated verse' as

well as prose pieces, some of which have endured as real gems of
Vietnamese literature in classical wen-yen (văn-ngôn), Buddhist monks and
 INTRODUCTION 7

Confucian scholars, starting in the eleventh century, proudly used their own
language to produce eight-line stanzas or long narratives in native verse.
The "southern" characters, which they used to transcribe their compositions
in the mother tongue, had probably been invented from the early days when
Sino-Vietnamese, i.e. the pronunciation of Chinese graphs à la vietnamienne,
had been stabilized, that is to say, around the ninth or tenth century. At
any rate, thanks to the woodblock printing methods used within Buddhist
monasteries, nom writings were already prospering under the Tran dynasty
(1225-1400). Samples of these characters, which consist of Chinese graphs
(or their components and combinations) and which are often undecipherable
to the Chinese themselves, have been found on temple bells, on early stone
inscriptions as well as in Buddhist-inspired poems and rhyme-prose pieces
[Nguyên Dînh-Hoà 1990].
Over ten thousand such demotic characters appeared in Quôc-àm thi-tâp
'Collected Poems in the National Language', the seventh volume in the
posthumously published works (Uc-trai di-tap) by Nguyen Trai (1380-1442)
[Schneider 1987]. This 15th-century scholar-geographer-strategist-poet was
the great moving force behind Emperor Lê Loi's anti-Ming campaign (1418-
1428). His 254 charming poems in the vernacular, long thought to be lost,
yield ample evidence of early Vietnamese phonology, with many nôm
characters reflecting 15th-century Vietnamese pronunciation. It is worth
noting that some features of that pronunciation were still present in Middle
Vietnamese (see 1.6), as recorded in Dictionarium Annamiticum Lusitanum
et Latinum, the trilingual dictionary compiled by Alexandre de Rhodes—a
gifted Jesuit missionary from Avignon—and published two centuries later
(1651) in Rome [Gregerson 1969, Nguyên Dînh-Hoà 1986, 1991].

Some examples of nom characters follow:

(1) tài 'talent' Cf. Sino-VN tài with same meaning

(2) bùa 'written charm' Cf. Sino-VN phù with same meaning

(3) làm 'to do, make' [from Sino-VN lãm ]

8 VIETNAMESE

(4) mot '1' Cf. Sino-VN mot

(5) biet 'to know' Cf. Sino-VN biet

(6) mai 'new' Cf. Sino-VN mãi

(7) trai 'fruit'

(8) trài 'sky'

(9) tanh 'fishy'

(10) co 'grass'

*the initial cluster bl- of this phonetic compound is listed in the 1651
dictionary, together with trãng 'moon', whose g r a p h c o n t a i n s the same
presyllable ba followed by lãng.
**this character is a semantic compound, just like the character trùm
'(village) leader' or the character seo 'village crier'.

1.7.3 Chü quòc-ngü

Vietnam owes the Roman script called (chü) quòc-ngü to Catholic

missionaries from Portugal, France, Spain and Italy, who at first needed
some sort of transcription to help them learn the local language well enough
to preach the Gospel in it without the aid of interpreters, and in the next step
to give their new converts easy access to Christian teachings in
Vietnamese translation. The French colonialists, on the other hand, viewed
this romanization as a potential tool for the assimilation of their subjects, who
they hoped would be able to make a smooth transition from this sound-by-
sound transcription of their mother tongue in Latin letters to the process of
learning French as their "langue de culture". The quoc-ngü script proved
indeed to be an excellent system of writing that enabled Vietnamese speakers
to learn how to read and write their own language within a few weeks. Not
 INTRODUCTION 9

only did the novel script assist in the campaign against illiteracy, but it also
helped the spread of basic education and the dissemination of knowledge,
significantly introducing information about socio-political revolutionary
movements in Japan, in China-—and in European countries. Nowadays, quoc-
ngũ serves as the medium of instruction at all levels of education, and despite
its imperfections it has been groomed as the official conventional
orthography: conferences and seminars have been held before and after
reunification in 1976 to hear specialists from both zones discuss its
inconsistencies and recommend spelling reforms, to be carried out gradually
with a view to standardizing both the spoken and the written forms.

1.8 Diversity

1.8.1 Henri Maspero [1912] put Vietnamese dialects in two main groups:
on the one hand the Upper-Annam group, which comprises many local
dialects found in villages from the north of Nghe-an Province to the south
of, Thùa-thiên Province, and on the other hand the Tonkin-Cochinchina
dialect, which covers the remaining territory.
Phonological structure veers off the dialect of Hanoi, for a long time the
political and cultural capital of the Empire of Annam, as one moves toward
the south. In each of the three complex nuclei iê, uô, uo, for example, the
second vowel tends toward -â in the groups transcribed iêc /iâk/, iêng /iân/,
uôc /uâk/, uông /uân/, uoc /uâk/ and uong /uân/. The Vinh dialect, which
should belong to the Upper Annam group, has three retroflexes: tr- [ tr ]
affricated, s- [ S ] voiceless fricative, and r- [Z], the corresponding voiced
one. The Hue dialect, considered archaic and difficult, has only five
tones, with the hoi and ngã tones pronounced the same way with a long
rising contour. The initial z- is replaced by the semi-vowel /j-/, and the
palatal finals -ch and -nh are replaced by alveolars /-t/ and /-n/.
The phonemes of the Saigon dialect generally are not arranged as shown
in the orthography. However, the consonants of Saigonese present the
distinction between ordinary and retroflex initials. Also the groups iêp, iêm,
uôm, uop, uom are pronounced /ip, im, um, up, um/, respectively.
10 VIETNAMESE

Most dialects indeed form a continuum from north to south, each of them
somewhat different from a neighboring dialect on either side. Such major
urban centers as Hanoi, Hue and Saigon represent rather special dialects
marked by the influence of educated speakers and of more frequent contacts
with the other regions.

1.8.2 The language described herein is typified by the Hanoi dialect, which
has served as a basis for the elaboration of the literary language. The spoken
style retains its natural charm in each locality although efforts have been
made from the elementary grades up to nationwide conferences and meetings
"to preserve the purity and the clarity" of the standard language, whether
spoken or written. The spoken tongue is used for all contexts of oral
communication except public speeches, whereas the written medium, which
one can qualify as the literary style, is fairly uniformly used in the press and
over the radio and television, too.
After noticing the inconsistencies of the quôc-ngü script, early French
administrators and scholars tried on several occasions to recommend spelling
reforms. However, earnest efforts in standardization, begun as early as in
1945, moved ahead only since 1954, when the governments in both zones
established spelling norms—a task that was greatly facilitated by the increase
in literacy among thousands of peasants and workers both north and south of
the demarcation line between 1954 and 1975. There is a very clear tendency
to standardize the transliteration of place names and personal names borrowed
from foreign languages, as well as the transliteration and/or translation of
technical terms more and more required by progress in science and
technology. Committees responsible for terminology work, i.e. the coining
and codification of terms both in the exact sciences and in the human and
social sciences, have considerably contributed to the enrichment of the
national lexicon.
Members of the generations that grew up under French rule were
bilingual in Vietnamese (their home language) and French, but have
subsequently added English. The so-called generation of 1945, for whom
French ceased overnight to be the medium of instruction, read and write
English as well. During the 1954-1975 partition, because of the influence of
socialist countries, Russian as well as Mandarin Chinese became familiar to
 INTRODUCTION 11

classes of professors, researchers, cadres and students in the northern half of

the country, exposed to various currents of Marxist thought. South of the
demarcation line, on the other hand, secondary school students could choose
either French or English as first foreign language, to be studied for seven
years, then at the senior high school level add the other tongue as their second
foreign language in the three upper grades. French itself remained for many
years the official language in diplomatic and political circles. Chinese
characters continued to be taught as a classical language needed for studies in
Eastern humanities.
In the past two decades or so, such western languages as French and
English have again become increasingly popular among the student population
within the country while the young people in overseas communities have
adjusted themselves to nearly every foreign language spoken in their
respective countries of asylum and residence.

1.9 Kinesics

The kinesics of Vietnamese has not been studied in depth. Bodily postures
taught in the traditional society still subsist: one bows one's head when saying
greetings to a superior and avoiding eye contact, and the older folks still
prostrate themselves while offering prayers in front of the ancestral altar on
ceremonial occasions (weddings, funerals, New Year's Day, etc.) or inside a
shrine dedicated to Buddha, to Confucius, to Taoist deities, or to their
village's tutelary deity. Parents give a look of dissatisfaction and use clicks to
show disapproval. In the presence of strangers, an attitude of reserve is called
for, and children are taught to refrain from making hand gestures or even
raising their voices while trying to use proper terms of address and reference,
notably honorific formulas, most of which based on terms of family
relationship.

1.10 Syllabic Structure

Vietnamese is an isolating language, that is to say, it has more free forms than
bound forms. Each unit of form, often referred to as tiêhg (mot), is a syllable
(âm-tiêt).
12 VIETNAMESE

1.10.1 In the uniquely Vietnamese verse form called the "six-eight" (Juc­
hát) meter, a line of six syllables is followed by a line of eight syllables, thus

Thanh-minh trong tiet tháng ba,

Lê là tao-mô, hoi là dap-thanh..
(Nguyên Du)
'Now came the Feast of Light in the third month
'With graveyard rites and junkets on the green.'
(transi. Huynh Sanh-Thông)

In the old days, when Vietnamese made use of the Chinese written
symbols (chü Hán, chü nho) or the southern, i.e. Vietnamese characters
(chü nom), each of those graphs represented a separate syllable:

However, in the currently used conventional orthography called (chü)

quóc-ngü lit., 'national language', each syllable, which can still be easily
recognized as a graphic unit, may either stand as one of many independent
words (like trong 'inside', tiêt 'season', tháng 'month', ba 'three', etc.) or
serve as a constituent within hyphenated compounds that are usually made up
of two or more syllables (for instance, thanh-minh 'purity and light', tao-mô
'to sweep the graves',- dap-thanh 'to step on the green grass').

1.10.2 Each of the building blocks within a syllable is a unit of sound,

called phoneme (âm-vi) and written with a symbol enclosed between
slashes: we speak of the Vietnamese phonemes /m/, ¡il, ¡n¡ that make up
the syllable minh, in which each phoneme may be represented by one letter
(m, i) or two letters (nh).
 INTRODUCTION 13

Furthermore, since Vietnamese is a tonal language, the meaning of a given

syllable may change according to its tone (thanh-dieu, thinh), which is
determined by a pitch level and a definite contour (level, falling, rising,
dipping-rising, etc.): the same consonant-vowel combination /la/ has six
realizations — la, là, lá, lã, la, la — which mean respectively 'to yell',
'to be, equal','tree leaf', '[of water] plain', 'exhausted', and 'strange'.
It is often said that "Vietnamese is a monosyllabic language" (ngon-ngũ
don-âm) . But a formal message, either oral or written, usually contains
many polysyllabic (da-âm-tiet = da-tiet) words, i.e. words which are made
up of several syllables. The single syllable (âm-thết) can be defined as the
smallest meaningful unit of linguistic form, whose structure is a linear
sequence of several phonemes affected by a tone. True, it is often found
standing by itself as an autonomous unit (called tieng) in the phonological
system (Chapter 2). But it is at the same time the equivalent of a morpheme
(hình-vi, ngü-vi, moóc-phim) and of a simple word (tù) in the morpho-
syntactic system—where it also co-occurs with similar units to make up
complex words through reduplication and compounding (Chapters 3 & 4). ,
[Let us note that tieng (which refers to "syllable", "morpheme" as well as
"word") also means 'sound', 'noise', and even 'language' as in tieng Viet
'Vietnamese', tieng Pháp 'French', etc.]

1.10.3 From the point of view of semantics, we can distinguish several

types of tieng:
a. those like ăn 'to eat', hôi 'festival', trong 'inside', ba 'three', etc.,
which can be used freely in larger constructions—that is, in phrases or in
sentences;
b. those like minh 'bright, light', tao 'to sweep', thanh 'green', etc. which
cannot be used alone, but must occur in such larger forms as two-syllable
compound words like tao-mô, dap-thanh, thanh-minh. These "restricted"
forms are mostly borrowings from Chinese, which was the language of
culture in traditional Vietnam, China having ruled so long over the country
south of its border;
c. those like áp in ám-áp 'comfortably warm', chap in châm-chap
'slow(ly)', sua in sáng-sua 'bright, well lit', lam in tham-lam 'greedy',
etc., which though not carrying a meaning of their own, serve as "helping"
14 VIETNAMESE

syllables in the creation of such reduplicative, i.e. repetitive, forms that

usually contain two syllables having the same initial sounds or rhyming
together.

1.10.4 In the subfield of morphology, we study the structure of lexemes or

words (tu) , their shapes and their meanings as well as the individual
meanings of their components. In the subfield of syntax, we study sentences
as meaningful strings of words, put together according to definite syntactic
rules. On both levels, tieng functions as the relevant grammatical unit that is
used to construct words (tù), then phrases (ngũ), then sentences (câu).
In the following sentence
(1) Tôi ãn com-trua ó truàng.
I eat rice-noon at school
'I eat lunch at school.'
each tieng or. syllable is a word—though cam-trua is often called a
compound.
But in the next example
(2) Tôi ãn lót-da o câu-lac-bô.
I eat line-stomach at club
'I eat breakfast at the club.'
it takes two tieng or syllables to make up the compound idiom lót-da ['to
line one's stomach'—'breakfast'], and three tieng or syllables to yield the
noun câu-lac-bô (a mere transliteration of the English word "club" as
borrowed through Chinese).

We are now ready to become familiar with a few more technical terms.
First, a word (tù) in Vietnamese may consist of:

one monosyllable, e. g. tháng, ba, tôi, ăn, corn, etc.;

or two syllables, e. g. thanh-minh, tao-mô, com-triía, lót-da, etc.;
or three syllables, e. g. câu-lac-bô 'club', quan-sat-viên 'observer',
liên-lac-viên 'liaison person', kiên-truc-su 'architect', etc.

Each word thus structured can function as a constituent in a sentence, e.g.:

 INTRODUCTION 15

(3) Bây-gio là tiêt tháng ba.

that-time be season month three
'It was then the third lunar month.'
(4) Lé dó gol là le tao-mô.
rite that call be ceremony sweep-grave
'
That rite is called the grave-sweeping ceremony.'
(5) Tôi ăn lót-da ô câu-lac-bô, chúkhông phai ô hop-tac-xă.
I eat line-stomach at club but not correct at cooperative
'I ate breakfast at the club, and not at the cooperative.'
[The hyphenated units are either disyllabic, as in bây-gio 'then', lót-da
'breakfast', or trisyllabic, as in câu-lac-bô 'club', hop-tac-xă 'cooperative'.]

Compound words, especially those borrowed from Chinese, may be

written with spaces between the syllables (tao mô, hop tac xă), or with
hyphens between them (tao-mô, hop-tac-xă), or as solid compounds, with
the syllables run together ( taomô, hoptácxă ) . As semantic wholes, they
each have a very stable structure, and in actual, normal pronunciation there is
no break or pause between syllables. Although the first style, considered by
some people as careless, has been used in books, newspapers and other
publications printed inside Vietnam or overseas, and although the third style
is far superior because it reflects phonological realities—as several
conferences on spelling reforms had noted—this book uses the second style
(with hyphens) for purely pedagogic purposes.

1.11 At the word level, we have to look at morphemes (variously called

tiêhg, tù-to, hînh-vi, ngũ-vi, moóc-phim), which are parts of words or
lexemes (tù). As for the term chũ, it is used to refer to either 'a single
letter of the alphabet' (like chũ a, chũ b, chă ô, etc.) or 'a system of
writing, a script' (like chũ Han, chũ Pháp) or 'an individual character,
that is to say, a written symbol in the Chinese script or the nôm script'—in
all cases some written form(s) used to reflect the spoken forms.

Words or lexemes are in turn grouped into larger sequences known as

phrases and sentences. The sentence as a unit of communication is a string
of words carrying a meaningful message, obeying the syntactic rules of the
16 VIETNAMESE

language and following a specific pattern of stress and intonation. As we

shall see in the chapters on Syntax, the structure of a minimal sentence
(câu) consists of two essential parts or constituents: the subject (chu-ngũ)
announcing a topic (de) and the predicate (vi-ngũ) providing a comment
(thuyêi) on that topic.
The subject-predicate or "topic-comment" relationship is obvious in
such a simple sentence as

(6) Tròi mua.

sky rain
'It's raining.'
in which troi is the subject, and mua is the predicate, and which
represents a predication or statement about the weather.
The same sentence may be reduced to

(7) Mua., with the subject tròi left out,

or it may be incorporated into a more complex form, for instance:

(8) (Nêu) tròi mua thi tôi không di.

if sky rain then I NEG go
'If it rains, I won't go'.

As vital units of speech communication, sentences make up paragraphs,

and paragraphs make up a given discourse that takes place in a given
contextual environment—for instance an exchange or a conversation between
two persons under given circumstances, or a written document designed to be
read for the purpose of information or entertainment.
Vietnamese utterances will be analyzed into sentences. But before
proceeding to an analysis of words and sentences we will first need to discuss
the phonology of the language, that is to say, the sound system and how the
latter correlates with the quóc-ngũ writing system used throughout the
country. This will be the objective of Chapter 2.
 Chapter 2
The Sound System

2.0 An Isolating Language

Comparative linguistics, focusing on the characteristics of the word, would

label Vietnamese as an "isolating language", that is, one in which all the
words are invariable and grammatical relations are primarily shown by word
order: in the sentence Sang nay tôi uôhg hai tách cà-phê. (morning this I/me
drink two cup coffee) 'I drank two cups of coffee this morning', the verb
uôhg actually could mean "drink, drank, drunk, or drinking". Other
languages such as Chinese, and many Southeast Asian languages (including
Thai, Lao, etc.) are likewise "non-inflectional".
An alternative term is "analytic language", as opposed to "synthetic
language", the label for a system in which a word typically contains more
than one morpheme: in English the verb drank /dr æ nk/ consists of the base
drink /drink/ plus the "past tense morpheme" (/i/ becomes /æ/), just as the
verb talked contains the base talk /t c k/ followed by the past tense
morpheme A/, which is spelled -ed. The noun cups, on the other hand,
consists of the base cup /kΛp/ plus the "plural morpheme" /s/.
In each language, the spoken chain can be divided into syllables. A
syllable is the minimum unit of pronunciation: it is larger than a single
sound and smaller than a word. It is defined phonetically, within a string of
sounds in any language, in terms of "peaks of sonority" with each peak
corresponding to the center of a syllable. Phonologically, that is, with regard
to an individual language, two classes of sounds can be distinguished: those
which can occur on their own, or at the center of a sequence of sounds, and
those which cannot occur on their own, or which occur at the margins of a
sequence of sounds. The former sounds, like [a], [e], [i], [o], [u], etc., are
generally referred to as vowels (nguyen-âm); the latter sounds, like [p], [t],
[k], [m], [f], [x], etc., are generally referred to as consonants (phu-âm).
18 VIETNAMESE

A consonant-vowel (CV) sequence seems to be found in all languages:

these "open" syllables occur for instance in words [here hyphenated] in
Japanese ta-be-ru 'to eat', Vietnamese ba ni-cô 'three (Buddhist) nuns',
Thai bu-rìi 'cigarette', French ma-ri 'husband', ca-fé 'coffee', etc. The
CVC pattern is also very common: examples of "closed" syllables are
Vietnamese bat com 'bowl of rice', Thai maj-khìid 'matchstick', English
fat, mad, cat, sit, hot, tin, roof, etc.
In examining the Vietnamese phonological system, we will start with the
structure of a Vietnamese syllable, since as a self-contained entity called
tiêhg (mot) in common parlance, the syllable (âm-tiêt) forms the basis of
our description. Indeed we will concentrate on the grouping of phonemes
"sound units" (âm-vi) into syllables, which in this language are coextensive
with morphemes "smallest meaningful units of linguistic form" (ngũ-vi) .

2.1 Syllabic Structure

Each syllable, that is, each minimum pertinent unit under analysis is
composed of three constituents:
1. an "initial" [or "onset"] , which is a beginning consonant;
2. a "final" or rhyme, which is the rest of the syllable minus the tone, and
consists of a vowel nucleus either standing by itself or preceded by a medial
/w/, and/or followed by a final consonant [called "coda"]; and
3. a tone.
If we represent the beginning consonant by the symbol C1, the final or
rhyme by x, and the tone by T, then a CVC syllable in Vietnamese may be
summarized as
T
C1+x
[In traditional phonology, the initial (consonant) C1 is called thanh-mau,
and the final or rhyme x is called van-mâu = van.]
The final or rhyme x consists of the obligatory main vowel V, optionally
preceded by the medial /w/ and optionally followed by a C 2 :

x = (w) V + (C2)
 THE SOUND SYSTEM 19

2.1.1 Initial Consonants (phu-am dau)

The initial consonant C1 may be absent, as in ăn, om, im, ung, etc., wherein
the rhyme x is /-an/, /-6m/, /-im/, and /-ung/, respectively. Here the tones
are /level/, /rising/, /level/, and /dipping-rising/, marking those syllables as
meaning respectively 'to eat', 'sick', 'to keep quiet', and 'rotten'.
(Actually each vowel in the above examples is preceded by a "glottal stop" —
complete closure at the glottis — [?an], [?om], [?im], [?unm].)
Although there may be only one initial consonant C1 in each syllable, for
instance /t-/ or /k-/, the final or rhyme x may consist of
1. just a vocalic nucleus ; or
2. a vocalic nucleus followed by a final consonant ; or
3. a vocalic nucleus preceded by a medial sound/-w-/ [u]; or
4. a vocalic nucleus preceded by that /-w-/ element and also followed by a
final consonant, as shown in the following two sets of examples:

al t- ê C1 +V 'numb'
2 t- e n C1 + V + C2 'name'
3 t-u ê' C1 +w+V 'year of age'
A t-o á n C1 + w + V + C2 'math'
bl c a C1 +V 'fish'
2 c-á n C1 + V + C2 'handle [of tool] '
3 q- u á C1 +w+V 'to exceed'
A q-u á n C1 + w + V + C2 'inn'

Phonetically, the examples a3, a4, b3 and b4 containing the medial /w/
are interpreted as follows:

a3 t- uê /twê/ [tué] a4 t- oán /twán/ [tuán]

b3 q- uá /kwá/ [kuá] b4 q- uán /kwán/ [kuán]

In the following table of consonant phonemes that may occur in the

syllable-initial position, the letter(s) used to represent a consonant in the quôc-
ngu script almost coincide(s) with a phonemic symbol, which appears
between slashes:
20 VIETNAMESE

1. /b-/ b- (ba bon bà beo-béo)

2. /k-/ c-, k-, q- (con cá, cái kim, qua cam)
3. /c-/ ch-, tr- (cha, chu, chi; tra, tru, tri)
4. /z-/ d-,gi-,r- (da, di, gia, ra)
5. /d-/ d- (di day di dó)
6. /g-/ g(h)- (ghi, ghê-góm, gay-go)
7. /h-/ h- (ho-hen, hen-ho, hon-hén)
8. /x-/ kh- (khó-khan, khò-khè, khoe-khoang)
9. /l-/ 1- (liu-lo, leu-lao, lè-loi, lôi-lam)
10. /m-/ m- (mo-màng, mãi-mãi, mo-mò)
11. /n-/ n- (no-nê, nãn-nl, no-nang)
Yl, ng(h)- (nghi-ngo, ngô-nghê, nghe-ngóng)
13. nh- (nhè-nhe, nhó-nhung, nhác-nha)
14. /p-/ p- (pip, pô-ke, pô-po-lin)*
15. /f-/ ph- (phuong-pháp, phu-phen, phe-phái)
16. A-/ t- (têt ta, tu-tài tây, ti-teo, to-tuóng)
17. /th-/ th- (that-thà, thong-tha, thinh-thoang)
18. /v-/ v- (vui-vé, vôi-vàng, văng-vé)
19. Is-I x-, s- (xa-xãm, xa-xôi, Xã Xe; sa-si, sao sáng)
20. /t r -/ tr- (tra, tru, tri)
21. /JV s- (sa-si, sao sáng)
11. r- (roi ra rãt rác-roi)

*The phoneme /p/ used to occur only in final position, but nowadays it
also occurs at the beginning of several words borrowed from French, for
example, pin 'battery', pip Smoking pipe', po-ke 'poker', pô-po-lin
'poplin', etc.
Of the above 22 beginning consonants, the first nineteen represent the
northern dialect typified by the speech heard around Hanoi whereas the last
three (#20, #21 and #22) are typical of areas running from northern Central
Vietnam southward and also of some areas in North Vietnam. Of these three
retroflex consonants (pronounced with the tip of the tongue tilted upward),
the last one is sometimes pronounced like / r / in the Saigon dialect, which
does not have the labiodental / v / (#18) of the northern dialect.
 THE SOUND SYSTEM 21

In the northern dialect, the two consonants spelled tr- and ch- fall together
in pronunciation {tra and cha sounding alike — /ca/). Also in the north, urban
speakers do not differentiate between words spelled with s- and x- {sa and
xa sounding alike — /sa/). Some people in rural areas do not differentiate
between words spelled with /- and n-, pronouncing both làm and nam as
/nam/: this is considered a non-standard feature. However, in the
conventional orthography, members of such pairs as sa : xa /ja : sa /, tra :
cha /tra : ca /, and làm : nàm I làm : nàm / are differentiated. Although the
sounds spelled with d-, with gi- and with r- no longer show any distinction
in modern Hanoi speech, spelling rules require that the word for 'skin' be
spelled da, the word meaning 'house(hold), home; family' be spelled gia,
and the word for 'to go out, exit' be spelled ra. [Indeed, in a dictation test,
even a teacher who is a native speaker of northern Vietnamese may give the
"spelling pronunciation" of each of these three sounds.]
Some speakers of the Saigon dialect pronounce both da and gia as /ya/,
that is with the glide or medial /y/ [j] before the main vowel /a/.
The Vietnamese-Portuguese-latin dictionary (often referred to as "Tu~
dien Viêt-Bò-la") by Alexandre de Rhodes (1591-1660) recorded in 1651
some consonant clusters:
/bl-/ as in blå, blai, blái, blang, blo, bloi, etc. Cf. Modern VN tra,
trai, trái, trăng, tro, troi, etc. with /bl/ becoming / tr /.
/ml-/ as in mlam, mlat, mlë, mldi, mlón, etc. Cf. Modern VN
lam, lăt, le, loi, Ion, etc. with /m/ being dropped.
/mnh-/ as in mnham, mnhë, etc. Cf. Modern VN nham, nhë, etc.
with /m/ being dropped.
M-/ as in tlai, tlai, tlăm, tlâu, tle, etc. Cf. Modern VN trai, trái,
tram, trâu, tre, etc. with Al/ becoming / tr /.
No dialect in Modern Vietnamese has retained any of those consonant
clusters, which had existed — as sounds — at least up to the seventeenth
century.
But in the quóc-ngũ script, some of the consonant phonemes are
transcribed with a digraph, that is to say, a group of two consonant letters
(ch- as in cha 'father'; gh- as in ghe 'small boat', ghê 'awe-stricken', ghi
'to record'; ph- as in pha 'to mix'; th- as in tha 'to set free; to forgive';
 22 VIETNAMESE

tr- as in tre 'bamboo', etc.) or even with a group of three consonant letters
(ngh- as in nghe 'to listen', nghi 'to suspect', nghê 'trade, occupation').
Also, one same phoneme may assume two or three written forms: /k/ for
instance is transcribed with the letter k- before a front vowel i, ê, e , but with
the letter q- if followed by the medial /-w-/, and with the letter c- elsewhere:
ki-Io 'kilogram', ky ki /ki/ 'to sign', kè 'to trace', kê 'millet',
qua 'to cross over', que 'native place', quan-quân 'champion', qui,
quy 'precious',
cá 'fish', cam 'chin', cam 'dumb, mute', con 'child', co 'aunt',
com '[cooked] rice', cu 'used, old', cung 'hard', etc.
Both velar consonants — the fricative /g/ [γ] and the nasal /η] / — are
written with the extra letter h if the vowel is /i, ê, e/: ghi 'to record', ghe
'chair', ghe 'boat', nghi 'to suspect', nghê 'trade, occupation', nghe 'to
listen, hear', etc. This was due to the influence of Italian spelling.

2.1.2 Rhymes (văn, van)

Within the final or rhyme x, the vowel nucleus can be one of the eleven
simple vowels: a, à, â, e, ê, i (y), o, ô, o, u, u (respectively, low
central, short low central, short mid central, unrounded low front, unrounded
mid front, unrounded high front, rounded low back, rounded mid back,
unrounded mid central, rounded high back, and unrounded high back). The
nucleus can also be one of the three double vowels: /iâ/ spelled ia, iê- ;
/uâ/ spelled ua, uô-; and /tía/ spelled ua, uo-.
Of these two-vowel clusters, also called diphthongs (âm dôi), each has a
noticeable change in quality within the syllable—the "glide" from a more
sonorous element /i u Ml toward the less sonorous, central element /â/.
The nuclear vowel phoneme / i / is sometimes spelled i (as in di 'to go',
mi 'noodles', si 'scholar') and sometimes spelled y (as in ly 'reason', ky
'careful, thorough', My 'America; American'). [if, ki, Mi would be
better representations, as recommended in the campaign to standardize the
spelling system. But specialists recognize that spelling reforms take time.]
All three diphthongs, written with two letters, are spelled -ia, -ua, -ua,
respectively, if they occur in open syllables : mía 'sugar cane', mua 'to buy',
 THE SOUND SYSTEM 23

mua 'to rain' (examples al, bl, cl below). However, when there is a final
consonant C 2 , that is, in a closed syllable, the complex vowels are spelled
respectively iê-, uô-, uo- : thus, miêhg 'morsel, bite, piece, bit', muôn
'10,000', muong 'irrigation canal'(examples a2, b2, and c2):

al m-ia C1 + Vâ 'sugar cane'

2 m- iê ng C1 + Vâ + C 2 'morsel, bite'
bl m- ua C1 + Vâ 'to buy'
2 m-uôn C1 + Vâ + C 2 '10,000'
cl m- tía C1 + Vâ 'to rain'
2 m- oo ng C1 + Vâ + C 2 'irrigation canal'

The double nucleus /-iâ/, spelled -ia or -Jê-, obeys some special spelling
rules. It is spelled yê- when there is a final consonant but no initial
consonant (as in yêu /iâw/ 'to love', yêim /iâm/ 'Vietnamese halter bra'),
or when it is both preceded by the medial sound /-w-/ and followed by a final
consonant (as in uyên /wiân/ [-Wong] 'mandarin ducks', thuyêt Ahwiât/
'theory', Nguyên /ηwiân/ 'the family name Nguyen', tuyên-truyên Awiân-
cwian/ 'propaganda'). If there is no final consonant, then the sequence -ia
is respelled -ya, as in the unique lexeme khuya /xwiâ/ 'late at night' (Cf.
khuyên /xwiân/ 'to advise') .
l e t us finally note that the two vowels a (short a) and â (short o ) cannot
occur in an open syllable, but must be followed by a final consonant: an 'to
eat', am 'lukewarm', tam 'toothpick', tăng 'to increase', sap 'to arrange',
măt 'eye', bac 'north', can 'to need', cap 'to provide', dât 'earth,
ground', nâc 'hiccough', etc. The presence of a final consonant is implied
when we place a hyphen after either vowel: ă-, â-.

2.1.3 Final Consonants (phu-âm cuoi)

There are eight possible elements occurring in syllable-final position: we can

find one of the three stops (tac-âm) / p t k /, one of the three nasals (ti-âm)
/ m n η /, or one of the two semivowels (ban-nguyên-âm) / y w /:
 24 VIETNAMESE

dáp [d á p] 'to reply', mat [m á t] 'cool', khác [x á k] 'other,

different', khách [x ă i k] 'guest';
nam [ n a m ] 'south', bán [b á n] 'to sell', trang [c a Η] or [tr a η]
'page', trnh [c ă i η] or [tr a i n] 'painting';
tai [t a i] /tay/ 'ear', tay [t â i] /tăy/ 'arm';
bao [b á u] /báw/ 'newspaper', báu [b ă u] /băw/ 'precious',
The (pre-)velar stop which follows i and ê is spelled -ch (as in
thich [ th i k ] 'to like', éch [ ă i k ] 'frog'), and the (pre-) velar nasal is
spelled -nh (as in minh [m i η] 'body', benh [b a i η] 'disease').
Among the final consonants C2, the labials /p m/ pattern together, the
alveolars A n/ pattern together, just as the velars /k n/ pattern together, as
seen in the reduplications áim-áp 'comfortably warm, cosy', dèm-dep
'fairly good-looking', ton-tot 'rather good', man-mat 'rather cool', sinh-
sich '[of engine] running loudly', vàng-vac '[of moonlight] bright and
clear' [see 3.5.2.2].
The spellings ung, ông, ong, uc, oc, oc represent [uuηm], [âuηm],
[ a u m ] , [uukp], [âukp], [aukp], respectively, with labio-velar co-articulation
following a rounded back vowel /u 0 0/ as in ung 'ulcer, cancer', ông
'grandfather', ong 'bee', duc 'muddy', doc 'poison(ous)', doc 'to read'.
In rare examples of simple velar nasals or stops occurring after back vowels
/o o/, the latter are spelled ôô, oo : côông in côông-kênh 'to carry someone
sitting astride or standing on one's shoulders' (cf. công 'peacock'); boong
'ship deck' [< Fr. pont] (cf. bong '[of glued surface] to come loose'), ba-
toong 'walking stick, cane' [< Fr. bâton] (cf. tong 'lost, all gone'), loong-
toong 'messenger' [< Fr. planton ] (cf. long 'to become detached'), bu-
loong 'bolt' [<Fr. boulon], xoong 'saucepan' [< Fr. casserole] (cf. xong
'completed'), ro-mooc 'trailer' [< Fr. remorque ] (cf. moc 'to pick out'),
(quan) sooc 'walking shorts' [< Engl, shorts] (cf. soc 'squirrel').
The semivowel /-y/ [ j ] — which never follows / i ê e / — is spelled -y
following the two short vowels /à- â-/ (as in tay 'arm', tây 'west'), but -i
elsewhere {tai 'ear', toi 'garlic', toi 'I, me', tói 'to arrive', tui 'pocket',
chui 'to curse', duôi 'tail', duoi-uoi 'orangutan').
The semivowel /-w-/ [ u ] — which does not occur after /u ô o/ — is
spelled -o following/a-, e-/ (as in ao 'pond', mèo 'cat'), but -u elsewhere
(dâu 'where', máu 'blood', mull 'ruse', kêu 'to shout', thiu 'stale').
 THE SOUND SYSTEM

2.1.4 The Medial Sound (ám a em)

The medial /-w-/, spelled either -u- or -o- , indicates labialization or lip-
rounding: qua 'fruit', thue 'tax', thuy 'water', quyen 'authority', toa
'railroad car', khoè 'strong', hoat-dông 'active'. It does not follow a
labial sound like /b, m, f, v/, except in French loanwords: buyt 'bus', moa
'I, me', moay-o 'hub [of wheel]', phuy '(oil) drum', voan 'tulle'.
The lexemes that have the initial /nw-/ are all (rare) Sino-Vietnamese
words: noa /nwa/ 'infant, baby', noa /nwa/ 'lazy', noăn /nwăn/ 'egg',
nuy /nwi/ 'dwarf'.
/-w-/ cannot be followed by a rounded vowel such as u, ô, o, uo- (i.e.
/uâ/). If there is no initial consonant and the vowel nucleus is i, ê, yê, a, â,
then /w-/ is spelled -u- as in uy /wi/ 'to delegate [authority]', ue /we'/ 'dirt,
filth', uyên(-uong) /wiân(-uong)/ 'mandarin ducks', /uat/ /wăt/ 'angered'
But if the vowel nucleus is a, a, e, the syllable is spelled respectively
oa, oã, oe, as in oà 'to break into tears', hoà 'peace', oát 'brat', ngoăt
'sudden turn', oe-oc '[of infant] to cry loudly', khoè 'strong'.
If the initial consonant is not q-, the same rule applies, and /-w-/ is
spelled:
-u- as in tuy 'although', Hue 'the city of Hue', thuyen 'boat',
khuya 'late at night', huo 'to brandish', tuan 'week', etc. and
-o- as in hoa 'flower', khoa 'to brag', ngoac 'bracket,
parenthesis', etc.
If, on the other hand, the syllable starts with q-, then the rhyme sequences
/-wa, -wă-, -we/ are spelled -uaf -ua, -ue (qua 'to cross over', quan '[of
hair] curly', que 'stick5, quen 'acquainted', quet 'to sweep', etc.).

2.1.5 Tones (ihanh-diêu, thanh, thinh)

Tone, said to be "phonemic" because it affects meaning, pertains to the entire

syllable. The six tones of Vietnamese differ from one another in terms of
pitch level(s), length, contour, intensity and glottality. They can be described
respectively as (1) high (or mid) level, (2) low falling, (3) high (or mid)
26 VIETNAMESE

rising, (4) creaking-rising — raspy because of glottal stop, (5) (low)

dipping-rising, and (6) constricted—also raspy with glottal stop. Their
Vietnamese names are : ngang, huyen, sác, ngă, hôi, năng, or respectively
"level", "hanging", "sharp", "tumbling", "asking" and "heavy".
The diacritical marks used to represent these tones are respectively (1) no
mark, (2) a grave accent, (3) an acute accent, (4) a tilde; (5) a little
question mark without the dot—all these four diacritics placed above the
vowel letter—and (6) a dot put under the vowel letter, thus:
la là la lă la la
ma ma ma mă må ma
bên ben ben (bên) bén bên
gap gap
mat mat
sách sach
công cong cong (công) cong công
The level tone (ngang) , the falling tone (huyen) and the dipping-rising
tone (hoi) make the syllable somewhat longer.
A syllable ending with a stop can only have either the sác tone or the nang
tone, as in gap /gap, măt /măt, sách /sach, hoc /hoc, etc. [The items in
parentheses (bên, công) are possible but nonsensical syllables.]
In some provinces of Central Vietnam, speakers do not keep apart the
/hoi/ and /ngă/ tones, or the /ngă/ and /năng/ tones, or the /hôi/ and /săc/ tones.

Diagram
of the six tones
 THE SOUND SYSTEM 27

The six tones have been analyzed into groups and categories. Henri
Maspero [1912] and lê Văn l y [1948 & 1960] grouped them as follows:
Plain Melodic Glottal
High a a a
low à a a
Marcel Dubois [1909] and Eugénie Henderson [1943] used slightly
different features:
Normal Relaxed Glottal
Plain a à a
Melodic á å a
In poetry, the six tones are divided into two groups: the level (ngang) and
falling (huyen) tones are calledbàng "level, flat" whereas the other four
(sac, ngă, hôi, nang) belong to the trac "oblique, sharp" group. Rules of
prosody require that, in regulated verse,bàng - trac tones occur in parallel
lines, and that a word in a certain position must have the appropriate tone.

As will be seen in the analysis of reduplicative patterns, the six tones can
also be divided, into two registers:
bang "level" trac "oblique"
Upper register ngang sac* hôi**
lower register huyèn nang* ngă**
[Haudricourt in his 1954 article on the origin of Vietnamese tones (see
1.3.3) pointed out that, in the process of tone-development, non-tonal
Vietnamese acquired the sac and nang tones* when the final glottal stop
[-7] dropped, and the loss of final [ -s -∫ -h ] resulted in the hôi and ngă
tones**.]

Tonal harmony requires that, within a reduplicative pattern, the two

repeated syllables carry tones of the same register. Examples of such
reduplications:
(Upper register) am am 'a little warm' < ăm ' lukewarm'
nho nhô 'smallish, tiny' < nhô 'small'
trang trang 'whitish'< trång 'white'
kha khá 'rather good, rather well' < khá 'pretty good'
xam xám 'grayish'< xâm 'gray'; etc.
 28 VIETNAMESE

(lower register) hèm hep 'rather narrow' < hep 'narrow'

nhe nhàng 'gently' < nhe 'light'
ngon ngot 'rather sweet'< ngoi 'sweet'
am î 'noisily' < am 'noisy'
lanhleo 'frigid' < lanh 'cold'; etc

2.2 Number of possible syllables

Emeneau's calculation shows that there are 3,872 phonologically possible

syllables ending in stops, and that the number of possible syllables ending in
nasals or in vowels number 17,952. Thus his total is 21,824 possible syllables
[Emeneau 1951: 22], More recent analyses have found that there are 157
basic rhymes [Nguyen Kim Than 1981: 233] and a total of 11,900 possible
syllables [Hoàng Tue & Hoàng Minh 1975: 88]. Another calculation shows
19,520 as the total number of possible syllables, but only 5,890 as the number
of syllables actually occurring in "the modern cultural language" [Nguyen
Quang Hong 1994: 186-187]. Thus there is a large number of potential
units which are of course nonsense syllables, and only about 51% or 6,100
out of the 11,900 "effectively function as (or in) significant units" [Hoàng
Tue & Hoàng Minh 1975: 88],

2.3 Below the syllable

2.3.1 Pig Latin. In section 2.1 we have seen that a syllable is fruitfully
analyzed as the sequence onset + rhyme (C1 + x): for example, nam = n +
am; lo = 1 + o; îuong = t + uong; con = c + on; cày = c + ay, etc. This
enables native speakers to evolve a kind of "pig-Latin" that adults use in the
presence of children. In English the inadvertent transposition of initial
sounds of words, as queer old dean for dear old queen, is called a
"spoonerism" [after English clergyman W. A. Spooner (1844-1930)]. In the
Vietnamese variety, called nói Mi, if the two words in the phrase tuong lo
'The statue worries' switch position and tones, we have lo tuong 'a bottle of
soy paste'. Or con cày 'the dog' would become cây con 'the tree remains'.
likewise a mother could playfully say darn dal (no meaning) when she wants
 THE SOUND SYSTEM 29

to avoid the phrase dái dam '(Baby) wet his / her pants', and gossipers
refer to an unwed pregnancy (chûa hoang) as hoâng chua 'Aren't you
scared?'.
The nói lái device is considered a clever usage: instead of asking the
servant "to prop up the bamboo blind" (chôhg rèm), the master of the house
may pronounce the Sino-Vietnamese phrase tram long "behead the dragon",
which the houseboy is expected to convert into the equivalent Vietnamese
chém rong.
In humoristic stories, the speaker or writer often combines homonymy
and punning to make fun of fakers and charlatans, as in this example. Mr.
l a i , a former pig vendor (lái Ion) had managed to buy some honorific title,
about which he proudly bragged to his co-villagers, so a sophisticated joker
subtly praised the honoree derisively as "our big mandarin" (quan) Ion lai !
In another instance, a collaborator under the French administration was
presented with a congratulatory panel featuring the two Chinese characters
quan than. This Sino-Vietnamese expression could be defined as bay toi
meaning 'all the king's subjects'. But those two syllables, when undergoing
commutation of rhyme and tone, would generate boi tay, which means
'servant in a French household'.
Smart children design their own secret language by adding a key
syllable, for instance la, and letting it switch initial (C1) and rhyme (x)
with the pertinent word. Thus ăn 'to eat' becomes /l + ăn a/, pho 'beef
noodle soup' becomes /1 + o f + a/, hoan /h + oan/ becomes /l + oan h + a/.
likewise each constituent of the compound hoàn-cânh 'environment,
circumstances', for instance, is decomposed as /h + oàn k + ånh/, and
after commutation of onset and rhyme with /l + a/, we have /loan - hà
lanh - ka/. As soon as the kids' code is broken by grownups, they still
rattle off in their medium now choosing a new key, for instance chim, and
the new expression, using /ch + im/, becomes /choan - him chanh - kîm/.

2.3.2 Subsyllabic morphemes. When divided similarly into the two

elements C 1 - and -x, each set of monosyllabic demonstratives shows
extremely interesting semantic relationships among its members, as each
pertinent syllable is broken down into an initial morpheme and a nuclear
morpheme:
30 VIETNAMESE

Unspecified Close Distant

/-ao, -âu/ /-ay, -ây/ /-ây -0/
Reference /n-/ nào này nay, no
' which?' 'this' 'that'
Place /d-/ dâu dây day, dó
'where?' 'here' 'there'
Quantity /b-/ bao bây bay
'how much?' 'this much' 'that much'
Manner /s-, v-/ sao vay vây
'how? why?' 'this way' 'that way'
Examples:
nguoi nào? 'which person?' nguoi này 'this person' nguoi (n)ay 'that
(same) person'
hôm nào? 'which day? when?' horn nay 'today' horn no 'the other
day'
ó dâu? 'where?' o dây 'here' o day, o dó 'there'
bao nhiêu? 'how much? how many?' bây nhiêu 'this much, this many'
bây nhiêu 'that much, that many'
bao gid? 'when?' bây glo 'now' bay gid 'then, at that time'
baolâu? 'how long?' *bây lâu bây lâu 'for that long'
bao xa ? ' how far? ' * bây xa *bay xa
(tai) sao? 'why, how come?' nhu vay 'this way' nhu vây'that way, so'

2.4 Syllable boundaries

Juncture between two syllables helps both speaker and hearer distinguish
between a single syllable (as already defined as one tirng) which contains
the medial /-w-/ and a two-syllable phrase (containing two tieng) :

khoa /xwa/ [xua] 'department; study'

vs. khu A /xu + a/ [xu a] 'section A';
khoai /xway/ [xuaj] '(sweet) potato'
vs. khu ai? /xu + ay/ [xu aj] 'whose area?'
vs. khoa y /xwa + i/ [xua i] 'the field (or school, or department)
of medicine';
 THE SOUND SYSTEM 31

quái /kwáy/ [ kuáj ] 'strange, weird'

vs. cu Ai /ku + áy/ [ku áj ] 'little boy (named) Ai'.

It is also juncture that helps distinguish between such sequences as:

cam on /kám + on/ (feel favor) 'thank you' and
cá mon /ká + mon/ (fish mon) 'mon fish';
xem ô-tô /sem + oto/ 'to look at automobiles' and
xe mô-tô /se + moto/ (vehicle motor) 'motorcycle'.
Such a contrast is explained by the fact that in each pair of nasals, the
bilabial sound /-m/ occurring in final position (as in cam, xem) is unreleased,
"implosive" whereas the sound /m-/ occurring initially (as in man, mo) is
"explosive".

2.5 Stress (do nhn) and intonation (ngu-diêu)

A syllable may be unstressed, stressed, or heavily stressed. The following

sentences contain all three degrees of stress:
Toi không biet. /toy xâwn 'biât/ (I NEG know) 'I don't know.'
Tôi khôngdi. Aoy xâwn 'di/ (I NEG go) 'I'm not going.'
The stress on the pronoun dâu 'where; anywhere' marks emphasis or
insistence when it means '(not) anywhere' (7.3.2). Compare:
Cô áy di dâu? (aunt that go where) 'Where did she go?'
Cô áy (có) di 'dâu! (aunt that EMPH go anywhere) 'She did not go! '
Toi không di dâu (cå). (I NEG go anywhere all) 'I'm not going anywhere.'
Toi không di 'dâu! (I NEG go anywhere) 'I'm not going. (Don't insist.)'

Intonation is tied to stress and also to contours of different tones. It is

perceived as the melody or total swing of the tones, marked by the way in
which the force of each syllable decreases and also by differences in tonal
contours.
In his descriptive grammar of Vietnamese [1965c, reprinted 1987],
laurence Thompson distinguishes four patterns of intonation: (a) decreasing,
(b) fading, (c) sustaining, and (d) increasing, which he earlier [1959]
called "diminuendo", "morendo", "sostenuto", and "crescendo", respectively.
 32 VIETNAMESE

Whereas the first example (Cô ăy di dâu?) has the "morendo" intonation
and the third example (Toi không di dâu ca) has the "diminuendo" intonation,
the second and fourth examples (Cô ăy có di dâu!. Toi không di dâu!) are
lengthened, with the voice rising ("crescendo") before the tonal contour of the
last syllable goes down and the initial force of the accentuation completely
phases out. The same "crescendo" phenomenon is noticed in these two
contrasting sentences:
Bao nhiêu tien? (what-extent much money) 'How much money?'
'Bao nhiêu (là) tien! (what-extent much be money) 'So much money! '
"Diminuendo" means that in this normal pattern the intensity gradually
diminishes from the beginning of the syllable, with the stress curve
accompanying most syllables in the sentence.
When the "morendo" intonation affects a declarative sentence, the level of
each tone is slightly lower than normal:
1. Toi di ngu. (I go sleep) 'I'm going to bed.'
2. Toi di chùa. (I go Buddhist temple) 'I'm going to the temple.'

In general, interrogative sentences have the "sostenuto" pattern, in which

the pitch level of each tone is somewhat higher than in a declarative sentence:
3. Cô di không? (aunt go not) 'Are you going, Miss?'
4, Co di chua? (aunt go yet) 'Have you gone there yet, Miss?'
But these questions, which contain either không? or chua?, expect "yes"
or "no; not yet" as an answer. They are different from another type of
question, which contains an interrogative pronoun 'who, what, where, when,
why, which, whose,' etc. These content questions have the "crescendo"
intonation, with the stress on the question words ai, gi, dâu, bao gid, tai
sao, respectively 'who?, what?, where?, when?, why?', etc.
Examples:
Ai nói? (who say) 'Who said it? Who said so?'
Co noi gi? (aunt say what) 'What did you say, Miss?'
Cô di dâu? (aunt go where) 'Where are you going, Miss?'
Cô di bao gid? (aunt go what-extent time) 'When did you go, Miss?'
Bao gid cô di? (what-extent time aunt go) 'When will you go, miss?'
Tai sao cô thôi? (because how aunt stop) 'Why did you quit, miss?'
 THE SOUND SYSTEM 33

The same question words can be used as indefinite pronouns in exclamations,

again with the "crescendo55 intonation and a heavy stress on the syllables ai,
gl dan, etc. This phenomenon can be observed particularly in women's
speech:
Không ai nói (cå). (NEG who speak all) 'No one spoke at all'
'Al nói! (who speak) 'No one spoke up.9
Toi nói 'gî ? (Ï say what) 'What did Í say [wrong to upset him]?9
Toi di bao 'gio ! (I go what-extent time) 'I never went,'
Co nói 'gi toi cũng tin. (aunt say whatever i likewise believe)
'I believe anything you say, Miss.'
Co ay (có) di 'dan ! (aunt that EMPH go wherever)
'But no, she did not go at all! '
Co ăy 'dâu có di! (aunt that wherever EMPH go) 'No, she did not go!'
Cô ăy không di 'dân ! (aunt that NEG go wherever)
'She's not going, don't insist!'

2.6 Earlier records and recent reforms

When it was first invented, the Roman script (chũ quóc-ngu) did not show
any diacritic signs: co instead of co, Jut instead of lut There was no
distinction between the vowels a / ă, or between o /ô, u /u, e/ê. Thus,
ăn was transcribed an ; muôn was transcribed muon ; ong trùrn was
spelled ontrum ; and hét was simply written het.
Middle Vietnamese [Gregerson 1969], as recorded in the trilingual
dictionary by Alexandre de Rhodes (Rome, 1651), displayed the above
distinctions through the use of vowel markers and tone markers. However,
modern v- was written-by means of b u — bac, uác for vác; beai uai for
val Ông was written oũ ; trong was written trad ; hoc was written
haoc, hăoc; and cuong was written cuang ; etc.
The language recorded in lexicographical works of the eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries, and particularly in the Vietnamese-latin dictionary by
Bishop Taberd (published in Serampore, India, in 1838) seemed to have
been fairly codified, and its stabilized appearance did not differ greatly from
its modem form, lexicographic efforts by French missionaries and
administrators as well as by Vietnamese pricsts and scholars themselves have
 34 VIETNAMESE

step by step contributed to the standardisation of the written medium through

several excellent monolingual, bilingual and trilingual dictionaries, with
Vietnamese being the source language or a target language. As the
conventional orthography, (chũ) quoc-ngũ has immensely helped the
literacy campaign since the 1940s, and at the same time served as a new
vestment to groom the Vietnamese language into an adequate and efficient
tool for the dissemination of culture and science [Nguyên Dînh-Hoà 1979].
Indeed, educators, writers, poets and other cultural workers in both sides
of the demarcation line emulated one another, during the 1954-1975
partition, in a serious attempt to move toward the unification and
standardization of their mother tongue. South of the seventeenth parallel—
which separated the Democratic Republic of (North) Vietnam and the
Republic of (South) Vietnam by virtue of the Geneva Armistice Agreements
of 1954—a conference on language Unification (Hôi-nghi Thong-nhat
Ngôn-ngu), convened by the Ministry of Education, met in Saigon from
September 5 to October 3, 1956. In the north, a four-day conference on the
improvement of the quoc-ngũ script (Hôi-nghi bàn vân-de cåi-tien chũ quoc-
ngũ ) , organized by the Institute of literature, a unit within the State
Scientific Commission, met on September 21, 28 and 30 and October 7,
1960. The scholarly papers presented at either conference, the discussions
which followed, and the resolutions which were passed, all dealt with the
problem of how to standardize the conventional orthography and with the
technical terms increasingly needed in the natural sciences, humanities and
social sciences. The continuing efforts during the past few decades toward
"preserving the purity and clarity of the Vietnamese language" (giũ gin SU
trong sang cua tieng Viet) , it is hoped, will bring about different levels of
spelling reforms, e.g. -with regard to the consistent representation of vowels,
semivowels and consonants, syllable structure and boundaries, stress and
intonation, capitalization, punctuations, etc.—as well as to some creative
aspects of language planning, notably vocabulary building and terminology
work.
 Chapter 3
The lexicon

3.0 The Word in Vietnamese

In this chapter and the next we look closely at the Vietnamese lexicon or
vocabulary. We are particularly concerned with morphology, that is to say,
we will examine the shape and structure of the lexical unit defined earlier as
"word, lexeme" (tu), and at the same time investigate the form and content,
i.e. meaning, of each of its components, defined earlier as "morpheme"
(tiêhg, tù-to, ngũ-vi, hinh-vi, moóc-phim). In Chapter 5, we will take a close
look at different word classes or parts of speech (tù-Joai).

3.1 Monosyllables and Polysyllables

Phonologically, a Vietnamese word may have just one syllable (am-tiet, tiêhg
mot), or it may have two or more syllables. By looking at its structure, we
will see that it is not correct to say that the language is monosyllabic "don-
âm(-tiet)". Outsiders used to think so because the majority of units in the
Vietnamese lexicon consist of only one syllable: nhà, cùa, com, chao, quan,
áo, an, ngù, di, dung, hoc, Jam, cho, mèo, trâu, bo, Jon, gà, cam, quit, cau,
dùa, etc. [In English we may encounter a sentence which is a string of
monosyllables, for instance, I saw a big bJack cat on the hot tin roof out
there. But that does not allow us to say that English is "monosyllabic."]
At any rate statistical studies have shown that in modern Vietnamese there
is a clear tendency toward disyllabism, with many words consisting of two
syllables. One study has mentioned the 80% ratio: examples are cháu ngoai,
bánh mí, xe dap, nhà da, nhà cùa, com nuóc, com chao, quan áo, ăn hoc,
diem-tam, buu-dien, ngân-hàng, tiën-tê, giam-doc, dai-hoc, hiêu-truong, etc.
And there are even words that have three or four syllables, as we shall see
below.
36 VIETNAMESE

3.2 Full words vs. Empty words

The majority of monosyllables in the Vietnamese lexicon (iù-vung) are:
(1) either "full words" (thuc-tù) , that is content words such as nhà
'house', cùa 'door', chó 'dog', mèo 'cat', com 'cooked rice', nũoc
'water', sua 'milk', cày 'to plow', căy 'to transplant [rice seedlings]', ăn
'to eat', uong 'to drink', chăm 'diligent', luoi 'lazy', eta
(2) or "empty words" (hu-tù) , that is function words such as the
modal da m da cày 'has already plowed', the modal se in se ăn 'will eat',
the degree marker rat in răt chăm 'very diligent9, the conjunction thi in
........ thi toi không di '[if .....,] then I won't go', or the "relative pronoun"
ma in .......... ma toi moi mua '......... which I just bought', etc.
But there is also a large number of disyllabic words, which have two
syllables, and trisyllabic words, which have three syllables:
to-to 'fairly large', tù-tù 'slow(ly)', chêu-chau 'grasshopper',
chuon-chupn 'dragonfly', vôi-vàng 'hurried(ly)', lúng-túng 'awkward,
helpless', chăm-chi 'hard-working', an-rnac 'to dress', ăn-å 'to live; to
behave', nhà-cùa 'home, house, housing', mo-hoi 'sweat', etc.
(băt-)thinh-linh 'suddenly', khít-khín-khit 'close-fitting', liên-lac-
viên 'liaison person', hop-tác-xa 'cooperative [store]', canh-sát-trũong
'police chief, sheriff', thuc-vat-hoc 'botany', chính-tri-gia 'statesman', etc.
There are even words made up of four syllables through patterns of
reduplication [section 3.5]: vol-vol vàng-vàng < vôi-vàng 'in a great hurry',
bù-lu bù-loa < la-loa ''to raise a hullabaloo by crying and complaining',
lung-ta lung-túng < lung-túng 'completely helpless, at a complete loss',
hăp-ta hăp-tăp < hăp-tăp 'hurriedly and nervously', etc.

3 3 Sino-Vietnamese (Han-Viet)

Apart from the native vocabulary, there are numerous words that have been
integrated into the language through the process of lexical borrowing from
Chinese. loanwords from other languages such as Malay, Tay-Thai, French,
English and Russian are outnumbered by those borrowed from the language
of China, since the country was under Chinese domination for no less than ten
centuries (111 BC - AD 939).
 THE lEXICON 37

The present forms of earlier loanwords from Chinese are nowadays

hardly recognizable as such, because they have been thoroughly vietnarnized
in the spoken language, e.g.
buong 'room', buom 'sail', búa 'amulet, written charm', che 'tea',
chém 'to cut with knife', chén 'cup', chèo 'oar', duc 'turbid', dudc
'torch', gác 'upper storey', gan 'liver', góc 'corner', hè 'summer',
khéo 'skillful', khoe 'to brag', keo 'glue', quen 'acquainted', tuoi
'(year of) age', mong 'to hope', mua 'to dance', mua 'season, crop', mui
'smell, odor', muôn '10,000', etc.
In addition to these borrowings of Qin and Han times (through daily
contacts with Chinese soldiers, merchants, priests and officials—and very-
likely through intermarriage, too—during the "northern rule") the learned
words introduced later through the written medium of Chinese characters
gradually inundated the recipient language. Native students and teachers had
to become acquainted in their classrooms with formal written 'works in
Chinese history, philosophy and literature. During the millennium of direct
Chinese rule (111 BC - AD 939), then more importantly under successive
national dynasties (10th century - 20th century), the classical language of
China played a role similar to that of latin in medieval Europe: it was the
(prestigious) medium of education, which led to literary examinations
designed to recruit native administrators and judges in the mandarinal system.
Whereas the earlier forms cited above could be traced back to Archaic
Chinese, their equivalents used by the native intelligentsia during the Tang
dynasty are respectively: phong, phàm, phù, tră, tram, tran, trao, troc,
chúc, các, can, giác, ha, xao, khoa, giao, quán, tue, vong, vu, vu, vi,
van, etc.
In traditional Vietnam, the latter Chinese-borrowed elements, were
taught through primers where, in verse form used to facilitate memorization,
the "foreign language" items appear with their respective glosses: just like
thiên, defined as troi 'sky', dia, whose native equivalent is dát 'earth',
and van, whose native equivalent is may 'cloud' [Nguyen Dinh-Hoà, ed,
Nhát Thiên TU (1989) ]. The pronunciation of these latter borrowings, close
to that of Ancient Chinese, has been called "Sino-Vietnamese" (Han-Viet)
[Maspero 1912, Mineya 1972, Hashimoto 1978].
38 VIETNAMESE

More recently borrowed lexemes have swollen the ranks of those 3,000-
odd items of Chinese origin, and new concepts have helped the assimilation
of new terms like xa-hoi 'society', canh-nông 'agriculture', ky-nghe (ki-
nghê) 'industry', tu-ban 'capitalism', công-san 'communism', etc.
That twofold process of vietnamization has sometimes brought about the
presence of a pair of equivalents of one loanword, with the pronunciation of
the second member making the origin of each lexeme less evident: e.g.
*cac — gác 'upper storey', *can — gan 'liver', *can — gan 'near',
*hoa — va 'calamity', *ky — ghi 'to record', *kiem — guom 'sword',
*kính -- guong 'mirror', etc.
Anyway a formal text, like a newspaper or magazine article, contains
many of those Chinese-borrowed items whether the discourse is about
politics, history, culture, law, medicine, science, or technology.
However, those morphemes marked with an asterisk cannot be used freely:
*Thiên mua. cannot mean 'It's raining', because as a bound element
thiên 'sky; heaven' has only the status of a word constituent, its use being
restricted to such compounds as thiên-ha 'people (under the sky)', thiên-tai
'natural disaster', thiên-van 'astronomy', thiên-duong 'paradise', etc.
likewise the sentence *Co nhân gol cùa, (exist homo call door) is ill-formed
because nhân does not occur freely. Rather the grammatical sentences are
Troi mua. (sky rain) 'It's raining.' and Co nguoi goi cùa. (exist person call
door) 'There's someone at the door.' Students of the language find it
rewarding to be exposed fairly early to this learned vocabulary, as the
lexemes called tù goc Han, tú Han- Viet are encountered with great
frequency.

3.4 Morphemes. In discussing words, it is useful to keep in mind that the

morpheme (hînh-vi, ngu-vi) is the smallest meaningful unit of linguistic
form which can be isolated. Structured as a syllable, it may occur by itself as
a simple word or it may co-occur with similar units. In the latter case, it is
one of two (or three) constituents that make up a complex word. At the
same time it is considered one of the ultimate constituents of a sentence.
Practically all Vietnamese morphemes are monosyllabic, e.g. ngudi
'person, man, human being', com 'cooked rice', di 'to go, walk', muon
 THE lEXICON 39

'to want', cao 'tall', dung 'correct, right'. A very small number of
morphemes of obscure etymology or of foreign origin have more than
one syllable, e.g. cù-lao 'island', măng-cut 'mangosteen5 and sau-riêng
'durian' [from Malay], xà-phông, xà-bông 'soap', cà-rot 'carrot', ét-xăng
'gasoline', so-mi 'shirt', ca-vát, cà-vat [from French], dàu-lâu 'skull5,
bù-nhîn 'scarecrow; puppet5, mo-hôi 'sweat', etc.
Although these are written as two syllables (either hyphenated or spaced)
and are often morphologically complex in origin, they are not, in the spoken
language, further analyzed into meaningful parts.
When abbreviated, for instance at the fruit market, the first syllable rnâng
in the Malay-borrowed word măng-cut for 'mangosteen' [Garcinia
mangostana] being homophonous with măng 'bamboo shoot', the customer
may ask Măng này bao nhiêu ho bà? (măng this what-extent much huh
grandma) 'Ma'am, how much are these măng?' — although those tropical
fruits have nothing to do with bamboo shoots. likewise, folk etymology
puts cà-rot 'carrot' in the cà 'eggplant' family, thus allowing a linguistic
play, which suggests that those 'eggplants' or 'red aubergines' are dot /zót/
'stupid, dumb'.
On the other hand, the same item cà, when occurring in the French
loanword cà-phê 'coffee', is never assimilated in sound to that eggplant
(Solanum melongena) family, probably because popular etymology cannot
identify the meaning of the attribute phê: cf. Emeneau [1951: 4, 158]. The
non-native beverage under discussion has, however, been associated with tea
(tră), and long before some people became addicted to it, the loanword itself
had been treated as trà phê , that is, 'a kind of tea with the phê attribute',
whatever that attribute may mean!
As we move along in our analysis of the monosyllabic morpheme, we
will try to identify the larger units which are composed of morphemes. Each
morpheme (understood to be an element within a word = tit-to) may appear
by itself as a simple word (tù), or it may appear in combination with another
morpheme or other morphemes to make up a larger word. Words—large or
small—are freely occurring units that constitute significant parts of a longer
sequence called a phrase (ngũ), or even a sentence (câu) at the higher level.
We will, therefore, begin by studying those units called words (each of
which has a specific meaning), then go on to look at their structure in
40 VIETNAMESE

order to examine how they are constructed from those building blocks (called
morphemes) through reduplicating and compounding, the two principal
processes of word-formation.

3.5 The simple word

A morpheme that has lexical meaning (nhà, cùa, com, nuóc, ăn, uong) or
grammatical meaning (dă, se, rat, thi, ma) (see 3.2) can function as a
simple word, and so can a morpheme like a!, a!, nhé!, nhi!, chú!, which
functions as a final particle to convey the speaker's feeling or attitude
toward the hearer. Thus, a simple word is a word that contains only
one single morpheme, and a word made up of two morphemes or more
through derivation is either a reduplication or a compound.

3.5.1. Simple words can be broken down into four kinds:

3.5.1.1. Most simple words are "full words" , i.e. they have lexical meaning
and denote things, phenomena, concepts, etc. They include five classes:
Nouns:bàn, ghe, sách, va, chó, mèo, trâu, bô, com, gao, mWa, gió,
tay, chân, mat, mũi, cây, co, etc.
Verbs: an, uong, di, dúng, ngoi, làm, hoc, nói, cay, cay, etc.
Adjectives: cao, thăp, béo, gay, xanh, dô, tot, xâu, xinh, dep, etc.
Numerals: mot, hai, dăm, ba, vài, etc.
Substitutes (Pronouns) : toi, tao, mày, anh, chi, ông, bà; day, day,
dó, kia; ai,. gi, nào; the, vây, etc.
Each of these single elements can serve as the base in a reduplicative or
compound pattern:bàn 'table' occurring i n b à n hoc ''desk',bàn giay 'desk
[in office]',bàn tho 'altar', băn ăn 'dining table'; ăn 'to eat' occurring in
ăn com 'to have a meal', ăn lăi 'to earn interest', ăn trôm 'to burglarize',
ăn tïên 'to take bribes'; béo 'fat' occurring in béo tôt 'fat and healthy (!)',
béo phi 'obese', tot 'good' occurring in tôn-tôt 'rather good', tôt-dep
'nice, swell', tot bung 'kind-hearted', etc.
Most simple words are native elements, but a small number of them
are Chinese loanwords: buông/phông 'room', chè/trà 'tea', mui 'smell,
taste, color', vi 'taste, flavor', ngà 'ivory', nam 'boy, male', nu 'girl,
female', trong 'to respect', khinh 'to despise', etc.
 THE lEXICON 41

3.5.1.2. Other classes of simple words serve as grammatical tools, i.e. they
help express grammatical meanings within a phrase or a sentence: they are
Prepositions: bàng, cua, vói, vê, do, vi, cho, etc.
Conjunctions: nhung, ma, vi, nên, tuy, neu, hê, etc.
Auxiliaries (Modals): dang, dă, se, không, chang, chua, cũng, văn,
hăy, dung, chó, roi, xong, etc.
Some simple words possess either lexical meaning or grammatical
meaning: cho means 'to give' or 'to, for', dé means 'to place, put' or 'in
order to'; di means 'to go' or 'away, off' ( bay di 'to fly away', gay di
'to become emaciated' ), ra means 'to exit, go out' and also serves as
a resultative coverb in such idioms as trang ra ' [of complexion] to
become lighter', map ra 'to become fat, gain weight'.

3.5.1.3 Dozens of others have direct emotive values: they are either
interjections such as o, oi, oi, o, oi, cha, chao, hoi, hù, or expressive
final particles such as à, a, W, chú, nhé, nhi etc.

3.5.1.4 Whereas most onomatopeias fall into reduplicative patterns [see

3.7], there is only a small number of single onomatopeias : am, oang,
êu, cac, gâu, hi, hi, etc.

3.6 Morphological processes

The processes which affect entire words in Vietnamese can be considered at

several levels. Basically, at the word level, English words like cup : cups,
dog : dogs, rose : roses, ox : oxen, talk : talked : talking , display partial
similarities of form and meaning (using the plural morpheme /-s/, /-z/, /-iz/,
or -en, etc. for nouns, and the past tense morpheme -ed, the present
continuous morpheme -ing for verbs). Vietnamese has no such system of
inflection, and instead of using such morphemes as English -s, -es, -en,
-ed, -ing (i.e. "suffixes", which must always be glued to a stem like cup,
dog, rose, ox, talk), grammatical relations are indicated by means of
"function words" and word order.
42 VIETNAMESE

3.6.1 Phonetic modification. We can observe phonological alternations

(consonant, vowel, tone) and contractions. In colloquial speech, the
numeral hai miuoi '20', when followed by a unit numeral is contracted into
ham-, as in ham mot ' 2 1 ' [ < hai muoi mot], ham hai '22' [< hai muoi
hai], ham ba '23' [ < hai muoi ba\, etc. Similarly, ba muoi and băm-
alternate, resulting in barn mot = ba muoi mot ' 3 1 ' , bam ba = ba muoi
ba ' 3 3 ' , barn Jam = ba muii lam '35', etc.

3.6.1.1 A change of tone within a word:

A. Numbers.
mot ' 1 ' > mot '1 after muoi' : for example hai muoi mot ' 2 1 ' ,
ba muoi moi ' 3 1 ' , boh muoi mot ' 4 1 ' , ....
muoi '10' > muoi '10 when preceded by a unit numeral' : for
example bon muoi '40', nam muoi '50', tam muoi '80',
ruoi '[of quantity, amount, unit] and a half', as in mot tháng ruoi
'one month and a half', mot do-la ruoi 'one and a half dollars', hai gio
ruoi '2:30; two and a half hours', tang gap ruoi 'to increase 50%' — but
ruôi '[of number] and a half', as in hai tram ruôi '250', ba nghin ruôi
'3,500', tarn triêu ruôi '8,500,000',....
B. (Demonstrative) substitutes.
nay 'this; here, now' (horn nay 'today', ngày nay 'nowadays') :
này (tháng này 'this month', tuân này 'this week', hoc-ky này 'this term')
day 'here' : day 'there'
bay gio 'now' : bay gio 'then'
kia 'there' : kia 'yonder'
nhieu 'much, many' : nhiêu [in bao nhiêu? 'how much? how
many?', bây nhiêu this much, this many', bay nhiêu 'that much, that
many'].
C. Verbs.
cua 'to saw' > cua 'to cut in a sawing motion with a (dull) blade'
cúng 'hard' > cùng 'to have an erection'
muon 'to borrow' > muon 'to hire, rent'
ngang 'transversal, horizontal' > ngáng 'to trip, make [somebody]
stumble'
 THE lEXICON 43

nguoc 'upstream, opposite direction' > nguóc 'to look up'

There are some examples among the Chinese loanwords: *lâu 'tower'
and lau 'tower; stor(e)y, floor'; qua 'to pass by, cross' and qua 'to go
beyond, exceed'; truong 'long' and trũong 'to grow up'; trung 'center'
and trung 'to hit squarely'; truyèn 'to pass on' and truyên 'story, novel';
etc.
D. Nouns.
Beside the above pairs of related words that should for practical purposes be
learned as separate words used in different contexts, there are interesting
items which are used to refer to people or places. They are clearly derived
from regular nouns (denoting relatives and locations).
(1) Such kinship terms as bà 'grandmother—lady', ông 'grandfather-
gentleman', co 'aunt-unmarried young lady', anh 'elder brother—male
equal', etc. are used as personal pronouns in both address and reference.
They would in the Saigon dialect take the hôi tone and mean respectively
'that lady', 'that gentleman', 'that young lady', 'that fellow':
bà > bå = bà ăy 'she'
ông > ong = ông ăy 'he'
cô > có = cô áy 'she'
anh > anh - anh ăy 'he'
chi > chl = chi ăy 'she'
thang > thang = thang ăy 'that guy, he'
thang cha > thang cha = thàng cha ăy 'that bloody guy; he'
[This does not work for words that have the sac tone like chu 'father's
younger brother', bác 'fathers older brother'.]
(2) On the other hand, such nouns as horn 'day', bên 'side', dang
'location', or such noun-like locatives as trong 'place inside', ngoài 'place
outside', trên 'place on top', etc. would among speakers of Saigonese yield
forms with the hôi tone, too. The relevant forms mean respectively:
hom (= horn ăy) 'that day',
bén (= bên ăy) 'that side; over there',
ding (= dang ăy) 'that location; there',
trông (= trong ăy) 'that space inside; in there',
ngoài (= ngoài ăy) 'that space outside; out there',
tren (= trên ây) 'that space on top; up there', etc.
44 VIETNAMESE

The above items trong, ngoài, tren, duói (and truóc, sau, ....) make
up a small word class of locatives that on the surface resemble English
prepositions. They all refer to position (in space or time), so have been called
"relator-nouns" [Thompson 1965: 200]—phuong-vi-tu in Vietnamese.
A diachronic (historical) explanation has been attempted by Thompson
[1965c: 149] concerning this phenomenon: southern derivatives with hoi
tone may involve anticipation of the tone of ăy 'that' in the preceding noun,
at an earlier stage of the Saigon dialect when ăy was used (as it is in the
northern dialect today) instead of modern dó ; later the demonstrative ăy
was dropped, leaving the noun or noun-like form with modified tone.
3.6.1.2 A change in the initial consonant.
This may result in two rhyming syllables, as in the case of the numeral nam
'5', which gives lam /nhăm '5 in numbers between the tens,' i.e. when
occurring after muoi / muoi '10': muoi lam '15', hai muoi lam /nhăm
'25', ba muoi lam / nhăm '35', bay miloi lăm / nhăm '75', etc.
But there are abundant examples of formations in which the final -c /k/
following a vowel alternates with -ng / η /, for instance nong-noc 'tadpole',
or the final -ch /c/ alternates with -nh /η/, for instance [cuoi] khanh-khách
'to laugh heartily'. These formations will be treated in detail in the section
devoted to reduplications.
3.6.1.3 Vowel alternations.
There is a vowel alternation between /ă/ and /â/, as in băc 'north' : bac
'[of wind] northerly', and between /a/ and /ô/, as in nam 'south' , nom
'[of script] southern, demotic' and nom '[of wind] southerly'.
There are also alternations between /u/ and /i/, /ô/ and /ê/, /o/ and /e/,
which will be discussed under reduplications (3.7).

3.7 Reduplications (lap lay, lay). Reduplications are iterative forms (tieng
dôi - mots doubles) in which a repeated element reflects certain phonological
characteristics of the base. This feature is also found in other Southeast Asian
languages. In Thai, for instance, reduplication results in imitative words,
such as súbsíb 'to whisper', haahee 'sound of hearty laughter', etc. In
Malay languages, a complete repetition denotes plurality: orang-orang
'men' < orang 'man', bangsar-bangsar 'nations' < bangsar 'nation', api-api
'box of matches' < api 'fire', etc. In English the nearest examples are
 THE lEXICON 45

such compound words are chop-chop, clip-clop, clackety-clack, dillydally,

helter-skelter, mumbo-jumbo, palsywalsy, razzle-dazzle, teeter-totter, etc.
In Vietnamese, the basic and the "derived" syllables display sound
harmony, resulting in some parallelism in the structure and a change in
meaning. The reduplicative formations, which have recently been studied in
detail in several monographs and articles, and even listed in dictionary form
[Hoàng Van Hành 1994], show several types of combinatory alternations, for
instance, alternation in the rhyme plus alternation in the tone.

3.7.1 The repetitions perform several functions, of which the most

important ones are:
3.7.1.1. Most classifiers (5.1.3.B7) and a few common nouns and pronouns
can be reduplicated (with no loss of tone) with the meaning "every unit, each
unit or group in turn" as in ai ai 'everyone', dâu dâu 'everywhere,
somewhere', gi gi 'everything, something', nguoi nguòi 'everybody',
ngàyngày 'every day, day after day', chiêu chiêu 'every afternoon', nam
nam 'year after year', tháng tháng 'month after month', dòi dòi 'generation
after generation, eternity', etc.
3.7.1.2. In another pattern of total repetition, a verb, an adjective oran
adverb may be reduplicated, the meaning being that of "liveliness", "good
and ", and even "intensification" or "attenuation", as in mau mau,
nhanh nhanh, le le /'le le 'good and fast', luôn luôn 'continually; always,
forever '. More examples :
dêu dêu 'regularly, evenly' < dêu 'equal, even, regular, steady'
hoài hoài 'incessantly' < hoài 'continually'
hoi hoi 'somewhat, a little'< hoi 'a little'
mai mai 'for ever'< mai 'without interruption'
quen quen 'rather familiar, casually acquainted' < quen 'acquainted'
rung rung 'to rustle' < rung 'to shake'
thuong thuong 'usually, regularly' < thuong 'ordinary; often'
Each syllable of a two-syllable adjective or adverb may also be
reduplicated (see 3.7.5).
3.7.1.3. Names of birds, insects, plants and fruits are often reduplications:
ba-ba 'river turtle', buorn buorn 'butterfly', cào-cào 'grasshopper, locust',
châu-chau 'grasshopper', chuon-chuon 'dragonfly', da-da 'partridge', dom-
46 VIETNAMESE

dom 'glowworm, firefly, lightning bug', le-le 'teal, tree duck', chien-chlên
'skylark", chol-chol 'plover', kên-kên /ken-ken 'vulture', tê-tê 'pangolin',
dol-mol 'marine tortoise', se-se 'sparrow', chôm-chôm 'rambutan', thau-
dau 'castor-oilplant', du-du 'papaya', etc.
3.7.1.4. Examples of onomatopoetic forms are ào-ào 'imitative of water
flowing', am-am 'noisy, uproarious, thunderous', bô-bô 'to speak
loud(ly)' cac-cac '[of duck] to cackle', dùng-dùng 'noisy, noisily', hôn-hên
'topant, breathe hard and quickly', oang-oang '[of voice] booming', oe-oe
'imitative of infant crying', coc-cach 'to clank', tùng-tùng 'drum beat', lao-
xao 'crunching sound [of gravel under shoes]', leng-keng 'to clink,
tinkle', lop-côp 'clop-clop, clumping sound of clogs', sôt-soat '[of tree
leaves, paper, starched cloth] to rustle', the-thé '[of voice] shrill,
piercing', etc.

3.1.2 The patterns of reduplication show much variety.

3.7.2.1 Total reduplication. In a total or complete reduplicative pattern
(3.5.1), the second syllable is stressed: ào-ào 'sound of water running',
dùng-dùng 'with a big bang', hao-hao 'analogous, rather similar', mành-
mành 'blinds', xuong-xuong 'angular, bony', khăng-khăng 'obstinate,
persistent', khu-khu 'to hold tight [to ....], guard jealously', tro-tro
'unchanged; brazen-faced', dong-dong '[of rice] 'to be in ear', bùng-bùng
'glowing; in blazing anger', trùng-trùng 'to glower, stare', etc.
The most often cited examples are adjectives referring to colors, shapes
and states of mind: den den 'rather black, [of skin] rather dark' < den;
xanh xanh 'bluish, greenish; pale'< xanh; vàng vàng 'yellowish'< vàng;
tron trôn 'roundish; plump' < trôn; gay gay 'slender, rather skinny' < gay;
hay hay 'rather interesting' < hay; buon buon 'somewhat sad' < buon;
vul vul 'jovial; fun' < vul, etc.
Tone harmony requires that the tone of the basic syllable (underlined in
the examples) and that of the derived syllable belong to the same register [see
2.6]: ngang, sac, hoi, of the upper register, and huyen, ngă, nàng, of the
lower register. Examples:
âm-am 'rather lukewarm', beo-béo 'rather plump', thâm-thap
'rather short', trăng-trăng 'whitish', do-do 'reddish', nho-nhô 'smallish',
kha-khá 'pretty good', tôn-tot 'rather good', chăng-chac 'more or less
 THE lEXICON 47

certain', khang-khác 'rather different, not quite the same', man-mat 'rather
cool', etc.
dèm-dep 'rather pretty', hèm-hep 'rather narrow', lành-lanh 'rather
chilly', nang-năng 'rather heavy', ngòn-ngot 'rather sweet, sugary', so-so
'a little scared', sùng-sung 'standing tall', cham-châm '(rather) slowly',
nhàn-nhat 'rather bland, flavorless', etc.
3. 7.2.2 Partial reduplication. The patterns can be alliterative (diêp am) or
rhyming (diep văn).
A. Alliterative patterns. When the initial consonant is repeated (diep
am), and onliy the rhyme of the basic syllable changes, we have alliteration:
examples are /ch-/ chăm-chu 'to concentrate', /l-/ làm-lung 'to work
hard, toil', /r-/ rac-roi 'complicated, intricate', etc.
In one pattern, a back (rounded) vowel /u ô o/ alternates with a front
(unrounded) vowel /i ê e/ of the same height: u - i, ô - ê , and o - e .
Some examples of this vowel harmony:
cu-ky 'old, outmoded', mum-mlm '[of baby] chubby', tum-tim 'to
grin, chuckle', xù-xî '[of surface] rough, not smooth', etc.
go-ghe '[of road] bumpy', hon-hen 'panting', ngô-nghê 'to look
incongruous', etc.
cô-kè 'to bargain, haggle', nhô-nhè '[of voice] soft', thô-thè '[of
small child] to speak softly', etc.
The derivative formation may either precede or follow the basic word:
C-âm — C-x as in ngâm-ngùi 'deeply grieved', or C-x — C-àng as in
ky-càng 'carefully, thoroughly' [C-x = initial consonant + rhyme, see 2.1].
Other examples:
C-x — C-a: thiêt-tha 'insistent, earnest' < thiêt 'deeply interested';
nhuc-nhă 'shameful' < nhuc 'disgraced, humiliated'.
C-an — C-x: dán-do 'to weigh the pros and cons' < do 'to measure';
bàn-bat 'to leave no echo, no news' < bat;
khan-khan 'smelly' < khan 'fetid';
ngan-ngat 'to cry, sob' < ngat 'to choke'.
C-x — C-an: dung-dan 'correct' < dung;
nho-nhan 'tiny' < nhô;
vua-văn 'just right' < vùa;
xinh-xan 'pretty, well-proportioned' < xinh 'cute'.
48 VIETNAMESE

C-x — C-Ò: bat-bó 'to make arrests' < bát 'to arrest, detain';
găp-gò 'to encounter' < gap 'to meet';
lang-lo 'flirtatious'< lang 'amorous';
nhâc-nho 'to remind'< nhac 'to recall'.
C-x — C-e: manh-mê 'strong' < manh;
mát-mé 'cool' < mat;
sach-sê 'clean, spotless' < sach 'clean'.
C-x — C-inh: buóng-blnh 'stubborn, headstrong' < buóng;
ngo-nghinh '[of child] cute'< ngo.
C-x — C-ui: den-dûi 'unlucky' < den 'black; unlucky';
gan-gui 'close, next to' < gan 'near';
ngan-ngui '[of time] very short'< ngan 'short'.
C-âp — C-x: lâp-loè 'to flare, flick, waver' < loé 'to flare up';
thâp-thô 'to appear and disappear' < tho 'to stick out';
nhap-nhô 'to rise and fall' < nhô 'to surge';
bap-bênh 'unstable' < bênh 'to tilt, slant';
gâp-ghènh '[of road, ride] bumpy'< ghenh;
khăp-khénh ' [of teeth; trot] uneven'< khénh .
According to one analyst, who listed 254 instances of the latter pattern,
all forms (in which the derived syllable C-âp has either the sac or the nang
tone) convey the idea of something appearing then disappearing, or
something moving up and down, or a flame or a shadow flickering, with a
continuing, repetitive on-and-off motion [Phi Tuyet Hinh 1977: 42-50].
But in an alliterative pattern, there may be alternation between final
consonants—between a stop and a nasal that are "homorganic", i.e. that share
the same point of articulation (labial, dental or velar) [see 2.4] :
/-m/ and /-p/: - am-áp 'comfortably warm', am-áp 'chock-full,
crammed', cam-cap 'to tremble, shake [with cold or fear]', com-com 'thick,
bulging', dèm-dep 'rather pretty', nom nop 'fearful, worried';
/-n/ and /-t/: tôn-tot 'rather good', man-mat 'rather cool', kin-kit
'[of crowd] milling', quán-quít 'to hang around [somebody]';
/-n/ and /-k/: eng-éc '[of pig] squeal', khang-khác 'somewhat
different', phang-phác '[of silence] complete', slnh-sich '[of engine]
throbbing, panting', vang-vac '[of moonlight] bright and clear'.
 THE lEXICON 49

B. Rhyming patterns. The dominant pattern of diep van seems to

consist of perfectly rhyming syllables, that constitute (like the alliterative
forms introduced above) real "emphatics", that is, picturesque forms with
intensive, attenuative, figurative connotations:
In approximately half of the cases, the first syllable has initial /l-/, which
most commonly alternates
with/k-/ as in lích-kích ' [of carried utensils] weighty, burdensome,
clanging; [of procedures] complicated'; lung cung 'cumbersome',
with /d-/ as in låo dåo 'to stagger', lác dác '[of huts, trees, stars,
rain drops] scattered ',
with /kh-/ as in lorn khom 'bending, stooping', lù-khù 'slow,
laggard, lethargic',
with /m-/ as in lô-mô 'to grope (one's way) (in the dark)', lo-mò
'dim, vague, unclear',
with /nh-/ as in làng-nhang 'tangled; to drag on', li-nhí '[of writing]
minuscule; [of voice] soft, indistinct',
with /t-/ as in linh-tinh 'miscellaneous', lúng-túng 'embarrassed,
helpless, not knowing how to get out of an awkward situation',
with Ah-/ as in lo-tho 'sparse, thin', lũng-thũng 'to saunter, stroll
along, walk leisurely', etc.

3.7.3 Stylistic effects. Sometimes reduplications serve as onomatopoeias

or sound-imitating forms, e.g. chí-choé '[of kids] to squabble', chiêm-chiêp
'[of small bird] to chirp', khúc-khích 'to giggle', liu-lo '[of bird, kid] to
trill', oa-oa '[of infant] to cry', roc rach '[of brook] to babble, murmur'.
Moreover, in literary utterances, the derivative forms help evoke visual
imagery and suggest movements, gestures, shapes, sizes, lights, as in
lom-ngom 'to crawl, creep', lác-dác (see 3.7.2.2B) , lap lo 'to appear and
disappear alternately', lorn khom (see 3.7.2.2B) , khúm-núm 'to bow low [in
a servile or fawning manner', thuot-tha / tha-thuót 'lithe, lissome', thoăn-
thoat 'to walk briskly', nhón nháo '[of crowd] disorderly, panicky', bap
bùng '[of flames] to flicker', day-dà 'corpulent', khăng-khiu 'lean, lank,
skinny, twiggy', bát-ngát, mênh-mông '[of space] immense', diu-hiu
'desolate', quanh-quê 'deserted', etc.
50 VIETNAMESE

Indeed, "each reduplication is a 'musical note' containing a concrete

'picture' of the senses of sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell,
accompanied by the impressions of the speaker's subjective perceptions,
evaluations and attitudes toward things and phenomena—impressions strong
enough to deeply affect the hearer through his or her outward and inward
senses" [Dó Huu Châu 1981:51].
Poets take full advantage of reduplications—generally untranslatable—
which help convey their feelings of vague melancholy, nostalgia (bang
khuâng), deep grief (bùi ngùi), or hesitation (tan ngan), etc.
In these illustrative verses from Nguyên Du's 3,254-line narrative The
Tale of Kieu, the national bard (1765-1820) made ample use of reduplicative
patterns:
Nao-nao dong nuóc uôn quanh,
Nhip cau nho-nhô cuôi ghènh bac ngang.
Sè-sè nam dát bên dàng,
Dàu-dàu ngon cô nùa vàng nùa xanh.

'The rivulet, babbling, curled and wound its course

'under a bridge that spanned it farther down.
'Beside the road a mound of earth loomed up
'where withered weeds, half yellow and half green.'
[The Tale of Kiêu, lines 55-58, transi. Huynh Sanh-Thông]

Closer to us, Nguyen Khuyen (1835-1909) also made frequent use of

symbolism and allegory as shown in the following lines from his pastoral
poems about autumn:
Ao thu Ianh leo nũóc trong veo,
Mot chiec thuyên cau bé tèo teo

Tâng mây lo lùng troi xanh ngat,

Ngo truc quanh co khách váng teo.

'Cold autumn pond with water pure and clear.

'A tiny little boat for catching fish.
 THE lEXICON 51

'Clouds dangling high aloft in stark blue skies.

'Path winding through bamboos where no man walks.'
[ Thu dieu "Fishing in Autumn", transi. Huynh Sanh-Thông]

Nam gian nhà cô thăp le te,

Ngò toi dêm sâu dóm lâp loé.
Lung giâu phát pho màu khói nhat,
lăn ao lóng lánh bóng trâng loe.

'Five rooms make up a low, low hut of thatch,

'Deep night, a pitch-dark alley-glowworms blink.
'Around the hedgerow vapors waft and fade,
'Inside the pond the moonlight gleams and glares.'
[ Thu am "Drinking in Autumn", transi. Huynh Sanh-Thông ]

3.7.4. Meaning differentiation. A division of labor exists among

reduplications from the same root. Thus, from dễ 'easy' one gets dễ dai,
which means 'easy-going, not demanding', and dễ dàng, which means
'(fairly) easy to do'. From nhô 'small' we can derive nhô nhán 'little,
tiny', nhô nhat 'trifling, unimportant', nhô nhè '[of voice] soft'; [of table
manners] gentle', nhô nhen 'petty, mean', and nhô nhoi 'small, modest'.
likewise, from the root quanh 'around', a native speaker can obtain such
forms as loanh quanh 'roundabout', quanh co 'winding', quanh quân 'to
stick around', quanh quăt 'somewhere close by', and quanh quéo 'tortuous'.
A good writer discriminates between then tho 'shy, bashful' and then
thung 'looking ashamed' ( < then 'shy, timid' ). likewise, of several
reduplications containing êm 'soft, gentle; calm' an effective writer has a
choice among êm å, êm ai, êm am, êm diu, êm dep, êm dem, êm thárn,
etc.

3.7.5 larger forms. There are a number of forms that have three syllables:
nhô nhô nhô (là) 'to miss .... very much' < nhó 'to miss', con con con
'tiny' < con con Tittle, tiny' < con, tí ti ti 'tiny' < tí ti < tí 'tiny', sach
sành sanh 'clean sweep; completely' < sach 'clean', vui vui vui Tots of
52 VIETNAMESE

fun' < vui 'fun', xôp xóm xôp 'very porous'< xô'p xôp < xôp 'porous',
tèo tèo teo 'very tiny' < tèo teo 'tiny' < teo 'to shrivel, contract'.
A compound form X-Y (4.3) like nói cuoi 'to speak and laugh' may
become nói nói citoi ciXoi (X-X Y-Y) 'speaking and laughing at the same
time'. Other examples:
di lai 'go and come,—to go back and forth' > di di lai Jai 'back and
forth, to and fro'; ham ho 'ardently' > ham ham ho ho 'impetuously,
enthusiastically'; ram rô 'noisily' > ràm ràm rô rô 'noisily, with great
fanfare'; anh em 'elder brother and younger sibling' > anh anh em em 'to
use sibling terms in addressing someone'; etc. The reduplication vôi-vàng
'hurriedly' < vôi 'to be in a hurry' can be intensified through repetition of
each syllable, resulting in vôi voi văng văng 'hurry-skurry'.
3.7.5.1 Such disyllabic formations as ăp ling '[of embarrassed person] to
speak haltingly, embarrassedly', Jung túng 'at a loss, not knowing what to
do', lung cung 'cumbersome', lung thung '[of garment] too roomy', dûng
dinh 'to walk leisurely', hap tap 'hasty', hón hén 'panting', hón hô
'excited, elated', nhi nhanh 'lively', òng eo 'to mince, walk with short,
affectedly dainty steps' deserve special mention.' To reduplicate such a
disyllabic base, the base is preceded by two syllables, the first of which is
the first syllable of the base ( ăp, lung, lung, lung, dung, hap, hón, hón,
nhi, òng ) while the second — receiving stress — consists of the initial
consonant of the second syllable of the base followed by the new rhyme /-a/
or /-à/. The resulting four-syllable formations with strong "dramatic"
overtones are respectively:
áp a áp ung, lung ta lung tung,
lung ca/cà lùng cung, lung thà lung thung,
dung da/dà dùng dinh, hấp ta háp tap,
hon ha hon hén, hón ha hón hô,
nhí nha nhi nhânh, òng à òng eo.
With l-ol occurring less frequently as the new rhyme, we have
cau bat 'vagrant, homeless' > càu bo cau bat;
hót hài 'nervous and panicky, out of breath' > hôt ho hat hår,
văt vuïông 'discarded, abandoned' > văt vo/va văt vuông;
ngăt ngrfong'lall, unsteady, staggering' > ngăt ngo/nga ngăt nguong;
nhón nhác 'awestruck' > nhón nho/nha nhón nhác 'terror-stricken'.
 THE lEXICON 53

l ê Văn l y calls /-a/ or /-ol an infix, and also lists phát phuang > phât
pho phăt phuông [1968: 44]. His other example nghèo xo nghèo xác <
nghèo 'poor' is ill-chosen because this is but an interlocking construction
containing the compound xác xa = xa xác 'ragged, tattered; denuded' and
optionally occurring as nghèo xác nghèo xa : either phrase means 'as poor
as a church mouse, pauperized, destitute- -like a tatterdemalion'.
3.7.5.2 In the spoken language, a particle may be used following the
repeated syllable in an exclamatory expression: den 'black, dark' would
yield den den là! 'so dark'; so 'scared' would yield sa sa là! 'I was so
scared!'; vul 'fun' [see 3.5.5] would yield Vul vul (vul) là! [ with heavy
stress on the first syllable vul] 'Oh, we had so much fun! '
Talking to children, a mother or grandmother may exclaim Dep ai là
dep! 'Oh [you're] so pretty!', Thuong oi là thwong! 'Oh, how I love
you!', or Ngon that là ngon! 'So delicious!' A person impressed with a
large quantity of mangoes or mosquitoes may cry out Nhũng xoài là xoài!
'So many mangoes!', Nhũng muôl là muôl! 'Nothing but mosquitoes!'

3.7.6 Suffix -iec. Finally we have to mention a very productive suffix

/(C)-iec, (C)-iec/, which, when added to the initial consonant of the basic
word C-x, yields a derived form C-iec. This phenomenon, called "iec-hoá"
by native linguists, supplies some emotional coloring (disinterest, irony, etc.)
to the meaning of any base:
an > an-iec 'to eat'
hoc > hoc-hiec 'to study'
hát > hát-hiec 'to sing'
nói > nói-niec 'to speak, talk'
áo > áo-iec 'coats and the like'
mũ > mũ-miêc 'headgear [ collectively]'
ban > ban-biec 'friends'
com > com-kiec 'rice and the like'
canh > canh-kiec 'soup and the like'
pho > pho-phiec 'beef noodle soup and the like'
xe > xe-xiec 'cars and the like'
sách > sách-siec 'books and the like'
gom > góm-ghiêc 'abominable, horrible'.
54 VIETNAMESE

Emeneau, whose material contains none of this pattern, quotes Maspero

[1912: 109] as saying that this is "a Cochin Chinese pattern" [Emeneau
1951: 186]. Actually, the northern dialect makes frequent use of this
formative element. Indeed, this "chameleon alliterative suffix" [Thompson
1965c: 173, 176]- -not at all limited to the southern dialect area—is used
even when the base is a compound word: di thi di thiêc < di thi 'to go take
an exam', di hoc di hiec < di hoc 'to go to school'. Given a basic form
like o-to 'automobile, car' (a fairly recent loanword from French), the
highly colloquial suffix -iêc would affect the second syllable and yield ô-tô
ô-tiêc 'automobiles and the like', just like xe dap xe diêc 'bikes and the
like' < xe dap 'bicycle', ca-vát ca-viêc 'neckwear' < ca-vát 'necktie', and
more recently ti-vi ti-viê 'television and the like' < ti-vi 'TV'.
Nguyen Quí-Hung [1965: 124] cites three other examples of -iêc
occurring in borrowings from foreign languages : cà-phê cà-phiêc 'coffee
and the like', ten-nit ten-niec 'tennis and the like' [from French], and phá-
sa phá-siec 'roasted peanuts and the like'[from Cantonese fasang].
A native speaker has no difficulty in understanding or using hop-tac-xâ
hop-tác-xiéc 'cooperatives and the like' < hop-tac-xâ 'cooperative'. The
three-syllable English loanword càu-lac-bô (from "club", borrowed via the
Chinese transliteration) would be reduplicated as cau-lac-bo câu-lac-biêc
'clubs and the like'.
According to Truong Vän Chinh & Nguyen Hien Lê [1963: 93] the
syllable (C)-iec is generally used when one speaks disparagingly or
playfully. We agree, and further suggest that it is used most often in such
negative sentences as
TÙ sáng den gio tôi dä cà-phê cà-phiêc gì dâu !
(from morning- reach now I ANTERIOR coffee-coffee whatever where)
'I haven't had any coffee this morning! '
May tuàn nay chå ten-nit ten-niêc gi cal
(few week this NEG tennis-tennis whatever all)
'No tennis these past few weeks at all! '
Occurring less often in colloquial speech are four-syllable forms
containing the syllable C-ang or C-ung, which alternates with C-x:
dàn ông dàn ang 'men, males in general' < dàn ông 'man, male person';
hoa tai hoa tung 'earrings [collectively]'< hoa tai 'earring'.
 THE LEXICON 55

3.7.7 Concluding remarks

The discussions in sections 3.7.1 to 3.7.3 have presented the meanings and
functions of reduplicative forms; the following summary will underline the
important role of this process of building words from syllables.
3.7.7.1 Reduplicated forms of nouns seem to carry at least three broad
meanings:
• collective: cây-coi 'vegetation', chim-chóc 'birds', da-de 'the skin',
hôi-hè 'festivals', máu-me 'blood', máy-móc 'machines, machinery',
mùa-màng 'crops', phu-phen 'coolies', quà-cáp 'presents5, tho-ihuyen
'workmen, workers', etc. and also forms like sach-siec 'books and the
like', ca-vat ca-viec 'neckties, neckwear', etc.
• abstract: -co (gì?) 'whatever reasons?', cung-càch 'ways, patterns
[of behaviour]5, manh-môi, moi-manh 'clue, lead', nông-nôi 'plight,
condition', etc.
• pejorative: hoa-hoét ''flowery, gaudy, showy', mat-mŭi 'eyes',
nghe-ngőng 'any occupation at all', nguòi-ngom 'creature', thit-thà
'meats', etc.
3.7.7.2 Reduplicated forms of verbs carry even more meanings, all of
them showing "emphatic" sound symbolism, hence such terms as
"impressifs" [Durand 1961], "descriptives" [Smith 1973] or "expressives"
[Diffloth 1976]:
• general, mutual, or reciprocal :
(a) bàn-bac 'to deliberate' < b à n 'to discuss', ké-lé 'to relate in
detail' < ké 'to recount, enumerate', khóc-lóc 'to cry bitterly' < khóc to
cry, weep', lam-lung 'to toil' < Iàm 'to work', nói-näng 'to talk' < nói
'to speak', tap-tành 'to exercise, drill' < tàp 'to practice', etc.
(b) cãi-co < cãi 'to argue, quarrel', chen-hu < chen 'to jostle,
push, shove', dát-díu < dát 'to lead', gap-go 'to encounter' < gàp 'to
meet', hen-hò 'date, tryst' < hen 'to make an appointment', etc.
• expressive, ironical or imagist: chay-chot 'to solicit [favor], run for
[position]', chét-chóc 'to die, perish', dan-dò 'to keep reminding', gât-
gù 'to nod', gůi-gam 'to entrust', giū-gin 'to preserve', hát-hông
'to sing', mua- 'to dance', ngam-nghia 'to keep looking at [oneself,
something, someone]', nghi-ngoi 'to think, ponder', ngu-nghe 'to sleep',
nhay-nhot 'to jump up and down; to dance', nhâu-nhcî 'to have a
56 VIETNAMESE

drinking bout', nuôi-nâhg 'to nurture, rear', quán-quít 'to hang on to',
rù-rê 'to entice, lure, tempt', so-soang 'to paw, pet', tim-tôi 'to search
for, do research', ta-tiïông 'to think fondly, dream of', uôn-éo '[of
woman] to wriggle, swing hips', vo-vâp 'to give an effusive welcome',
vuot-ve 'to fondle, caress', xin-xo 'to ask for this and that', etc.
3.7.7.3 Reduplicated forms of adjectives carry three broad meanings:
• general: chat-chê 'tight(ly)', dep-de 'beautiful, nice', êm-dêm
'peaceful, quiet, soothing', im-lim 'quiet, still', may-man 'lucky,
fortunate', nhe-nhàng 'gentle, soft', sach-sê 'clean', vui-vè 'glad,
merry', etc.
• concrete: bap-bênh 'unsteady, unstable' < benh ; bol-roi' 'perplexed' <
roi; lung-lay 'shaky'< lay; luan-quăn '[of circle] vicious' < quân ;
lé-loi 'lonesome, lonely, solitary' < lé ; mo-mang 'developing,
expanding' < mo ; roí'-rit 'excited' < roi ; sác-såo 'keen, smart'
xa; xáu-xí 'ugly, unattractive', xău-xa 'shameful' < xău ; etc.

Some constructions have a good connotation: bé-bông 'small' < bé ;

gan-gũi 'close, intimate' < gan ; thom-tho 'aromatic' < thorn ; trôn-trînh
'rotund' < iron ; xinh-xán 'cute, fine-drawn' < xinh . But others have
a bad connotation: hay-hom '(not) interesting' < hay; méo-mó 'awry,
crooked'< méo; quá-quát 'immoderate, irrational'< quá, etc.
• abstract: biên-biêt 'leaving no traces', con-con 'tiny, little', chon-von
'sky-high', lai-lang '[of sentiment] overflowing', lang-lang 'quiet,
still', lu-bu 'over head and ears', map-mo 'dim, unclear', ngăm-ngam
'secretly, clandestinely', ngun-ngut '[of flames] rising brightly', nhá-
nhem 'darksome', tham-tham 'very deep', thin-thit 'quiet', vên-ven
'only, just'.
All early authors have mentioned that reduplicative formations (called
tiêhg dôi = mots doubles) are aimed at adding elegance to utterances. In
particular the stylistic device that uses the formative element -iếc has been
called a pattern of "poetic licence" [Vallot 1905: 182-183].
In the first grammar of Vietnamese written in English, Studies in
Vietnamese (Annamese) Grammar (1951), Professor Murray B. Emeneau,
to whom people often refer as the dean of American grammarians of
 THE lEXICON 57

Vietnamese, offered the insightful remark that "any attempt at elevation

of style, even in the most casual conversation, has as one of its marks a
multiplication of pairs of verbs." "Sometimes the pairs are
made up of freely used verbs, sometimes they are borrowings from Chinese,
sometimes they are Vietnamese reduplicative formations. This trait is in
some ways the equivalent of the sesquipedalianism of Johnsonese English"
[1951:76].
There is indeed, in both the spoken and written languages, a tendency
to use two-syllable expressions where just a monosyllabic form would
adequately convey the desired meaning. If this is true of reduplicated nouns,
verbs and adjectives, it is also true of affixation and compounding, to
which we will now turn in the next chapter.
 Chapter 4
The lexicon (continued)

4.0 Affixation and Compounding

We have seen (in 3.2, 3.5) that a simple word consists of a single morpheme
—a syllable-morpheme—like nhà 'house', cùa 'door', ăn 'to eat', ngu
'to sleep', hoc 'to study', lăm 'to do, act, work'. We have also seen that,
beside this very large class of words which constitute the most basic elements
of the vocabulary, another large class (in 3.7) consists of words which
comprise one single morpheme plus a kind of derived form through
reduplication: do do 'reddish', vôi-vàng 'in a hurry', am ĩ 'noisy', etc.
In the colloquial language, another class (discussed in 3.7.6) uses the highly
productive -iec suffix: for instance dai-hoc dai-hiec 'college and the like'.
In this chapter we will continue to examine the makeup of other kinds of
Vietnamese words—through the processes of affixation and compounding.
On the one hand, there is a fairly large class of polysyllabic words which
contain real affixes, i.e. bound morphemes that are added to root (or stem)
morphemes, just like English words illegal, impossible, untrue, boyhood,
freedom, teacher, lyrics, geology (which contain prefixes il-, im-, un-,
suffixes -hood, -dom, -er, -ics, -logy): for example bát-trung 'disloyal',
băt-hieu 'impious, unfilial', vô-ly 'absurd', nhiet-ke 'thermometer', toán-
hoc 'mathematics', etc. On the other hand, there are words that are
composed of two roots usually occurring with stress on the second element:
they are called compounds, for example nguoi o 'servant', tho moc
'carpenter', hoc tro 'student', thày giáo '(male) teacher', co giáo
'(female) teacher', dua chuôt 'cucumber', etc.
Since numerous lexical elements of Chinese origin make up around 70%
of the total vocabulary, Sino-Vietnamese (see 3.3) lexemes like môc 'wood',
giáo 'to teach', etc. will be identified as they occur in complex forms.
 60 VIETNAMESE

Regarding affixation, the types of formatives which can be used when

added---glued---toa stem are called affixes: though limited in number, they
are rather productive "bound" morphemes. Depending on their position with
reference to the stem—whether preceding it, following it, or within it- - -
affixes are classified into three types: prefixes (tïên-tð), suffixes (hâu-tð)
and infixes (trung-to), respectively. Malayo-Polynesian languages (Malay,
Indonesian, Cham, etc.) have infixes, but modern Vietnamese has none.

4.1 Prefixes

Vietnamese has few prefixes (tièn-to), that is affixes which are added in
front of the root (or stem) morpheme (cf. "nominalizers" in 4.6) .

4.1.1 The most common ones are found among numerals or terms for days
of the week or days of the month :
thú- 'prefix for ordinal numbers' as in thú ma'y? 'which one (in
order)?', thú nhăt 'first', thú hai 'second; Monday', thú ba 'third;
Tuesday', thú muoi 'tenth', thú hai miîoi '20th', thú bon muoi ba '43rd';
mòng / mùng 'prefix for the first 10 days of the month' (cf. Fr.
quantième) as in mðng mây? 'which day of the month?', mong mot tháng
giêng (day one month principal) 'January 1st', mong bon tháng båy (day
four month seven) 'the Fourth of July', mong muoi tháng muoi (day ten
month ten) 'October 10';
lāo- as a prefix is used before monosyllabic surnames to express some
familiarity' as lăo Thinh rang vàng 'old Thinh with gold teeth'.
The item thú- has as its close cousin the noun thú 'kind, variety, etc.'
which occurs in such compounds (see 4.3) as thú-bàc 'hierarchy', thú-hang
'category, class', thú-tu 'order, sequence', although the same Chinese
"etymon" [the form from which a later form in Vietnamese derives] occurs
as a bound element in such compounds as thú-nam 'second son', thú-nú
'second daughter', thú-phi 'second imperial concubine', thú-truong 'vice
minister, undersecretary', thú-yeu '(of) secondary (importance)', etc.
 THE lEXICON (CONTINUED) 61

4.1.2 Journalistic texts contain many of those frequently occurring prefixes

of Chinese origin. Below are examples of highly productive Sino-Vietnamese
prefixes found in newspapers and magazines:
bán- 'half, hemi-, semi-' as in bán-càu 'hemisphere', bán-dàn
'semiconductor, transistor', bán-dâo 'peninsula', bán-kếi 'semifinal', bán-
kính 'radius' ["half-diameter"], bán-nguyên-âm 'semivowel', bán-nguyêt
'semicircular', bán-nguyêt-san 'semimonthly magazine', bán-than bat-toai
'hemiplegia', bán-tií-dong 'semiautomatic', etc.
bat- 'im-, in-, il-, non-' as in bát-bao-dông 'non-violent', băt-
bình-dang 'unequal', bát-cån 'careless, negligent', bat-công 'unfair,
unjust', băt-dong 'different; difference' [< dong 'same'], bat-dông-sân
'real estate', băt-hhếh 'impious, unfilial' [< hiêii 'filial'] , bát-hop-pháp
'illegal, unlawful' [ < hop-phap 'legal' ] , bat-lũc 'incapable; impotent'
[< lue 'strength'], bât-trung 'disloyal' [< trung 'loyal'], etc.
khå- '-able, -ible' as in khå-ai 'lovable, lovely', khå-kinh
'respectable', khå-năng 'capability; possibility', kha-nghi 'suspect;
suspicious', khå-6 'detestable', khå-quan 'good, satisfactory', etc.
phân- 'counter-, anti-, re-' as in phån-ånh 'to present, report;
reflect(ion)', phån-ånh / phân-chiêu 'to reflect', phân-each-mang
'counterrevolutionary', phån-chhếh 'antiwar', phån-cong 'counteroffensive',
phån-doi 'to be against, oppose', phån-dông 'reactionary', phân-gián
'counterespionage', phån-khang 'to protest', phån-xa 'reflex', etc.
phi- 'il-, im-, in-' as in phi-nghla 'immoral, unethical', phi-ly
'irrational', phi-chinh-phu 'non-governmental', phi-quan-sũ 'non-military,
demilitarized' [< quan-su 'military (affairs)'], phi-phap 'illegal, unlawful',
phi-thuòng 'unusual, extraordinary', etc.
siêu- 'super-, sur-, meta-' as in siêu-âm 'supersonic', siêu-
cuòng 'superpower', siêu-dång/siêu-viêt 'outstanding, super-', siêu-hiên-
thuc 'surrealist', siêu-ngôn-ngu 'metalanguage', siêu-thi 'supermarket',
siêu-(tu-)nhiên 'supernatural', etc.
tong- 'general' as in tong-bí-thií 'secretary general', tong-dông-viên
'general mobilization', tong-giám-dóc 'director general', tong-giam-muc
'archbishop', tong-hành-dinh 'general headquarters', tong-khoi-nghia
'general uprising', tông-lãnh-sũ 'consul general', tong-thu-ky 'secretary-
 62 VIETNAMESE

general', tong-sån-phåm quôc-gia 'General National Product', tông-tuyến-cù

'general elections', tóng-tu-lênh 'commander-in-chief', etc.
tut- 'self-, auto-' as in tu-ái 'self-pride', tu-chû 'autonomy, self-
control', til-diXong 'autotrophic', tu-dông 'automatic', tu-ky 'self-, auto-',
tií-Iiíc 'self-reliant', tu-phat 'spontaneous', tu-phê-bïnh 'self-criticism',
tu-quyêt 'self-determination', tit-tin 'self-confident', etc.
vô- 'un-, im-, -less' as in vô-chính-phú 'anarchy', vô-danh
'anonymous, unknown', vô-dung 'useless', vô-dich 'matchless;
champion', vô-diêu-kiên 'unconditional', vô-gla-cu 'homeless', vô-gia-
dình 'without a family', vô-lê 'impolite', vô-nghia 'meaningless', vô-
nhân-dao 'inhuman', vô-san 'proletarian', vô-than 'atheist', vô-tiï
'impartial', vô-tW-lii 'carefree', vô-vi 'insipid', etc.
The two prefixes bat- and vô- display some erratic behavior: they are
attached to some free stems to produce such idiomatic forms as bát-can
'don't care', bât-chap 'regardless of', bat-chat 'suddenly', bât-cú /
bat-kê 'no matter, irrespective', hat-nhuoc 'we had better', bat-thïnh-lïnh
[= thinh-linh] 'all of a sudden' ; vô chùng 'extremely', vô-kể
'extremely, innumerable', vô-khoi 'plenty of', vô-lo 'carefree', vô-lôi
'wrongly, for no reason', vô-ngan 'extremely', vô-thiên-lùng 'plenty of,
tons of', vô-vàn 'extremely, immensely, immeasurably', etc.
The military nomenclature uses the prefixes ha-, thiêu-, trung-, dai-,
thuong- to designate ranks: ha -si 'corporal', trung-sl 'sergeant', thixong-sl
'sergeant-major, warrant officer', thiêu-uy 'second lieutenant', trung-uy
'lieutenant', thuong-uy 'first lieutenant', dai-uy 'captain', thiêii-ta
'major', trung-ta 'lieutenant colonel', thũong-tá 'senior lieutenant colonel',
dai-ta 'colonel', thiêu-tiïóng 'brigadier general', trung-tuóng 'major
general, rear admiral, air vice marshal', thuong-tuong 'lieutenant general,
three-star general', dai-tuóng '(four-star) general', etc.

4.1.3 Within the past five decades or so, teachers and writers have had to
coin a new terminology for each of the physical and social sciences. An
increasing number of scientific and technical terms have crept into many
disciplines, including atomic physics and cybernetics. From the very
beginning three methods had been followed : using elements within the
 THE lEXICON (CONTINUED) 63

mother tongue, transliterating terms from European languages, and using

Sino-Vietnamese words [ l ê Khå Ke 1969: 113]. The new medical
terminology, for instance, includes the following coinages, which each
contain a prefix:
tăng- 'hyper-' as in tang axit 'hyperacid(ity)', tang canxi
'hypercalcemia';
giám- 'hypo-' as in giåm-diXòng 'hypoglycemia', giâw-thân-nhiêt
'hypothermia';
ban- 'an-' as in bàn-huyet 'anemia';
view- 'inflammation, -itis' as in view hong 'angina', view worn
'stomatitis', view wui 'rhinitis', viêw gan 'hepatitis', etc. 'This contrasts
with the traditional way, when complaining of ailments, of using just the
vague word dau 'pain, hurt' as in dau hong, dan wôw, dau wũi, dau
gan, etc.

4.2 Suffixes

Suffixes (håu-to) are tail-affixes which are added to a root (or stem)
morpheme to create larger forms: for example, -hoa 'to change; -fy, -ize'
is a Chinese loanword which helps create many verbs equivalent to such
English forms as solidify, deify, awericanize, dewocratize, etc.

4.2.1 Again among the small number of suffixes—all of them bound

elements within larger forms—those borrowed from Chinese occur very
frequently together with bound or free partners:
-gia '-er, -ist' as in tac-gia 'author, writer', chính-tri-gia
'statesman' [< chinh-tri 'politics'], khoa-hoc-gia 'scientist' [< khoa-hoc
'science'], sù-gia 'historian', ngũ-hoc-gia 'linguist', etc.
-giå '-or, -er' as in hoc-gia 'scholar' [< hoc 'to learn'], tác-gia
'author'[< tac 'to make, create'], dich-giå 'translator', soan-gia 'author,
compiler, editor', ky-gia 'correspondent', etc.
-si '-ist, expert' as in hoa-si 'artist, painter' [< hoa 'to draw,
paint'], thi-si 'poet' [< thi 'poetry'], van-sí 'writer' [< van 'literature,
prose'], ca-si 'singer', nhac-si 'musician', giao-sî 'missionary' [< giáo
 64 VIETNAMESE

'religion'], tu-sî 'priest' [< tu 'to enter religion'], dao-sí 'Taoist priest'
[< dao 'the Way, religion; Taoism'], etc.
-six 'master' as in giáo-sW 'teacher, professor' [< giáo 'to teach'],
giång-sW 'lecturer' [< giång 'to lecture'], muc-sW 'pastor, Protestant
minister' [ < muc 'to tend (sheep), lead (sheep, cow) topasture'], kiêh-
trúc-siX 'architect' [< kiêh-truc 'to build, erect'], luat-sW 'lawyer' [< luât
'law'], vũ-su 'dance master' [< vu 'to dance'], vo-sW 'martial arts
teacher' [< vo 'martial arts'], ky-sW = công-trînh-sW 'engineer', etc.
-truông 'head, leader' as in viên-truong 'head [of institute],
university rector/president' [< viên 'institute; university'], bô-trwông
'cabinet minister' [< bo 'ministry, department'], ly-truong 'village mayor'
[< ly 'mile; village'], hiêw-truong 'headmaster, principal' [< hiêu
'school'], sW-doan-trWång 'division commander' [< sW-doăn 'division'],
cùa hăng truong 'store manager' [< cûa hăng 'store, shop'], canh-sát-
truong 'sheriff' [< canh-sát 'police'], etc.
-vi '-erne' as in âm-vi 'phoneme', hînh-vi = ngû-vi 'morpheme',
tà-vi 'lexeme', y-nghia-vi = ngũ-nghïa-vi 'semanteme', etc.
-thuc '-normal' as in da-thúc 'polynomial', d.on-thúc 'monomial',
nhi-thúc 'binomial', tam-thúc 'trinomial', etc.
-viên '-or, -er' as in hôi-vlên 'member [of club, society]' [< hôi
'club, society, association', quan-sat-viên 'observer' [< quan-sat 'to
observe'], îiên-lac-viên 'liaison officer' [< liên-lac 'liaison'], phôi-tri-viên
'coordinator' [< phoi-tri 'to coordinate'], thuyêt-trinh-viên 'rapporteur,
speaker'[< thuyểt-trinh 'to report, present (paper) ] ' , etc.
-hoc '-logy, -ics' as in y-hoc 'medicine', so-hoc 'arithmetic',
toán-hoc 'mathematics', hinh-hoc 'geometry', hoa-hoc 'chemistry', van-
hoc 'literature', (ngôn-)ngu-hoc 'linguistics', ngũ-vàn-hoc 'philology',
sù-hoc 'history', dong-vat-hoc 'zoology', thuc-vât-hoc 'botany', dia-chat-
hoc 'geology', vât-ly-hoc 'physics', dân-toc-hoc 'ethnology', nhăn-loai-
hoc 'anthropology', khåo-co-hoc 'archaeology', sinh-vât-hoc 'biology',
diêu-khhến-hoc 'cybernetics', tin-hoc 'computer science, informatics', etc.
-khoa 'science, field of study' as in y-khoa ' medicine', nha-khoa
'dentistry', duoc-khoa 'pharmacy', luat-khoa 'law', văn-khoa 'letters,
liberal arts', nhăn-khoa 'ophthalmology', etc. [The terms nhăn-khoa,
nhăn-hoc and mat-hoc successively experimented by ophthalmology teachers
 THE lEXICON (CONTINUED) 65

as equivalents of 'eye medicine, eye study' were later replaced by khoa mat
(lÔ Khå Ke 1969: 128) .]
-hoá '-ize, -fy' as in âu-hoá 'to europeanize' [< Au 'Europe'],
my-hoá 'to americanize' [< My 'America'], Viet(-nam)-hoá 'to
vietnamize', dân-chú-hoá 'to democratize' [< dân-chù 'democracy'],
don-gián-hoá = gian-di-hoá 'to simplify' [< don-giån = giån-di 'simple'],
bïnh-thũòng-hoá 'to normalize' [< bình-thuong 'normal'], công-nghiep-
hoáor ky-nghê-hoá 'to industrialize' [< công-nghiêp = ky-nghe 'industry'],
co-giói-hoá 'to mechanize' [< co-giói 'machinery'], hop-tác-hoá 'to
collectivize' [< hop-tác 'cooperative'], than-thánh-hoá 'to deify' [< than-
thánh 'deity and saint'], i-on-hoa 'to ionize', moi-hoa 'to labialize [speech
sound]' [< môi 'lip; labial'], dong-hoá 'to assimilate' [< dong 'same'], di-
hoá 'to dissimilate' [< di'different'], ôxy-hoá 'to oxydize', a-xít-hoá 'to
acidify',bàn-cùng-hoá 'to pauperize', dong-bô-hoá to synchronize', dá
ong hoá 'to laterize' [< dá ong 'laterite'], etc.
The numerous bound elements borrowed from Chinese are comparable to
Greek elements geo- 'earth', -logy' study', or -graphy 'writing, description'
found in such formal, technical English words as geology (dia-chăt-hoc),
geography (dia-ly [-hoc]) , geophysics (dia[-cau]-vat-ly [-hoc]) . The
larger forms, which play an important role in the dissemination of science
and technology, have been called "pseudo-compounds" [Thompson 1965c:
133-134].

4.2.2 A number of disciplines have created their own terminologies

through that "pseudo-compounding" process. As in the case of prefixes
(4.1.3), medical terms also contain interesting suffixes, such as:
-dò '-gram' as in (quang-) pho-dô [later ånh phô] 'spectrogram',
dien-tåm-dò [later diên -dò tim ] 'electro-cardiogram';
-ky '-graph' as in (quang-) pho-ky [later máy ghi pho ]
'spectrograph', dien-năo-dò-ky [later máy ghi dien-do nao ] 'electro­
encephalograph';
-ke '-meter' as in nhiêt-ke 'thermometer', nhiêt-liïong-ke
'calorimeter', hoå-ke 'pyrometer', quang-pho-ke 'spectrometer', áp-ke
'manometer', vi-ke 'micrometer', oat-ke 'wattmeter', tùu-kê
'alcoholometer', vôn-ke 'voltmeter', vu-ke 'pluviometer';
 66 VIETNAMESE

-niêu '-uria' as in diïong-niêu 'diabetes', huyêt-niêu 'hematuria',

anbumin-niêu * albuminuria ' ;
-phân '-mer' as in dong-phăn 'unimer', don-phăn 'monomer'.
As pointed out in 4.1.3, the originally bound element -viêm, which had
been chosen as the equivalent of '-itis', is now used by physicians as a free
element occurring as head noun and meaning'inflammation of ': viêm
thanh-quån 'laryngitis', viêm hâu 'pharyngitis', viêm gan 'hepatitis',
viêm cuong phôi 'bronchitis', viêm môm / miêng 'stomatitis', etc. These
terms are structured like real compounds (see below), which follow the
Vietnamese word order "head noun + modifier", and we witness here a switch
from affixation to compounding. This practice fulfills one of the three
criteria of an adequate terminology: its popularity—it must be easily
understood and easily learned by the masses while maintaining its scientific
systematicity and national tinge.

4.3 Compounding

A compound (tù ghép) is composed of two or three free elements, each of

them a simple word. Two-element compounds are the most commonly found.
We can distinguish coordinate compounds, in which each constituent is a
center, and subordinative compounds, in which only one constituent is the
center.

4.3.1 Coordinate compounds

4.3.1.1 In a coordinate compound (tù ghép dang-lap or song-song), two
nouns, two verbs or two adjectives occur in juxtaposition, and their
meanings supplement or complement each other. Each constituent is a center,
as shown in the following examples:
• N-N compounds
chim-muông 'bird + beast — animals'
rau-co 'vegetable + grass — veggies'
ruông-niïong 'wet field + dry field — cultivated fields'
ruôi-muôi 'fly + mosquito — flies and mosquitoes'
quan-áo 'pants + coat — clothes'
 THE lEXICON (CONTINUED) 67

sách-vô 'books + notebooks — books'

bàn-ghe Hable + chair — furniture'
• V-V compounds
an-uong 'to eat + to drink — to get nourishment'
an-o 'to eat + to live — to live; to behave'
an-rnac 'to eat + to dress — to dress'
lo-nghĩ 'to worry + to think — to worry'
• Adj-Adj compounds
manh-khoé 'strong + strong —- well in health'
do-bán 'dirty + dirty — filthy'
giàu-co 'rich + to have — wealthy'
ludi-bieng 'lazy + lazy — slothful'
These are comparable to such English constructions as kith and kin,
hale and hearty, brain and brawn, safe and sound, etc., which incidentally
contain alliterations.
From the point of view of meaning, compounds can be divided into two
types: generalizing compounds and specializing compounds, the former
usually hyphenated with weak stress on the first syllable, and the latter
usually not hyphenated.
4.3.1.2 Generalizing Compounds.
The class meaning of generalizing compounds is "the two items and
other similar ones, making up a general class" [Thompson 1965c: 128]. In
the additional examples below, which include nouns, verbs and adjectives,
each compound is made up of two lexemes in juxtaposition:
• bàn-ghe 'table + chair --- furniture'
bát-dla 'bowl + plate — dishes, dinnerware'
chùa-chiên 'Buddhist pagoda + Buddhist temple — temples'
con-cháu 'child + grandchild — offspring, descendants'
ech-nhái 'frog + tree toad — batrachians'
ruôi-muôi 'fly + mosquito — flies, bugs'
giay-bút 'paper + pen — desk supplies'
mua gió 'rain + wind — the elements, inclement weather'
pho-phwong 'shop, street + guild — streets'
thóc-lúa 'paddy + cereal, rice — grain, cereals'
cây-co 'tree + grass — vegetation'
 68 VIETNAMESE

thuyên-bè 'boat + raft — boats, craft'

dêm ngày 'night + day — night(s) and day(s)'
• mua-bán 'to buy + to sell — to go shopping'
buon-bán 'to buy in for resale + to sell — to trade'
cày-cây 'to plow + to transplant — to engage in farming'
nâu-nuóng 'to cook + to grill — to cook'
chåi-chuot 'to comb, brush + to polish — to groom oneself'
hoc-tap 'to study + to practice — to learn, study'
khen-chê 'to praise + to censure — to critique'
thay-doi 'to replace + to exchange — to change, vary'
• khó-dê 'difficult + easy — difficulties'
thành-bai 'successful + unsuccessful'
tuoi-tot 'fresh + good — all fresh'
xinh-dep 'cute + pretty — beautiful'
vui-suóng 'glad + happy — happy'
sóm-muôn 'early + late — sooner or later'

4.3.1.3 Characteristics
A. Reversibility. Such compounds may be reversible, especially in verse:
both mua-gio and gio-mua mean 'the elements', both song-núi and nui-
sông mean 'rivers and mountains'. Other examples: ngày-dêm = dêm-ngày
'day and night', quan-ao = ao-quan 'clothing', nhà-cùa = cùa-nhà
'house(s), buildings', mua-bán = bán-mua 'to shop; to trade', thay-dôi =
doi-thay 'to change', dang-cay = cay-dăng 'spicy, peppery hot + bitter—
[fig.] bitter, sour, virulent', doi-no = no-doi 'hungry or full', cho-mong =
mong-cho 'to wait (anxiously)', manh-khoè = khoè-manh 'well in health,
healthy', tìm-kiem = kiêm-tim 'to look and search', dón-diXa = dua-don
'to meet and to see off', tranh-dău = dau-tranh 'to struggle', etc.
But in other compounds, the two constituents occur in a fixed order:
sách-vó 'books + notebooks', trâu-bô 'water buffalo + ox—cattle,
livestock', dat-nuóc 'land + water—one's country', hoc-hoi 'to study (and
to inquire)', an-uong 'to eat and drink', ăn-o 'to live; to behave', di-lai 'to
come and go', ngot-bùi 'sweet + tasting like nuts —[fig.] sweet, happy',
may-rui 'lucky + unlucky', loi-hai 'good and bad factors', etc.
 THE LEXICON (CONTINUED) 69

People do not say *co-rau for 'vegetables' or *nghĩ-lo for 'to worry' :
the correct forms are rau-co [vegetable + grass], lo-nghĩ [to worry and to
think].
The vast majority of non-reversible compounds seem to follow a
decreasing order of size (nhà cùa 'house + door—house, building',bàn ghe
'table + chair—furniture', troi dât 'sky + earth', Ión be = to nhô 'big +
small', cao thâp 'high and low', etc.), of importance (bo con 'father +
child', ông cháu 'grandfather + grandchild', ông bà 'grandfather +
grandmother', cha me 'father + mother', anh chi 'older brother + older
sister', anh em 'older brother + younger sibling', trai gái 'male + female',
tôt xâh 'good + bad', giàu nghèo 'rich + poor', no doi 'full + hungry',
etc.), or a chronological order (nay mai 'today + tomorrow', trutóc sau
'before + after', sóm muôn 'early + late', dau duôi 'head + tail', e t c j
[Nguyên Dúe Dân 1993].
B. Alliteration. Some compounds display alliteration: bao-boc 'to cover,
protect', cudi-cot 'to joke, laugh', cây-cô = cô-cày 'vegetation,' chùa-
chiên 'temples', ruông-ray 'wet fields and slash-and-burn fields', non-nuóc
= nuóc-non 'mountains and waters', trong-trang 'pure and clean', etc.
However, they are not reduplications.
C. Archaic morphemes. Several of these "generalizing" compounds merit
special attention. For instance, in such compound nouns as áo-xong
'clothes', bep-nuc 'kitchens in general; cooking', cá-mú 'fishes', chim-
chóc 'birds', chùa-chiên 'temples, monasteries', chó-má 'dogs in general',
cho-búa 'markets', co-ra 'grasses in general', duòng-xá 'roads', gà-qué
'chickens, fowl', heo-cúi 'pigs in general', làng-mac 'villages', lúa-ma
'cereals', tre-pheo 'bamboos in general', tuoi-tac 'age', vuàn-tiïoc
'gardens', xe-co 'vehicles', the second constituent (tieng) is often
considered meaningless, when actually it used to have a definite meaning as
a legitimate noun—nowadays still found in such a minority language as
Muòng or Tày-Nùng. Indeed at present few native speakers of Vietnamese
realize, for example, that the bound lexemes núc, má, cúi, pheo in the
above compound nouns, have simply lost their respective meanings
('kitchen', 'dog', 'pig', 'bamboo') and in modern usage occur only in
combination with bep, chó, heo and tre [Vuong l ô c 1970:32-34].
 70 VIETNAMESE

Similar examples are found among compound verbs and compound

adjectives: dol-chac 4to exchange', e-lê 'shy' hôi-han 'to ask, inquire',
lo-âu 'to worry', nghèo-khó, nghèo-ngat 'poor', ngò-hau 'so that, so as
to', sum-vay 'to be together as a family', theo-dòl 'to follow up', etc. In
fifteenth-century poetry, Nguyên Trăi used many such autonomous lexemes
(au 'to worry', chác 'to buy', dõl 'to follow up', han 'to ask', lê 'shy',
khó, ngat 'poor', ngò 'in order to', văy 'to have a reunion') [Nguyên
Dính-Hoà 1985: 463-473], whose occurrence is nowadays restricted to
"synonym compounds": indeed, of the two parts within the modern
compound verb lo-âu, for instance, the great bard used the item au 27
times and its synonym lo only four times in his 254 poems in the vernacular
[cf. Schneider 1987, an annotated French translation of Nguyên Trãi's
Quôc-âm Thl-tâp "Collected Poems in National language"].
D. Synonym and antonym compounds. Semantically, we can distinguish
among generalizing (coordinate) compounds those in which the elements in
juxtaposition are synonyms and those in which the two juxtaposed elements
are antonyms. To the list of synonym compounds cited above, which have
an abstract or figurative meaning, we can add, for example, these
combinations: ngày-gio 'day and hour—time', tol-lôl 'offense and fault—
sin', ăn-uòng 'to eat and drink—to wine and dine', kén-chon 'to pick and
choose—choosy', kêu-gol 'to call and call—to call upon, appeal', thèm-
muón 'to covet and desire—to crave for', etc.
Each antonym compound, on the other hand, consists of two opposite
elements, for instance glà-trè 'old and young', giàu-nghèo 'rich and poor',
lón-bé 'large and small', duoc-thua 'to win and to lose', mât-càn Tost and
remaining', sôhg-chêt 'life and death', xa-gan 'far and near', vàng-thau
'gold and brass—things to be distinguished', etc.
Thompson also cites some "reinforcing" compounds, which contain
synonymous elements but have "a more figurative or abstract reference than
either of their bases" [1965c: 130-131]: glàu-co 'wealthy, well-off' [to be
rich + to own], lâu-dàl 'durable' [to last + to be long], quen-blêt 'to know,
be well acquainted with' [to be acquainted with + to know'], tân-tói 'to
make progress' [to advance + to attain'], muu-kê 'strategy' [ruse + scheme,
plot'], ngày-gio 'time (in general)' [day + hour].
 THE LEXICON (CONTINUED) 71

Moreover, in such reinforcing compounds as dón-riïóc 'to meet', tîm-

kiem 'to search', lùa-gat to dupe, cheat', chon-lua /' lua-chon 'to select',
do-bin 'dirty', dii-thùa 'superfluous5, hu-hông 'to break down, spoil',
Ja-mang 'to scold', hărn-doa 'to threaten', vâng-da 'to obey; yes', etc,
one component (don, tìm, lúa, chon, bân, thùa, hông, mâng, doa, vång)
may be characteristic of the northern dialect while the other (ruóa kiêm,
gat, lua, do, du, hu la, hăm, da) is its synonym in the southern dialect
E. Idiom compounds. In addition, a large number of compounds can be
called idiom compounds: they contain parallel constituents which are neither
synonymous nor antonymous, but which are used together to denote
idiomatically groups of individuals or activities, These constructions have a
weak stress on their first syllable (or tiêhg) : cha-me 'father + m o t h e r -
parents', anh-em ' older brother + younger sibling— brothers and sisters3, vo-
chông 'wife + husband—spouses', bà-con 'grandmother + child—relative;
related, kin to', ngifdi-ta 'others + we, us—people, Fr, on ', chân-tay =
tay-chân 'foot + hand—underling5, nhà-nifdc 'house, family + country
—the state5, non-song 'mountains + rivers—homeland5, com-nuóc 'rice +
water—meals; cooking', mây-mua 'cloud + rain—sexual intercourse', etc.

4.3.2 Subordinative compounds

This type is a descriptive construction which is built up like an ordinary
syntactic construction: its center is either a head noun followed by its
modifier or a head verb (or adjective) followed by its complement (tò ghép
chính-phu). Thompson [1965c: 129-130] gives it the label "specializing
compound55.

4.3.2. J. Compound nouns.

A. The modified-modifier relation is obvious in the following compound
nouns, which comprise a head denoting the 'genus' and its modifier (also a
noun) identifying the 'species'. Some examples:
with cây 'tree5: cây Júa 'rice plant'
cây can 'areca tree'
cây da 'banyan tree'
cây du-du 'papaya tree'
 72 VIETNAMESE

with qua/trái 'fruit': quå cau 'areca nut'

qua chuòi 'banana'
quå khe ' star fruit '
with bo 'bovine': bo due 'ox, bull'
bo cái 'cow'
bo con /non 'calf'
with chó 'canine': chó duc 'he-dog'
chó cái 'bitch'
chó con 'puppy'
with gà 'chicken': gàtrôhg 'rooster'
gà mai 'hen'
gà con 'chick'
The first two sets of examples are N-N (Noun-Noun) compounds, and
the last three sets are N-Adj (Noun-Adjective) compounds. Below are listed
more examples of those and also of N-V (Noun-Verb) compounds. In all
of them, the center (or head noun) is followed by its modifier, which can be
a noun, an adjective or a verb:
• N-N (the modifier is a noun):
chăn tròi 'horizon' (foot + sky), bánh mi 'bread' (pastry, cake +
wheat), com gà 'rice with chicken' (rice + chicken), thuoc la 'cigarette'
(drug + leaf), thuoc lào 'tobacco' (drug + laos), gà tày 'turkey' (chicken
+ west), xe bo 'oxcart' (vehicle + ox), but lông 'writing brush' (pen +
hair), but chi 'pencil' (pen + lead), xe lúa 'railway train' (vehicle +
fire), xe dien 'streetcar' (vehicle + electricity), nhà da 'stone house; jail'
(house + stone), nuóc da 'ice'(water + stone), day thép 'telegram' (wire +
steel), etc.
• N-ADJ (the modifier is an adjective):
cà chua 'tomato' (eggplant + sour), duong cái 'main road' (road, path
+ big), dũa cå 'stirring chopstick' (chopstick + big), do ngang 'ferry
boat' (ferry + across), nhà thuong 'hospital' (house + wounded), bång
den 'blackboard' (board + black), thếhg Pháp 'French (language)'
(language + French), áo dài 'Vietnamese dress, tunic' (coat, shirt, gown +
long), bánh ngot 'cake' (cake, pastry + sweet), dua hau 'water melon'
(melon + ? ), etc.
 THE LEXICON (CONTINUED) 73

• N-V (the modifier is a verb):

nguòi a 'servant' (person + to reside), nguòi làm 'servant, help,
staff' (person + to work),bàn là =bàn ui 'iron' (table + to press), bong
chuyèn 'volley ball' (ball + to pass), don gánh 'carrying pole' (pole + to
shoulder), don bay 'lever' (pole + to pry), xe dap 'bicycle' (vehicle + to
kick, pedal), xe kéo 'rickshaw'(vehicle + to pull), máy hát 'gramophone'
(machine + to sing), máy bay 'plane' (machine + to fly),
Prior to the French period, the means of conveyance were the palanquin
and the sedan chair. In the countryside, where the means of transport were
the oxcart (xe bo) for people and the wheelbarrow for small animals, people
soon got used to urban conveniences, too, and the bicycle (xe dap) and the
rickshaw (xe kéo, xe tay) slowly gave way to the motorcycle (xe bình-bich,
xe mô-tô) and the automobile (xe ô-tô, xe hoi). Because of western influence
new words were created to refer to new articles of material culture first
introduced in urban centers, and the field of transportation and
communication was no exception. New compound nouns include xe cam-
nhông (< Fr. camion ) or xe (vân-)tål [tål = vân-tai 'to transport'] 'truck',
xe buyt 'bus' (< Fr. autobus), xe tac-xi 'taxi' (< Fr'. taximètre), xe xích-lo
'pedicab' (< Fr. cyclo-pousse), xe lam 'lambretta scooter', etc.
It is through this process of compounding that the language has created a
wealth of new coinages needed to designate new articles of food and clothing,
as well as new tools, machines, contraptions and gadgets. Here are examples
of highly descriptive terms used widely in scientific and technical
terminology to refer to different machines (máy) : máy chém (to behead
criminals) 'guillotine', maygiat (to wash clothes) 'washing machine', máy
dánh trúng (to beat eggs) 'eggbeater', may xay thit (to grind meat) 'meat
grinder', máy rúa bat (to wash eating-bowls) 'dishwasher', máy hut bui (to
suck dust) 'vacuum cleaner', may bom 'pump', máy kéo (to pull)
'tractor', may găt-dâp (to reap and thresh) 'combine harvester', máysấ sây
'dryer', máy ra-da 'radar', may tính 'calculator', may tính dien-tù
(calculator electronic) 'computer', etc.
Sometimes a longish descriptive noun is needed: cái gat tàn thuôc la
'thing flip ashes cigarette—ashtray', may dièu-hoà nhiêt-dô 'machine adjust
temperature—air conditioner', tàh há mom 'craft open mouth—landing
craft', may bay cánh cup cánh xoè 'machine fly wing fold wing spread—
 74 VIETNAMESE

F-115', lính thuy dánh bô 'soldier water fight land—marine5 (cf. thuy-quân
luc-chhếh 'water-soldier land-fight—navy man fighting on land').

4.3.2.2. Compound verbs.

In a compound verb, a head may be followed by its direct object or its
complement.
A. Verb-Object (V-O) compounds. Below are some examples of Verb-
Object compounds:
ăn com 'to eat, have a meal' (to eat + rice—the staple), làm viêc
'to work' (to do, make + job), làm ruong 'to engage in farming' (to work
+ ricefield), nói chuyên 'to talk, give a talk' (to speak + conversation), trå
loi 'to reply'(to return + words, speech), cám/cåm on 'to thank'(to be
affected + favor), xin lôi 'to apologize' (to beg + fault), chieu bong 'to
show movies' (to project + shadow), truot tuyet 'to ski' (to slide, glide +
snow), co mat 'to be present' (to have + face), mat mat 'to lose face',
dánh giá 'to evaluate, assess' (to strike + price), etc.
B. Verb-Complement (V-C) compounds. With its core meaning 'to eat',
the head verb ăn in the first example above yields as many as fifty
compounds, all of which contain an object or a complement. The following
examples of idioms would qualify as dictionary entries:
ăn barn 'to be a parasite, sponge on ...', ăn cap 'to steal, pilfer', ăn
chay 'to follow a vegetarian diet', ăn cuóp 'to hold up', ăn gian 'to cheat',
ăn hiep 'to bully', ăn hoi-lô 'to take bribes', ăn không 'to be idle', ănlăi
'to charge interest', ăn may 'to beg for food', ăn mung 'to celebrate', ăn
tien 'to take bribes', ăn trôm 'to burglarize', etc.
C. Verb-Result (V-R) compounds. In resultative compounds, the
complement denotes the result of the action expressed for instance by the
head verb dánh 'to strike, hit, beat' : dánh do 'to drop, spill', dánh võ 'to
break [glass, cup, bottle]', dánh gây 'to break [stick-like object, pencil],
dánh mat 'to lose [something] through carelessness', with the verb làm 'to
make, cause to' substitutable for dánh.
Other examples are:
bôinho 'to smear', be cong 'to bend [long piece of metal, bamboo or
wood]', uôn cong 'to curl', bô roi 'to drop, abandon', chat dût 'to chop
off, cut [stick, bone, piece of wire], dăp tan 'to smash to pieces', dánh bai
 THE lEXICON (CONTINUED) 75

'to defeat', day lui 'to push back, repel', gan duc khoi trong 'to
purify, filter', giet chet 'to kill', lât do 'to overthrow, topple', xé rách
'to tear to pieces', ăn mon 'to corrode', soi sang 'to illuminate', tay sach
'to bleach clean', xoa diu 'to soothe', etc.

4.3.2.3, Compound adjectives.

A. In a unique idiomatic adjective pattern, the modifying object of the
adjective slightly changes the meaning of the head element that precedes it, as
in the following examples:
• ADJ-N (the modifier is a noun) :
nhanh trí 'quick in the mind, quick-witted', nhanh tay 'fast with one's
fingers /hands—agile', mát tay 'cool with one's hands—[of physician,
healer] competent', giàu con 'rich in children, to have many children',
tot bung 'kind-bellied—kind-hearted', mu chũ 'blind about letters-
illiterate', nóng tính 'hot-tempered, quick-tempered', tot ma 'having
a good appearance', tinh doi 'good in judging people and things', etc.
• ADJ-V (the modifier is a verb) :
dê chiu 'easy to bear—pleasant, comfortable', dê båo 'easy to g u i d e -
docile', dêchiêu 'easy to please', dênuôi 'easy to rear/raise', chăm hoc
'diligent in study—studious', khó o 'difficult in living—under the
weather', khéo nói 'clever in speech—diplomatic', etc.
• ADJ-ADJ (the modifier is another adjective) :
xanh thâm 'dark blue/green', xanh lat 'light blue/green', ngot diu
'sweet and mild—very sweet', mat lanh 'cool + cold—very cool', etc.
• V-N (the complement of head verb is a noun) :
co tieng 'to have + fame—famous, renowned', co gan 'to have +
liver—daring', co cua 'to have + wealth—wealthy', có ích 'to have +
usefulness—useful', làm biêhg 'to act + lazy—lazy', etc.
B. In some idiomatic compound adjectives, the head element (denoting some
characteristic feature) is followed by a restricted intensifier which indicates
degree and also conveys the resulting effect:
chêt twoi 'dead + fresh—dead', dot dac 'dumb + solid, i.e. completely
ignorant', gay nhom 'gaunt + skinny—emaciated', lam sach 'dirty + clean
—all soiled', dai nhách '[of meat] very tough', nhat phèo 'very bland,
watery', day áp 'chock-full', rách buom 'tattered', cŭ rích 'outdated,
 76 VIETNAMESE

obsolete', ngăn cũn '[of clothing] too short', trong văt 'crystal pure', uot
ráo 'wet + all—all wet', rông tuech 'empty, hollow', xa lac 'very very
far', vang tanh 'wholly deserted', suing vù 'tumid', xanh ngăt '[of sky]
deep blue, [of field] deep green', etc.
C. Among these, color adjectives are of special interest. The adjective
trang 'white', for instance, may occur in such compounds as trång bech
(describing a sick person's pale skin), trăng bop (describing the color of
well-laundered linen), trăng dă (describing staring eyes that show only the
whites), trăng hêu (describing a clean-shaved scalp), trăng lop (describing
well-bleached white cloth), trăng nhõn (describing a dog's teeth), trăng non
(describing the smooth white of a complexion), trăng phau (describing a
sand beach), trăng tinh (describing a sheet of paper), trăng toát (describing
a radiant white), trăng tréo (describing a fine white complexion), trăng xoá
(describing an expanse of white blossom or white clouds), etc.
Other color terms may also be followed by their respective qualifiers, so
that different shades of red are indicated in several adjectives like do au, do
lòm, dô ôí, do ruc, do ûng, etc., just as there are several words like den
dui, den lay-lay, den ngom, den nhũng-nhúc, den sí, den thui, etc. to
connote different degrees of blackness : since a light complexion is more
desirable (especially among women) than a healthy tan, the two adjectives
den si and den thui are very negative whereas the complimentary term
den nhung-nhúc is used (in traditional Vietnam) to describe a young
woman's shiny-jet blackened teeth—that look like the seeds of a custard
apple or cherimoya (Annona squamosa, Annona reticulata).

4A. More on Sino-Vietnamese

4.4.1. Etymology. We have seen that the language has absorbed a large
number of syllable-morphemes borrowed from Chinese to build complex
forms through the two processes of affixation and compounding. In formal
texts with varying degrees of literary pretensions, compounds and pseudo-
compounds containing fully integrated Sino-Vietnamese (Han- Viet) elements
may reach seventy percent of the total vocabulary. Indeed a newspaper article
taken at random will show such disyllabic terms as cåi-cach 'change,
reform', hoat-dông 'active; activity', hoc-tap 'to study', lanh-tu 'collar +
sleeve,—leader', mâu-thuân 'spear + shield,—contradiction', minh-bach
 THE LEXICON (CONTINUED) 77

'clear, unambiguous', ånh-huáng 'influence', áp-luc 'pressure', that-bai

'to fail; failure', thành-công 'to succeed; success', kiêh-thiêi 'to build;
construction', tien-loi 'convenient', tranh-dâu 'to struggle', vĩ-dai 'great',
van-hoá 'culture', khoa-hoc 'science', nhăn-tao 'artificial', dân-cu
'inhabitant, population', thiên-phu 'endowed, gifted', etc.
A native speaker may not be aware of the etymology of each element
within the construction. But more sophisticated speakers are able to recognize
the meaning of each individual morpheme (= tieng) in such generalizing
compounds as lãnh-tu, mâu-thuân. And such frequently used words as
cam-thú 'animals', gia-dlnh 'family', quoc-gia 'nation(al)', giang-son
'motherland, nation' can be readily analyzed into their constituents,
respectively 'bird + quadruped', 'house + courtyard', 'country + family',
and 'rivers and mountains'.
4.4.2. Word order. l e t us look closely at some of those compounds:
thi-vãn 'literature' [poetry + prose], gia-toc 'family + clan', to-quoc
'fatherland' ["ancestor country"], dai-hoc 'college, university' ["great
learning"], Pháp-ngũ 'French (language)' [= tieng Pháp], ngũ-pháp
'grammar' ["language rules"], thếu-tiên 'to urinate, pass water' ["small
convenience"], dai-tien 'to defecate, have a bowel movement' ["big
convenience"], trung-tien 'to fart, break wind' ["intermediate convenience"],
Băc-Âu 'Scandinavia' ["northern Europe"] , Nam-My / Nam-Mi 'South
America', quàn-tù 'the superior man', tiêu-nhân 'the small man', băng-nhăn
'middleman, go-between', chu-diem 'main point', quoc-ca 'national
anthem', quoc-kỳ/quoc-ki 'national flag', dân-ca 'folk song', dâng-viên
'party member', uy-viên 'committee member, commissar', etc.
Whereas the first two examples (thi-văn, gia-tôc) are coordinate
compounds, the remaining examples (all subordinative compounds) show
Chinese word order, with the modifier preceding the modified. This is the
opposite of Vietnamese word order in attributive constructions that contain
a modified followed by its modifier (see 4.3.2). In a concerted effort,
linguists and writers appeal for the use of native elements instead of
Chinese loanwords, a practice actually followed years ago by such patriotic
authors as the fifteenth-century poet Nguyên Trăi [Nguyên Dinh-Hoà
1975, 1983].
 78 VIETNAMESE

4.4.3. Mixed origin. Some compounds contain either both Chinese-

borrowed elements or one Chinese-borrowed and one "native element", the
latter actually being just an earlier loanword: tam-hon 'soul', luang-tàm
'conscience', binh lính 'soldiers', lính-tráng 'soldiers', in-an 'to print',
nuôi-duong 'to nourish, nurture', súc-luc 'strength', gan-da 'courage,
bravery5, etc. Of the two constituents of the unique example canh gác
'to guard, protect', the first (canh) is a Chinese loanword, and the second
(gác) is borrowed from Fr. garder.
4. 4. 4. Vietnamese word order. But many Chinese-borrowed V-O (verb-
object) compounds strictly follow the Vietnamese order:
thu-ngân [learnèd form of thu tien 'collect money5] 'cashier', ve-sinh
[guard life] 'hygiene, sanitation', xuât-cång / xuat-kháu [exit port] 'to
export5, nhâp-cång / nhâp-khau [enter port] 'to import', thông-tan
[learnèd form of thong tin 'announce news'] 'news agency', dai-diên
[learnèd form of thay măt 'replace face'] 'to represent', ha-thuy [lower
water] 'to launch [ship]5, phát-thanh [transmit sound] 'to broadcast; radio',
truyen-hmli [transmit picture] 'to televize; TV', etc.
These Chinese-borrowed compounds are usually hyphenated, but some
writers do not hyphenate them. The average speaker, of course, uses them
effectively even though being usually incapable of providing precise
information on etymology, hence the frequent confusion, for instance,
between yea-diem 'vital, important point5 on the one hand, and nhuoc-
diern, the learnèd equivalent of diêm yêu 'weaknes's', on the other hand.

4.5. Other foreign borrowings.

In addition to the lexical elements borrowed from Chinese, which function
much like the bound morphemes that Greek and latin have contributed to the
English language, the lexicon has made use of borrowings from other
languages, too:
® from Malay: măng-cut ' m a n g o s t e e n ' , s ấ u-riêng 'durian\ cù-lao
'island; chafing dish', xà-lôn 'sarong', etc.
o from French: mang-tô 'topcoat', ba-dò-suy 'overcoat', cát-két 'cap',
bê-rê 'beret', so-mi 'shirt', len 'wool', vo-Jua 'velvet', măng-sét
'cuff links', ca-vat - cà-vat 'necktie', mùi-soa 'handkerchief', găng
'gloves', phu-ia 'scarf', bo 'butter', kern 'cream, ice cream', phó-mát
 THE LEXICON (CONTINUED) 79

4
cheese', bip-têt 'steak5, ô-liu 'olive', xúc-xích 'sausage', glăm-bang
'ham', sô-cô-la = suc-cù-là 'chocolate', caosu 'rubber', xl-gà 'cigar',
såm-banh 'champagne', bia = la-ve 'beer', xà-phông = xà-bông
'soap', xa-long 'living room', di-vang 'sofa', ghi-dông 'handlebar',
phanh 'brake', săm 'inner tube', lop 'tire', vô-lang 'steering wheel',
(ét-) xăng 'gasoline', etc,
• from English: bol 'houseboy', mít-tinh 'meeting, rally', ten-nit
'tennis', bát-két 'basketball', vô-lây 'volleyball', gôn 'goal;
goalkeeper', tlu 'drive', (dánh) boc 'boxing', pô-ke 'poker', uyt-ki
'whiskey', cao-boi 'cowboy', etc.
• from Sanskrit (through Chinese) : Phât 'Buddha' (cf. But, a direct
loan), A-dl-dà Phât 'Amitabha', Thích-ca Mâu-nl 'Sakyamuni', nhết-
bàn = nat-bàn 'nirvana', la-han 'arhat', tang-già 'sangha', etc.
• from Japanese (through Chinese) : biên-chúng 'dialectic', công-hoà
'republic', dai-bån-doanh 'general headquarters', kinh-te 'economy,
economics', my-thuât 'arts', nghĩa-vu 'obligation', phuc-vu 'service',
thu-tuc 'procedure', etc.
Among Chinese loanwords, those borrowed through the spoken dialects
of South China denote popular foodstuffs introduced by street vendors or
restaurant waiters : chí-mà-phù 'sesame dessert soup', luc-tào-xa 'mung
bean dessert soup', tào-pho 'soybean cheese in syrup', xá-xíu 'barbecue
pork', lap-xuong 'Chinese sausage', man-than 'wonton soup', sul-cåo
'shrimp dumplings in soup', lo-mây-phàn 'steamed glutinous rice', xì-dâu
'soy sauce', mi-chmh 'cooking powder, MSG', etc.

4.6. Nominalization.
A verb or an adjective often takes a "nominalizer" like vlêc, su", cuôc,
nôi, niêm, tinh to yield such definite nouns as vlêc tranh glành 'feud,
quarrel, dispute' < tranh glành 'to fight, dispute', sũ can-than 'cautiousness'
< cån-thån 'cautious, careful', cuôc tranh-luân 'debate' < tranh-luân 'to
debate', nôi buôn 'sadness' < buon 'sad', niêm vul 'joy' < vul 'merry,
fun', tính nhât-quán 'consistency [of an argument]' < nhât-quán
'consistent'. Such nominalizers function like the definite article the, le, la,
les in western languages: vlêc tranh-giành giũa tho và chu 'the dispute
 80 VIETNAMESE

between labor [tho "worker"] and management [chu "boss"]', nôi buon
mat nuóc 'the sorrow of losing [măt] one's country [nwóc], etc.
Names of objects, tools and the like are often forms with the head cái,
the "classifier" normally used for names denoting nonliving things, inanimate
objects [ as opposed to con, the classifier for living things and animals ]:
cái an cái mac 'food and clothing' [ăn măc 'to eat and dress'], cái got but
chì 'pencil sharpener' [got "to whittle" + bút chì "lead pencil"], cái dung
tarn 'toothpick holder' [dũng "to contain" + tarn "toothpick"], etc.
The highly productive may 'engine, machine' is used to form nouns
denoting all kinds of newly introduced devices, contraptions, gadgets
and machines (see 4.3.2.1) . Here are some more examples: may (dánh) chũ
(machine strike letter) 'typewriter', may khâu = may may 'sewing
machine', máy ånh (machine photograph) 'camera', may quay phim
(machine turn film) 'movie camera', may bo dàrn (machine walk talk)
'walkie-talkie', may ghi âm tù (machine record sound magnetic) 'tape
recorder', may ghi hinh tù (machine record picture magnetic) 'video
cassette', máy tro thính (machine help hear) 'hearing aid', etc.
Furthermore such a noun as máy bay (a loan translation from
Cantonese fèigèi > Sino-Vietnamese phi-co 'flying machine') has given
such combinations as may bay tham-thinh 'reconnaissance plane', may bay
trũc-thang or may bay iên thang (truc-thăng = lên thing 'go-up straight')
'helicopter', may bay oanh-tac or may bay ném bom {oanh-tac = ném bom
'shell, throw bomb') 'bomber', and many others needed in military discourse.
Sometimes, a "native" base (originally a Chinese loanword) such as kính
'eye glass(es), spectacles', xe 'vehicle', sung 'firearm' is combined with a
modifier which may be of Chinese or French origin:
kính lup 'magnifying glass' < Fr. loupe, kính cân(-thi) 'glasses for
myopia' < Sino-Vietnamese [or S-V] cân-thi 'nearsighted', kính viên(-thi)
'glasses for presbyopia' < S-V viên-thi 'farsighted', kính hien-vi
'microscope' < S-V hien-vi 'to show + small', kinh vien-vong 'telescope'
< S-V viên-vong 'to look far', kinh van-hoa 'kaleidoscope' < S-V van-
hoa '10,000 flowers', súng luc = sung sáu 'six-shooter, revolver' < S-V
luc '6', sung trũòng 'rifle' < S-V trũòng long', súng moóc-chia
'mortar' < Fr. mortier, súng ca-nông 'cannon' < Fr. canon, etc.
 THE LEXICON (CONTINUED) 81

4.7. Unanalyzed forms.

Finally it is necessary to mention, next to a few scores of reduplications that
can be traced back to Chinese (bàng-hoàng 'dazzled, stunned', hoi-hoi 'to
fret, worry', bon-ba 'to scurry, tramp about through thick and thin', do-du
'to hesitate, waver', lôi-lac 'outstanding, eminent', thung-dung 'leisurely,
calm'), a small number of two-syllable words which cannot be easily
analyzed into their meaningful constituents:
bb-hon 'soap berry', bo-hóng 'soot', bô-kêp 'soap pods used to make
shampoo', bb-cau 'pigeon', bb-nong 'pelican', bb-quân 'flacourtia, red
berry', bù-nhìn 'scarecrow; puppet', cà-cuôhg 'mangdana, belostomatid',
cà-kheo 'stilts', cà-khia 'to pick a quarrel', cà-lam 'to stutter', cà-nhăc
'to limp', ênh-ucrng 'tree frog', mà-ca 'to bargain, haggle', tu-hu
'summer blackbird', etc.

4.8. Concluding remarks about the unit called tieng.

The grammatical unit called tiêng (mot), which is comparable to the
morpheme (hình-vi) in Western languages, is also coterminous with the
syllable (âm-tiet) . That is why some authors have called it a morpho-
syllable (hinh-tiêt) , whose grammatical function is to help structure a larger
lexical unit—the word (tù). We have encountered monosyllabic simple words
as well as polysyllabic compound words. The latter are most often disyllabic
and formally fit into one of the three broad categories: derivatives through
reduplication, derivatives through affixation, or compounds. But unlike the
English syllable, a Vietnamese syllable can functionally occur either by
itself or in combination with others, or in interlocking constructions. This is
certainly the most salient feature of Vietnamese morphology, a feature whose
presence will be duly.emphasized in later discussions of different syntactic
structures.
 Chapter 5
Parts of Speech

5.0 Parts of Speech.

A. Some earlier classifications

With the exception of some early analysts like M. Grammont and l ê Quang
Trinh [1912], who denied the existence of parts of speech in Vietnamese,
students of the language have all tried to distinguish various parts of speech,
that is, word classes. Among the early grammarians, Aubaret [1868], Truong
Vĩnh Ky [1883], P.-G. Vallot [1905], etc. offered classificatory schemes
which were patterned after the traditional French model. For instance, Vallot
[1905] distinguished ten "parties du discours" : substantives, articles,
adjectives, pronominals, pronouns, verbs, prepositions, adverbs,
conjunctions and interjections. The school grammar by Tran Trong-Kim,
Bùi Ky & Pham Duy-Khiêm [1940] discriminated no less than thirteen
classes. (Trà-Ngân) lê-Ngoc Vuong [1943] listed eight classes, and Bui
Dúe Tinh first listed eight classes [1952] and later nine classes [1966].
More recent authors relied on syntactical functions [Phan Khôi 1955,
Nguyên l â n 1956], on structuralism [ l ê Van l y 1948, Emeneau 1951,
Honey 1956, Tran Ngoc Ninh 1971-1974], on structuralism and meaning
[Cadière 1958], on environment and transformations [Nguyên Kim Thån
1963-64, 1977], on "nuclear strata" [lũu Van lăng 1970], on phrases
[Nguyên Tài Cân 1975], on minimal sentences [Dái Xuân Ninh 1978], and
on lexico-syntactic meaning [Dinh Van Dúe 1986]: they all came up with
different classifications.
In his dissertation on le Parler Vietnamien [1948, rev. 1960], l ê Văn l y
used sets of mots témoins to distinguish four classes: A, B, B' and C.
Once identified, his classes A, B and B' turned out to be respectively
nouns, verbs (of action) and adjectives (or verbs of quality) , whereas
84 VIETNAMESE

all other words, including "witness words", personal pronouns, numerals

and particles are thrown into his C class. His insight is that the labels
"nouns", "verbs" and "adjectives" as well as "pronouns", "numerals" and
"particles" should not be assigned a priori to such and such a group:
this is certainly a new and more reliable method, which incidentally had been
employed four years before Charles Fries published The Structure of English
(1952), which used the same criteria of combinatory possibilities.
Emeneau's five major word classes are substantives, verbs, conjunctions,
final particles and interjections, with the nouns subdivided into classified
nouns and nonclassified nouns, classifiers, numerators, demonstrative
numerators, personal names and place names, and pronouns [1951].
Honey's system enables "systematic syntactic statements to be made" and
his twelve word classes "are themselves wholly definable in terms of such
statements" [1956: 535]. The scheme is not based on notional criteria, but
his criteria being "formal, even mechanical," the categories are stated "in
unambiguous terms" [543]. First given simply numbers from 1 to 12, those
word classes—modestly offered as "no more than mnemonics"—are:
Adjective, Verb, Qualified noun, Qualifier, Unqualified noun, Numeral,
Marker of plurality, Personal pronoun, Initial particle, Medial particle,
Final particle, and Polytopic particle.
Thompson [1965c, reprint 1987] counts only four major classes:
substantives, predicatives, focuses and particles. His substantives include
numerals and nominals, with the latter comprising categoricals (or classifiers)
and nouns, broken down into relator nouns, mass nouns, indefinite nouns,
and item nouns. Under the label "predicatives" are listed negatives and
verbals (definitives, comparatives, quantifiers, auxiliaries and verbs—the
latter further subdivided into momentary action verbs and extended state
verbs). The class of "focuses" is composed of proper names, pronouns,
manner focuses, locational focuses and temporal focuses. The particle class
includes interjections, sentence particles, clause particles, predicative
particles and movable particles.

B. Full words and Empty words

The old classification, due to traditional Chinese grammar, divides the entire
lexicon or vocabulary into two broad categories: "full words" (thuc-tù) (3.2)
 PARTS OF SPEECH 85

with lexical meaning regarding things and phenomena (as troi 'sky', mua
'rain' in Troi mua 'It's raining', or no 'he, she', tron 'to hide' in Nó tron
'He's hiding'), and "empty words" (hu-tù) with grammatical meaning {răt
'very', qua 'too', vá 'and', vól 'together with', thì 'in that case, then', mà
'which, that', etc.) . The main difference between the two categories is that a
full word can serve as either the subject (= topic) or the predicate (=
comment) of a sentence [see Chapters 10 and 11], whereas an empty word
cannot. Empty words can only combine with a full word to make up a
phrase, for example dang 'in the process of' within the predicate of Troi
dang mua 'It's raining right now', or to express a syntactic relationship, as
in Ao quan tôi bi uót het (shirt pants I/me suffer wet finish) 'My clothes
were all wet'.
Chinese grammarians further differentiated on the one hand, between
thuc-tù, real "full words"—like nouns—andbán-thtfc-tù, "semi-full words"
—like verbs and adjectives, and on the other hand, between hu-tù, real
"empty words"—like adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions—and bán-hu-tù,
"semi-empty words"—like final particles and reduplicating derivatives
[Tran, Bùi & Pham 1943: v].
At any rate, "full words" or "content words" as an open class far
outnumber "empty words" or "function words". But "empty words" occur
with greater frequency and indeed make up closed classes, in the sense that
newly created nouns, verbs and adjectives may be added to the lexicon of
any language, whereas there is hardly a new preposition or interjection.

C. Further division
In order to reach, an acceptable classification, we will try not to rely on
linguistic feeling, but to rely on contextual environment, that is, we will try to
find objective evidence of combinatory possibilities of such and such a word.
(1) Full words can be usefully divided into two broad syntactic classes :
substantives and predicatives. Suppose a foreign student of Vietnamese
who wants to comment on an orange he/she is eating says * Qua cam này là
ngon (fruit orange this be delicious) for 'This orange is delicious'. The
teacher will correct him/her thus, "You don't need là. Just say Quå cam
này ngon" (fruit orange this delicious). On another occasion the same
student says Quå dó buôi with the intended meaning 'That fruit is a pomelo'.
86 VIETNAMESE

This time the teacher will offer Qua dó là (quå) buôl (fruit that equal
fruit pomelo). If the student scratches his/her head, the teacher can explain
that when the predicative is an adjective like ngon, you don't need to
translate is as là — because "to be" is already built-in as part of ngon —
but when the predicative is a noun like (qua) buôi, then you need to use
the copula or identificational verb là.
Thus we have a class of words (like ngon 'delicious', chua 'sour')
which can serve as predicate, and another class (like buôi 'grapefruit,
pomelo', cam 'orange') which can also serve as predicate, but only when
introduced by là. Members of another class (nhũng, các 'pluralizer', môi
'each', moi 'every', etc.) always occur before nouns, for instance, and yet
another smaller class includes words l i k e b à n g 'by means of', boi 'by',
etc., which never stand alone.
Two criteria are needed for our search : we will rely both on meaning
and on contextual environment, and we consider word classes (or parts of
speech) as lexico-grammatical categories. As a matter of fact, before
deciding in what basket to put a given word, we will look at both its meaning
and its syntactic behavior, and ask: (1) what is its general meaning?, (2)
what is its syntactic relationship to surrounding elements?, (3) what is its
function in the whole utterance?, and (4) how is it structured?
l e t us first consider the three major classes (nouns, verbs, adjectives)
in terms of the meaning of each of their respective members. Nouns carry
the broad meaning of things, concepts and phenomena. Verbs generally
refer to activities and processes, and adjectives are verbs of quality ("stative
verbs"), as we will see later.
When two full words co-occur, there results a predication, a meaningful
sentence, which, as briefly pointed out in 1.11, consists of two essential
constituents—the "subject" announcing a topic and the "predicate" providing
a comment on that topic.
In the following examples:
Troi mua. (sky rain) 'It's raining.'
Tuyét xuong. (snow descend) 'The snow is falling.'
Chó sua. (dog bark) 'The dog was barking.'
Com ngon. (rice delicious) 'The meal was delicious.'
 PARTS OF SPEECH 87

tròd, tuyêt, chó, com are nouns serving as subject in each sentence,
whereas mua, xuông, sůa are verbs serving (like ngon, an adjective) as
predicate.
l e t us next consider these two sentences:
Cu Hoăng Xuân-Hân là môt hoc-giå kiet-xuât. (greatgrandfather
HXH be/equal one study-man outstanding) 'Mr. HXH was an outstanding
scholar.'
Hobàn-cùng-hoâ dân que. (they poor-make people countryside)
'They pauperized the peasants.'
The make-up of the word hoc-giå tells us right away that it is a noun
( containing the nominalizing suffix -giå 'person, -er') (p. 63), just as the
structure of the wordbàn-cùng-hoâ tells us that it is a verb ( containing the
verbalizing suffix -hoa 'change, become' ) (p. 65).
(2) Empty words can be subdivided into adverbs (pho-tù) and connectives
(quan-hê-tù). An adverb expresses categories of tense, status or degree:
Troi se mua. 'It will rain.'
Troi da mua roi 'It has already started to rain.'
Thang này mua nhiêu quá. 'It has rained so much'this month.'
Cam này rat ngot. 'These oranges are very sweet.'
An adverb (or auxiliary) such as se 'shall, will', dã 'anterior', roi
'already', nhiêu 'much, many', qua 'too, excessively', răt 'very' cannot
serve as subject or predicate; it merely takes part in the composition of
phrases as a helping word or a modifier.
A connective manifests a relationship between the two centers of an
additive phrase—two words standing on equal footing (as in Giáp yà Ât
'Giáp and Ât')—or between the center of a phrase and its determiner (as in
chó cua toi 'my dog') or between two basic sentences (as in Troi mua //
thi tôi không di. 'If it rains, I won't go.') .
The connective cua 'property; of' has usually been called a preposition
(giói-tù), and the connective và 'and' or thi 'then, in that case' is called a
conjunction (liên-tù) in earlier grammars.
One class which lies on the boundary between full words and empty
words is represented by such substitutes as no 'he, she' — with the usual
label "pronoun", and the 'to be so, thus' — a sort of "pro-verb".
88 VIETNAMESE

Compare Giáp luoi. 'Giáp is lazy.' with Nó luòi. 'He's lazy.' Ât

cûng the 'Ât is lazy, too.' The word no refers to (or points at) someone
in particular [the person named Giáp is called its "antecedent"], and the word
the refers to the state of being lazy. Since the class meaning is to highlight
the semantic and grammatical value of a phrase—although we do not have
quite a full-fledged word—the label "substitute" (dai-tù) (see 6.3) seems to
be more appropriate than the old name dai-danh-tù, which merely means 'a
word that replaces a noun'.
(3) Finally, there are some words that do not quite belong with the full
words or with the empty words. Indeed a word in this third class cannot
serve as subject or as predicate, nor can it function as the center of a
phrase or as the "satellite" of the center within a phrase. This class consists
of mood markers (tiêu-tù tình-thai) which fulfill "the role of traffic lights"
[Nguyên Kim Than 1963: 152] and which include two subclasses —
"particles" (discussed in 7.3) and "interjections" (discussed in 7.4). In
addition to initial particles like chính, cá, den, those occurring as "final
particles" (ngũ-khí-tù) like a, à, ù, nhé, nhi, chiî, etc. express the
speaker's attitude : deference, surprise, doubt, irony, assertion, etc. On the
other hand, vocatives, responses, exclamations, complaints, curses, etc.
make up a small class of "interjections" (cåm-than-tù) like ôi, oi, chà, úi
chà, vâng, da, etc.
Using criteria of meaning and of distribution, we will find it practical to
subdivide the substantive class into regular nouns (with a subclass of
categoricals or classifiers) and locatives or position nouns [see below].
As for predicatives, they include "functive verbs", which can be
identified by means of the preceding exhortative hay, and "stative verbs" or
"adjectives", which can be preceded by rât, but not by hay.
We will now proceed to the examination of each word class and subclass.

5.1. Nouns (danh-tir)

5.1.1 Meaning
This large, open class of substantives includes words which possess a general
lexical meaning and denote concrete things as well as abstract notions.
 PARTS OF SPEECH 89

5.1.1.1 Nouns that name persons, animals, plants or objects:

• ong 'grandfather', bà 'grandmother', cha 'father', me 'mother', anh
'older brother', em 'younger sibling', hoc-sinh 'student', thày giáo
'teacher, master', Nguyên Trăi, Doàn Thi Diem, etc.
• gà 'chicken', vit 'duck', trâu 'water buffalo', bo 'ox', cho 'dog',
mèo 'cat', chim 'bird', cá 'fish', dê 'goat', cuu 'sheep', ho 'tiger',
bao 'leopard', etc.
• co 'grass', cây 'plant, tree', chuoi 'banana', cam 'orange', dùa
'coconut', xoài 'mango', Si 'guava', mít 'jackfruit', măng-cut
'mangosteen', hoa 'flower', qua 'fruit', etc.
• giuòng 'bed', tú 'cupboard, cabinet, closet',bàn 'table, desk', ghe
'chair', áo 'shirt, coat', quan 'trousers', giây 'paper', bút 'pen', bát
'eating bowl', dĩa 'dish, plate', dua 'chopsticks', thia 'spoon', etc.
5.1.1.2 Nouns that denote natural and social phenomena:
• troi 'sky', dât 'earth', trăng 'moon', sao 'star', ngày 'day', dem
'night', sáng 'morning', toi 'evening', gió 'wind', suong 'dew;
frost', mua 'rain', nang 'sunshine',
• lúa 'cereal; rice', gao 'uncooked rice', ngo 'corn', khoai 'sweet
potato', coi xay 'rice mill', coi giă 'rice mortar', com 'cooked rice',
sân-phâm 'product', làng 'village', xóm 'hamlet', quân 'county',
huyen 'district', phu 'prefecture', tinh 'province', doàn-thé 'group',
co-quan 'organ, agency', bô 'ministry, department', etc.
5.1.1.3 Abstract nouns: dao-dúc 'morals', thói quen 'habit', y-chí 'will',
tâm-hon 'soul', tinh-thân 'spirit', van-hoc 'literature', van-chuong 'belles-
lettres', chính-tri 'politics', cách-mang 'revolution', dàn-chù 'democracy',
nen văn-minh 'civilization', óc khoa-hoc 'scientific mind', hanh-phúc
'happiness', hi-vong .'hope', etc.

5.1.2 Grammatical beha vior.

A noun can occur following a numeral (mot ' 1 ' , hai '2', mâ'y - vài 'a
few'), a pluralizer (nhũng = cáe 'the various') , and/or preceding a
demonstrative (này 'this', ăy = dó 'that', kia 'yonder',):
mot /hai /mây / vài này / ăy / dó / kia
nhũng / các
90 VIETNAMESE

Thus, the noun con 'animal' can enter such expressions as môt con,
hai con, vài con, ba con này, may con ây, nhũng con dó, các con kia.
Within a simple sentence, the noun trâu 'water buffalo' can function
either as subject (in Trâu ăn cô. (eat grass) 'The water buffalo is
grazing.') or as modifier (of thit 'meat' in Nó thích ăn thit trâu. 'He
likes to eat water buffalo meat.') .

5. 1.3 Noun subclasses.

A. Proper nouns vs. common nouns.

Nouns can first be classified as proper nouns (which name specific persons
and places, or particular institutions, organizations, events — Nguyên Trăi,
lê Quy-Dôn, Viêt-Nam, Hông-hà, Sông Ma, Dèo Ngang, Hà-nôi, Hâi-dWong,
lăng Châu-khê, Pho Hàng Bac, Den Hùng, Chùa Mot Côt, Khoi-nghîa lam-
son, etc.) and common nouns (which refer to general concepts — me
'mother', nhà 'house; family', làng 'village', com 'cooked rice', gà
'chicken', vit 'duck', pho 'street', den 'Taoist temple', nhà-cùa 'house;
housing', com-nWóc 'meal', gà-qué 'fowl', tinh-cånh 'situation', etc.).
A personal name consists of three elements: the family or clan name (ho),
the middle name (tên dem) and the given name (ten rieng) occurring in that
order — Nguyên Văn Nam, Tran Thi Mít. Sometimes the middle name is
absent: lê loi, Nguyên Trăi, Nguyên Du, Nguyên Khuyên, Bui Ky,
Nguyên lân. The middle name may go with the clan name to make up a
compound family name: Dang-Trân, Tôn-that ('royal family'), Nguyên-
Phúc, Ngô-Dình, Nguyên-Khoa, etc. The middle name may indicate
gender: 77?; is found only in women's names, although at the beginning, it
merely meant 'family, clan' so that Tran-thi simply means '(So-and-So) of
the Tran family'. [Family books often mention 77?/-Thuàn, Thi-Thuc, etc.]
Compound names such as (Duong) Quång-Hàm, (Hoàng) Xuân-Hăn,
(Hò) Xuân-Huong, (lê) My-Khuê , etc. are all literary names chosen early
by the child's parents or grandparents. It is therefore incorrect to break
up such compound names as (Tran Thi) Huong-lan 'Fragrant Orchid',
(Nguyên Thi) My-Hũòng 'Pretty Rose', (Trũong Thi) Bach-Cúc 'White
Chrysanthemum', (Dang Thi) Dô-Quyên 'Azalea', (Pham) Twòng-Vi
'Hedgerose', etc. into monstrosities like lan Huong, Huong My, Cuc Bach,
 PARTS OF SPEECH 91

Quyen Do, Vi Tuong, etc. [A semiliterate person may guess that lan-
Huong, spelled with the appropriate diacritics, means 'Orchid Scent',
different from Huong-lan 'Fragrant Orchid'.]
A writer often chooses a pen name or pseudonym (but-danh, bút-hiêu),
a style name or courtesy name (ta) , and is given a posthumous name (ten
thuy) . The poet Nguyên Khăc-Hieu (1888-1939) called himself Tån-Da
because his native province of Son-tây boasts of the Tån mountain and the
Dà river.
Proper names [Nguyên Bat-Tuy 1954, Nguyên Khăc-Kham 1973, Nguyên
Dình-Hoà 1995] usually appear in apposition to a preceding common noun
that denotes a familial or social relationship (chu 'Uncle' Dinh-lai, cu
'Greatgrandfather' Nguyên Du, bà 'Grandmother; lady' Trung Trăc, anh
'elder brother' Nguyân Văn Mô), an occupation, position or title (kl-su
'Engineer' Hoàng Xuăn-Hăn, luat-su 'lawyer' Trăn Văn Chuong, giáo-sW
'Professor' Nguyên Manh-Twong).
A proper name cannot be numerated: one cannot say for example *hai
Nguyên Du, except when two individuals have the same name. In the rare
(but genuine) case of two individuals living in the same city block of Saigon
in the early 1960s and having exactly the same name, a legitimate question
could be
"Duong Công-ly có hai Nguyên Dình Hoà, ông muón kiem Hoà nào?"
(road Công-ly has two NDH, gentleman want search Hoà which)
'There are two men named NDH on Công-ly Street, which one are
you looking for?'
Unlike generalizing common nouns (nhà-cûa 'house + door—houses;
housing', gà-qué 'chicken + chicken—fowl', trâu-bô 'water buffalo + ox—
cattle), which cannot .be numerated or classified, simple common nouns can
take both a numeral and a classifier in the noun phrase structure [ NUMERAl
— ClASSIFIER — NOUN]: hai quå cam (two fruit orange) 'two oranges',
ba toà nhà (three seat house) 'three buildings'.

B. Common nouns can be divided into several subclasses : item nouns,

collective nouns, unit nouns, mass nouns, time nouns, abstract nouns,
categorical nouns (or classifiers), and locative (or position) nouns.
92 VIETNAMESE

1. Item nouns. Such nouns name persons, animals, plants or objects

[5.1.1.1] (for instance anh 'older brother', cho 'dog', cam 'orange',bàn
'table', etc.) and fill the central position in the noun phrase with a NUM(eral)
and a classifier (N') on the left, and a demonstrative (DEM) on the right:

-2 ֊1 0 +1
NUM N՛ N DEM
hai con chó ay
two animal dog that 'those two dogs'
may cái ban này
few thing table this 'these few tables'
cáe qua cam kia
plural fruit orange yonder 'those oranges over there'

2. Collective nouns. Unlike item nouns (danh-tù don-thé), collective

nouns (danh-tù tóng-thê) like trâu-bò 'cattle', ruong-nuong 'fields'
cannot be preceded either by a classifier like cái, con, a numeral like hai, ba,
or a pluralizer like các, nhûng. But a collective noun like quan-chung
'masses' can take a totalizer like toàn-thá 'the entire body, the whole'.
3. Unit nouns (danh-tù don-vi) . These are nouns which further determine
item nouns denoting materials that exist en masse like dât 'earth', bun
'mud', cat 'sand', nuóc 'water', com 'rice', thit 'meat', ruçnı 'wine',
dong 'copper', săt 'iron', giáy 'paper', u 'ink', etc. These matters or
substances have their individuality, but each mass noun has to occur in
some kind of calculation or measurement, with such units as thuóc 'meter',
tác 'decimeter', phân 'centimeter', li 'millimeter', cân 'kilogram', lít
'liter', mâu 'mow', tán 'ton', etc. One cannot normally say *hai sua, *ba
thit, *năm dát, but the well-formed phrases are for example mot thiïóc våi
'one meter of cloth', hai lít sua 'two liters of milk', ba can thit 'three
kilograms of meat', năm mâu dát 'five mows of land', etc. Forms like
thiïóc, tác, phân, li, cân, lít, mâu, tán, etc. are measurement units of
length, weight, capacity, area, etc.
There are also unit nouns used in approximate measuring, as in mot
nám cat 'a handful of sand', mot ngum riľov 'a gulp of wine', mot hop
nUóc lanh 'a gulp of cold water,' mot dum /nhum muoi 'a pinch of salt'.
 PARTS OF SPEECH 93

The difference between a container used as temporary unit of capacity

measurement and the content of such a vessel is worth pointing out : mot
chén nuac mâm 'a cup(ful) of fish sauce' vs. mot çai chén 'a cup', hai
bát chao 'two bowl(ful)s of rice gruel' vs. hai çai bát và hai dôi dũa
'two eating bowls and two pairs of chopsticks', mot bau ruov 'a gourdful
of wine' vs. mot quå bau 'a bottle-gourd, a calabash'.
Some nouns denote units of time: gid 'hour', phut 'minute', giây
'second', etc. Ex: gid giói-nghiêm 'hour of curfew', phut mac-niem
'minute of silence'.
Other nouns denote units of organization: xom 'hamlet', lăng 'village',
quân 'district', huyên 'district, subprefecture', phu 'prefecture', tinh
'province', khu 'area, zone', ióp 'class', to 'cell', doàn 'group', dán
'herd, flock, school', nhóm 'group, team', cum 'cluster', etc.
Finally, a number of unit nouns started out as verbs: mot gói keo 'a
package of candy' (from gói 'to wrap') , mot gánh lúa 'a poleload of
(unhusked) rice' (from gánh 'to carry in containers hanging at both ends of a
shoulder pole'), mot ôm sách 'an armload of books' (from ôm 'to hug,
embrace'), mot xâu cá 'a string of fishes' (from xâu 'to string (loose
items) together').
4. Mass nouns (danh-tù chât-lieu). Of mass nouns, already mentioned in
the preceding section, some enter special collocations containing a "count
noun" which denote a unit of precise (conventional) or vague measurement:
mot lang/cåy văng 'a tael of gold', mot cuc văng 'a lump of gold', mot
thoi bac 'an ingot of silver', ba nôi com 'three pot(ful)s of rice', hai
miêng thit heo (two piece meat pig) 'two pieces of pork', hai máu bánh
mi (cake wheat) 'two pieces of bread', mot bau (gourd) không-khí 'an
atmosphere', mot xe. gach 'a cartful / truckload of bricks', etc.
A mass noun can be followed by a specifier này, ay, dó, kia: xăng này
'this gasoline', although a categorical noun like thú 'variety', loai 'kind'
may precede it, as in loai xăng này tot hon. (good superior) 'This
gasoline is better'.
Its co-occurrence with a unit (count) noun can best be illustrated this way:
*mot con thit 'one animal meat', *môt çai dwong 'one thing sugar',
*môt çai ruou 'one thing wine' are ungrammatical, but mot lang thit
94 VIETNAMESE

'100 grams of meat', môt çân dudng 'a kilogram of sugar', môt côc
ruou = mot ly ruçm 'a glass of wine' are well-formed.,

5. Time nouns (danh-tù thòi-gian) Time nouns are non-classified nouns,

which do not follow a classifier: hôm = ngày 'day5, tuan 'week', tháng
'month', nam 'year', mùa 'season', thê-kl/'the-ky 'century', thài-kî /
thcd-ky 'period', thòi-dai 'epoch', ki-nguyên / ky-nguyên 'era', dòi
'generation', sáng 'morning', trua 'noon', chieu 'afternoon', toi
'evening', dêm 'night', hoi, lúc 'moment', khi 'time', dao 'period',
thuô '(past) period'.
Besides the demonstrative specifiers này, ăy, dó, kia, no, only the
specifier nay follows ban, hoi, lúc, khi as in ban nay = hôi năy = lúc năy
= khi năy 'a moment ago, a while ago, just now, Fr. tout-à-1'heurê,
Time nouns can be directly numerated as in hai ngày 'two days', ba
dêm 'three nights', dam bũa 'a few days', muói thê-kl (= muoi the-ky)
'ten centuries', dol khi 'a couple of times'.
6. Abstract nouns (danh-tù trùu-tuong). Abstract nouns denote concepts
and notions such as tu-tuông 'thought', y-nghl 'idea', quan-diêm
'viewpoint', thai-dô 'attitude', phong-cách 'style', phuong-pháp
'method', tinh-than 'spirit; morale', chu-trilong 'advocacy, policy', lap-
truong 'stand', li-tuong = ly-tuong 'ideal', y-thuc-hê 'ideology', nghîa-vu
'obligation', bon-phân 'duty', xă-hoi 'society', etc. These are non­
classified nouns in the sense that they do not require a categorical (or
classifier N') : one can say nhũng y-nghï 'those ideas', hai quan-diêm
'the two viewpoints', etc.
However, some abstract nouns take their appropriate classifiers: hai nen
văn-hoa 'the two cultures', mot moi lo-ău 'one cause for concern', etc.
Such nouns as văn-minh 'civilization', van-hoc 'literature', vân-chifong
'belles-lettres', hoi-hoa 'painting,' mî-thuât - my-thuat 'art', triet-hoc
'philosophy', luân-li = luàn-ly 'morals', etc. share one classifier nen
'foundation' [Nguyên Tài Can 1975: 169].

7. Categorical nouns (danh-tù loai-thê) . These lexemes have been given

different names: classifiers, measures, counters, quantifiers, "specificatifs",
 PARTS OF SPEECH 95

etc. They refer to natural units of things and serve to individualize them as
to animateness and as to shape (in the case of inanimate, non-living things).
The elements they co-occur with are the same guide-words found next to
regular nouns. Their common Vietnamese label is loai-tù, but such terms as
tièn-danh-tù "pre-nouns" [Phan Khôi] and pho-danh-tù "co-nouns" (N' in
formulas) have been proposed [Nguyên lân, Nguy4n Kim Thån].
In this book, the terms "categorical nouns" and "classifiers" are used
interchangeably. The two big subclasses are those used for nouns denoting
non-living things and those used for nouns denoting living things, the two
general classifiers ( N ' ) being respectively cái and con.

7A. These categoricals differ from item nouns in that they cannot fulfill a
naming function, but must occur in a nominal phrase, whose central element
is an item noun and which also contains a numeral. Thus one cannot say
*hai chim or *ba bút : the well-formed noun phrase should be
NUM N' N DEM
hai con chim dó
two animal bird that 'those two birds'
ba cái but này
three thing pen this 'these three pens'
The N' cái may be replaced by a specific classifier referring to a given
shape, substance, etc. of the non-living thing under discussion: chhếc giày
'the shoe', quå bong-bóng 'the balloon', lá thu 'the letter', búc tranh
'the painting', etc. But cái must be replaced by the specific classifier
meaning'roll' in the case of quyén sách = cuon sách 'the book'.

7B. In the absence of a numeral, the N' - N - DEM phrase refers to the
particular item under discussion, with mot 'one' understood: chiec giày
nào? 'which shoe?', chiêc giày này 'this shoe', quå bong-bóng ay 'that
balloon', la thu dó 'that letter', búc tranh kia 'the other painting', quyén/
cuon sách ăy 'that book', etc. When the context is clear, the N' performs
the role of the pronoun 'one': thus in a shoe store the phrases chhếc nào?,
chiêc này, chiêc êy, chiêc kia would mean respectively 'which shoe?','this
one (shoe)', 'that one (shoe)', 'the one (shoe) over there', and chhếc bên
96 VIETNAMESE

[bên 'side'] trái would mean 'the left shoe' and chiêc ben phåi 'the right
shoe'.

7C. Cái is sometimes used for small insects or birds, especially in literary
contexts (cái kien 'the ant', cái cò 'the egret', cái vac 'the crane'),
whereas con is also used for certain non-living things that are considered
"animate": con măt 'the eye', con nguoi 'the pupil [of the eye]', con dao
'the knife', con dau 'the seal, the chop', con tern 'the postage stamp', con
quay 'the [spinning] top', con duong 'the road', con sông 'the river', con
dê 'the dike', con sào 'the pole [for punting]', con chèo 'the oar', con so
'the digit, figure, number', con suc-sac 'the dice, die', con thô-lô 'the
teetotum', con thuyen 'the boat [to row or sail]', con táu 'the (big) boat,
the ship', con thoi 'the shuttle', con bài 'the (playing) card', etc.

7D. When the head noun (N) denotes a person, the classifier or "co-noun"
(N') would be anh, bà, bác, bâc, cau, chi, cô, chàng, chu, dâng, dúa,
em, lăo, mu, nàng, ngài, nguoi, ôn g, vi, viên, quân, tay, ten, thàng,
etc. , as in mot ông thu-ky 'one grandfather clerk,—a clerk', mot bà
bác-sí 'one grandmother doctor,—a lady doctor', mot cô y-tá 'one auntie
nurse,—a nurse', mot bác thomoc 'one uncle carpenter,—a carpenter', mot
anh tài-xe 'one elder brother driver,—a chauffeur', mot nàng / cô tiên 'a
(young) fairy', mot vi anh-húng 'a hero', mot vi than 'a deity', mot viên
ly-trWong 'a village mayor', mot thàng lùn 'a dwarf', mot ten khùng-bo
'a terrorist', etc. The classifiers ngài, vi, viên are honorific, and quân,
thàng, tên, etc. are definitely pejorative. [For the use of such terms of
family relationship as ông, bà, cô, bác, chu, anh, chi, etc. in address and
reference as personal -pronouns to show respect for age, learning and social
rank, see section 6.3.2.1 on "status" personal pronouns.].
Sometimes the general classifier cái precedes the appropriate special
classifier for persons in order to enhance the pejorative connotation,
especially in the spoken language: cái thàng chong em 'that (good-for-
nothing) husband of mine', cái ông giáo-su tóc bac ['hair silver'] dó 'that
white-haired teacher over there'. This extra cái has been called "definite
article" [Trirang Vĩnh Tông 1932: 23] and "superarticle" [Bulteau 1950:
21].
 PARTS OF SPEECH 97

7E. The most frequently found classifiers for nouns denoting specific
inanimate things are:
bàl [poem, song, speech],bán [music, statement, declaration], bô [set,
machine, book], bông [flower], búc [letter, painting, statue], cây [candle,
lamp], chiêc [shoe, chopstick, boat], cuôh [book, notebook], dao [bill,
law, amulet], kháu [gun, rifle, cannon], lá [letter, amulet], món [sum of
money, gift, debt, dinner course], nên [culture, civilization, independence],
nóc [house], ngon [mountain, flag], ngôi [house, grave], pho [statue.
novel], quå [mountain, bomb, grenade, mine], quyêh [book, copybook],
târn [photo, heart, bolt], tan [play, drama], thùa [ricefield], toà [mansion,
castle, embassy], to [sheet of paper, drawing], vo [play, opera], etc.

7F. When the classified noun denotes an abstract notion, the classifier may
be cal (caí chân, cal thiên, cái my 'the true, the good and the beautiful') or
cuôc, dieu, moi) niêm, nôi, sur, vice, etc. as in mot cuôc doi 'a life',
môtmoitînh ' a love', mot nfêm vui 'a joy', mot nôi lo-ngai 'a concern',
mot viêc nhân-nghîa 'a matter of humankindness and righteousness', etc.
[Cf. the role of cái, cuoc, sũ, etc. as "nominalizer" in 4.6. ]
Some authors consider such constructions as su lănh-dao 'leadership',
nhà van 'writer', nhà sù-hoc 'historian' to be compound nouns, and one
of the many labels given to the numerative word under discussion is even
"article" (mao-tù, quan-tù) ; for a detailed examination and a variety of
English labels, see Nguyên Dình-Hoà 1957: 124-152.
The general categorical cái encroaches upon some special classifiers
without making much difference. 'A receipt' may be mot tò biên-lai or
mot cái biên-lai. Another example is mot thanh kiêm (thanh 'slender piece
of material'), or mot luòi kiêm (Iwôi 'tongue, blade'), or merely mot cái
kiêm for 'a sword'. A speaker may use cái before a variety of nouns.

7G. Finally, cái and a few other classifiers (denoting the number of
times of an action) may serve as the cognate object of a functive verb: this
type of categorical is called a "semelfactive classifier". Used after a verb of
striking, hitting, kicking and the like, or a verb of excretory functions it
means 'so many occurrences', depending on the numeral. Classifiers other
than cái are trăn 'battle, beating, scolding', qua 'fist, punching', phát
98 VIETNAMESE

'gun shot; inoculation', nhát (dao) 'knifing, slicing', etc. Here are some
examples:
tărn mot cái 'to take a bath / shower, bathe once'
la " " 'to have a bowel movement, defecate once'
dái " " 'to pass water, urinate once'
tát/vå " " 'to give a slap, slap once'
dâm " " 'to give a punch'
dá/dap " " 'to give a kick'
vut " " 'to give a whipping'
likewise thui mot quå 'to punch once', dánh mot trân (don) [don
'beating'] 'to give a spanking', máng mot trân 'to give a scolding', dârn
mot nhát 'to stab once', ngu mot giâc 'to take a n a p ' , b á n mot phát
(súng) [súng 'gun'] 'to fire a (gun) shot', chích mot mui [mui 'needle']
'to give (or get) an injection', di mot chuyêh 'to take a trip', etc. with
*mang mot măng considered anomalous.

5.2. locatives (phuong-vi-tîr) . These interesting words are position

words or localizers, since they denote—'literally or figuratively—the (spatial
and temporal) locations of things. Items like trên 'space above', duói
'space below', trong 'inside', ngoài 'outside', truóc 'front', sau 'back',
dau 'head, beginning', cuoi 'end', giũa 'middle', dông 'east', tây
'west', nam 'south', bác 'north', bên 'side', huóng 'direction', phía
'side', phuong 'direction', dang - măt 'side, face', etc. all behave like
substantives [Nguyên Dïnh-Hoà 1980: 112-114] , so have been called "relator
nouns" [Thompson 1965c: 43]. In earlier grammars they are treated as
"prepositions" (giói-tù), but some recent analyses have ably demonstrated
their underlying substantival value as locatives, localizers or position words
[Martini 1958; Nguyên Kim Than 1963]. We also think that they deserve to
be put in an autonomous class next to the class of regular nouns.
5.2.1. Those lexemes can combine among themselves, as in phía tren, phía
duói, bên trên, bên dwói, phía trong, phía ngoài, bên trong, bên ngoài,
phía truóc, phía sau, phũong dông, phwong tây, phuong nam, phuong băc,
hwóng dông, hũóng tây, huóng nam, huóng bac, with trong, ngoài,
trwóc, sau also occurring with dang.
 PARTS OF SPEECH 99

5.2.2. Having absolute meaning, they cannot be numerated (except bên,

huóng, phía, phuong, dang, mat). But they freely take such a DEM like này,
ăy, dó, kia: trên này 'up here', trên ăy 'up there', trên kia 'further up
there', duoi này 'down here', duói ăy 'down there', duói kia 'further
down there', trong này 'in here', trong ăy 'in there', trong kia 'further
in there', ngoài này 'out here', ngoài dó 'out there', ngoài kia 'further
out there'. We have seen (pp. 43-44) that bên ăy, trong ăy, ngoài ăy,
trên ăy become respectively bén 'that side, over there', trong 'in there',
ngoâi 'out there', tren 'up there'in the Saigon dialect.
locatives denoting the four cardinal points (dông 'east', tây 'west', nam
'south', băc'north') cannot take any such specifying demonstrative.
5.2.3. At first sight an item like trên, duói, trong, ngoài may seem
comparable syntactically to the preposition o 'at, in' (from the verb o 'to be
located at').
Suppose we have a prepositional phrase like ô trong nhà 'inside the
house'. We can add an adverbial like ngay 'right', mãi tan, tít mai 'all the
way' following o: o ngay trong nhà 'right inside the house', o mai
tan trong nhà, o tít măi trong nhà 'all the way inside the house, deep
inside the house'. However, no adverbial can be inserted between the
locative trong and its complement, the substantive nhà.
5.2.4. Indeed each of these lexemes designates a different "portion of
space": "placed before a substantive, the latter becomes the complement of
the locative: trong nhà 'the inside of the house', trên nui 'the space on
top of the mountain'." "Then within a sentence the group serves as a
circumstantial syntagm—'inside the house, in the house', 'on top of the
mountain, on the mountain'." [Martini 1958: 341] We can add other
examples: ngoài ngo. 'out(side the house) in the alley', ngoài bien '(the
open space) at sea', ngoài khoi '(the open space) offshore', duói nhà
'the space downstairs, on the floor below', duói dât 'on the ground
(below),' truóc nhà ga [nhà 'house' + ga < Fr. gare 'station'] '(the space)
in front of the station', sau nhà tårn [nhà 'house' + tarn 'to bathe'] '(the
space) behind the bathhouse'.
"When occurring after a substantive, those same words become
complements of that noun: bên trong 'the inside,—the interior', mien trên
'the upper region,—the highlands'." [Martini, loc. cit.] We can add other
100 VIETNAMESE

examples: bên ngoài 'the outside, the exterior', moi trên 'the lip which
occupies the space above, the upper lip', môi duói 'the lip which occupies
the space below, the lower lip', ngăn trên 'the upper drawer', cùa truóc
'the front door', cùa sau 'the back door' .
5.2.5. Beside serving as "place-words", trong, ngoài, trên, dirói, truóc,
sau are also used to define a period of time, and so can be called "time-
words" [see Nguyên Dình-Hoà 1971, Colloquial Vietnamese, Grammar note
13.2 on "locators", p. 284, and Pattern Drill F, p. 283]. Some examples of
temporal locatives : (noi) trong nùa gid [in inside half hour] 'within half
an hour', trong vòng ba ngày [inside circle three day] 'within three days',
trên nam tiêhg dbng-hb [space-above five sound copper-vase, i.e. water
clock] 'over five hours', triïóc tarn gio [before eight hour] 'before 8
o'clock', sau 5g30 chieu [after 5 hour 30 afternoon] 'after 5:30 pm',
truóc kia [before yonder] 'previously, before, formerly', sau này
[behind this] 'hereafter, later'.
5.2.6. A locative can serve as sentence subject :
Trong trang// ngoài xanh. 'Its inside is white; its outside is green'—
from the riddle about a quid of betel prepared with a rolled betel leaf and
containing some slaked lime.
Trong dom-dom // ngoài bó duoc. [bó 'bundle' + duoc 'straw torch']
'The inside is a firebug while the outside is a torch'—the saying about an
impressive appearance of affluence that hides poverty and hardship.
5.2.7. The four locatives trong, ngoài, trên, duói even acquire metaphorical
meaning to refer to people or organizations as subject in the sentence:
Trên nói// duói nghe. [noi 'to speak', nghe 'to listen']
'(When) the upper echelon says something, the lower one listens.'
Trên duói mot long, [mot 'one', long 'innards; heart']
'The leader and his followers are of the same heart.'
Trong dánh ra //ngoài dánh vào.
[inside strike exit, outside strike enter]
'Some attacked from inside, others attacked from outside.'
Trong am // ngoài êm. [inside warm, outside calm]
'Peace reigns at home and abroad.'
Keeping in mind the administrative hierarchy, a villager refers to the
office of the district chief as trên huyên, and a district chief looks up to the
 PARTS OF SPEECH 101

office of the province chief as trên tinh. Conversely, a mandarin (or

official) at the provincial [tinh] level would refer to an officeholder at
the (lower) district [huyen] level as duói huyen, and the district chief in
turn would refer to the village level as duói xã [xã 'commune, village'].
Of course, altitude is relevant: a Saigon inhabitant speaks of the
mountain resort of Dalat as trên Dà-lat, trên äy, trên dó, trên kia 'up
there', and someone standing on Mount Fan Si Pan (Hoàng-liên-son) would
refer to the lowlands as duói äy, duói dó, duói kia 'down there'.
In both the colloquial language and the written language, latitude within
the country is also relevant. Thus an area south of Hanoi would take the
locative trong: trong Thanh-hoa, trong Hue, trong Dà-nãng, trong Sai­
gón, or trong Trung 'in the central part', trong Nam 'in the south, down
south'. Somebody located in South Vietnam would refer to Central Vietnam
as ngoài Trung 'in central Vietnam', ngoài Hue, ngoài Dà-nãng, and to
localities in former Tonkin as ngoài  'in the north, up north', ngoài
Hà-nôi 'up in Hanoi'.
5.2.8. A further note regarding those locative nouns: the four phrases trên
thiï-viên, duói thiï-viên, trong thiï-viên, ngoài thiï-viên all mean 'in the
library'. However what is taken into consideration here is the position of the
speaker vis-a-vis the library floor: the speaker says trên thiï-viên when he/she
is located on a lower floor, and duói thiï-viên when he/she is on an upper
floor. The nominal phrase trong thiï-viên means 'in(side) the library'with
the speaker standing either inside or outside. As to the phrase ngoài thiï-viên,
it does not mean 'out of the library', but rather 'out there, in the library'
with the speaker, for instance a college student, sitting in his dormitory room
—a relatively narrower and darker place than the library, which is a
relatively more spacious and better lit place.

5.3. Numerals (so-tir)

The class of numerals, which tell you "how many and which in order",
serve as modifiers in a noun phrase. It is useful to distinguish between
cardinal numbers and ordinal numbers.

5.3.1. The cardinal numbers can express a precise quantity in the decimal
system (mot ' 1 ' , hai '2' ba tram '300', bon nghin '4,000', etc.) or
102 VIETNAMESE

only an approximate quantity (môt hai 'one or two', môt vai 'a few',
müoi lăm 'ten to fifteen'). They may be simple numbers from one to ten
(môt, hai, ba, bon, nam, sáu, bay, tám, chin, müòi) and such nouns
as tá 'dozen', chuc 'group of ten', tram '100', nghin = ngàn '1,000',
van = muôn '10,000', mó = úc '100,000', triêu 'million', ti 'billion'.
The word dôi 'pair, couple' may substitute for hai ' 2 ' in some
expressions: muoi tarn dôi müai '18 to 20 years of age', mot dôi khi 'once
or twice, sometimes'.
Compound numbers go from eleven to one hundred: 11 muòi môt, 12
muòi hai, 13 müòi ba, 14 muòi bon, 15 müòi Jam, 16 muoi sáu, \1 müòi
bay, 18 muòi tám, 19 müòi chin [ 1 0 + 1 , 10 + 2,.... 10 + 9 ] ; 20 hai
muoi [2x10], 21 hai müoi mot [(2 x 10) + 1], 22 hai mirai hai, 24 hai
müai bôh, 25 hai muòi Iăm, 30 ba muòi, 31 ba muòi mot, 34 ba muòi
bob, 35 ba muòi Jăm, 40 bôn mirai, 41 bôn mirai mot, 49 bôn mirai
chin, 50  mirai, 55  müai Iăm [(5 x 10) + 5], 60 sáu mirai, 64
sáu müai bôh / tü, 10 bay müai, 80 tám muoi, 99 chín müai chin [(9x 10)
+ 9] ; 100 môt trăm [= müòi mirai 10 x 10].
In 3.6.1, we have seen the contraction of hai müai ... into hăm ,
and of ba müoi ... into barn Also mot ' becomes mot (rising tone)
in ba müoi mot '31', sáu mirai mot ' 6 1 ' , etc. and muoi '10' becomes
müai (level tone) in hai müoi '20', ă müai hai '52', etc.
The other alternations are between năm ' 5 ' and iăm, nhăm in mixòi
lăm '15', ba müai lãm / nhãm '35', and between rüôi—preceded by a
numeral—and ruõi—preceded by a non-numeral (3.6.1.1).
Beginning with the forties (bon müai, n müai, sáu müai, bay müai,
tám müai, chin müai) if there is a following unit number, then müai may
be dropped, especially in rapid speech:
bon (müai) mot ' 4 1 ' , bôh (müai) tu '44', sáu (müai) lăm '65',
sáu (müai) tám '68', tám (müai) chin '89', chin (müai) chin '99'.
There is no primary word for zero; when it is necessary to discuss this
concept, it is called so không (number empty) 'empty number', especially in
telephone numbers for instance: bôh không tám /nãm tám bôh / không bôh
chin tám '408-584-0498'.
The final head in a numerated phrase refers to the next lower level in the
system: hai trăm hai means'220', năm trăm hai means '520', năm nghin
 PARTS OF SPEECH 103

hai means '5,200' [cf. nam nghin (khöng tram) hai muoi '5,020') , and so
on. The particle linh (= lè ) 'zero' indicates that one level (or more) is
skipped: hai tram linh (or lè ) hai '202', hai ngån le (or linh) hai
'2,002', mot nghin möt dêm lè [one thousand one night odd-number]
'1,001 nights', etc. Thus the house address 1650 (Cong-lý Street), for
example, is given out fully as mot nghin sáu tram nam muoi, and the
address 1605 (Taylor Drive) will be môt nghin sáu tram linh (or lè) nam.
In order to designate one or several parts of a quantity or a fractionary
number, the noun phan 'part' is placed behind the numerator and before the
denominator: hai phan ba 'two thirds', mot phan tu 'one fourth, one
quarter', ba phan nam 'three fifths', bay phan muoi 'seven tenths',
tarn muoi lam phan tram '85%, 85 percent'.
'A half (1/2)' is núa or môt núa: Nó ăn möt núa quå táo. 'He ate
half the apple.' 'Half an hour' is núa gid or núa tiéhg döng-hö (half
sound clock). Contrast hai gio ruöi '2:30, half past two' and hai tiêhg
ruoi 'two and a half hours', with ruoi meaning 'and a half'.
Among quantifying adverbs (moi 'every', moi 'each', and túng 'each
[in turn]'), only möi and túng occur in combination with möt: möi (möt)
ngWöi 'each person', túngngüoi (möt) 'each person in turn, one by one'.
The equivalents of 'tens of ,' 'dozens of ,' 'hundreds of ,'
'thousands of 'are respectively häng chuc, hang tå, hang tram, hang
nghin , with hang meaning 'rows of.'
5.3.2. The ordinal numbers (só-tú thú-tif) indicate rank and order; they
require the ordinal designator thú '-th'. Each of the groups thú nhät
'first', thú nhi, thú hai 'second', thú ba 'third', thú bón, thú tW
'fourth', etc. occurs - following the head noun that it describes : quyen thú
nhät 'the first volume', ngöi nhå thú hai 'the second house', tháng thú
mtíoi ba 'the 13th month', etc. Thú nhi sounds more literary than thú hai,
but only thú hai "the second day (after chu nhat—'the Lord's day, Sunday')"
can be used for 'Monday'.
Each of the literary equivalents de-nhat, dê-nhi, dê-tam, dê-tu, dê-ngu,
dê-luc, de-thät, dê-bat, de-cúu, dê-thap, etc. precedes the head noun, thus
obeying Chinese word order since the numerals occur in their Sino-
Vietnamese forms: de-nhät buön 'the No. One sadness', de-nhi ding 'the
104 VIETNAMESE

second class', dê-taw hang 'the third category', dê-ngü chu-niên 'the
fifth anniversary', dê-nhi-thap-ngü chu-niên 'the 25th anniversary', dê-
bách chu-niên 'the 100th anniversary, centenary, centennial', etc.
When a cardinal number immediately follows a head noun, it is
equivalent to an ordinal: lóp ba 'third grade', canh năm 'the fifth watch of
the night', the-ki hai muoi möt 'the 21st century', tap hai 'volume 2, the
2nd volume', with the ordinal thú understood.
In the late nineteenth century, time reckoning still made use of this
Chinese-borrowed word thú: gid thú 9 for '9 o'clock', giò thú hai for '2
o'clock', gio thú năm chièu for '5 pm', etc. as in Truong Vinh Ky's 1881
travelogue, reprinted in 1929 (cf. chin gio, hai gid, nam gid chièu,
respectively in modern Vietnamese),
A numeral can be found after dö 'degree', khoång 'space' or chúng
'approximation': do hai müoi ngWdi khách 'approximately 20 guests',
khoång ba thwóc våi 'roughly three meters of material', chúng (do)
nam tram do-la 'about US$500', lói ngän dong 'around 1,000 piasters'.
5.3.3. While numbers denoting approximate quantities (däm, däm ba, möt
våi, våi ba 'a few V cannot serve as predicate, those denoting precise
quantities can—when they are introduced by the copula la, as in
Trung, Nam, Bac cüng lå möt nhå cå.
(center south north likewise be one house/family all)
'Whether central, southern or northern, we are just one same family.'
But when some characteristic (like model, age, etc.) is indicated, the
copula is not needed before the numeral:
Bón cái ghcnåy möt kiêu mål
(four thing chair this one model I don't want to repeat)

'These four chairs are the same model, I told you.'

Cu áy tám miïoi tW tuoi rbi.
(greatgrandfather that eight ten four year already)
'He [the old gentleman] is already 84 (years old).'
Con gå nào ba chân hó ?
(animal chicken which three feet huh)
'Which chicken has three legs?'
 PARTS OF SPEECH 105

5.3.4. Numerals are often given the status of a separate word class.
However, their grammatical—i.e. syntactic---behavior seems to suggest that
they stand somewhere between substantives, on the one hand, and
predicatives, on the other hand, and can thus be called "semi-substantives".
 Chapter 6
Parts of Speech (continued)

6.0 Predicatives
In Chapter 5 we became acquainted with the subclasses of substantives
(Nouns, N; and Locatives, LOC) and semi-substantives (Numerals, NUM).
Typically a noun or a locative can be followed by a demonstrative specifier
(DEM) like nay 'this', ay = dó 'that', kia 'yonder', no 'other': e . g .
nguoi nay 'this person', nhå ây 'that house', duong kia 'the other road',
có dó 'that young lady', hom no 'the other day', etc.
We now turn to the other class of full words (or content words) — that
of predicatives (see 5.0.C). These words can be preceded by dea 'all',
khöng 'not', or se 'shall, will', and also be followed by khöng? or chua?
to make up an interrogative sentence: e.g. Chung tôi dëu tói, // nhung
khöng ăn // và se vè ngay (group I/me all come but NEG eat and shall
return immediately) 'We'll all come, but won't eat and will leave right away.'
Anh än khöng? (elder brother eat or-not) 'Do you want to eat?' Chi an
chua? (elder sister eat yet) 'Have you eaten yet?' On the other hand, a
predicative cannot take a demonstrative specifier like này, äy, dó, kia,
which only follows a noun.
The predicative class consists of "verbs", or rather of two kinds of
verbs—verbs of action and verbs of quality. Verbs of action are like
ăn 'to eat', ngu 'to sleep', di 'to walk', dúng 'to stand', hoc 'to
study', cay 'to plow', noi 'to speak', nhin 'to look', nau 'to cook',
giet 'to kill', thånh-cöng 'to succeed', etc. Verbs of quality are like to
'big', dep 'beautiful', trang 'white', giåu 'rich', rong-rai 'spacious',
rong-liiong 'generous', de chiu 'comfortable', etc.
The verbs of action are called functive verbs whereas the verbs of
quality are called stative verbs. The former are "doing" and "action" words,
and the latter describe the nature, quality, condition and state of being of
someone or something.
108 VIETNAMESE

The functive verbs are examined in the first part of this chapter (6.1),
and the stative verbs (or adjectives) are taken up in the second part (6.2).

6.1 Verbs (dông-tö)

6.1.1 Meaning
The functive verbs, or just verbs, denote activities like movements,
behaviors and processes. Timeless in itself, each of them refers to a specific
action or a series of actions. Only the linguistic and situational context
provides a clue to relative time. Our functive verbs correspond to the
"momentary action verbs", which Thompson [1965c: 218ff] sets up as
distinct from the "extended state verbs".

6.1.2 Grammatical behavior

6.1.2.1 Both kinds of verbs can freely and directly serve as predicate
without l à 'to be'. The main difference between the two kinds is that only
functive (i.e. real) verbs can follow the exhortative hay, and only stative
verbs can be preceded by a degree marker like rat 'very', hoi 'a little',
khá 'rather':
Anh hãy ăn di ! (elder brother EXHORTATIVE eat go)
'Go ahead and eat.'
*Häy trång. (EXHORTATIVE white)
*Giap rät än. (Giáp very eat)
Giáp rät cao. (Giáp very tall) 'Giáp is very tall.'

6.1.2.2. A verb like än 'to eat' can be preceded by an auxiliary like con,
ván, cú (marking continuity) , dã, dang, se (marking tense), khöng,
chang, hå, chua(marking negation), dúng, cha (marking prohibition), or
hay (exhortative). These accompanying elements serve as "witness words"
or "markers" to help us identify various members of this predicative class:
còn än, vän än, cú än,
dä än, dang än, se än,
khöng än, chang än, chua än,
düng än, cha än,
häy än.
 PARTS OF SPEECH (CONTINUED) 109

6.1.2.3 Another set of witness words consists of "directional verbs" (such

as ra 'to exit', vao 'to enter', lên 'to ascend', xuong ' to descend', di 'to
go', lad 'to come') which may be used as "co-verbs of direction" to further
define the preceding main verb of motion, e.g. chay 'to run':
chay ra 'to run out', chay vao 'to run in', chay lên 'to run up',
chay xuong 'to run down', chay di 'to run away', chay lal 'to come
running'.

6.1.2.4 A third way of classifying verbs is to look at the complement of a

verb: if this complement is absent, we have a static or "intransitive" verb
(like nghe 'to listen', biet 'to know', Io 'to worry', etc.), and if the
complement is a noun which serves as the direct object, we have an active
or "transitive" verb (like ăn 'to eat', viet 'to write', yêu 'to love', tin
'to believe', etc.).

6.1.3. Verb subclasses

The most common classification, which looks precisely at the various
complements that may 'follow a given verb, divides the large class of
(functive) verbs into intransitive verbs, transitive verbs and neutral
verbs.
An intransitive verb (Vi like ngu 'to sleep', ngoi 'to sit', chay 'to
run', etc. is not followed by a "direct object" : N1 / Vi
Em bé dang ngú. {dang 'continuous') 'The baby is sleeping.'
Co bay. 'The egret is flying.'
A transitive verb (Vt) like ån 'to eat', viet 'to write', doc 'to read',
xåy 'to build', etc. has an object which completes the signification of the
head verb. N1 being. the subject of the sentence, and N2 the "direct object"
of the verb V t , the sentence structure can be represented thus: Ni / Vt N2
X. xåy nhå . 'X built a house.'
X. än com . 'X ate his meal.'
The term "endomotivus" has been proposed for intransitive verbs and
the term "exomotivus" for transitive verbs [Nguyen Kim Than 1977: 129],
and a class in between has been called "neutral verbs".
110 VIETNAMESE

6.1.3.1 Intransitive verbs (döng-tü nöi-döng)

An intransitive verb (Vi like nói 'to speak', cuoi 'to laugh', dúng 'to
stand', ngoi 'to sit', chay 'to run', nhåy 'to jump', bay 'to fly', ngú
'sleep' has been called dong-tå viên-y [Bui Due Tinh], ttf-dong-tü [Lê
NgocVtfong], döng-tü nöi-hiïong [Nguyên Kim Than]. The activity which
it expresses does not affect or relate to any object, so it does not require an
object complement. Let us take the sentence Em be dang ngú. 'The baby
is asleep.' If the verb ngú 'to sleep' is followed by a nominal expression,
then this phrase denotes the place, the time, the cause, etc. and thus serves as
a circumstantial complement, e.g. Em be dang ngú tren di-v än g . (space
above sof a) 'The baby is sleeping on the couch.' Em bé dang ngú lúc me
nó té. (moment mother he fall) 'The baby was asleep when her mother fell
down.'
Some intransitive verbs may also be used like transitive verbs; they are
semi-transitive, being followed by a complement, a goal:
X. van nhin. (still look) 'X keeps on looking.'
X. chäm-chu nhin co ay. (concentrate look young woman that)
'X intently looked at her.'
X. khoc mãi. (cry on and on) 'X cried and cried.'
X. khóc ba nói. (cry grandmother inside)
'X cried in mourning for his paternal grandma.'
6.1.3.2 Transitive verbs (döng-tü ngoai-döng)
A transitive verb (Vt) like än, viêt, doc, xáy has been called by such
names as döng-tü khuyet-y [Bui Due Tinh], thi-döng-tü [Lê Ngoc
Viígng], or döng-tü ngoai-hiïóng [Nguyên Kim Than]. Based on the
nature of the complement, we can distinguish three different types of active
verbs : verbs of action, verbs of motion and semi-active verbs.
A. Verbs of action (Vaction). Either the action affects the object N2
(com), as in än com 'ate rice', or that object N2 (nhà) is a result of
the action, as in xây nhâ 'built a house'. Other examples of V + N2:
uöhg nuóc 'drank water', mo cua 'opened the door/window', dóng cua
so 'closed the window', etc.
 PARTS OF SPEECH (CONTINUED) 111

B. Verbs of motion (Vmotion) (dong-tu chuyên-döng). A group of

important verbs denote motion in a given direction. Examples are: ra 'to
exit, go out', vào 'to enter', Jên 'to ascend, go up', xuong 'to descend,
go down', qua 'to cross', sang 'to go over, come over', vè 'to return, go
back', Jai 'to come', dên, tói 'to reach, arrive' as in Hoc-sinh vào. 'The
students went in.' May bay lên. 'The plane went up.'
When the verb of motion takes a complement, the latter denotes a
destination or a goal: X. vào lop. ' X entered the classroom.' Mày bay
xuong phi-trwong Lien-Jchång. 'The plane landed at Liên-khang Airport.'
When following a nondirectional verb of motion ('to run, to jump, to
swim', etc.), the verbs di 'to go', ve 'to go back, return,' Jai 'to come',
den / tói 'to reach, arrive', etc. may serve as co-verbs to indicate the
direction of the movement :
chay di 'ran away', chay vè 'ran back', chay Jai 'ran back',
chay den 'came running', chay ra 'ran out', etc.
X. trèo Jên cay bWÖL ' X climbed up the pomelo tree.'
X. nhåy xuong ao. (down pond) 'X jumped into the pond.'
X chay ra (ngoåi) thW-viên. 'X ran out to the library.' [5.2.6]
Sometimes ra indicates result, as in X. kiem ra roi. (look exit already)
'X found it.', and the negator would precede it :" kiem Jdiöng ra (look NEG
exit) 'could not find it.'
In later discussions of verbal expressions, we will encounter more cases
where, within a string of constituents, a coverb following the main verb
(V-V) manifests the idea of result, direction and also orientation .
C. Semi-active verbs. This subclass comprises (1) such verbs of feeling
as thich 'to like', yêu 'to love', ghét 'to hate', thu 'to resent', and (2)
such "submissive verbs" as duoc 'to get, obtain, receive', bi 'to suffer,
undergo, sustain', phái 'to contract, suffer from', chiu 'to sustain, be
resigned to', mac 'to get caught'. In the pattern N1 V N 2 , N2 denotes
either (1) the object of love, hatred, etc. or (2) the experience—pleasant
or unpleasant—which the subject of the sentence goes through.
The latter verbs merit some special attention. Because they carry a sense
of submissiveness or passivity, the verbs bi, phái, chiu, mac are often
used to translate the "passive" construction in a western language. Actually
each of them is just the head of a pattern of complementation denoting an
112 VIETNAMESE

unpleasant experience and sometimes even qualified with the degree marker
rät 'very'. As the typical "submissive verb", the item bi, which has been
glossed as "be adversely affected" [Nguyen Dang Liêm 1974: 199],
clearly has the lexical feature [-pleasant] [Nguyen Dinh-Hoå 1972a].
bi 'to suffer, undergo, sustain' : bi dói 'was hungry', bi don
'was spanked', bi phat 'was punished', bi dan 'got hit by a bullet', rät
bi ghét 'was much hated', bi vo bo (suffer wife abandon) '(had the
bad experience of) his wife left him'. This last example is the predicate
of the sentence Dong bi vo bo 'Dông's wife left him', whose deep
structure contains an embedded sentence Dong bi [ vo bo Dong ] (Dong
suffer wife abandon Dong) .
chiu 'to undergo, sustain, be resigned to, submit oneself to' : chiu
chet 'suffered death', chiu thuong chiu khó (undergo wound undergo
difficulty) 'took pains toiling'.
mac 'to get caught' : mac no 'was in debt', mac iwa 'was
duped', mac bay 'was ensnared, was caught in a trap', mac mïïu Gia-
Cát Lwgng 'was caught in Zhugé Liang's ruse'.
phii 'to contract, sustain' : phai^gió ['wind'] 'was caught in a
draught', phåi long ['innards; heart'] cö Xuän 'fell in love with Miss
Xuån', phåi tpi 'to be sinful'.
The verb dwgc 'to get, obtain, gain' (also often translated by the
English verb "to be") carries the opposite feature [+ pleasant ] , as in
duoc khen 'received compliments, was praised', dwgc thuong
'got an award, was rewarded', dwoc nghi 'got a chance to rest, got a leave
of absence', dwgc di xem xi-nê (get go see cinema) 'got [the pleasure of]
going to the movies', rat dwgc biet on (very get know favor) 'was much
appreciated', duoc bó me vo cho chiêc ö-tö mói (get father mother wife
give classifier automobile new) 'got a new car as a gift from his parents-
in-law'.
The last example is the predicate (or comment) of the sentence Nam
dwoc [ bo me vg cho Nam chiêc ö-tö mói J, which has an embedded
completive sentence 'Nam's parents-in-law gave him a new car.'
The label "submissive verb" is definitely better than "passive verb"
[Nguyen Dinh-Hoa 1972a, Nguyen Däng Liêm 1974: 199] , since the
language does not have the passive voice as such. Indeed a sentence like
 PARTS OF SPEECH (CONTINUED) 113

Tam dugc Liên yêu. 'Tám is loved by Lien.'

really has the deep structure Tarn duoc [Liên yêu Tám ] , in which the
embedded completive sentence 'Liên loved Tám.' gives duoc the feature
[+ pleasant].
That is why *Tám duoc yêu bói Liên is considered an unnatural
translation of the English sentence 'Tám is loved by Liên', with the
preposition "by" [ = Fr. par ] copied as boi.

6.1.3.3 Verbs of existence (dong-tu ton-tai)

These verbs (Vexist) denote existence, appearance and disappearance. The
most common of them is certainly co, whose central meaning is 'to exist'.
With object and no subject (V + N2) there is predicated existence of that
object:
Co tien. 'There is some money.'
Co ai khdng hieu, xin gio tay lên.
(exist whoever not understand beg raise hand ascend)
'Would anyone who didn't understand please raise your hand.'
Xua co mot ong nha giau
(formerly exist one gentleman house rich)
'Once upon a time there was a wealthy man '
Co ai ó nha khöng?— Khong có ai het
(exist whoever at house or-not — not exist whoever finish)
'Is there anybody home? -- No one at all.'
Khöng co sira dac. (not exist milk condensed)
'There's no condensed milk.'
Other existential verbs are con 'to remain, survive; there is still
left', hêt 'to be used up; there is no more ..', mat 'to be lost; there is
loss of ', moc, noi 'to erupt', dam, tro 'to sprout, bud', as in
Con tien day. (remain money here)
'There's some money left here.'
Con gao nep khöng? (remain rice glutinous or-not)
'Is there any sticky rice left?'
Khöng con möt dong xu nhö. (not remain one coin cent small)
'There's not one penny left.'
Het giay roi. (finish paper already) 'There's no paper left.'
114 VIETNAMESE

Het duong chua? (finish sugar yet) = Cön diröng khöng? (remain
sugar or-not) 'Is there any sugar left?'
Mat mua. (lose harvest) There is/was a bad harvest.'

6.1.3.4 Linking verbs (Vunk) (döng-tå bién-hoá). These "verbs of

becoming" denote processes of change (in form or in character), processes of
conversion or metamorphosis, so suggest the semantic feature of English
verbs seem, become, remain, etc. Examples are: dâm 'to become
[something worse], turn [bad]', hoá 'to change into', (tro) thành, (tro)nên
'to become', giong 'to resemble', etc. with the object of the verb
indicating the result of change or a temporarily acquired feature:
Con cá hoa (ra) con rong. 'The fish became a dragon.'
con cá hoá long 'a fish (that has) turned (into a) dragon'
Thäng äy hoá dai a? (boy that become crazy really?)
'Has that guy gone berserk or something?'
Con-cái deu dä nên ngiTöi
(children all ANTERIOR become person)
'The children have all become useful persons.'
Öngäy thånh tien. 'He became an immortal being.'
Tät ca các cháu dó dang tro thånh nhüng cöng-dån tot.
(all plural grandchild that CONTINUOUS turn become plural citizen good)
'All those kids are becoming good citizens.'.

6.1.3.5 Verbs of bodily movement (Vbody)

This group of verbs denoting bodily movements is not very large, but like the
English verb "to shrug" each of them would take only a given part of the
body: gat 'to nod [head]', lác 'to shake [head]', cú 'to bend [head,
neck]', chum 'to purse, round [lips]', mim 'to tighten [lips]', viran 'to
stretch [arm, shoulder, neck]', nhiin 'to shrug [shoulders]', nghen 'to
crane [neck]', etc.
But in the N1 + V + N2 sentence Nam lác dau 'Nam shook his head,'
the object may be moved to the front, and with the subject (or topic)
changed to dâu Nam 'Nam's head' the sentence becomes Dau Nam lac.
'Nam's head is shaking.'
 PARTS OF SPEECH (CONTINUED) 115

6.1.3.6 Ditransitive verbs (V do ).

These ditransitive or double-object verbs are part of "sequential phrases",
which are "coordinate phrases presenting situations which follow one
another" [Thompson 1965c: 230] or the second of which is the result of the
other. It is possible to distinguish three subgroups: verbs of giving/taking,
verbs of insertion, and verbs of choosing [Nguyen Dình-Hoa 1979: 919-949].
A. Verbs of giving and taking/receiving.
Let us first look at this sentence, in which the main verb cho 'to give' has
two objects: a direct object DO (môt cuöh sách 'one classifier book')
representing the goal of the action, and an indirect object I0 (co ban gái
'classifier friend female') representing the beneficiary of that action:
X. cho co ban gái möt cuöh sách . 'X gave his girl friend a book.'
The same verb cho may occupy the second position within a sequential
construction and be followed by a complement that specifies the person, thing
or situation served: in other words, the "verb of giving, distributing,
sending" is followed by a direct object denoting what is given, distributed,
sent, etc., then by the cho-phrase to indicate the recipient (or the goal).
Ni Vgiv + DO + cho + Goal
Tân. gái qua cho bö'me.
Tån send gift give dad-mom
'Tån sent gifts to his parents.'
The two objects may switch position:
=>Ni Vgiv + cho + Goal + DO
Tån. gái cho bo me möt thung qua to-tiíóng
Tån send give dad-mom one carton gift huge
'Tån sent his parents a huge box of presents.'.
Other examples are dWa 'to hand', tang, bieu 'to present', giao 'to
deliver', phát 'to distribute', etc.
A similar situation obtains when the main verb carries the meaning "to
take, to receive, to borrow, to steal, etc." and when the word introducing
the "indirect object" (or the source) is cua, a noun meaning 'property,
possession, wealth'. With the formula
N1 Vtak + DO + cua + Source
Nam lay bút cua co y-tá.
Nam take pen property cl nurse
'Nam took the pen from the nurse.'
116 VIETNAMESE

N1 Vtak + cúa + Source + DO

Nam lay cúa co y-tá cái but Parker.
Nam take property cl nurse cl pen Parker
'Nam took the Parker pen from the nurse.'
B. Verbs of insertion. This subgroup comprises such verbs as an 'to
push', dut 'to stick', nhoi 'to stuff', nhét 'to cram', thgc 'to thrust', etc.
The pattern is N1 Vinsert + DO + V' + Goal as in
Toi dien ten vao måu don.
I fill in name enter model application
'I filled in my name on the application form.'
C. Verbs of choosing. This subgroup comprises verbs that involve the
idea of evaluation, selection, election, appointment or assignment, e.g. coi
'to regard, consider', goi 'to call, name', chgn 'to choose, select', tuyén
'to select', bau 'to elect', cú 'to appoint', etc.
The pattern is N1 Vchoose + DO + la/lam + Complement as in
(1) Ho bau Quån lam chú-tich.
they elect Quan do chairperson
'They elected Quån chairperson.'
(2) Co coi Chåu la kè-thü. [ co < co åy ]
she regard Chau be enemy
'She considers Chåu an enemy.'
In this last sentence pattern, the main verb seems to select a human as
subject, and both its "objective" (the direct object) and its "factitive" (the
complement) refer to the same entity: Quån and chú-tich in (1); Chau
and kè-thü in (2).
All the above examples illustrate the high degree of selectivity between a
specific verb and its object(s).

6.1.3.7 Quotative verbs (Vquote)

The next subclass consists of verbs of thinking, knowing and saying like nghi
'think', tuong 'thought wrongly', hiêu 'understand', biet 'know', nghe
'listen, hear', nho'remember; miss', tin 'believe', bao 'tell, say', tuyên-bo
'announce, state', etc. These verbs denote such psychological activities as
"to reflect, to realize, to perceive, to feel, to announce," etc. and the object
or complement N2 expresses what affects the action :
 PARTS OF SPEECH (CONTINUED) 117

X. nghe nhac Viêt. 'X listens to Vietnamese music.'

X. nho nhå. 'X misses his family, is homesick.'
A degree marker may modify the head verb:
X. rät nhónhå. (very miss family) 'X is very homesick.'
X. rat yêu niïóc. (very love country) 'X is very patriotic.'
In addition this subclass differs from other transitive verbs because its
complement may be a sentence, introduced by rang or lå 'that', as in
X. nghi rang fanhkia dung J.
'X. thinks that the other guy is right.'
Töi twång lå [ cae anh khöng thích ].
'I thought (wrongly) that you fellows don't like it.'
Töi biet rang [cae cö nho nhå ].
4
1 know that you girls are homesick.'
6.1.3.8 Causative verbs
These "telescoping" verbs make up a sizeable subclass. Causative verbs
(Vcause) carry such meanings as "to let, make, cause, allow, request,
force," etc. Examples are cho 'to let, allow, permit', dé 'to let', làm 'to
make, render', khien 'to make', mòi 'to invite', ru 'to invite [less
formally]—for a Dutch treat', xin 'to ask, request', yêu-cau 'to request',
doi to demand', giup 'to help', ép 'to compel', khuyên 'to advise', båt,
buöc, bät-buöc 'to force, coerce', ngän 'to prevent, stop', earn 'to forbid,
prohibit', etc.
Within the pattern Ni Vi + N2 + V2 , the object of the main verb
Vi is at the same time the subject of the second verb V2, as in
Bå äy cho ho nghi som. (lady that let they rest early)
'She allowed them to quit early.'
Anh dé töi làm ngay bay giò. (you let me do right now)
'Let me do it right now.'
Nó låm chúng töi xäu-ho. (he make exclusive we ashamed)
'He makes us feel ashamed.'
Ho döi anh äy (phåi) tií-chúc. (they demand he must resign)
'They demand that he resign.'
Luat-lê cam sinh-viên (khöng dixoc) hút thuöc la.
(law-regulation forbid student NEG get smoke cigarette)
'The law prohibits students from smoking cigarettes.'
118 VIETNAMESE

6.1.3.9 Verbs of volition (Vvol)

Several verbs of volition denote intention, determination, need or capability:
they act like auxiliary or helping verbs in English, e.g. can 'to need', co thé
'can, may', dam 'to dare', dinh 'to intend, decide', muon 'to want', nên
'should', phåi 'to have to, must', quyê't 'to resolve', tính, toan 'to
plan', du-dinh, du-tinh 'to plan', etc.
Some examples:
X. darn nghï, dam lam. (X dare think dare act)
'X dares to think and to act.'
Öngäy dinh sang nam ve hiiu.
(gentleman that intend go-over year return retire)
'He plans to retire next year.'
Anh ay muon kiem va. (elder brother that want look-for wife)
'He wants to look for a wife.'
My toan can-thiep. (America plan interfere)
'The U.S. was about to intervene.'
Tói tính muahè nåy sang Pháp chai.
(I plan season summer this go-over France amuse oneself)
'I plan to take a trip to France this summer.'
6.1.3.10 Identificational verb (Vid) là. One equivalent of the English
copulative verb is lå. This equative verb uniquely acts as the "equals"
sign [=] that joins the two constituents SUBJECT and PREDICATE (or
TOPIC and COMMENT) of a simple sentence, defined as a two-head
construction. Examples:
Liên là giáo-viên. (L. be teacher) 'Lien is a teacher.'
Tám cung lå giao-viên trWöng dó. (T. likewise be teacher school that)
'Tarn is also a teacher in that school.'
Då-lat vån cön lå möt thånh-pho dep lam.
(Dalat still remain be one city beautiful very)
'Dalat is still a very beautiful city.'
In a negative sentence, lå is preceded by khöng phåi 'not correct':
Liên khöng phåi lå giao-viên. (= Khöng phåi Liên lå giao-viên.)
'Liên is not a teacher.'
Tám cñng khöng phåi lå giao-viên trilöng dó.
(T. likewise not correct be teacher school that)
'Tám is not a teacher at that school, either.'
 PARTS OF SPEECH (CONTINUED) 119

6.1.4 Chinese-borrowed abstract verbs

We have seen that there are a growing number of abstract nouns borrowed
from Chinese (5.1.3. B6). Likewise there are many abstract verbs of Chinese
origin which are used in socio-political context, e.g. hoc-tap 'to study',
thåo-luan 'to discuss', tranh-luan 'to debate', thuong-luong, dieu-dinh 'to
negotiate', cong-nhan 'to recognize', phu-quyet 'to veto', phu-nhan 'to
deny', chap-thuan 'to approve', dong-y tán-thanh 'to agree', phån-döi 'to
oppose', dinh-cong 'to strike', tuyen-cá, bau-cú 'to elect', bo-nhiêm 'to
appoint', thuyet-trinh 'to report, speak', xuat-duong 'to go overseas', du-
hoc 'to go study abroad', tot-nghiep 'to graduate', etc.

6.2 Stative verbs = Adjectives (tính-tu)

In 6.1 we have examined the class of functive verbs or verbs of action,
treated as just verbs. In this part, we will examine the other large group of
predicatives: the class of stative verbs or verbs of quality, commonly
known as adjectives (tính-tú, hinh-dung-tu), which can take a preposed
degree marker like rat 'very', hoi 'a little', khá 'pretty, rather', and
which can also take a postposed degree marker like lam 'very' or nua 'more'.

6.2.1 Meaning
Stative verbs form a large set of items which describe the nature, quality,
condition, and characteristics of a person or a thing. A stative verb
serves as modifier of a noun to denote a quality of the thing named, to
indicate its quantity or extent, or to specify a person or a thing as distinct
from someone or something else. Within a nominal expression, the stative
verb denotes the qualitative or quantitative attribute(s) of the head noun.
Within a sentence, it expresses the attribute(s) of the topic of that sentence.
"Qualitative adjectives" are items like tot 'good', xau 'bad; ugly', dep
'beautiful', gioi 'competent', ngoan 'well-behaved', chárn (chi) 'diligent',
luoi (bieng) 'lazy', khon 'wise, clever', sach (se) 'clean', ban (thiu)
'filthy, loang '[of liquid] weak', dac 'strong, condensed', dang-tri 'absent-
minded', ngu-xuan 'stupid', van-minh 'civilized', lac-hau 'backward', etc.
In the case of a predication, these verbs are usefully glossed "to be
good, bad, beautiful, competent, etc." because in that environment they
contain a "built-in" verb to be, and it would be a mistake in that context
to use the equational verb la (6.1.3.10):
120 VIETNAMESE

Quyen sách nåy tot. (cl book this good) 'This book is good.'
*Quyen sách nay lå tot.
Co ay dep lám. (young lady that pretty very) 'She is very pretty.'
*Cö ay la dep lam.
[ Henceforth the English equivalent of each Vietnamese adjective will be
illustratively cited in the third-person form : "is ... (good, bad, nice, etc.)"
—each time a predicative construction is discussed .]
"Quantitative adjectives" are stative verbs like cao 'to be tall', thap
'to be low', dai 'to be long', ngan 'to be short', rong 'to be wide', hep
'to be narrow', xa 'to be far', gan 'to be near', nong 'to be shallow',
sau 'to be deep', day 'to be full', nhíeu 'to be abundant', etc.
Based on general meaning, some stative verbs or adjectives describe the
outer features of things (color, size, shape, capacity, dimensions), while
others refer to inner characteristics and status (quality, defect, skill, etc.) .

6.2.2. Grammatical behavior

This word class can be described by means of several formal criteria of
distribution, one of which is a negative criterion:
6.2.2.1 They can occur in the "attributive" position, e.g. mot quyén ta-
dien rat tot 'a very good dictionary', möt chiec so-mi xanh 'a blue shirt',
möt co vo dep 'a beautiful wife', hai em hoc-sinh gioi 'two good
students', nhüng con ngildi van-minh 'civilized individuals', etc. with the
modifier (tot, xanh, dep, gioi, van-minh) following the modified (tu-dién,
so-mi, vo, hoc-sinh, ngildi) in accordance with Vietnamese word order.
6.2.2.2 They can occur in the "predicative" position within a sentence,
optionally followed by a modifier like lám 'very', qua 'excessively', as in
Hoc-sinh truong nay giói lám. [The subject has the feature (+human).]
'The students in this school are very good.'
Öng ay lun qua. 'He (+human) is too short.'
Cái quan ay ngan qua. 'Those pants [-human] are too short.'
or optionally preceded by a modifier or a degree marker like rat 'very', hoi
'a little (too)', kha 'rather, pretty', as in
Hoc-sinh truong nåy rät gioi.
'The students in this school are very good.'
 PARTS OF SPEECH (CONTINUED) 121

Bai toan ay hoi khó. (lesson math that a little hard)

'That math problem is a little difficult.'
Qua cam nay khá chua. (fruit orange this pretty sour)
'This orange is pretty sour.'
The two modifiers rät and lam are mutually exclusive.
6.2.2.3 Compound adjectives (4.3.2.3) of the type trang tinh 'pure white',
den si 'jet black', thorn phuc 'fragrant', etc. because of their absolute
sense cannot take a degree marker such as rat, khá, khi, hoi, lam, qua.
Nor can an absolute adjective like rieng, tu 'private', chung, cong
'public', chinh 'principal, main' in such constructions as thw-ky rieng
'private secretary', cua cong 'public property', pho chinh 'main street',
etc. [cf. "absolute" adjectives public, private, principal, main, etc. in
English].
6.2.2.4 Unlike functive verbs or verbs of action (6.1), stative verbs or
verbs of quality cannot be preceded by the exhortative hay 'let us ':
*hay ngan, *hay khó, *häy chua are not well-formed constructions.
Contrast Con hay an di da ! 'Go ahead and eat first, sonny.', Cac anh
hay nghe loi toi 'You fellows, listen to my advice.','- or Öng häy di
di! 'Go away!'— all three "imperative" sentences containing häy.
6.2.2.5 Even the qualitative adjectives can be followed by a complement
denoting the scope or range of the quality they depict, e.g.
rät gioi toan (very adept math) '(is) very good in math',
rät cham hoc (very hard-working study) '(is) very studious'.
A quantitative adjective can take a complement that specifies an amount
or a landmark:
cao thuóc tám (tall meter eight) '(is) 1.8 meters tall',
dai bon mét .(long four meter) '(is) four meters long',
sau muoi bo (deep ten foot) '(is) ten feet deep',
gan nha toi lam - rät gan nhå töi
(near house me very = very near house me)
'(is) very close to my house'
rät xa nhå ga xe lúa
(very far house station vehicle fire)
'(is) very far from the railroad station'
122 VIETNAMESE

6.2.2.6 In addition to monosyllabic adjectives, there are those which have

two syllables or more:
(a) reduplicative adjectives: cao-cao 'rather tall', xanh-xanh 'bluish,
greenish', chua-chua 'a little sour', do-dö 'reddish', ngdn-nggt 'rather
sweet', de-dë 'rather easy', de-dang 'fairly easy', vol-vång 'hasty', lang­
tung 'awkward, helpless', lác-dác 'scattered', etc. (3.7.2)
(b) compound adjectives with synonymous or antonymous constituents
(4.3.1.1, 4.3.1.2, 4.3.2.3A) either native or Chinese-borrowed: manh-khoè
'well in health', hien-lanh 'mild, kind', ngay-thang = chính-trüc 'righteous',
ngon-länh 'tasty, delicious', chåi-chuot 'well-groomed', tröi-chåy 'fluent',
hien-hau 'sweet, meek', anh-hung 'heroic', tao-nha 'elegant', vän-chwong
'literary', danh-gia 'reputable', phong-tran (wind dust) 'weather-beaten;
miserable', giau-nghèo 'rich and poor', sang-hèn 'noble and lowly', etc.
(c) compound.adjectives of the ADJ-N type: giåu-cua 'rich in property',
nghèo-con 'poor in children,—has few children', ton-tien 'costly', mát-tay
'[of physician] skillful', dep-mat 'honored', dũ-da 'has a sensitive skin that
takes long to heal', mau-mom = mau-miêng 'loquacious', etc. (4.3.2.3A)
(d) compound adjectives of the verb-object (V-N) type: co tieng 'famous',
cogan 'daring', co ich 'useful', låmbö 'conceited', väng löi 'obedient',
hieu-hoc 'studious', lich-sú 'elegant, polite, well-mannered', yêu nuóc =
ái-quóc 'patriotic', etc.
(e) pseudo-compounds (4.1.2, 4.1.3) containing a prefix like bat- {bat-hiëu
'unfilial', bät-trung 'disloyal', bat-lich-sif 'impolite, rude') or vo- (vö-tåm
'absent-minded', vö-lê 'rude', vö-phép 'ill-mannered', vo-nhan-dao
'inhuman') or phi- (phi-phap 'unlawful', phi-nghia 'ill-gotten', phi-quån-
suf 'demilitarized', etc.).
6.2.2.7 The comparative and superlative forms are respectively hon
'superior; more .... than' and nhát 'first; most...'. Examples:
X tot hem Y. (X good more than Y) 'X is better than Y.'
Thång Håi giöi nhát lóp. (boy Håi adept most class)
'Hai is the best student in his class.'
Thú våi nåy ben hon het. (kind cloth this durable more than all)
'This cloth is the most durable of them all.'
Cái but nåy re hon cái bút äy. 'This pen is cheaper than that one.'
(thing pen this cheap more than thing pen that)
 PARTS OF SPEECH (CONTINUED) 123

Rau o tiêm nay re nhät Pho Tau.

(vegetables at store this cheap most street China)
'The vegetables in this store are the cheapest in Chinatown.'
Mau nåo dep nhät ? (color which beautiful most)
'Which color is the best looking?'
Måu nay dep hon måu vang.
(color this beautiful more than color yellow)
'This color looks better than yellow.'

6.3 Substitutes (dai-tix)

In our discussion of word classes, we have, on pp. 87-83, mentioned briefly
one word class which lies on the boundary between content words and
function words and which is represented by substitutes, e.g. no 'he, she,
it' (commonly called "pronouns") and the, vay 'to be so' (that can be
called "pro-verbs"). Our statement also suggests that the label
"substitute" (dai-tu) seems to be more inclusive than the old name dai-
danh-tu, since this type of lexeme in Vietnamese is called upon to replace
not only a noun, 'but also a verb phrase, an adjective phrase, or a whole
predicate.

6.3.1 Meaning
Substitutes are used to point to someone or something, and to address people.
They can substitute for nouns, for verbs (functive or stative), for numerals
and even for an entire phrase, e.g. han - no 'he', ho 'they', toi 'I/me',
anh 'you [to young man]', may 'you [arrogant]', tao 'I/me [arrogant]',
ong 'you gentleman', ba 'you lady' , co 'you young lady', bác 'you
[polite]'; cac chu 'you young men', chúng ta 'we [inclusive]; nay 'this',
ay = dó 'that', kia 'yonder', no 'the other'; day 'here', day = dó
'there', kia 'over there'; the = vay 'thus, so'; bay nhiêu 'that much, that
many', cå = het ca = tat cå - cå thåy = het thåy 'all', ai? 'who', gi?
'what', dau? 'where', bao gid? 'when', nao? 'which', the nao? 'manner
which—how', sao? 'how', may? = bao nhiêu? 'how much, how many'.
Such items as ong, bå, co, bác, chu are kinship terms whose
meanings are respectively 'grandfather, grandmother, father's younger
sister, father's older brother, father's younger brother.'(see 6.3.2.2)
124 VIETNAMESE

6.3.2 Grammatical behavior

Some substitutes are terms of address and reference and behave more like
"status pronouns". Others are determinatives that replace nouns and point
to specific things: they are demonstrative substitutes. Still others have
interrogative, indefinite, reflexive or reciprocal meaning.

6.3.2.1 Personal substitutes (dai-tu xung-hö)

The first group of substitutes are used to refer to persons. Functioning as
terms of address and reference, they carry not only the meaning of
"substitution", but also and chiefly that of "status"; indeed they take into
account the age and social status of the interlocutor.
A. Some take the pluralizer chung 'group of animate beings'. They are:
• FIRST PERSON (the speaker): tôi (servant) 'I/me' [term of modesty and
respect], ta 'I/me [emphatic]; we/us' [inclusive], tao 'I/me' [arrogant].
• SECOND PERSON (the hearer): may = mi, bay 'you, thou [arrogant]',
comparable to French tu, toi.
• THIRD PERSON (the referent): no 'it' [of child, animal], 'he' [contemptible
individual] .
The form toi can be safely used in most polite situations; originally it
meant 'subject of the king, servant'.
Chung tôi means 'we, exclusive', i.e. 'he, she, they and I—but not you,
the hearer' ; it is also used by a speaker to refer to himself or herself alone
and is thus the equivalent of the "editorial we". When a native speaker
addressing foreign friends says "nguoi Viêt chung töi", the expression
means 'we Vietnamese' or 'our Vietnamese people' [cf. French nous autres
Vietnamiens] . But when the hearer is a fellow countryman, the expression
should be "nguoi Viêt chung ta" 'we, inclusive', i.e. 'he, she, they, and
you, and I'].
The form ta is commonly used by someone talking or thinking to
himself/herself as in a soliloquy: lingering near the abandoned grave of
Dam-Tien, the heroine of The Tale of Kieu, said,
"San day ta thap mot våi nén huong"
(ready here I light one two classifier incense)
'While I'm here I'll light some joss sticks.'
 PARTS OF SPEECH (CONTINUED) 125

Ta is used by someone who assumes a certain superiority over the hearer

or the referent, for example a high official or a religious dignitary, as in the
case of the late Archbishop Ngo Dinh Thuc.
Ta also means 'you and I'—just like chung ta 'we, inclusive'.
The forms tao 'I', chúng tao 'we, exclusive, may 'you', chúng may
'you [plural]', bay or chung bay 'you [plural]' are used by an arrogant
speaker within a context of familiarity, for instance when parents
address their children or when an older sibling addresses younger siblings,
or when people are engaged in a quarrel or heated argument, to the extent that
"status personal pronouns" (see below) are not being used. As a matter of
etiquette, the set of pronouns may, tao, mi, tó is considered indecent in
polite society, and their use is comparable to the practice, when speaking
French, of "tutoyer", which consists in using the familiar and abrupt (not so
considered in Canada, though) pronouns tu and toi.
The forms no 'he, she, it' and chúng nó 'they' are at the same time
superior and familiar. In some situations, they sound abrupt. But actually
they do not carry arrogant overtones as do the forms tao, may, mi, bay
discussed above. They are used to refer generally to animals and children,
but also as terms of opprobrium reserved for scornful or "unadmirable"
individuals (like crooks and criminals) :
Con cho nay, no chang bao gid sua cå.
(animal dog this it not ever bark all)
'This dog, it never barks at all!'
Thang Huan, no chua ngu a?
(boy Huan he not yet sleep I'm surprised)
'Isn't little Huan asleep yet?'
Töi danói nhïêu Tån // nhwng chúng nó khöng nghe.
(I ANTERIOR speak many time, but they NEG listen)
'I told them many times, but they wouldn't listen.'
In Töi khöng thích cái áo so-mi áy // vi nó khöng co túi.
(I NEG like classifier blouse shirt that, because it NEG have pocket)
'I don't like that shirt because it has no pocket,'
the pronoun no is in the singular and refers to an inanimate article of
clothing.
126 VIETNAMESE

The noun mïnh 'body' is a familiar substitute used in intimacy to call

one's spouse, to refer to oneself ('I, me') or to the group otherwise called
chúng minh = chúng ta 'we, inclusive,—you and I':
Mïnh oi có di bo ho ? (darling VOCATIVE EMPHATIC go shore lake)
'Say, honey! Do you want to go to the lakeside?' [husband suggesting to his
wife that they take a stroll to the Lake of the Returned Sword in Hanoi: from
a popular folk tune]
Mïnh nói choi // ma eau tuóng that! (I say play, yet you thought real)
'I said it in jest but you took it seriously.' [to young male friend]
Chung mïnh ghé cåu-lac-bo di! (we inclusive stop off club IMPERATIVE)
'Let's stop by the club, shall we?'
Used as complement of a verb like giu 'to guard, protect', hai 'to harm',
mïnh means 'oneself, myself, yourself, himself, herself'.
B. Other substitutes do not take the pluralizer chúng. They have been
called "absolute pronouns" [Thompson 1965c: 251].
Except for some {han, va, y 'he, she', nguoi ta 'they, people'),
which signal third person referents, the remainder are literary forms that
are no longer used nowadays:
• FIRSTPERSON: min, qua 'I' [masculine], thiep 'I' [feminine], choa 'we'
• SECOND PERSON: bau, chang 'you' [the opposite of thiep]
• THIRD PERSON: han, va, y, nghi, nguoi ta
A monarch used the first person pronoun Tram or Qua-nhån 'I , we'
to his mandarins, whom he called khanh. The latter addressed the king or
emperor as Be-ha or Ngåi 'Sire, Your Majesty'. The subject referred to
himself as kè ha-than 'your lowly subject'. These forms are now found
only in literary works and classical plays.

6.3.2.2 Status substitutes (dai-tu kinh-ngu)

In formal situations (including religious ceremonies and public events), and
taking into consideration factors of age, sex and relative social position-
both within and beyond the family system—as well as in terms of the
speaker's (or writer's) attitude, the forms used in address and reference are
generally "honorific". Usage is in a sense patterned after a discourse context
of family members conversing—the participants being parent and child,
grandparent and grandchild, older sibling and younger sibling, etc.
 PARTS OF SPEECH (CONTINUED) 127

Kinship terminology will help work out who is talking to whom, if we

keep in mind the patrilineal system characterized by the ramifications of the
extended family—as opposed to the conjugal family.
In the table below we go from the third ascending generation down to the
second descending generation:

MALE FEMALE

+3: GREAT-GRANDPARENTS cu (ong) cu (bå)

+2: GRANDPARENTS
- paternal öng (noi) bå (noi)
- maternal öng (ngoai) bå (ngoai)
+1: PARENTS bö/cha/thay/ba me/me/má
- f.'s elder siblings bác CO
f.'s younger siblings chú cO
-m.'s elder siblings cau gia
m.'s younger siblings cau di
EGO'S GENERATION
- elder siblings anh chi
- younger siblings em (trai) em (gåi)
-1: EGO'S CHILDREN eon (trai) con (gái)
-2: EGO'S GRANDCHILDREN
- through son cháu noi (trai) cháu nöi (gái)
- through daughter cháu ngoai (trai) cháu ngoai (gái)

Kin terms from the 3rd ascending generation up (cu, ky) and from the
2nd descending one down (cháu, chát, chut, chit) display alliteration.

In some American families third person forms (instead of "you" and "I")
are used with small children: "Mom loves Dylan," "Ike misses Daddy," etc.
By contrast this kind of "baby talk" is observed throughout the Vietnamese
system of address and reference. The pair "bo-con", for instance, is
equivalent to 'I-you' when the father talks to his child, and 'you-I' when the
child talks to his or her father: Xin bo cho con sũa a (beg father give child
milk POLITE PARTICLE) 'Please give me some milk, Daddy.'
128 VIETNAMESE

Con a nhà ngoan, bó' di lam nhél

(child stay house well-behaved, father go work OK?)
'You be good at home, Daddy goes to work now, OK?'
A child learns very early how to use the proper terms of address:
1st person 2nd person
child speaking to father con bo'/ba
child speaking to mother con me / má
father speaking to child bo'/ba con
mother speaking to child me /má con
younger sib to elder br. em anh
younger sib to elder sis. em chi
elder br. to younger sib anh em
elder sis. to younger sib chi em

Speaking to his father's elder brother, a boy calls himself cháu 'nephew'
and his uncle bác. The niece also calls herself cháu. Reciprocally, uncles
and aunts return the proper appellations in kind: the elder brother of the
father calls the nephew or niece cháu 'you', and himself bác 'I', and that
uncle's wife does the same, using the pair bác - cháu for 'I - you'.
Likewise, if the nephew or niece speaks to father's younger brother, the
second-person term would be chu, and the first-person term cháu . When a
married lady uses the pair thim - cháu for 'I - you' to a child, it is
immediately known that she is the wife of the child's "younger" uncle.
The 'I - you' pairs cháu - cô and cô - cháu are used respectively by a
nephew/niece speaking to their father's (younger) sister and by such an aunt.
The latter's husband is addressed as dwong.
On a child's mother's side, the maternal uncle is called cau, and the
pairs cháu - cau and cau - cháu apply. The wife of one's cau is called mo.
As for the sister of a child's mother, she is called giå if older and di if
younger than the child's mother.
The word cháu thus means 'grandchild', but also 'nephew' or 'niece':
like em, the term for 'younger sibling' regardless of sex, it requires a
secondary modifier to designate a 'grandson' or a 'granddaughter', a
'nephew' or a 'niece' (cháu trai or cháu gái) [ cf. 'younger brother' or
'younger sister' (em trai or em gái) ].
 PARTS OF SPEECH (CONTINUED) 129

The nuclear terms öng and bå referring to members of the second

ascending generation (+2) when used in address do not need the secondary
modifier noi 'paternal' or ngoai 'maternal'. A couple of examples will
suffice:
Bå bao các cháu khöng nghe, // thì bà khöng cho xem tivi nüa.
grandma tell pi. grandchild not listen, then grandma not give watch TV more
'Since you didn't listen to me, I won't allow you to watch TV any more.'
Me cháu båo cháu mol bå sang än pho.
mother grandchild tell grandchild invite grandma come-over eat noodles.
'Mom told me to invite you to come over to have some noodle soup.'
Lovers and spouses—Vietnamese say vo chong 'wife and husband'—
use the pair of terms anh 'elder brother' and em 'younger sister', which
mean "I - you" [boy or husband speaking] or "you - I" [girl or wife
speaking].
Thus kinship terms are used as appellations or as pronouns, and to commit
an error, when one addresses somebody, "is considered an impoliteness and
even an insult." [Cadière 1944: 43] Most of those terms of kinship (whose
usage is examined in detail in Nguyen Dinh-Hoa 1956) are also used as
"categorical nouns" (or classifiers) when the head noun denotes a person
well specified by age, sex and social position: möt öng thW-ky 'a clerk',
mot bå bác-si 'a lady doctor', möt bác tho moc 'a carpenter', etc. (cf.
these and other examples cited on p. 96 above).
Since poverty is no sin, 'an old beggar' is individualized by the
categorical öng 'grandfather' {mot öng an may)---instead of the scornful "co-
noun" thang 'boy; contemptible guy' saved for crooks and rascals.
As a unique feature of Vietnamese socio-linguistic usage, those same
kinship terms are extended as status substitutes to persons not related to the
speaker by blood or marriage, since "people from all four seas are brothers"
(tú hai giai huynh-dê 'four sea all elder brother younger brother'), .
Outside the extended family, the polite term toi is used for the first
person, but usage consists in employing certain kinship terms to address or
refer to non-relatives, taking into consideration the relative age, rank and
occupation of the interlocutor. Speaking to a mature couple (twenty and
older) encountered the first time, a person in his or her twenties is safe to call
them öng 'sir' or bå 'madam' [lit. 'grandfather' and 'grandmother']. To
130 VIETNAMESE

use the term cu or co 'great-grandparent' would be flattery, but to

designate them as anh chi 'elder brother' and 'elder sister' would be
impolite [Tran, Pham & Bui 1943: 86]. To a married woman or a woman the
same age as the speaker or older, one uses ba—unless she merits cu. To an
unmarried girl or a woman from about ten years old, one uses the term cö
'aunt'. The term anh applies to boys roughly over twelve and under twenty,
and smaller children---boys or girls---will be addressed by the younger sibling
term em. Kids refer to themselves as con 'child' or cháu 'grandchild;
nephew, niece'.
In my intermediate language class I often ask the students to figure out the
relationship between a man and a woman when the latter talks to the former
as follows:
"Em vo cu lå cau chong töi."
Younger-brother wife greatgrandfather be maternal-uncle husband I
'Sir, the younger brother of your wife is my husband's cau"
Answer to the riddle: She is the old gentleman's daughter-in-law.
As a person gets to know people better, some adjustment takes place, but
exaggeration remains as good etiquette while the speaker humbles oneself.
The switch from öng, bå, co to anh and chi implies better acquaintance
and some intimacy, with toi remaining the first-person pronoun.
In one case, the gradual switch to em takes place in boy-meets-girl
situations, where modern life now allows traditionally forbidden social
contacts between boys and girls. A man eager to pay court to a young woman
would begin by calling her cö 'aunt' when they first met, and later change to
chi 'elder sister' as they get to know each other better; when he finally calls
her em 'younger sister', this is the signal that they have become sweethearts.
The young lady, when she first responds to his advance, would use a cold,
formal ong 'grandfather; sir', then much later change to a distant, brotherly
anh, which would lead ultimately to an intimate anh, that can be translated
'my darling, sweetie pie, etc.'
A popular saying deplores in the following terms the rudeness of a brazen
person who gets too familiar with "superiors": Gan chua goi But bang anh
(near temple address Buddha as elder brother) 'Living near the temple, he
dares call Buddha "elder brother".'
 PARTS OF SPEECH (CONTINUED) 131

Some remarks are in order with regard to the pluralizers chúng 'group of
animate beings' and các 'the various ...' that appear in nominal expressions.
While chúng is used for first-person status pronouns, các is used for second-
person status pronouns, e. g.
— chúng óng 'we exclusive (arrogant)', chúng cháu 'we (your
grandkids), we (your nephews/nieces)', chúng con 'we (your children)',
chúng em 'we (your younger siblings)', chúng chi 'we (your older
sisters)', chúng anh 'we (your older brothers)'. [The last two are found
only in folk songs.] Cf. the expressions in which chúng precedes tôi, ta,
tao (first person), may, bay (second person), or no (third person)
[discussed in 6.3.2.1].
— các ông 'you gentlemen', các bác 'you gentlemen' [considered
older than speaker's parents], các chú 'you gentlemen' [considered younger
than speaker's parents], các bà 'you ladies', các co 'you young ladies',
các anh 'you guys', các chi 'you gals', các câu 'you young men', các
em 'you youngsters', các cháu 'you children', etc.

6.3.2.3 Interrogative substitutes (dai-tu'nghi-ván)

These substitutes, used to ask about people or things, are the exact equivalents
of English "who", "what", "which", "where", "when", and "how".
The word for 'who?' is ai ? as in Öng äy lå ai? (gentleman that equal
who) 'Who is he?', Ai doi? 'Who is hungry?'. The word for 'what?' is
gi? or chi? as in Me muón xoi gi a? (mother want eat what POLITE
PARTICLE) 'What do you want to eat, Mom?' Các öng dung chi a? (plural
gentleman use what POLITE PARTICLE) '[Waitress to customers] What are
you gentlemen going to have?'
The question word for 'which?' is nào?, already presented as consisting
of /-/-n-/ and /-ao/ (2.3.2). Examples:
ban nào? (table which) 'which table?', cái mu nào? (classifier hat
which) 'which hat?', bo nåo? (ministry which) 'which ministry?', the
nåo? (way which) 'in which way?, how?', öng nåo? 'which grandpa?'
[Answer: öng ngoai (grandfather outer) 'maternal grandpa' or öng nöi
(grandfather inner) 'paternal grandpa']; 'which man?' [Answer: (cái) öng
deo kính den (classifier gentleman wear glasses black) 'the gentleman with
sunglasses'].
132 VIETNAMESE

Other interrogadves are dåu 'where?', bao 'to what extent?' [as in bao
gid 'what time?, when?', bao nhiêu 'how much? how many?', bao lâu
'how long?', bao xa 'how far?'], may 'how many?', and sao 'how?, in
what way?, for what reason?, why?' [2.3.2] The latter substitute is often
used with ra 'turn out' or lam 'do' {ra sao? làm sao? ) to ask 'how?';
when following tai or vi 'because of' {tai sao? vi sao?) it asks 'why?'.
If the interrogative bao gio 'when' occurs before the verb phrase, it asks
about the future, and if it occurs after the verb phrase, it asks about the past:
Bao gid anh tro lai (turn come) Viêt-nam?
'When are you going/coming back to Vietnam?'
Anh tro lai Viêt-nam bao gid?
'When did you go/come back to Vietnam?'
The interrogative may asks about a cardinal number as well as an ordinal
number: may nguoi? 'how many people?', may can duong? 'how many
kilograms of sugar?', may gid? 'what time?' or 'how many hours?', trang
may? 'which page?', tháng may? 'which month?', mong may? 'which
day of the month? [from the 1st to the 10th]'.

6.3.2.4 Predicative substitutes (dai-vi-tu)

The three forms the, vay (or vay) 'be/do this way, thus, so' refer to the
way something is carried out, so have been called "manner demonstratives"
[Thompson 1965c: 147] since they point to activities and states of affairs.
Examples:
Con cu lam nhu the. (child continue do like so)
'You just do like that, sonny.'
Anh Ba vua dói vúa met. — Töi cung the.
(elder brother Ba both hungry and tired — I likewise be so)
'(Brother) Ba is both hungry and tired.' — ' I am, too,' 'So am I . '
Giáp bat nat thang em. ---Ât cüng the.
(G. force threaten boy younger sibling — A. likewise does so)
'G. bullies his younger brother.' —'A. does the same,' 'So does A.'
Chi ay bi-quan // nhWng anh chin g nên the.
(elder sister that pessimist, but elder brother NEG should be so)
'Your wife is pessimistic, but you shouldn't be (so).'
 PARTS OF SPEECH (CONTINUED) 133

Chi khöng duoc ån nói vói chong nhu vay.

(elder sister NEG get eat speak with husband like so)
'You must not talk to your husband like that.'
Su that khöng phåi the. (thing true NEG right so)
'Actually it (the truth) wasn't like that.'
Sao lai the? (why unexpectedly be so)
'How come (it's like that)?', 'Why so?'
Hoc-tro cua ong ay biet vay // nhung...
(student of gentleman that know so, but...)
'His students knew that, but '
Tai-nan dó xåy ra nhu våy.
(accident that occur like thus)
'That accident happened this way '
boi/vi the //cho nên (because of thus consequently)
'because of that, [as a result]'
Vï vay co ay mói tu-tu.
(because of thus she only then self-kill)
'That's precisely why she killed herself.' = 'She only committed
suicide because of that.'
In the northern dialect, vay is usually replaced by nhu the (nay), and
the is often used alone where other dialect areas choose vay. The north
central dialectal variant is rúa.

6.3.2.5 Demonstratives (dai-tu chi-dinh)

We now examine some "demonstrative" substitutes which point to specific
persons, things, places or things. These specifiers occur at the end of a
nominal expression, as we have seen in 5.1.2 and 5.1.3: nay, nay, nay,
ni, ay, dó, kia, no, nay, kia. The forms nay, nay, nay, ni help point
to entities that are close to the speaker or newly introduced, as in
hom nay 'today', ngpy nay 'nowadays', nam nay 'this year', chieu
nay 'this afternoon', lau nay 'for a long time now', tú dó den nay
'from that time to the present time', nha nay 'this house', etc.
The specifiers ay, dó, kia, no, nay point to entities that are located far
from the speaker, as in
134 VIETNAMESE

cái ban äy 'that table', lúc dó 'that moment', con chó kia 'that dog
over there, the other dog', horn no 'the other day', lúc nay 'just now, a
moment ago'.
Ån cay nao, rao cay náy. (eat tree whichever, fence tree that)
'Whatever tree gives you fruit, you put a fence around that same tree.'
Some substitutes help the speaker point to a place {dáy 'this place, here',
day, dó 'that place, there', kia 'that place over there, farther, yonder') as
an answer to the corresponding substitute that asks about a place {dåu?
'where?'). The specifier nay (this) replaces day (here) in these two lines
from The Tale of Kieu :
Nay chong, nay me, nay cha,
Nay lå em ruot (y. sibling), nay lå em dau (y. brother's wife).
'Here are her husband, her mother, her father,
'And here her sister, her brother, and his wife.'
A letter may start with nay 'this time, now' as in this example:
Nay toi co loi ve höi thäm öng bå vän luön-luon manh-khoé.
(now I have words return inquire visit gentleman lady always healthy)
'Just a few words to inquire about you and your wife, hoping that you
have been healthy as usual.'
Other substitutes point to a time {bay gio 'this time, now', bay gio
'that time, then') in answer to bao gio? 'what time?, when?'.
Still other substitutes point to a quantity {bay nhiêu 'this much, this
many', bay nhiêu 'that much, that many', tat ca, het thay, toån-thé,
toån-bo 'all, the whole', bay låu 'all that long period') in answer to bao
nhiêu? , may? 'how much?' or 'how many?', bao lau? 'how long?',
respectively.

6.3.2.6 Indefinites (dai-tu phiem-chi)

Appearing with high frequency are some indefinite substitutes, which are the
same as those interrogatives mentioned above (6.3.2.3 & 6.3.2.5). They may
not have any specific reference to any particular entity or concept. Earlier we
have encountered four of those: nao 'which?', dau 'where?', bao 'how
much?' and sao 'how? why?' (2.3.2). In addition, there are the
interrogatives ai 'who?', gi or chi 'what?'. When they are found in a
question, or a negative sentence, or when the notion of inclusiveness or
 PARTS OF SPEECH (CONTINUED) 135

totality is involved, their meanings are somewhat like 'whoever, anyone',

'whatever, anything', 'whichever', 'wherever', 'whenever', 'however',
etc. Examples:
Ai cüng dói. (anyone likewise hungry) 'Everyone is hungry.'
i.e.'Take whoever, that person, too, is hungry.'
The presence of cüng 'likewise, too, also' is mandatory.
Co ai di khöng? (exist anyone go or-not) 'Did anyone go?'
Khöng ai quên chuyên ay. (NEG anyone forget matter that)
'Nobody has forgotten that business.'
Me än (caí) gi cüng duoc. (mother eat anything, likewise OK)
'Anything would be fine for Mom to eat.' [mother or another person
speaking]
Again the indefinite sentence has to have cüng before the verb.
Tú dá có gi än khöng? (closet ice have anything eat or-not)
'Does the ice box have anything to eat?'
(Bat cú) com gi Nam cüng khöng thích.
(no matter rice whatever, Nam likewise NEG like)
'Nam dislikes any kind of food.'
Öng ay khöng chiu än gi ca.
(gentleman that NEG consent eat anything all)
'He wouldn't eat anything at all.'
Co nhå nao có diên-thoai khöng?
(exist house any have telephone or-not)
'Does any home have a phone?'
Khöng nhå nao có diên-thoai cå //nhung nha nao cüng có may ianh.
(NEG home any have phone all, but home any likewise have machine cold)
'Not any home has a phone, but every home has an air-conditioner.'
Hai anh có can mua gi ó dåu khöng?
(two elder brother EMPH need buy anything at anywhere or-not)
'Do you two need to buy anything anywhere?'
Toi khöng di dau cå. (I NEG go anywhere all)
'I don't go anywhere.'
Dåu cüng có karaoke.
(anywhere likewise exist karaoke)
'Wherever (you go) there's karaoke.'
136 VIETNAMESE

Có bao gio anh uong vodka chua?

(exist any time elder brother drink vodka yet)
'Have you ever had vodka?'
Nhä toi khong bao gid uong bia cå.
(spouse me NEG any time drink beer all)
'My husband/wife never drinks beer.'
Con có noi doi dåu a!
(child EMPHATIC speak lie anywhere POLITE PARTICLE)
[child to parent] 'I did not lie.'
Toi có nói doi bao gid dåu!
(I EMPHATIC speak lie any time anywhere)
[emphatic] 'I have never told a lie.'
Bao nhiêu tien nó cüng tiêu het.
(however much money, he likewise spend finish)
'No matter how much money [he gets], he would spend it all.'
Dát bao nhiêu toi cüng mua.
(expensive however much, I likewise buy)
'I'll buy it no matter how expensive it is.'
The three interrogative substitutes ai?, gi?, dau? can all take the
pluralizer nhüng and even be reduplicated when they have the "indefinite"
meaning: nhüng (ai) ai 'whoever [plural]', nhüng (gi nhüng) gi 'whatever
[plural]', nhüng (dåu) dåu 'wherever'.
Each indefinite substitute can occur in a special construction which
contains its correlative, e. g.
Cua ai nay dung, (property whoever, that-same-person use)
'Anyone uses their own possession [toothbrush, towel, pen, etc.]'
Manh ai nay.chay. (strong whoever, that-same-person run)
'It was a sauve-qui-peut.' 'It was a stampede.'
Uoc gi duoc nay. (wish whatever, get that-same-thing)
'Whatever you wish for, you get it.'
don-dep dåu vao day (arrange wherever into that-same-place)
'to arrange things and put them where they belong'
Cha nao con nay. (father whichever, child that-same-person)
'Like father, like son.'
 PARTS OF SPEECH (CONTINUED) 137

Rau nao sau äy. (vegetable whichever, worm that-same-one)

'Like father, like son.'
Ghét cúa nåo trol trao cúa nay.
(hate thing whichever, heaven give thing that-same-one)
'You are given the very object of your pet hate.'
Kiem bao nhiêu tiêu bay nhiêu.
(earn however much, spend that-much)
'You spend all that you earn.'

6.3.2.7 Reflexive and Reciprocal. When the subject and the object of a
(transitive) verb are co-referential, i.e. when they relate to the same entity, the
noun or substitute is repeated, with tu 'self' optionally preceding the verb:
Minh (tu) khen minh. (one self praise body ["self"])
'One compliments oneself.'
Nó (tu) lam hal no. (he self do harm him)
'He harmed himself.'
Co ay tu huy-hoai than minh. [= than co ay]
(young lady that, self destroy body self) (= body young lady that)
'She herself destroyed her own body.'
Töi tu danh may lay. (I self strike machine self)
'I did the typing myself.'
The mutual relationship is expressed by the reciprocal substitute nhau
'(with) each other, (with) one another', e.g.
yêu nhau 'love each other',
hieu nhau 'understand one another'.
Hal bå cai nhau. (two lady argue each-other)
'The two ladies had an argument.'
Hal thang dánh nhau. (two boy beat each-other)
'The two boys had a fight.'
Anh äy kien nhau vól ong chu.
(brother that sue each-other with CLASSIFIER boss)
'He filed a lawsuit against his boss.'
 Chapter 7
Parts of Speech (continued)

7.0 Function words.

In the two preceding chapters, we have examined four classes of full words
(thuc-tu) — Nouns and Locatives (5.1 and 5.2), Numerals (5.3), Verbs (6.1
and 6.2), and Substitutes (6.3). In this chapter, we will examine the
remaining word classes, the so-called empty words (hu-tu) — Adverbs,
Connectives, Particles and Interjections. The full words, or content words
(see 5.0), are sometimes called "contentives" in English grammar,
whereas students and teachers of English refer to the non-content words as
function words, or "functors". In European linguistics, the traditional
dichotomy was between "semantemes" and 'morphemes". In order to avoid
the misleading idea that semantically morphemes are devoid of meaning,
André Martinet [1961] proposed an umbrella term "monème" for the
equivalent "morpheme" used in American linguistics, and the term "lexeme"
for those units (like chant-) that possess full meaning ('to sing'), saving the
term "morpheme" for those units that have only grammatical meaning.
In Vietnamese, the non-content words, or "morphemes" (hu-tu) , are not
"empty" at all. With the exception of Final particles, which English does not
have, all the "function words" (Adverbs, Connectives, Interjections) are
indeed comparable to English adverbs, auxiliaries, negators, intensifiers,
prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections. Vietnamese functors all possess,
or did possess, some lexical meaning, which in time has faded away, and
when a functor is used in a larger context, e.g. within a nominal or verbal
expression, the grammatical (i.e. syntactic) meaning will be made clear, as
explained in a monograph solely devoted to "empty words" in modern
Vietnamese [Nguyen Anh Que 1988]. We will successively examine adverbs
in 7.1, connectives (prepositions and conjunctions) in 7.2, final particles
in 7.3, and interjections in 7.4.
 140 VIETNAMESE

7.1 Adverbs (phó-tu)

This word class includes lexemes which accompany a content word and
serve to modify the meaning of that head word either in a nominal or verbal
expression. They have been given other Vietnamese names such as trang-tu,
trang-tu, phu-tu.
7.1.1 Meaning
An adverb has apparently lost all or part of its lexical meaning: unlike a
noun or a verb, it does not name or indicate an action, nor does it describe
the state or nature of persons or things. Unlike a numeral, it does not count
people or things. Unlike "pronouns", it is not a term of address or a
substitute for a noun denoting someone or something. Whatever
grammatical meaning an adverb may have depends on the head verb: for
example, dä, se, dang, vua, roí, etc. serve as tense markers for a verb
like an, as in dä an, se an, dang an, (vua) moi än roi (compare
English has eaten, will eat, is eating, just ate). The negators khöng,
chang, etc. mark negation when they occur before the head verb an, as in
khöng än, chang än 'did not eat', 'is not eating', 'would not eat', etc. A
degree marker like rat, khá, hoi, etc. may precede a stative verb like no
'full [from eating]', whereas another type like lam, qua, etc. may follow
any verb, as in rat no, no lam, no qua to indicate satiety at the dinner
table, or än lám 'ate a lot', tap qua 'exercised too much', etc. Since it
expresses notions of time, degree, confirmation, comparison, etc. it
manifests a relation between the content of the utterance and reality.
However, while performing a given grammatical, i.e. syntactic, role
within a phrase, an adverb cannot in itself create a sentence.
7.1.2 Subclasses
7.1.2.1 Plurality and totality. A head noun may be preceded by nhung,
cac '[pluralizer]', moi 'every', moi 'each', titng 'each individually'.
There is a difference in scope between the two plural markers nhung
and các. The former is not any more "literary" or any less "common" than
the latter, as Thompson has stated [1965c: 180]. Actually the Chinese
loanword các 'the various ' means that all members of a given set are
involved; we have seen that it serves as pluralizer for second-person status
pronouns, as in các ong 'you gentlemen', các ba 'you ladies', các anh
'you guys', các cháu 'you kids', etc. (6.3.2.2).
 PARTS OF SPEECH (CONTINUED) 141

In addition to pluralizing those kinship terms used as terms of address,

it also pluralizes all other nouns, e.g. các nguoi em co ay (plural classifier
younger-sibling young lady that) '[all] her younger siblings', các co con gái
öng ba Nam (plural classifier child female gentleman lady Nam) '[all] Mr.
and Mrs. Nam's daughters', tat ca cac nuoc tu-ban (chú-nghia) (all plural
country capital-ism) 'all the capitalist countries', etc.
On the other hand, nhung 'some, several (of the same variety)' implies
that only certain units of the total possible number are referred to. Indeed it
is used when the head noun (in plural) is followed by a determiner, e.g.
nhüng quyén tü-diën nói tren (plural roll dictionary speak above) 'the
above-mentioned dictionaries',
nhüng ly-do khó chäp-nhan (plural reason difficult accept) 'reasons
difficult to accept',
nhüng ngay giáp Tet (plural day next to Tet) '(some of) the days close
to Tet, i.e. the final days of the lunar year',
nhüng (caí) may tính mói toanh (plural classifier machine calculate new
intensifier) 'the brand-new calculators',
nhüng (cai) máy tính vua mua turn truoc (plural classifier machine
calculate just buy week before) 'the calculators bought just last week',
nhüng cöng-nhan lam ca dêm (plural worker work shift night) 'those
workers on the graveyard shift'.
The descriptive [relative] clause may be explicit:
nhüng (cái) may tinh [ (må) nha truong vua mua tuan truóc ] (which
house school just buy week before) 'the calculators which the school just
purchased last week'.
The noun phrase for 'those students (whom) you met yesterday'
would be nhüng (nguoi) sinh-viên f (må) anh gap hörn qua ] (plural
classifier student whom you meet day past).
One more ,example will further illustrate the contrast between these two
items các and nhüng:
Xin các öng, các ba giu chö truoc (beg các gentleman các lady retain
seat beforehand) 'Ladies and gentlemen, please make reservations in
advance.' vs. nhüng öng bå (nao) [ chua giü cho ] (nhung gentleman lady
whichever not yet retain seat) 'those of you ladies and gentlemen who
haven't made reservations'.
 142 VIETNAMESE

The meaning "nothing but .... " has been mentioned in 3.7.5.2 for
nhung lå , as in nhiïng xoåi lå xoåif 'so many mangoes!',
nhüng muoi lå muoi! 'so many mosquitoes!'
The pluralizer nhiïng also marks insistence if it precedes a numerated
phrase, as in Chinh an nhiïng tám bát com. (Chính eat as much as eight
bowlful rice) 'Chinh ate as many as eight bowls of rice.' Loi han va
nhiïng muoi tuoi. (Loi superior wife as much as ten year) 'Loi is as much as
ten years older than his wife.'
Contrast Hiên (chi) an có hai bát com. (Hien only eat EMPHATIC two
bowlful rice) 'Hien ate only two bowls of rice.' Ich (chi) han vo có hai
tuoi. (Ich only superior wife EMPHATIC two year of age) 'Ich is only two
years older than his wife.'
Finally, (chi) nhiïng is used to reinforce a verb of feeling or emotion,
as in Öng bå ay chi nhiïng mong cho [con cái thånh-cöng tren dwong doi]
[gentleman lady that only nothing-but hope for children succeed on path life).
'That couple have only one hope—that their kids will succeed in life.'
As already pointed out in our discussion of numbers (5.3.1), moi
emphasizes the totality of a category while moi carries the distributive
meaning: moi ngay 'every day (up to now)', möi ngåy 'each day'; moi
Ian 'every time (so far)', möi Ian 'each time, each occurrence'; moi nam
'every year (up to now), möi nam 'each year'; moi khi 'every time in
the past, as usual', möi khi 'each time'; moi viec = moi chuyên
'everything, every business/matter', moi viec 'each business, each matter,
each event'.
Moi hom, töi day muon // nhung horn nay töi day sóm.
(every day I rise late, but day this I rise early)
'I usually get up late every day, but today I got up early.'
Tat ca moi nguoi deu sinh ra binh-dang.
(all every person all be born out equal)
'All people were created equal.'
Möi buoi sang, uóng ba viên. (each half-day morning, drink three tablet)
'Take three tablets each morning.'
Möi co mot vé. (each young lady one appearance)
'Each of the girls has her own beauty.'
 PARTS OF SPEECH (CONTINUED) 143

Nguyêt-liëm la tien hoi-phi dong möi tháng [= hang tháng].

(month-dues be money association-fee pay each month)
'Monthly dues are association fees that you pay each month.'
Möi (mot) nguoi dóng 200d. (each one person pay 200 dong)
'Each person pays 200 dong.'
Möi (mot) ban ngöi muöi nguoi. (each one table sit ten person)
'Each banquet table seats ten guests.'
Möi gid 65 dam. (each hour 65 mile) * 65 miles per hour.'
Möi nam ra hai so. (each year issue two number)
'[of a publication] Two issues per year.'
möi ngaymöi nghèo (each day each poor) 'poorer each day'
möi lúc möt nhanh (hon) (each instant one fast more)
'faster and faster every moment'
Möi nguoi mot y. (each person one idea)
'Each person has his/her own idea.'
Tung 'each (in turn)' adds the notion of individual entities following
one another and taken separately: tung ngiXöi (mot) 'each person in turn,
one by one', tung trang (mot) 'page by page', dich tung chü (= tu)-mot
'to translate word for word, to translate literally', phån-cong tung ngiídi
phu-trách tung viee (divide each person in charge each task) 'following a
division of labor, each person is assigned an individual task,' Öng ba ay lo
eho chung toi tung li tung ti. (gentleman lady that take care for us each
millimeter each bit) 'They took care of us down to the smallest detail.'
Cong-an luc-soát tung nha mot. (public security search each house one)
'The public security agents thoroughly searched each and every household.'
[The schematic diagrams in 5.1.2 and 5.1.3(B) 1 show the structure of the
simplest noun phrase containing nhung or cac. More detailed schematic
descriptions of the nominal construction are given in Chapter 8.]
7.1.2.2 Contrast, comparison, continuity and uniformity. Within a verbal
expression, the head verb is also surrounded by adverbial elements. One
type of modifying elements manifest concepts of contrast, comparison or
uniformity: some of those elements are placed before the nuclear verb,
hence the term "pre-verbs", and others follow the nuclear verb, hence the
term "post-verbs". When their positions are plotted out, one can also see that
a few adverbs are mutually exclusive while others can appear in combination.
 144 VIETNAMESE

A. The preposed adverb cüng is often glossed 'also', but our teaching
experience tells us that a better equivalent is 'too, likewise', since this item
occurs in both affirmative and negative sentences, e.g.
Töi än mi. — Anh ay cüng an mi.
'I ate noodles.' — 'He also ate noodles.'
[= Anh ay cung the. 'So did he.' or 'He did, too.']
Töi khöng än com. — Anh áy cung khöng än com.
(I NEG eat rice — he likewise NEG eat rice)
'I didn't eat rice.' — 'He didn't (eat rice) either.'
[= Anh áy cüng the. 'He neither.']
The use of cüng is obligatory when the sentence contains an indefinite
substitute (or pronoun) (6.3.2.6) :
Ai cüng met. (whoever likewise tired) 'Everyone was tired.'
Nguoi nao cüng duoc thuong. (person whichever likewise get reward)
'Everybody was rewarded.'
Cuon nao cüng duoc. (roll whichever likewise OK)
'Any one of them (books) will be OK.'
Ngay nao ho cüng cai nhau.
(day whichever they likewise argue each other)
'They quarrel every day.'
Com gi töi cüng än. (rice whatever I likewise eat)
'I will eat any kind of food.'
Di dau cüng vay (= the) thoi.
(go wherever likewise thus/so only)
'Wherever one goes, it's the same.'
The adverb cüng can also serve to attenuate an affirmation and thus put
forth the nuance of relativity generously accorded to someone or something
as a second best choice, e.g.
Cam cua bå nay cüng ngot day chú l
(orange property lady this also sweet there don't you agree)
'This lady's oranges are sweet OK, don't you think?' [ they are not
that bad after all, are they? ]
Con ve cái nha the cüng dep roi.
(child draw classifier house thus, also beautiful already)
'[mother to child] The way you drew that house is pretty, too, sonny.'
 PARTS OF SPEECH (CONTINUED) 145

Co chi cüng khöng xau lam.

(classifier elder sister also not ugly very)
'The older sister is not that ugly-looking (after all).'
B. The adverb dèu 'equally, all, as well' expresses the notion of equality
and uniformity among several actions or states of affairs, so with this
affirmative sense, it does not occur with an indefinite construction.
Compare
Ai cüng dói. (anyone likewise hungry) 'Everyone was hungry.' and
*Ai dêu dói.
Co nao cung bi uót. (young woman whichever likewise suffer wet)
' Every girl got wet.' and * Co nao dèu bi Wot.
Consequently the subject noun or object noun is accompanied by such
an element as moi, các, tät ca:
(Tät cå) moi nguoi dèu dói. (all every person equally hungry)
'Everybody was hungry.' 'All were hungry.'
(Tät cå) các co dèu bi uot. (all classifier girl equally suffer wet)
'Every girl got wet.' 'All the girls got wet.'
The notion of totality can also be maintained through the use of
correlatives ai nay , nao nay:
Ai nay dèu dói. (whoever that-same-person equally hungry)
'Each and every person was hungry.'
Co nao cv näy dèu bi Wot.
(girl whichever girl that-same-person equally suffer wet)
'Each and every girl got wet.'
Furthermore such a sentence may have both cung and dèu, e.g.
Ai cüng dèu dói (cå) - Moi nguoi cüng dèu dói.
(whoever also equally hungry all) (every person also equally hungry)
'Everybody was hungry.'
Co nao cüng dèu bi uót (cå).
(girl whichever also equally suffer wet all)
'Every girl got wet.'
C. The three adverbs van, cú, con share one semantic feature : they
indicate that an action or a state of affairs goes on without ending or changing
or that it occurs repeatedly.
Suppose someone continues to complain without interruption about his boss:
 146 VIETNAMESE

Nam cú phän-nän mai ve ong chú.

(Nam continue complain on and on about classifier boss)
'Nam insistently complains [= keeps complaining] about his boss.'
Other examples:
Töi dánh thúc no hai ba Ian // ma no van (cú) ngú.
(I strike wake he two three time, yet he still continue sleep)
'I tried to wake him up a few times, but he went right on sleeping.'
When an action is not completed, but still continues even to the time
specified or implied, the preposed adverb is con or hay con, as in
Nó hay con (dang) ngú. (he still continuous sleep)
'He's still asleep.'
Luc ay, töi hay con bé, chua biet gi ca.
(moment that I still small not-yet know anything all)
'At that time I was still little and knew nothing at all.'
The pair van con translates the idea of 'still' even more forcefully: to
the question Dao nay anh chi con tap quyen thái-cuc khong? (period this
elder brother elder sister still practice pugilism taichi or-not) 'Have you two
been practicing taichi these days?' the answer could be Ván con, vän tap
deu. (still, still practice regularly) 'Yes, (we still have) regularly.'
To the question Van con thu day chú? (still test there I-presume)
'Are you still testing [that gadget]?' the answer could be
Vang, chung töi cung van con dang thú möi ngay.
(yes we exclusive likewise still continuous test each day)
'Yes, we are still testing (it) every day.' [About dang, see section
7.1.2.4A.]
With con expressing the idea of some additional action, the sentence
often starts with the expression ngoai ra 'furthermore, moreover':
Ngoai ra, töi con phái rúa bát, quét nha (núa).
(outside out I still must wash eating-bowl sweep house additionally)
'In addition, I also have to wash dishes and sweep the floor.'
When expressing a contrast, con (nhu) translates the segment 'as to,
as for', e. g.
Bo töi vän khoè // con (nhu) me töi thi öm luön.
(father me still strong, remain like mother me then sick often)
'My father is well as usual; as for my mother, she is often sick.'
 PARTS OF SPEECH (CONTINUED) 147

Toi ban lam. Con anh, (the nao?)

(I busy very, as for elder brother how)
'I'm very busy. How about you? [= And you?]'
Since the adverb cú (see van cú above) indicates that the action or
state of affairs goes on without any change, the head verb may be followed
by the postposed adverb mäi or hoai 'on and on', as in
Chi ay cú khóc (mai). (she continue cry on and on)
'She kept on crying.'
Chuyen dó, ong cú kê di ké lai hoåi.
(story that he continue tell go tell come on and on)
'That story, he keeps telling it repeatedly.'
Sometimes, an action takes place at regular intervals, as in
Cú do muoi phut, öng ay lai phai vao buong tam.
(continue about ten minute he again must enter room bathe)
'Every ten minutes or so he has to go to the bathroom.'
[See below about the use of lai.]
In an imperative sentence, cú has the force of 'go ahead and ...', as in
Chi (hay) cú mua di, re day.
(elder sister EXHORTATIVE continue buy IMPERATIVE cheap there)
'You go ahead and buy it—it's a real bargain (believe me).'
D. The two adverbs lai and nua 'again, more' may be used singly or
together to express the idea of recurrence or resumption.
Troi lai mua (nüa) roi. (sky again rain more already)
'It's raining again.'
Nó lai rót ho ? (he again flunk huh) ' Did he flunk again?'
Cali lai dong dat (nüa) å !
(California again shake earth more really?)
'Another earthquake in California?'
There is a difference between lai and lai. The phrase
lai viêt means 'wrote again, resumed writing (after an interruption)', and
the sequence viêt lai means 'rewrote, wrote [something] over [because the
writing was not done right the previous time]'.
Other examples: lai noi 'talked again, resumed talking' vs. nói lai
'repeated, said it once more'; lai son nha ' again painted the house,
 148 VIETNAMESE

resumed painting the house' vs. son nhå lai 'repainted the house [because
the rain had washed off the first coat]'.
Öng dä khong cho töi thuê nhå // lai con doa danh töi nüa.
(he ANTERIOR NEG let me rent house yet still threaten beat me more)
'He not only had refused to rent the apartment to me, but even
threatened to beat me up.'
(On con 'still, even', see7.1.2.2C; on da 'anterior', see 7.1.2.4D.)
In this last example about landlord and tenant, the postposed adverb nua
seems to have the core meaning 'more, further, also, in addition'.
More examples :
Con doi // thi än nüa di.
(child hungry then eat more IMPERATIVE)
'Eat some more—since you're hungry.'
Moi öng ba dung com nüa di chú !
(invite gentleman lady use rice more IMPERATIVE I insist)
'Please have some more food.'
Cau uong bia nüa nhé!
(maternal uncle, drink beer more OK?)
* [host to young friend] Some more beer?'
Öng Thanh biet uóng ca vót-ca nüa,
(gentleman Thanh know drink even vodka additionally)
'Mr. Thanh can drink even vodka.'
Nó co the an them hai bat com nüa.
(he has ability eat add two bowlful rice additionally)
'He can eat two more bowls of rice.'
Hai nguoi chet // va ba ngWdi nüa bi thuong.
(2 person dead and 3 person additional suffer wound)
'Two dead and three others injured.'
[ *va ba ngWdi khác bi thuong (and 3 person different suffer wound)
sounds like a bad translation of the preceding English sentence.]
The preposed lai may carry another meaning: the action is against some
warning or contrary to some expectation (logical, esthetic or moral), e. g.
Ai lai di son cái nhå måu vang khè nhu the!
(who contrary-to-taste go paint CL house color yellow very like so)
'How could anyone paint a house in that (awful) yellow color?'
 PARTS OF SPEECH (CONTINUED) 149

Me da bao khöng // sao con Jai Jam the?

(mom ANTERIOR say no, why child contrary-to-warning do so)
'[mother to child] I already told you not to. How come you went
ahead and did it?'
Cái kéo nay, me dung dé'cat våi. Sao con Jai dem ra cat các-tong?
(CL scissors this, mom use to cut cloth, why child contrary-to-
warning bring out cut cardboard)
'[mother to son] I use this pair of scissors to cut cloth. Why are
you using it to cut cardboard?'
7.1.2.3 Negation and confirmation. The negatives constitute a highly special
adverbial class {khöng, chang, cha 'no, not', chua 'not yet') , each member
of which immediately precedes the head verb (or head noun). Examples:
Töi Jdiöng an // vi to i chua dói.
(I not eat because I not yet hungry)
'I'm not eating because I'm not hungry yet.'
Anh ay Jhong (he) goi day noi cho ai // ma cung chang (he) hoi
thåm ba me ö trong Nam.
(he not ever call wire talk give anyone and likewise not ever ask
visit classifier mother at inside south)
'He never telephoned anybody, and never inquired about his
mother in the south, either.'
Thu Jdiöng nói-nang gi ca.
(Thu not speak-REDUPL anything all)
'Thu did not say anything.'
Thanh khong cao, khöng thap. (Thanh not tall not short)
'Thanh is neither tall nor short.'
Öng Quang Jdiöng vo, Jdiöng con.
(gentleman Quang no wife no child)
'Mr. Quang has no wife, no children.'
A (stronger) literary equivalent of khöng is chang 'definitely not':
Phuong chang nói, chang rang. (Phuong not speak not say)
'Phuong wouldn't say a word.'
Chang tham ruong ca, ao lien / Tham ve cái bút, cái nghiên anh do.
(not greedy ricefield big pond adjoining / greedy about CL writing
brush CL inkstand CL student)
 150 VIETNAMESE

'I don't care for large fields and twin ponds / Only care for the
scholar's writing brush and inkstand.' [a proverb]
Toi met qua, nen chang thiet an-uong gi ca.
(I tired much, so not care eat-drink anything all)
'I'm so tired, so wouldn't be interested in any food.'
The variant cha occurs frequently in colloquial speech: Cha them! (not
crave) 'I'm not craving (for) it.' Cha can! (not need) 'I don't care.'
Besides occurring before an indefinite substitute like ai, gi, dau, may,
bao nhiêu (6.3.2.6), e.g. khöng ai 'nobody', khöng dau 'nowhere',
khöng may 'not much, not many', the common negative preverb can enter
a double negative construction such as
Ta khöng thê khöng rot nuoc mat
(we not able not drop water-eye)
'We could not help shedding tears'.
Khöng phåi töi khöng biet. (not correct I not know)
'It's not that I didn't know.'
The equivalent of an English yes-or-no question uses the sequence co
khöng? e.g. Anh co can tien ngay bay giö khöng? (you EMPHATIC
need money right now or not) 'Do you need money right now?'
The interrogative sentence Chi thich khöng? 'Do you like it?' as a
type of choice-question (seeking a yes-or-no answer) started out in the form
Chi co thich hay (la) khöng thich?
(you EMPHATIC like or not like)
That explicit question 'Do you like it or don't you like it?' has been step by
step reduced to
Chi co thich hay (la) khöng?, then to
Chi co thich khöng?,
and finally the emphatic co is deleted, [hay (la) is a connective
commonly known as the conjunction of coordination 'or'.]
The preposed negative chang becomes chang when used as a final
question particle, e.g. Co ay khöng thich chäng? (she not like I wonder)
'Could it be that she doesn't like it?', 'I wonder if she doesn't like it.'
The construction "not only ..., but also ..." is featured in this sentence:
Bo quan ao nåy khöng nhüng (= chang nhüng) dep må con re nüa.
(set pants coat this not only pretty but also cheap additionally)
 PARTS OF SPEECH (CONTINUED) 151

'This suit of clothing is not only nice-looking, but also inexpensive.'

Khöng nhung (= chang nhufng) tre con, må ca nguöi lon cung thích
phim dó. (not only young kid, but even person big too like movie that)
'Not only children, but adults also enjoy that movie.'
Lately the sequence khöng nhüng 'not only' is sometimes replaced
by khöng chi, but not by *chang chi.
To indicate that an action has not yet taken place, the adverb chua is
used before the verb, e.g. chufa den 'hasn't arrived yet', chiïa doi 'isn't
hungry yet', chiïa do tú-tai (pass flower-talent title) 'hasn't passed the
high school exam yet', chiïa bat dau (catch head) 'hasn't started yet', etc.
Thus there is a difference between khöng co con 'have no children, cannot
have children' and chiïa co con 'have no children yet'.
The adverb chiïa may also precede an indefinite, as in Chiïa ai tói cå.
(not yet whoever arrive all) 'Nobody has shown up yet.' Chiïa bao gid co
hiên-tuong ay. (not yet whenever exist phenomenon that) 'Never has there
been such a phenomenon.'
One construction often found in poetry contains a predication with chiïa
followed by another predication with'.da [see 7.1.2.4C]. It expresses
two shades of meaning. In sentence (1), one action may not have happened
before another action takes place, as in
(1) Chiïa do ong nghè dä de hang tong,
(not yet pass CL doctor ANTERIOR threaten whole canton),
an idiomatic expression referring to someone "who threatens his village
community even before he passes his doctoral examination".
But the two actions may also quickly follow each other, as in the
literary context of sentence (2)—two lovers' separation happening right
after their being reunited:
(2) Chiïa vui sum-hop dä sau chia-phöi.
(not yet joyful reunion already sad separation)
'No sooner had they been reunited in joy than they already felt the
sorrow of parting' [ The Tale of Kiêu ].
The word chiïa? can serve as a final particle to end another type of
question, that also expects a yes-or-no answer, about a past action or
state "concerning which there is expectation on the part of the speaker that,
even if it has not yet happened, it may still happen" [Emeneau 1951: 210].
 152 VIETNAMESE

Luc dó, öng dä gol day noi cho so canh-sát chüa?

(moment that you already call wire-talk for office police or-not-yet)
'At that time, had you telephoned the police yet?'.
Indeed like co khong?, the discontinuous expression dä chua?
asks whether an action has taken place yet, and the question
Con dä uöhg thuoc hay (la) chiïa uöhg thuoc?
(child ALREADY drink medicine or not-yet drink medicine)
'[mother to child] Have you taken your medicine (or not) yet?'
undergoes successive deletions until dä itself can be left out:
Con da uong thuoc hay (la) chua?
> Con dä uöhg thuoc chWa?
> Con uohg thuoc chita?
To such an "already-or-not yet" question (using the conjunction hay or
hay lå), the answer may be
Thua me, con dä uöhg rol a.
(report mom, child ANTERIOR drink already POLITE PARTICLE)
'Yes, mom. I have already.'
[and abbreviated to (Thua me) dä a, or roi a. ]
or in the negative ThWa me, con chWa (uöhg) a, (report mom, child not-
yet drink POLITE PARTICLE)
In a simpler, much less formal situation, only the question particle
chiïa is used, as in Xong chWa? 'Finished yet? Done yet?', Ngú chua?
'Have you fallen asleep yet?', Dói chiïa? 'Hungry yet?', etc.
Some more examples of such questions and answers:
Hlêu chita? — Hlêu roi — ChWa hlêu.
'Have you understood?' 'Yes, I have.' 'No, I haven't.'
Du chüa? — Du roi. — Chua du.
'Is this enough?' 'Yes, this is enough.' 'No, not enough.'
Finally, in order to seek the agreement or sympathy of the hearer
regarding something which the speaker himself feels is obvious, the sentence
may also have that final particle: Dep mat chüa? '[sarcastically] Aren't
you ashamed (yet) ?' [ On compound stative verbs, see 6.2.2.6(c) ]
The preverb co is used to emphasize a confirmation, as in
X co an ('eat') höi-lo. 'X did take bribes.'
[cf. X än höi-lo. 'X took bribes.']
 PARTS OF SPEECH (CONTINUED) 153

Toi co güi thu moi öng ay må!

(I EMPHATIC send letter invite gentleman that believe me)
'I did send him an invitation.'
[cf. Töi güi thu moi röi. 'I have already sent out the invitation.']
7.1.2.4 Tense and modality. Adverbs placed before the head verb to serve
as tense and modality markers are dang, vua, (vua) mói, sap, se, da,
and those placed after the head verb are xong, roi.
Actually if the speaker wants to specify the time when an action takes
place, a sentence adverbial ("tomorrow afternoon", "now", "next week",
"yesterday"), followed by a comma pause, begins the sentence, e.g.
Chiêu mai, con phåi thi. (afternoon tomorrow, child must take
exam) 'I must take a test tomorrow afternoon.'
Bay gio, töi ra thu-vien day. (now I go out library here)
'I'm going to the library now.'
Tuan sau , ho don nha sang Oakland, (week after they move house
go over Oakland) 'They're moving to Oakland next week.'
Horn qua , anh ay güi dien-tin röi. (day past he send telegram
already) 'He already sent a telegram yesterday.'
But when the speaker wants to be explicit, an adverb may be used before
the head verb to mark past, present or future tense.
A. To mark (present, past or future) continuous tense, the adverb dang (=
dwong) precedes the head verb, e.g.
Öng ay dang di trên dwong den so.
(he CONTINUOUS go on road reach office)
'He is (or was) on his way to the office.'
Khi nao chi dang nåh pho // thi xin chi gol em den xem nhé!
(time whichever elder sister CONTINUOUS cook pho, then beg elder
sister call younger sibling come watch OK?)
'[Next time] (when) you cook beef noodle soup, please call me
so that I may watch you going through the process, will you?'
B. When the speaker wants to indicate explicitly that an action has been
completed, the adverb da is placed before the head verb.
The notion of anteriority is basic (for either past or future time):
Öng dä quên chuyên dó roi hay sao! (you ANTERIOR forget
story that already or how) 'Have you forgotten that already?'
 154 VIETNAMESE

Chung töi dä biét ngay tú dau.

(we ANTERIOR know right from head)
'We had known it right from the start.'
Horn qua, lúc töi go cua, // thi ho dä än com xong röi.
(day past, moment I knock door, then they ANTERIOR eat roi. finish
already)
'Yesterday, when I knocked at the door, they had already finished
their dinner.'
Mai, tam gio anh den // thi töi dä len may bay röi.
(tomorrow eight hour you arrive then I already go up plane already)
'Tomorrow, when you come at eight, I will already have boarded
the plane.'
Both dang and dä have been linked to Indonesian sedang and sudah,
respectively, in an attempt by Gregerson [1991: 81-94] to raise the
possibility of an Austronesian origin for those aspectual preverbs.
When occurring as a final particle, the lexeme dä also signals that the
head verb denotes a circumstance viewed as completed prior to some other
circumstance.
Chung ta hay nghi mot lúc dä.
(we inclusive EXHORTATIVE rest one moment first)
'Let's rest a while first [before we do anything else].'
De töi con xem da: töi chita muöh mua vol.
(let me still see first, I not-yet want buy hurry)
'Let me have a look first. I don't want to buy [it] in a hurry.'
In dä 20 nam röi '(it has been) twenty years already', the adverb dä
emphasizes a stretch of time.
The use of dä in conjunction with chua has been discussed in 7.1.2.3.
C. To indicate that an action will likely take place in the future, the head
verb is preceded by the adverb se : whereas dä can be glossed 'anterior',
the focus of se is 'subsequent'. But like da, the element se is not
obligatory, since in the sentence
Tháng sau, toi qua Pháp än cuói con gái ong Huu
(month behind I cross-over France eat wedding daughter gentleman H.)
the time expression tháng sau indicates that the speaker will go over to
France only next month (to attend Mr. Huu's daughter's wedding).
 PARTS OF SPEECH (CONTINUED) 155

The use of se would indeed be redundant, since futurity is already

clearly marked.
D. When an action is imminent, i.e. when it approaches the moment of the
utterance or a moment in either the past or the future, then the adverb sap
or sap sua 'about to, on the point o f precedes the head verb, as in
Sap mua roi. (about rain already) 'It's going to rain [right away].'
Em sap khau xong roi a.
(younger sister about sew finish already POLITE PARTICLE)
'I'm about to finish this sewing task.'
May bay sáp xuong. (plane about descend)
'The plane is about to land.'
Khi ay, töi sáp qua My du-hoc.
(time that I about go over America study)
'I was then on the point of going to study in America.'
Nó dang sáp o Pháp ve // thi co a di Jay chöng.
(he CONT about in France return, then CL gal go take husband)
'He was just coming back from France when the gal got married.'
Khi nao ong ba sáp ve nuóc // thi xin cho töi biet.
(whenever gentleman lady about return country, then beg let me
know)
'When you (two) are about to go back home, please let me know.'
More examples:
Moi bác ngoi choi, ba cháu di lam sáp ve roi a.
(invite uncle sit play, dad nephew go work about return already
POLITE PARTICLE)
'Please sit down. My dad will soon be back from work.'
Anh Son sáp (sua) lay vo. (elder brother S. about take wife)
'Son is about to get married.'
Com sáp chin roi. (rice about ripe already)
'The rice will be done soon = Dinner is almost ready.'
However, if there is a time expression like choc nüa, chut nüa, lát nüa
(moment additional) 'in a short while', etc. then se will be used instead of
sáp (sua), and the last three examples will be changed as follows:
Moi bác ngoi choi, ba cháu di lam, chut nüa se ve a
' My dad will be home from work in a little while.'
 156 VIETNAMESE

Anh Son dung muoi ngay nüa së lay va

(brother Son exact ten day additional will take wife)
'Son will get married in exactly ten days.'
Nam phut nüa, com së chin.
(five minute additional, rice will ripe).
'The rice will be done in five minutes'
E. The idea of "recent past" is rendered by means of the adverbs vua and
mói 'only just, right now, recently' used singly or in combination, e. g.
Chúng cháu vua mói an com xong a.
(group nephew just recent eat rice finish POLITE PARTICLE)
'We [your nephews/nieces/grandchildren] just finished eating.'
Toi vua (mói) buong dua buong bat // thi cöng-an / ap vao.
(I just put down chopstick bowl then public security storm enter)
'I had just laid down my bowl and chopsticks when the public
security agents stormed in.'
Anh ay mói (vua) bwóc chan ra ngoai.
(he just step foot exit outside)
'He just stepped outside.'
Sometimes, moi (and not so much vua) is used to emphasize the idea of
restriction, e.g. Nam 1966 thäng Huån mói lên bon. (year 1966 boy Huån
just go up four) 'Huån was only four years old in 1966.'
Sinh-viên mói duoc nghi'hè co ba tuan.
(student just get rest summer only three week)
'The students started their summer vacation just three weeks ago.'
Frequently the restrictive sense is expressed when the predication
containing moi 'then and only then—not before' follows another proposition
which is advanced as its prerequisite: the sequence of the two semantic units
in the sentence—"the order of mention"—parallels the order in which events
in the outside world occur , as in
Qua nüa dêm, nó mói ve. (past half night he only-then return)
'It was past midnight before she got home.'
Bay gio, töi mói biet. (now I only-then know)
'It's only now that I know it.'
Horn qua, mói xong. (day past, only-then finish)
'Only yesterday was it completed.'
 PARTS OF SPEECH (CONTINUED) 157

Sang nam, no mói co the nop don,

(go-over year he only-then have ability submit application)
'Only next year can he apply.'
Tre con lam xong bai// moi duoc xem ti-vi.
(kid do finish lesson only-then get watch TV)
'The kids may not watch TV until after they've finished their
homework.'
Chin tiêhg nüa mói den Dai-bac.
(nine hour more only-then reach Taipei)
'Only in another nine hours will we get to Taipei.'
The mói hay chú! (thus only-then interesting don't you see?)
'That's really interesting [if that's the way it is]!'
The construction containing the preverb mói can be appropriately used
when in a similar situation English prefers the sequence "not .... until" or "not
unless", e.g.
Öng tra tien // (thi) töi mói di.
(you pay money then I only-then go)
'I won't leave until you pay me.'
Co bien-lai // mói lay dwoc so-mi.
(exist receipt only-then take get shirt)
'You can't get your shirts until you produce the receipt.'
Anh phåi nop phat // thi cånh-sat mói cho anh lái xe vè.
(you must pay fine then police only-then let you drive car return)
'The police won't let you drive your car away until you pay the
fine.'
F. In a narration, the adverb bèn or lien 'then and there' precedes the
head verb, e.g.
Nói xong, öng Viên bèn dúng day, buóc ra khoi phong hop.
(speak finish, Mr. V. then stand rise step out away-from room meet)
'So saying, Mr. V. (immediately) got up and walked out of the
conference room.'
G. Another time adverb, tung 'has (once) -ed in the past', follows da
'already' in the affirmative, and chua 'not yet' in the negative, e.g.
möt phong-cånh chua túng thay (one landscape not-yet experience see)
'a landscape never seen before'
 158 VIETNAMESE

Töi chua tung nem thú tral dó.

(I not-yet experience taste kind fruit that)
T v e never tasted that kind of fruit.'
Bo cháu da tung day hoc ó Ha-oai.
(father me have experienced teach study in Hawaii)
' My dad has taught in Hawaii.'
Hai cu a'y da tüng phai än bua rau, bua chao.
(two greatgrandparent that have experienced must eat meal vegetable
meal rice gruel)
'That old couple have had to alternate their meals between
vegetables and rice gruel.'
Töi dä tång lay cua dó. (I have experienced take course that)
'I have taken that course.'
Note: this adverb tung [< tung-tråi 'to be experienced, seasoned'] is
not to be confused with the pluralizer tung 'each (in turn)' (7.1.2.1).
In addition to the preverbs discussed above, the adverb röi '(definitely)
over and done with; already' occurs after the head verb, so can be called a
"postverb". It marks a terminated action or condition, as in Töi än roi. (I
eat already) 'I've already eaten.' Toi an xong roi. (I eat finish already) 'I
have finished eating.' Nhó röi. (remember already) '(I) remember.' Xong
röi. (finish already) 'The task is finished.' May gio röi? (how many time
already) 'What time is it (already)?'
But sometimes there is a subtle nuance of modality: Öng ay dä ve röi.
(he ANTERIOR return already) may mean 'He has gone back.' or 'He has
come back.' whereas Ong ay dä ve. means 'He's back [from errand].'
Moreover only the context can tell whether the action or condition is in
the past or in the future. Examples:
Xuan ve roi. (spring return already) means 'Spring is back already.'
But Mai, chung töi dä ve My röi. (tomorrow we ANTERIOR return America
already) means 'Tomorrow we'll be going back to the U.S. already.'
7.1.2.5 Order and prohibition. Commands and injunctions in many
languages use the imperative mode. But in Vietnamese, a command is
structured just like a statement, so that such a sentence as Anh xách cái tui
nay (you carry CLASSIFIER bag this) may mean 'You'll carry this bag.',
'You carried this bag.' as well as 'Carry this bag, will you?'
 PARTS OF SPEECH (CONTINUED) 159

The preverb hay is often said to mark an order or a command. But

actually it can also be glossed 'let's be sure to ', 'one should ', 'we'd
better ' and thus advance an exhortation or suggestion when it is placed
before the head verb with or without a subject:
Con hay nin di! (child EXHORTATIVE stop-crying IMPERATIVE)
'[parent to child] Stop crying!'
Hay ngoi day! (EXHORTATIVE sit there) 'Sit there (first)!'
It is more often used "in prayers" [Le Van Ly 1960: 237] and in formal
situations than in everyday language:
Hay vang Jai cha me! (EXHORTATIVE obey word father mother)
'Obey your parents!'
Hay noi guong nha chí-si cách-mang Phan Böi-Chåu!
(EXHORTATIVE follow example classifier scholar revolutionary PBC)
'(Let's) follow the example of PBC the revolutionary scholar!'
Chung ta hay cham-chi hoc-hanh! (we EXHORTATIVE diligent study)
'Let's study diligently!'
Chi häy cån-than nhé! (elder sister EXHORTATIVE careful OK)
'Be careful!'
The preverbs cho or dúng 'don't' correspond to English negative
imperatives: the dissuasive meaning applies to whatever follows, e. g.
Anh cha (có) uohg ruou. (elder brother PROHIBITIVE drink wine)
'Don't drink alcohol.' 'You shouldn't drink alcohol.'
Cha vi that-bai må nån long.
(PROHIBITIVE because fail and discourage heart)
'Don't be discouraged because of failure.'
Dung di may bay; di xe do ré hon må khöng nguy-hiém.
(PROHIBIT go plane; go vehicle-ferry cheap more and not dangerous)
'Don't go by plane. The bus is cheaper and not dangerous.'
Khong sao dau! Con dung so.
(not matter anywhere, child PROHIBITIVE afraid)
'It's nothing. Don't be afraid.'
Ta dung (nên) ket-luan vöi- vang.
(we inclusive PROHIBITIVE should conclude hurry)
'Let us not jump to any conclusion.'
 160 VIETNAMESE

Xin dung ai hiéu Jam toi.

(beg PROHIBITIVE anyone understand errror me)
'Please don't anybody misunderstand me.'
Chung ta hay dung quên loi troi-trang cúa cu Tú.
(we EXHORTATIVE PROHIBITIVE forget words last-will of elder T.)
'Let us not forget Mr. Tu's last words.'
The verb di 'to go' may also appear as final particle in an imperative
sentence with the sense of 'Go ahead and ', as in
Bé ngú di! Me våo bay gid.
(little sleep IMPERATIVE, mom enter now)
'Go to sleep! Mom will be in soon.'
Con hay våo bep rúa tay di da.
(child EXHORTATIVE enter kitchen wash hand IMPERATIVE first)
'Go wash your hands in the kitchen first.'
There are also can 'need to', nên 'appropriate, necessary, should',
phåi 'must, ought to, have to' — all three regular verbs that some authors
analyze as preverbs denoting desirability or obligation, e.g.
Chung minh can dë-danh tien dé mua xe.
(we inclusive need save money in-order-to buy vehicle)
'We need to save money to buy a car.'
Co lë, minh nên doi den sang nam, anh a!
(exist reason, we inclusive should wait arrive go-over year, older
brother POLITE PARTICLE)
[wife to husband] 'Maybe we should wait until next year, honey.'
Chet! Töi phåi ra bu u-dien truoc nam gid.
(die, I must exit post-office before five hour)
'Whoops! I must go to the post office before 5 o'clock.'
In the negative, khöng can ... means 'doesn't need ...', khöng nên
... 'should not ..., must not ...', and khöng phåi... 'doesn't have to ....'
7.1.2.6 Degree. The language has several degree markers, some of which
are preverbs (rat 'very', khá 'rather', khi = hoi 'a little') and others are
postverbs (lam 'very', qua 'excessively, too'). Here are examples of stative
verbs being modified by one of those adverbs:
rat dep 'very pretty', khá dep 'rather pretty', dep lam 'very pretty',
dep qua 'so pretty', dai qua 'too long', khi dai 'a little too long', hoi
 PARTS OF SPEECH (CONTINUED) 161

kho 'a little difficult', kho quá (xa) 'excessively difficult', cuc hay
'extremely interesting', cuc-ky ngo-nghinh 'very very cute'. The pairs rät
and Jam, rät and qua are mutually exclusive (6.2.2.2).
Several other markers may either precede or follow the head verb:
that dep = dep that 'really pretty', tuyêt dep = dep tuyêt 'extremely
pretty', hoän-toän sai-lam 'entirely wrong', het suc kinh-trong = kính-trong
het suc (respect exhaust-strength) 'extremely respect', het suc khåm-phuc
'deeply admire', tuyêt-doi trung-thanh = trung-thanh tuyêt-doi' 'absolutely
loyal', Töi tin-tuång hoän-toän ó anh (I believe entire in you) 'I wholly
trust you,' etc.
Degree markers can also occur before verbs of feeling and knowing such
as yêu 'to love', ghét 'to hate', thich 'to like', thuong 'to feel sorry for',
nho 'to miss', biét 'to know', etc. Thus one can say Töi rat ghét nhung
nguoi dao-dúc giå. (I very hate plural person virtue false) 'I intensely hate
hypocrites.' Ba rat thu ten So-Khanh dó. (she very resent classifier S-K
that) 'She deeply resents that Casanova.'
On the other hand, being a degree marker, the preverb rät does not
allow the head verb to have a quantifying complement: *rät rong nam mau
(very wide five mows) , *rät rong mênh-möng (very wide immensely).
7.1.3 Ordering and co-occurrence of adverbs
The co-occurrence patterns of preverbal auxiliaries is extremely interesting
as well as complex. Such authors as Emeneau (1951), Nguyen Kim Than
(1963; 1975), and Thomas (1981) have analyzed the relative ordering of
those elements within the verbal expression. The last two analysts provide
useful charts that detail possible sequences and co-occurrences. For teaching
purposes I have used such sequential phrases as cung se con dau
(likewise shall still hurt), cung van con dau (likewise still still hurt) 'will
still hurt', van con dang keu dau (still still continuous holler hurt) 'still
complaining right now about the pain', cung se khong dau (likewise shall
not hurt) 'won't hurt either', cung van khöng dau (likewise still not hurt)
'still does not hurt', se vän con dau (shall still still hurt) 'will still hurt',
se khöng con dau (nüa) (shall not still hurt further) 'won't hurt any
more', etc.
Of all the sixteen or so positions found to the left of the nuclear, i.e.
main, verb {dau 'to hurt' in the preceding examples), cung 'likewise,
 162 VIETNAMESE

too, also' occupies the one furthest from the verb, and dang sap 'now about
to' occurs closest to the verb.

7.2 Connectives (quan-hê-tu)

Members of this word class manifest grammatical relations between words or
between syntagms, i.e. phrases. They are divided into two subclasses:
(a) those which link a complement to its preceding head word: cua 'of,
bang 'by means of, ó 'at, in ', boi 'because of, tai /vi 'because of,
do 'by', etc.; and
(b) those which link two items of equal ranking: va 'and', vói
'together with', hay 'or', hoac 'or', nhWng 'but', må 'yet', vua vita
'both and ', cång cång 'the more .... the more ....', neu
'if, he 'as sure as', må 'which, that', etc.
The former are usually known as "prepositions", and the latter are
usually labeled "conjunctions".

7.2.1 Prepositions (giói-tu)

These connectives express possession, means, direction, etc. with the
"object" denoting the owner, the tool, or the direction, etc., and the whole
expression is called a prepositional phrase, e.g.
sách cua toi (book property me) 'my book(s)', nha bang gach
(house by-means-of brick) 'brick house', bang den o Lap 4 (board black
in class four) 'the blackboard in Grade 4', di vói hai co em (go together
with two CL younger sibling) 'went with two younger sisters', dau boi
ghen (hurt because-of jealous) 'suffering from jealousy', chet vi bênh
ung-thu (die because-of disease cancer) 'died of cancer', etc.
As can be seen in.the above examples, a preposition itself cannot serve
as a constituent of a syntagm (= phrase), and only a prepositional phrase
(underlined in each example above) can serve as a grammatical constituent
that has a definite meaning: possession, material, location, accompaniment,
cause, etc.
The most frequently used prepositions are: cua 'of; from; by'; bang
'of, by means of, by, in'; vói 'to, together with, against'; ve 'about,
on'; den 'about, on, over'; ó 'at, in, from'; tai ' at, in, because of;
 PARTS OF SPEECH (CONTINUED) 163

vi 'because of, on account of'; tir 'from'; dé '(in order) to'; do 'from,
by, because of'; boi 'because of, by'; cho 'to, for; until'.
Note: These items are prepositions proper, some of which are in the first
instance full words—nouns (e.g. cua 'property, wealth, asset') or verbs (e.g.
den 'to arrive, reach') . They are kept separate from position words such as
trên, duói, trong, ngoai, truoc, sau, etc. which denote spatial and
temporal locations, and have been treated (in 5.2) as a class of "locatives"
or position words (phuong-vi-tiï') : the latter lexemes behave more like nouns
(5.2.1 to 5.2.8), so merit to be placed in an autonomous class of substantives
although at first sight their equivalents are prepositions in English.
On the other hand, verbs of motion (Vmotion) such as ra 'to exit, go out',
vao 'to enter', lên 'to ascend, go up', xuong 'to descend, go down', etc.
(6.1.3.2B) may occur following a non-directional verb of motion like chay
'to run' to indicate the direction of the movement: in such compounds as
chay ra 'ran out', chay vao 'ran in', chay Jen 'ran up', chay di 'ran
away, ran off', chay ve 'ran back', etc. Some earlier grammars have
treated these items as prepositions, too, but we treat them as coverbs (V) of
DIRECTION (6.1.2.3; 6.1.3.2B) . In other expressions such as idem ra ....
(find exit) = tim thay .... (look find) 'found [a lost object after looking]',
nghe thay .... (listen hear) 'heard [as a result of listening]', mua duoc ....
(buy get) 'was able to buy [something cheap]', dam phai ....(step suffer)
'stepped on [thorn, nail]', we have V-V' compounds in which the coverb V'
manifests the idea of RESULT. Likewise, in the sentence Ba ay öm lay dúa
con. (she hug take CL child) 'She hugged her child.' the coverb V' Jay
expresses the idea of ORIENTATION. [Nguyen Dinh-Hoa 1972.]

7.2.2 Conjunctions. (lien-tit).

A conjunction joins or connects words, phrases or sentences. There are two
kinds of conjunctions:. coordinators and subordinators.
7.2.2.1 Conjunctions of coordination: these join two elements of equal
footing (nouns, phrases, sentences), expressing several different meanings:
• Addition or reunion : va, voi 'and' as in Hoa va con gái 'Hoa and her
daughter'; hoc va hånh, hoc vol hanh 'to study and to practice'; cá vói
nuóc 'fish and water'; cúng, cúng vói 'together with' as in thay cúng
vói tro 'master and student' ;
 164 VIETNAMESE

• Alternative : hay, hay lå 'or' as in mai hay (lå) mot 'tomorrow or the
day after', hoac 'either or' as in sinh-viên doc-thån hoac co vo (student
single or have wife) 'single or married students'; (hoac) cho vay hoac
cho hån (either give borrow or give definitive) = cho vay hay cho han
'either as a loan or as a gift'. However, only hay can be used in a
choice-question: Anh co dinh ra san bay hay khöng? (you EMPHATIC
plan exit field-fly or not) 'Do you plan to go to the airport?';
• Consequence: nên = cho nên 'as a result', nên chi 'so', thanh thú 'as
a consequence, as a result', e.g. Töi khöng can-than // nên bl moc tui.
(I not careful so suffer pick pocket) 'I wasn't careful, so they picked
my pocket.';
• New argument or progression in reasoning : va, va lai, va chång
'besides, moreover, in addition', huohg chi, huohg ho 'all the more
reason'; 'much less';
• Opposition, variance or restriction : nhung, nhung må, song 'but, yet',
song le 'however'; chu 'but (not) ...'; tuy nhiên 'however, nevertheless';
• Transition : con nhu 'as for ';
• Purpose: hau, ngo hau 'in order to'; kèo, kèo lal, kèo må 'lest';
• Acquiescence supported by an explanation : hèn chl, thåo nao 'no
wonder', e.g. Co ay khöng buoc day an-toan. — Hèn chl bi chêt! (she
not tie belt safe - no wonder suffer die) 'She did not buckle up her seat
belt. — No wonder she was killed!' )
Note: Some lexemes serve both as prepositions and conjunctions.
7.2.2.2 Conjunctions of subordination: traditionally these are said to join a
"subordinate" predication and its "main" predication (cf. 11.2.3):
• Cause and effect: vi, boi, bol vi, vi rang, tai, tai vi (cho) nên
'because , as a result or consequently ' ; so di lå vi 'the
reason why is because '
• Purpose : dé, dé cho 'in order that '
• Consequence : dêh noi 'to the point that , so that '
• Comparison : cung nhu, duong nhu 'as if...', the nao thé ay.
• Time : khi, lúc '(at the moment) when .....', dang khi/luc 'while ',
trong khi 'while ', truoc khi 'before ', sau khi 'after '
• Concession : du, dau, mac dau, dau (rang), tuy (rang) 'though,
although' with the main clause introduced by nhung 'but'.
 PARTS OF SPEECH (CONTINUED) 165

• Supposition : giá (må), giá nhu, vi nhu, giå sú 'suppose',

• Condition : neu (nhu), vi bang, vi dú, vi thú, nhuoc bang 'if...', he
'as sure as'. In a compound sentence, if the subordinator is neu, he, giá,
giå sú (condition, supposition), the main predication is introduced by thi
'then, in that case', e.g. Neu toi khong lam // thi öng Ninh truoc lam
quan-truong. 'If I am not mistaken, [then] Mr. Ninh was formerly a
district chief.' (triïóc lam 'previously make)
• Expressing a preference : tha 'had rather ' as in
Thå lam quy nuóc Nam con hon lam vuong dát Bac
(rather make demon country south still better make king country north)
'I'd rather be a demon in Vietnam than being a prince in China.'
Tha chet chú khöng dau hang. (rather die but not surrender)
'Rather die than surrender!'
• Quotation: rang 'that ' introduces a completive predication and
follows a verb of saying and thinking (noi 'say', biet 'know', nghi
'think', tuong 'thought wrongly', mong 'hope', tin-tuong 'believe',
xac-nhan 'confirm', nhah manh 'emphasize').
7.2.3 'Both subclasses of connectives (prepositions and conjunctions) can be
considered syntactic functors, whereas adverbs (preverbs and postverbs)
discussed in 7.1 can be viewed as lexical functors.

7.3 Particles (tieu-tu tinh-thái)

The language has a number of particles which convey the speaker's attitude
and may occur at the beginning or at the end of a predication. The final
particles are often called ngu-khí-tu, but we have chosen the term tinh-thái-tú
for both the initial and final particles, to be distinguished from cám-thán-tú,
the interjections.

7.3.1 Initial particles

Such items as chinh, dich 'it is precisely ', cå, den cå, ngay 'even ....'
are used to emphasize a following word or a phrase, e.g. Chinh han giet va
'(It was precisely) he (who) killed his wife.' (Den) cå öng thåy no cüng chiu
thua luon. (even CL teacher he likewise concede defeat then) 'Even his
master had to give up.'
 166 VIETNAMESE

7.3.2 Final particles

These "emotive" particles are used at the end of a predication to express the
speaker's attitude, mind set or mood (questioning, negation, insistence,
surprise, doubt, humility, politeness, etc.) :
• å -- mild surprise, questioning: Chi quên roi å! (you forget already
I'm surprised) 'Have you forgotten already?'
• a — politeness: Thua ba dung món gi a? (report lady, use dish what
POLITE PARTICLE) 'What would you like to have?'
• chäng — suspicion: Em bé buon ngu chang? (young sibling small feel­
like sleep I wonder) 'Is the baby sleepy [by any chance]?'
Bå vo no biet chäng? ( CL wife he know I wonder) 'Could it be that
his wife knew? I wonder.'
• chú — certainty, hope, assumption: Bác ván manh khoé chú a?
(older uncle still well strong I presume POLITE PARTICLE) 'You've been
well as usual, I presume.'
Anh co an duoc mam tom khöng? — Dwgc chú! (you EMPHATIC eat
able fermented shrimp or-not — can certainly) 'Can you eat shrimp
paste? —Yes, certainly!'
• chua — "yes-or-not yet" question: Thay giáo dä tai (hay) chua?
(teacher ANTERIOR arrive or not-yet) 'Has the teacher arrived yet?' (see
7.1.2.3)
• ca — variant of kia.
• dä — an action or state must be completed before something else can take
place: Khoan dä! (hold it first) 'Wait (before doing that)' (see 71.2.4B) .
• däu — strong negation: Toi (co) muon däu! (I EMPHATIC borrow
anywhere) 'I did not borrow it.' Co ay khöng di däu! (she not go
anywhere) 'She's not going, don't insist!' (see 6.3.2.3)
• day — "personal touch" particle (Blood 1958) used in a question that
has an interrogative substitute (ai, gi, däu) or a predication that is
admitted rather grudgingly : Anh nói chuyên vói ai day? (you talk story
with who there) 'Who were you talking to (just now)?' Con dang lam
gi day? (child CONTINUOUS do what there) 'Honey, what are you
doing (there)?' Bai dó cung duoc day // nhung co våi loi äh-cong.
(article that also ok there, but exist a few error printer) 'That article is
OK, but it has some typographical errors.'
 PARTS OF SPEECH (CONTINUED) 167

• di — imperative: Hoc nüa di! (study further IMPERATIVE) 'Study

some more!' Chung ta di än di! (we inclusive go eat IMPERATIVE)
'Let's go eat, shall we?'
• ha, hú — mild surprise: Toi ha? (me huh) 'You mean me?' Den luot
töi ha? (arrive turn me huh) 'My turn?' Sao cac cháu lai choi bong
trong nha hú? (why plural grandchild contrary-to-rule play ball inside
house huh) 'Why are you kids playing ball inside the house?'
• khöng - "yes-or-no" question: Anh co ban khöng? (you EMPHATIC
busy or-not) 'Are you busy?'
• kia — preference: No thích so-mi mau xanh kia! (he like shirt color
blue instead) 'He likes a blue shirt instead [of white, for instance].'
• må - insistence: Töi da bao må! (I ANTERIOR tell EMPHATIC) 'I told
you!'
• nao — intimate offer or urging: Chi de em rua rau cho nao! (elder
sister let younger sibling wash vegetables give come-on) 'Let me wash
the vegetables for you, elder sister.'
Con dánh lai bai dó cho Bác Hüong nghe di nao!
(child beat over song that give aunt H. listen IMPERATIVE come-on)
'Play that song again for Auntie Huong, sonny.'
• nghe — authoritative command: Nhó khoá cúa nghe! (remember lock
door hear) 'Remember to lock the door, (do you) hear?'
• nhé < nhó — friendly proposal: Chung ta ngói day nhé! (we inclusive
sit here ok?) 'Shall we sit here?'
• nhi — seeking confirmation: Horn nay, troi lanh qua nhi? (day this
sky cold excessively, don't you think?) 'It's very cold today, isn't it?'
Cái vuon nay rong nhi? (CL garden this wide, don't you think)
'This garden is big, don't you think?'
• sao — Saigon variant of surprise particle å?
• thay — exclamation of the "lo and behold" type: May thay! 'Luckily!
How lucky!'
• the — questioning the extent: Lam sao the / vay ? (do how thus)
'What's the matter?'
• u - surprise: Chi có sáu tram do-la thöi u? (only exist six hundred
dollar that's all, really?) 'Only $600? [I expected more]'
 168 VIETNAMESE

• våy — acceptance of a second best choice:

Het mau xanh da troi rbi. —The thi töi lay måu xanh lá cay vay!
(finish color xanh skin sky already — so then I take color xanh leaf
tree as a second choice)
'There are no more blue ones left.—Then I'll take a green one.'
• vói — appeal: Khiêng ho töi vói! (carry help me with) 'Please carry
this forme.' Cúu töi vói! (save me with) 'Help! (I'm in danger)'

7.4 Interjections (cåm-than-tu)

These have been described as "vocal signs that translate a sensation either
affective or acoustic" [Lê Van Ly 1960: 198]:
• vocatives — hoi, oil, ê!, nay! 'hey, I say'
• responses -- vang, da, barn 'yes' [polite], ur, phai 'yes' [neuter]
• exclamations— o!, o! 'oh', ö hay!, o hay!, o kia! 'hey, wait a minute',
a!, cha! [surprise], a!, a ha! [joy], öi!, öl!, ai! 'ouch', eo öi! 'yukky',
hoi öi!, than öi!, chao öi! 'alas', ai chå! 'wow', troi dát! 'heaven (and
earth)', khiep! 'awesome', kho! 'miserable', chet! 'death', thay!
[pain, fear], hú!, hum!, hú! [anger], ê!, lêu lêu! [derision], toi-
nghiep! [pity] .

7.5 Multiple class membership. Let us conclude this chapter on function

words by noting that several of those functors cross class boundaries and
fulfill more than one function in the grammatical apparatus. Indeed some
lexemes may belong to one word-class in a given context, but also function as
members of another word-class in a different context. This phenomenon
("class conversion") has caused some early grammarians to say that
"Vietnamese has no parts of speech."

A. Content word ===> Function word

Some content words (= full words) become function words (= empty words).
• cua — An item like cua belongs to both the noun class and the preposition
class: than giu cua (deity guard wealth) 'guardian spirit for wealth',
cua quy (property precious) 'valuable asset', giet nguoi cuóp cua (kill
person rob property) 'killing people and seizing property' vs. sách cua
toi (book of me) 'my book(s)', trau bo cua dån lang (water buffalo ox
 PARTS OF SPEECH (CONTINUED) 169

of citizen village) 'cattle that belong to the villagers, the villagers'

livestock'.
• cho — The lexeme cho is a verb in cho con tien (give child money)
'gave their son/daughter some money', but a preposition in gúi tien cho
con (send money to child) 'sent money to their son/daughter'.
• tren — Likewise, tren in leo len tren (climb ascend space-above)
'climbed to the top' is a locative (noun), but tren in leo lên trên nui
Tam-dao (climb up on mountain Tam-dåo) 'climbed up Mount Tam-
dao' is a connective (= preposition).

B. Verb = > Noun

• Some verbs can be nominalized with cái 'object, thing', su 'affair',
niem = noi 'feeling, sentiment', e.g. cái än 'foodstuff, eatables', su
song 'living, life', su ung-ho 'support', niem tin 'faith', niem hi-
vong 'hope', nöi buon 'sorrow'.
• Many disyllabic verbs of feeling can also be used as nouns, e.g. cåm-
nghi 'to feel and think' > 'feeling'; lo-lång 'to worry' > 'worry' (cf.
nhung cåm-nghi 'feelings', nhieu lo-lång 'many worries').
• Some verbs like gói 'to wrap', bo 'to tie' can give such unit nouns as
in mot gói thuoc lá 'a pack of cigarettes', mot bó cúi 'a bundle of
firewood'.
• There is definitely some overlapping between nouns denoting tools and
verbs denoting actions accomplished by means of those tools: cay and
cái cay 'to plow'; 'plow', bua and cái bua 'to harrow'; 'harrow',
cao and cái cao 'to rake'; 'rake', cuoc and cái cuöc 'to hoe'; 'hoe',
hái and cái hái 'to reap'; 'reaping sickle', cua and cái cua 'to saw';
'saw', duc and cái duc 'to chisel'; 'chisel', etc.

C. Stative verb ===> Noun

Such compound adjectives as khó-khan 'difficult', vat-vå 'hard', vui-
mung 'glad', hanh-diên 'proud', sung-suóng 'happy' can also be used as
nouns when preceded by cái, su, noi, niem , e.g.
nhüng su khó-khan ban dau 'the initial [time head] difficulties', bao
nhiêu nöi vat-vå 'so many hardships', mot niem hanh-diên 'a pride', etc.
 170 VIETNAMESE

In recent writings, certain authors omit such nominalizers as su 'affair,

business', nói = nïêm 'feeling, sentiment', etc., and such noun phrases as
the following are often found in newspapers and magazines:
nhüng kho-khän ban dau cua nguoi ti-nan (plural difficulty period-head
of person flee-disaster] 'the refugees' initial difficulties', nhüng lo-au cúa
bac cha-me (plural worry of rung father-mother) 'the parents'worries', etc.

D. Noun = > Stative verb

• bui 'dust' > 'dusty'; khói 'smoke' > 'smoky'; vang 'gold' >
'yellow'; dá 'stone' > 'stingy'; gao 'rice' > 'studious'; sách-vó
'book and copybook' > 'bookish'; deu 'pole carrier' > 'crooked,
roguish, knavish'; lay 'west' > 'western, French(-like)'; quy-toc
'aristocracy' > 'aristocrat'; tW-ban 'capital' > 'capitalist'; nha-quê
'countryside' > 'boorish'; dao-dúc 'virtue' > 'virtuous, ethical'; etc.
• that la Viêt-Nam 'really Vietnamese', mot cú-chi rät Tran Cao-Lïnh
'a gesture very Tran Cao Linh-like', phong-cách dac Nguyen Cöng-Hoan
'a style typically Nguyen Cong Hoan-esque'.
• chu-nghïa tu-ban 'capitalism' and tu'-bån-chu-nghia 'capitalist', chu-
nghia xa-hoi 'socialism' and xa-hoi-chú-nghia 'socialist', chu-nghïa
cá-nhán 'individualism' and ca-nhan-chu-nghia 'individualist', chu-
nghïa co-hoi 'opportunism' and co-hoi-chu-nghïa 'opportunist', etc.
 Chapter 8
The Noun Phrase

8.0 Phrase structure

After studying the various parts of speech, we will now look at the different
ways they combine with one another to make up a larger unit, called phrase
(or syntagm).
But we will first discuss briefly the four basic patterns of grammatical
grouping: (1) modification, (2) complementation, (3) predication, and (4)
coordination. Examples are:

(1) Modification. In a modification pattern, the central (or nuclear)

grammatical unit, called "modified", governs another grammatical unit
called "modifier", which as a satellite may precede or follow the central
unit. For example, the head noun bo 'bovine' may be followed by a
qualifier like sua 'milk', or duc 'male', or cái 'female', resulting in bo
sua 'milch cow', bo duc 'bull', bo cái 'cow'. The same noun may be
preceded by one modifier or more, as in mot con bo cái 'one cow', a
phrase containing the numeral mot 'one' and the categorical noun N' (=
classifier) con 'animal'. The sequence may further contain a specifier
called "demonstrative" like nay 'this', ay 'that'---which occurs at the
end—so that this expression, called a NOUN PHRASE, now reads
mot con bo cái nay [NUM+ N' + N + DEM] 'this one cow'
[cf. the examples on pages 92 and 95]

(2) Complementation. A verb may occur alone (ve 'returned', nghe

'listened', ngu 'slept') or it may be followed by an item called its
"complement" as in .... thay mot con bo cái. ' saw a cow',
in which the verb of perception thay 'to see' is followed by the object of
that perception—'one unit of the female bovine species'.
172 VIETNAMESE

The structure of such a VERB PHRASE can be much more complex, with
several kinds of complement.

(3) Predication. The verb phrase in (2) would make up a meaningful

sentence if it is preceded by a partner called "subject", and this resulting
larger sequence represents the third pattern—a predication: Toi thay möt
con bo cái. 'I saw a cow.' Likewise Töi ve que. 'I went back to my
native village.' Töi nghe mai. (continuously) 'I listened and listened.' Toi
ngu luon (without interruption) muoi tiêng dong-hd. 'I slept through ten
hours.'

(4) Coordination. Two words, two phrases, or two sentences are conjoined.
hai vói hai 'two and two'
Nam va vo 'Nam and [his] wife'
hai con bo duc (male) va mot con bo cái (female) 'two bulls and
one cow'
Töi ve phong va ngú luon muoi tiêhg döng-ho.
(I return room and sleep uninterruptedly ten sound clock)
T went back to my room and slept through ten hours.'
Töi muon ve que // nhWng xe dap hong.
(I want return native village, but vehicle-kick out of order)
'I wanted to go back to my village, but my bike broke down.'

8.1 The noun phrase (danh-ngu)

8.1.0 We will first examine the pattern of modification in a noun phrase
(NP) in this chapter, leaving the pattern of complementation in a verb phrase
(vp) to the next chapter. As for the pattern of predication involving a subject
(or topic) and a predicate (or comment), it will be studied in Chapters 10 and
11, in which different sentence structures are discussed. All three major
patterns may contain constituents that display a pattern of coordination.
Before going on to look at the structure of a noun phrase as a pattern of
modification, it is important to distinguish between compound nouns and
noun phrases. Examples of compound nouns are bo sua (cow milk)
'milch cow', ga me (chicken mother) 'mother hen', xe dap (vehicle kick)
'bicycle', may bay (machine fly) 'airplane', máy kéo (machine pull)
 THE NOUN PHRASE 173

'tractor', day nói (wire talk) 'telephone', quan-áo (pants shirt) 'clothes',
dong-ho (copper vase) 'watch, clock', múa-máng (crop REDUP) 'crops',
chan troi (foot sky) 'horizon', ca chua (eggplant sour) 'tomato', nguoi o
(person live) 'servant', etc. [see 4.3.2.1]. A noun phrase [= nominal
expression], on the other hand, involves a relationship of modification, with
the head (or nuclear) constituent, a noun, modified by the other---called
"modifier". A noun can be modified by a noun, a substitute, a locative
(noun), a numeral, a verb, an adjective (= stative verb), a demonstrative,
or even a "relative clause". Examples:
• NOUN-NOUN: can duong 'kilogram of sugar', lit sua 'liter of milk',
bat com 'bowl of rice', tách tra 'cup of tea'; gol thuóc lá 'pack of
cigarettes', chuong heo (pen pig) 'pig sty'; dån chim 'flock of
birds', top tho 'group of workers', nål chuoi 'hand of bananas', tóc
may (hair cloud) 'cloud-like hair', bo sua Ha-lan (Holland) 'Dutch
milch cows', lång Chåu-khe 'the village of Chau-khê'.
• NOUN-SUBSTITUTE : lång toi 'my village', truong no 'his/her school'.
• NOUN-LOCATIVE : tang tren (storey space above) 'the upper floor',
mol duol (lip space below) 'the lower lip', ngón giua (finger middle)
'the middle finger', phia ngoai (direction outside) 'the outside'.
• NOUN-NUMERAL : lop nhat (grade first) 'top grade [in primary
school], tháng nam (month five) 'fifth lunar month, May', bia ba
(cover three) 'inside back cover'.
• NOUN-VERB : gå luoc 'boiled chicken', gå quay 'barbecued chicken',
thit tai 'rare beef', rau song 'raw vegetables', cv 'the return
trip', cuoc dol vat-vå (classifier life hard) 'rugged life', xe-dap mol
'a new bicycle', quan ao ré tien (pants coat cheap money) 'cheap
clothes'.
• NOUN-DEMONSTRATIVE: bå nay 'this lady', ong ay 'that gentleman',
horn kia (day yonder) 'day before yesterday', bua no (day that) 'one
day'.
• NOUN-PREPOSITION-NOUN : gå cua me 'mom's chicken', uoc muoh
(wish want) cua toi 'my wishes', thoi-tiet ó Hå-nöi 'the weather in
Hanoi', bon-phan dói voi gia-dinh 'duty towards one's family', but anh
toi 'my elder brother', tay toi 'my hands', cha [cua] Nguyen Du
'Nguyen Du's father', nha [bang 'by means of'] gach 'brick house',
174 VIETNAMESE

buói [tu] Bien-hoå 'grapefruit from Bien-hoa', sách [cho] Du-bi Van-
khoa 'textbook for the "Classe Propédeutique" [Preparatory] Year of the
College of Letters'.
• NOUN-RELATIVE CLAUSE : chiêc dong-ho [ (må) chú töi vita gúi cho töi ]
(which uncle me recently send give me) 'the watch (which) my uncle just
sent to me', chiêc áo f mói may tuan triïóc ] (recently sew week
before) 'the dress just tailored last week', con dao [(ma) anh cho toi
muon ] (which you give me borrow) 'the knife you lent me'.
8.1.1 In his early grammar of Vietnamese, Emeneau [1951: 84-85] provides
the following schema of a (fairly complex) noun phrase:
"A numerated substantive phrase [= our NOUN PHRASE, NP] contains (1) a
numerator [= our NUM], which precedes the noun with its classifier [= our
N'], if it is a classified noun; or (2) a demonstrative numerator [= our
DEM], which follows the noun with its classifier, if it is a classified noun; or
(3) both a numerator and a demonstrative numerator."
"If the noun in a numerated phrase is followed by an attribute [= our
ATTRIBUTIVE] and a demonstrative numerator, they occur in that order, no
matter what the length of the attribute may be."
Thus, at the center of a NP, there is a head noun [N] surrounded by
determiners, some of which precede N, and others follow it.
The preposed determiners are often single items that belong to those
word classes with closed membership whereas the postposed determiners are
quite a few and sometimes occur in combinations.
The preposed determiners, which express the idea of totality, or quantity,
or a categorical, occur to the left of the head noun [N, position 0], in precise
positions represented respectively by -3 (tat ca 'all-all'), -2 (nam 'five'), -1
(chiêc 'CLASSIFIER'), vis-å-vis 0 (ao-dåi) in the phrase tät ca nam chiêc áo-
dåi 'all five dresses'. [ao-dåi is a compound noun 'upper garment + long'.]
The postposed determiners, which describe such attributive features as
material, size, quality, possession, etc. occur to the right of the head noun,
represented by+1 Qua), +2 (xanh), +3 (moi may tuan triïóc), +5 (cua töi),
respectively:
tät ca /nam /chiêc /ao-dåi /lua /xanh /mói may tuan triïóc / cua toi
(all-all five N' VN dress silk blue newly sew week past of me)
'all the five blue silk dresses of mine that were tailored last week'.
 THE NOUN PHRASE 175

Compare the following three NPs containing a demonstrative in slot +4 in

the boxed formula:
het thåy /các / ba / y-tá / giå / ay
(all plural N' nurse old that)
'all those old nurses'
sáu /ngöi /nhå / gach / dó (six N' house brick that)
'those six brick houses'
cå /hai /cuoh / tu-diên / Viêt-Anh / nay / cúa no
(all two N' dictionary Viet-Engl this of he)
'both of these [two] Vietnamese-English dictionaries of his'
tät-cå / nhüng / de-nghi / hop-lí / dó / cúa / dién-giå
(all plural suggestion logical that of speaker)
'all those logical recommendations by the speaker'

STRUCTURE OF THE NOUN PHRASE

-3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5

tat-cå nam chiec áo-dái lua xanh moi may cúa toi
tuan triXóc
het thay cac bå y-ta giå ay
sáu ngöi nhå gach dó
cå hai cuón tú-dién Viêt-Anh nåy cúa nó
tät cå nhung de-nghi hop-lí do cúa X.

8.1.2 Position zero (0)

A) A noun phrase (NP) may consist of a single noun filling the central slot
0, without any determiner preceding or following it, e. g. chim 'birds' in
Chim sa. 'Birds sweep down.', cá 'fishes' in Ca lan. 'Fishes dive.', hoa
'flowers' in Hoa cuoi. 'The flowers smile.', du-dú 'papayas' in Du-dú
ngot qua. (sweet too) 'The papayas are so sweet.', cöng-nhån 'workers' in
Cöng-nhän dïnh-cöng roi. (stop-work already) 'The workers already went on
strike.', sinh-viên 'college students' in Sinh-viên dang ban thi. (presently
176 VIETNAMESE

busy exam) The students are busy with their exams.', etc. [Each NP
serves as subject of a sentence.]
B) A noun phrase may also consist of a head noun surrounded by
determiners. Thus the nuclear slot 0 may be filled by an item noun (p.
92), a collective noun (p. 92), an abstract noun (p. 94), or a locative (pp. 98-
101). Which preposed or postposed determiner may occur depends on the
subclass to which the head noun belongs. When the filler is an item noun,
it may be surrounded by all the determiners, e.g.
qua du-du chin nay (fruit papaya ripe this) 'this ripe papaya'
ca hai con chimsè dó (all 2 N' sparrow that) 'both of those sparrows'
may con cá nho xiu nay (a few N' fish small tiny this)
'these few tiny fishes'
sáu bong hoahong kia '(6 N' rose that) 'those six roses over there'
tat-cå sáu müoi nguoi cöng-nhan dó
(all sixty N' worker that) 'all those sixty workers'
A collective noun like quan-chúng 'the masses', nhan-loai 'mankind'
can take only such a quantifier as toån-thé 'the whole, the entire': toan-thé
nhån-loai hieu-hoå (love peace) 'the whole peace-loving mankind'.
An abstract noun like de-nghi, y-kiêh, quan-niêm, etc. cannot be
preceded by a N' or by a unit noun: tät ca nhung de-nghi hop-lí / hop-ly
dó cua dien-gia 'all those logical recommendations by the speaker'.
A locative noun cannot be preceded by any determiner, and it can be
followed only by a demonstrative specifier, as in trên ay (space-above
that) 'up there', trong nay (inside this) 'in here', truóc kia (space-in-front
that) 'formerly', sau nay (space-behind this) 'from now on, later'.
Sometimes a categorical (or classifier, N') may serve as the head, when
the category involved is obvious: at the shoe store, when the customer says
(la) Töi khöng thich doi nay, (pair this) 'I don't like this pair.', the
context tells us that the customer means (1) Töi khöng thich doi giay nay.
(pair shoe this). In other words, the classifier N' doi 'pair' in (la) has
assumed the role of the central N. Likewise, döi den - döi giay den
(pair [shoe] black) 'the pair of black shoes'.
8.1.3 Position -3
In slot -3, the outermost position, may occur such substitutes denoting
totality (6.3.2.5) as cå, tat ca, het thay, toån-thé, toån-bo 'all, the whole
 THE NOUN PHRASE 177

...., the entire ....' (the head noun is a collective noun like quan-chúng
'the masses', nhån-loai 'mankind', or an abstract noun like de-nghi
'suggestion, recommendation', y-kien 'idea, opinion', quan-niem 'concept',
as in the examples in 8.1.2B above).
toån-the nhån-loai hieu-hoa 'the whole peace-loving mankind'
tät cå nhüng de-nghi hop-li'do cúa dién-giå
'all those logical recommendations by the speaker'
8.1.4 Position -2
The fillers in slot -2 can be:
-- a cardinal numeral like mot 'one', hai 'two', ba 'three', etc. or
vai, vai ba 'a few', dam, dam bay 'five or seven, several';
-- a quantifying substitute like bao nhiêu, may 'how much, how many',
bay nhiêu 'this much, this many', bay nhiêu 'that much, that many'; or
-- a pluralizer like cac, nhüng 'the various', or moi 'every', moi
'each', tung 'each in turn', etc.

TOTAL NUM N' N DEM POSSESS

-3 - 2 - 1 0 + 1 +2 +3 +4 +5

tat ca tám cái ghe may kia

may con cá nhó xiu nay
sáu bong hoa hong tuoi mat kia
60 nguoi cong-nhan do
hét thåy cae ba y-tá* gia
nhüng de-nghi** hop-li dó cua X.

(all eight N' chair rattan yonder)

(a few N' fish small tiny this)
(six N' rose fresh-cool yonder)
(sixty N' worker that)
(all plural N' nurse old)
(plural suggestion rational that of X.)
*ba y-tá refers to an older nurse, as opposed to co y-tá, which refers to a
younger nurse (cf. the discussion of categorical nouns, N', or classifiers):
178 VIETNAMESE

when the head noun refers to a person, the appropriate N' is one of those
kinship terms used as honorific classifiers, age being a pertinent factor.
**de-nghi is one of those non-classified nouns, so needs no N'.
Note: Cardinal numerals and pluralizers in -2 are mutually exclusive.

8.1.5 Position -1
The fillers in slot -1 can be:
• a classifier N' like con [for nouns denoting living things], cái [for
nouns denoting non-living things], or chiêc, döi, quyên, cuon, búc,
ngöi, tam, to, lá, cay, qua, ngon, viên, etc. [for nouns denoting
inanimate things with specific shapes or other attributes] (see 5.1), e.g.
mot con cá 'a fish', mot cái ghe 'one chair, a chair',
mot chiêc giay 'a shoe', mot döi giay 'a pair of shoes',
mo quyén/cuon sách 'a book', mot búc tranh 'a painting',
möt ngöi nha ' a house, a building', möt tam man 'a curtain',
mot to giay 'a sheet of paper', möt la co 'a flag',
mot cay nen 'a candle', mot qua núi 'a mountain',
mot ngon döi 'a hill', mot viên gach 'a brick'
• a classifier N' like nguoi, öng, ba, co, bác, cau, ann, bac, vi, viên,
tên, ga, thäng, etc. for nouns denoting persons in terms of age, sex,
social rank, familiarity, etc., for example:
mot nguoi ban 'a friend', möt öng quan 'a mandarin',
möt ba hiêu-truong 'a school principal', möt co y-tá 'a nurse',
mot bác nöng-phu 'a farmer', möt cau hoc-sinh 'a schoolboy',
mot anh tai-xë 'a driver', mot bac hien-triet 'a philosopher,'
mot vi anh-hung 'a hero', mot viên tri-huyên 'a district chief',
möt öng an may 'an old beggar', mot tên giac 'a rebel',
möt ga tiëu-phu 'a woodsman', möt thäng kè tröm a burglar'
• a classifier N' for nouns denoting units of measurement like thuóc,
can, mét, lit, ta, mau, mo, dum, etc. (see 5.1.3B), for example:
ba thuoc lua 'three meters of silk', ba ki dwong '3 kilos of sugar',
ba lit xang '3 liters of gasoline', ba ta gao '3 quintals of rice',
ba måu ruong '3 mows of ricefield', ba dum muoi '3 pinches of salt',
ba mo rau cai '3 bunches of mustard greens', etc.
 THE NOUN PHRASE 179

• a classifier N' for nouns denoting quantities held by specific containers

or vessels like nbi, bát, chao, chén, cóc, tách, ly, thia, etc., for
example:
hai noi com '2 pot(ful) s of rice', ba bát com '3 bowls of rice',
mot chao mi xao (noodle stir-fry) 'a wok of stir-fried noodles',
våi chén ruou 'a few cups of wine', hai cob sua 'two glasses of milk',
mot tách tra 'a cup of tea', mot ly ca-phê sua dá (coffee milk ice)
'a glass of iced coffee with condensed milk',
bon thia nuoc mám (liquid salted-fish) 'four spoonfuls of fish sauce'
may muong bot ngot (powder sweet) 'a few spoonfuls of MSG', etc.
Cf. noun phrases referring to individual utensils, pots and pans, cups
and glasses: hai cái noi 'two pots', ba cái bát 'three eating bowls', mót cái
chao 'a wok', val cái chén 'a few cups', hai cái cóc 'two (empty) glasses',
mót cái tách 'a coffee cup', mót cái ly 'an (empty) glass', bón cái thia/
muöng 'four spoons'.
There may also be a separate slot that immediately precedes -1 (N'),
which merits some discussion. Its only filler is cái, which occurs within
the nominal expression thus: cái + N' + N + DEM .
When discussing this lexeme in detail in his monograph devoted to the
NP, Nguyen Tai Can [1975b: 239-250] gives the following examples:
cái chiêc (single piece) ban nay 'this table'
cái qua (fruit) nui nay 'this mountain'
cái cay (tree) but nay 'this pen'
cái búc (panel) thu nay 'this letter'
in which the element cái serves to emphasize and individualize the particular
object which is talked about. Before him, grammarians have also pointed
out that this "article" cái "serves to explain more clearly or to reinforce
the meaning of a noun" [Tran, Pham & Bui 1943: 52].
About this lexeme, which had been called "definite article" [Truong Vinh
Tong 1932: 23] and even "superarticle" [Bulteau 1953: 21], the three co­
authors cited above add that it serves "to attract the reader's attention to the
head noun" as in
Viec nay lói-thöi lam. 'This business is very embarrassing.'
Cái viêc nay loi-thöi lám. 'This particular business is very
embarrassing.' [Tran, Pham & Bui 1943: 52]
180 VIETNAMESE

To Lê Van Ly [1960], cái in this usage has "the value of a 'definite' or

'demonstrative' word" as in
Cái con dao anh cho toi muon, no that sac.
(cái living thing knife you give me borrow, it real sharp)
'The knife (which) you lent me is really sharp.'
Cái nguöi tho may den sang ngay dau roi ?
(cái person artisan sew arrive morning day, where already)
'Where is the tailor who came this morning?'
Cái con ngua ay chay nhanh that.
(cái living thing horse that, run fast real)
'That horse over there runs really fast.' [1960: 213]
Indeed the role of this polyvalent lexeme cái is to individualize, to
single out a particular item—denoted by a classified noun—{cái cuon sách
nay 'this book here'), or a particular conventional unit {cái Iít sua nay
'this liter of milk'), or even a particular kind of material—denoted by a
mass noun {cái muc nay 'this ink').
Moreover, when preceding the appropriate "special classifier", this
"extra" general classifier adds—with the help of intonation—a pejorative
connotation to such utterances as the examples given on p. 96:
Cái ong giao-su tóc bac dó co ba ba vo roi day.
(cái man teacher hair silver that have three woman wife already there)
'That white-haired teacher over there has (no less than) three wives.'
Cái thang chóng em nó chang ra gi.
(cái guy husband younger-sibling he not turn-out anything)
'That husband of mine is good for nothing.'
Note: The "restrictive" elements to the left of the head noun are content
words, which often occur singly and can be listed exhaustively, whereas each
of those "descriptive" elements that follow the head noun belongs to an open
class and sometimes can itself occur as the head of a short phrase .

8.1.6 Positions +1, +2 and+3

As shown in the box below, the positions to the right of the central position
(0), occupied by the nuclear or head noun, can be filled by nouns, functive
verbs, stative verbs, substitutes or numerals, that describe various
attributes of the head noun, for example material, color, size, quality,
 THE NOUN PHRASE 181

order, demonstrative, possession. Before slot +4 (DEM), the three slots

+1, +2 and +3 perform their own functions.

+1 +2 +3 +4 +5
-1 0
N' N MATERIAL COLOR OTHER DEM POSSESS
I SIZE ATTRIB

(1) chiec ao-dai lua xanh mói may nay cuatöi

(2) cái ghe may moi mua ay
(3) ngöi nha gach to-tuóng ba ñó vua
mói tau
(4) canh nam
(5) huyên dó
(6) ong huyên dó
(7) naj töi ra döi
(8) khi me töi mät
(9) cau sinh-viên anh gap höm no

In example (1), slot +1 is filled by lua 'silk', a noun denoting material.

Slot +2 is filled by xanh 'blue, green', an adjective denoting color. Slot +3
is filled by mói may 'recently tailored'--- a (reduced) determinative clause.
8.1.7 Positions +4 and +5
If we include slots +4 {nay 'this') and +5 {cua toi 'of mine'), we have a
nominal phrase in which every position is filled:
(1) chiec l áo-dai / lua / xanh / mói may / nay / cua töi
'this newly-tailored blue silk dress of mine'
Example (2) does not have anything in slot +2 or slot +5. Slot +1 is
filled by may 'rattan', a noun denoting material. The filler in slot +3, mói
mua, means '(which someone) recently purchased', and we have :
(2) cái / ghe / may / mói mua / ay 'that newly bought rattan chair'
In example (3), the head noun nha 'house' is preceded by its classifier
ngoi 'edifice, throne' in the N' slot, and followed by three descriptive
qualifiers:
182 VIETNAMESE

the noun gach 'brick' denoting material (slot +1), the adjective to-
tuóng 'huge' describing size (slot +2), and a further attributive ba no vua
mói tau (dad he just recently buy) '[that] his dad just bought', which is the
equivalent of a reduced (embedded) relative clause in English.
As a matter of fact, the connective må was needed in the early 20th
century to translate the "relative pronoun" qui, que, dont, ou in French.
This usage is considered artificial [Bulteau 1953: 197; Nguyen Qui-Hüng
1965: 426-427] since normally in both the spoken and written forms the use
of this item is not obligatory:
(3) ngoi / nha / gach / to-tuóng / [må] ba nó vua mói tau
'the huge brick house [which] his father just bought'
The short noun phrase in example (4) consists of a non-classified time
noun canh 'night watch—one of the five segments of a night reckoned in
rural Vietnam' followed by the (ordinal) numeral thú nam 'fifth' : canh
thú nam > canh nam means 'the fifth watch'.
In modern usage, nam gio means '5 o'clock' — and also 'five hours'
(cf. the expression gio thú nam [hour fifth] used in the 19th century for '5
o'clock' [see 5.3.2], but nowadays only for 'the fifth hour').
Example (5) is another short noun phrase made up of huyên 'district', a
non-classified noun denoting an administrative unit, followed by dó 'that', a
demonstrative: huyên dó 'that district'. [Fillers of slot +4 are
demonstratives (DEM) nay, ay, dó, kia, no.]
In example (6), however, the central noun huyên means 'district chief'
instead, so is preceded by the "polite" classifier (N') ong 'grandfather;
gentleman', reserved for officeholders: öng huyên dó 'that district chief'.
Examples (7), (8) and (9) share the same structure as examples (1), (2)
and (3). Their respective meanings are noi «töi ra doi » (place I go-out
world) 'the place (where) I was born', khi«me toi mat» (time mother
me lost) 'the time (when) my mother died', cau sinh-viên « anh gap horn
no » (boy student you meet day other) 'the student (whom) you met the
other day'.
Compare the attributive in examples (1) and (2):
(1) chiéc / áo-dai / iua / xanh < mói may >,
where the determinative mói may means 'which somebody recently made'—
another reduced "relative clause" serving to modify the head noun ao-dai;
 THE NOUN PHRASE 183

(2) cái / ghe / may < mói mua >,

where the determinative mói mua means 'which somebody has recently
purchased'---another reduced "relative clause" serving to modify the head
noun ghe.
Thus the connective (= preposition) må, optionally used only when
the head noun is followed by several modifiers, has been erroneously treated
as a "relative pronoun" [Tran, Pham & Bui 1943: 193], e.g.
(7) noi «töi ra doi » = noi (må) töi ra doi 'the place where I was
born'
(8) khi «me töi mat» = khi (må) me toi mat '(the time) when my
mother died'
(9) cau sinh-viên «anh gap horn no » = cau sinh-viên (må) anh gap
horn no 'the student (whom) you met the other day'
(10) nguoi «töi kính-trong nhät» = nguoi (må) töi kính-trong nhat
'the person (whom) I respect most'
(11) cái con dao «anh cho töi muon » = cái con dao (må) anh cho töi
muon 'the knife (which) you lent me'
[This and the following example are from Lê Van Ly (1960: 213).]
(12) cái nguoi tho may « den sáng ngay» = cái nguoi tho may (må)
den sáng ngåy 'the tailor who came this morning'
(13) chiec o-tö «canh-sát khám thay ma-tuy» = chiec ö-tö (trong
dó) canh-sát khám thay ma-tuy 'the car in which the police
(searched and) found drugs'
(14) chính-sách « vi dó Pháp mat mat » 'the policy because of which
France lost face'
The last two examples (13) and (14) use a compound connective
(respectively, trong dó 'in.that place, in there, wherein', and vi dó
'because of that') to express the relationship between the embedded clause
and the antecedent of the relevant connective (respectively ö-tö 'car' and
chinh-sách 'policy').
Sentence (14) can also be paraphrased as (14a) cái chính-sách «(må)
dä khien Pháp mat mat » (cái policy which ANTERIOR cause France lose
face) 'the policy which caused France to lose face'.
When the determinative clause (in slot +3) denotes the agent of the
action which affects the head noun, the connective do is used, as in
184 VIETNAMESE

(15) mot phái-doan «do Giáo-su NXY cam dau »

(one delegation by professor NXY hold head)
'a delegation led by Professor NXY'
Slot +5 can be filled by a prepositional phrase that contains a connective
like cúa 'of', ve 'about', den 'concerning', cho 'for', followed by its
object---a noun phrase.
The connective (or preposition) cua (7.2.1) links a complement to the
head noun, as in sach cua toi 'my book(s)'. But when the possessive
relationship is obvious, it may be omitted, as in co toi (aunt I/me) 'my
aunt', tóc me (hair mother) 'Mom's hair', chin ban (leg table)'table leg',
lung ghe (back chair) 'chair back', cua song (mouth river) 'estuary', etc.
And when there is a verb immediately in front of it, then cúa must be used:
bo yêu cua con 'my dear daddy', y muoh cúa chúng töi 'our wish',
nièm vui cua ho-hång 'the joy of relatives', tiéhg nói cúa luong-tám
'the voice of one's conscience', etc.
The connective cúa can replace do when the idea of ownership is
apparent within the (embedded) determinative clause, e.g.
(16) quyen tu-dien [cúa/do töi soan ] (N'dictionary of/by I compile)
'the dictionary which I compiled'
(17) cay oi [cúa anh Hien trong nam kia]
(tree guava of brother Hien plant year yonder)
'the guava tree which Brother Hien planted the year before last'.
In the next chapter we will see that cúa is also used as a connective in a
verb phrase (to introduce what is the source of a gift or a loan).
 Chapter 9
The Verb Phrase

9.0 The verb phrase (dong-ngu)

Like the structure of a noun phrase (NP), the makeup of a verb phrase (VP)
consists of a central position and a number of slots preceding and following
that central position. The central or nuclear position (slot 0) may be
occupied by a single verb (V), or by a verb surrounded by determiners which
occur in several positions to the left and to the right of that head verb.
The nature of each of the various verb classes (6.1.3) affects the structure
of a particular verb phrase. For instance, while Nó chay. is a complete
utterance meaning 'He runs, He jogs.', Töi tuong 'I thought wrongly.' is
an incomplete sentence, unless it can be expanded into Töi twang (rang) nó
van chay (I thought that he still run) T was under the impression that he is
still jogging (these days).' Such utterances as *No chay rang, or *No rät
chay. are ungrammatical, as opposed to Nó rat met., a well-formed
sentence containing a stative verb and meaning 'He is very tired.'
In Chapter 6, we have learned that chay 'to run' is an intransitive verb
(6.1.3.1), that twang is a "quotative" verb of thinking whose complement is
introduced by rang 'that' (6.1.3.7), and that only stative verbs (like met)
and verbs denoting psychological states (like yêu 'to love', thich 'to like')
can be preceded by rat 'very'—a degree marker. On the other hand, verbs
denoting an activity like chay 'to run', di 'to walk', dúng 'to stand', nói
'to speak', hoi 'to ask' do not take a degree marker.
Also, a linking verb denoting change (like hoá, thanh 'to become')
(6.1.3.4) cannot occur without a complement whereas a verb of existence
(like co 'to exist', con 'to remain') (6.1.3.3) can occur with or without an
object — or subject.
We will now look at the various determiners, first those occurring to the
left, then those occurring to the right of the head verb.
186 VIETNAMESE

9.1 Preverbs. The determiners that precede the head verb could be called
"preverbs". Below are examples of preverb subclasses.
9.1.1. Preverbs may be adverbs that denote the following aspects :
9.1.1.1. confirmation: co 'do, does, did' in Toi CO trå loi röi. (I
EMPHATIC pay words already) 'I did answer [the invitation].' (7.1.2.3);
chi 'only' in Nó chi nói thoi. (he only talk stop) 'He only talks.'
9.1.1.2. negation: khöng, chäng, chå 'not' in TÖJ' khong /chang /cha
thich. 'I don't like [it].'; chua 'not yet' in Ho chua trå loi. 'They
haven't answered yet.'(7.1.2.3)
9.1.1.3. tense: dang 'in the process of', da 'anterior', së 'future', sap
'immediate future', vúa mói 'recent past', tung 'experience' in dang an
'is eating', da den roi 'already arrived', së mua 'will buy', sap (sua)
lay vo (about to take wife) 'will get married soon', vúa mói ban 'just
sold (recently)', tung o Núu-Uoc = Niu-Oóc (experience reside New York)
'has lived in New York'. (7.1.2.4A through G)
9.1.1.4. time: hay 'often' in hay an chóng Ion ' [of infant] to eat often
and grow fast'; nang 'frequently' in nang di nang lai {di 'go', lai
'come') 'to frequent'; thuong 'generally' in thuong dung xe dien (use
vehicle electric) 'usually takes the streetcar'; bong 'suddenly, unexpectedly'
in Troi bong mua to (sky suddenly rain big) 'It suddenly rained hard.'; chat
'suddenly, unexpectedly' in Em (younger sister) chat den (arrive), chat di
(go) 'You come and go just like that.'; thinh-thoang 'now and then' in Toi
thinh-thoång mói gap anh ay (only-then meet young man that) 'I see him
once in a while.'; läu-läu (long REDUPLICATION) 'every now and then' in
Co ay (young woman that) läu-läu mói viet thu (only-then write letter).
'She only writes once in a blue moon.', etc.
9.1.1.5. comparison, uniformity and continuity : cung 'likewise, too,
also'in cüng thích mi 'also likes noodles', cung khöng thích mi (likewise
not like noodle) 'does not like noodles either'; deu 'equally' in {cung)
dêu thích món phó (likewise equally like dish pho) '[they] all like beef
noodle soup'; cung 'together' in cung hoc mot truong (together study one
school) '[they] study at the same school'; vän 'still', cú 'continues to',
and con 'still' occurring in combination in van cú ngú 'went on
sleeping', van cú hut thuoc la 'continues to smoke cigarettes [despite
 THE VERB PHRASE 187

warning]', hay con dang ngu 'is still asleep', van con uong ruou 'is
still drinking alcohol' (7.1.2.2A through C).
9.1.1.6. recurrence or resumption: lai 'again' in Troi lai mua nua
(sky again rain additional) 'It is raining again', Ho nghi mot lúc roi lai
lam (they rest one moment then again work) 'They rested a moment, then
resumed working', Me dä bao khöng duoc än keo, sao con lai cú än ?
(mother ANTERIOR say not allowed eat candy, how child contrary-to-
expectation continue eat) '[mother speaking to child] I told you not to eat
candy, why did you go ahead and do it (despite my warning)?' (7.1.2.2D) .
9.1.1.7. order or prohibition: häy 'exhortative' in Hay nín di!
(EXHORTATIVE stop-crying IMPERATIVE) 'Stop crying!'; cho or dúng
'prohibitive' in Chó (co) uong ruou ! (PROHIBITIVE EMPHATIC drink
alcohol) 'Don't (you) drink alcohol.' Dung quên löi me dan !
(PROHIBITIVE forget words mother advise) 'Don't forget what Mom told
you.' (7.1.2.5).
9.1.2. Preverbs may be auxiliary verbs denoting possibility, probability,
ability or volition. Examples are:
co the' (have ability) 'can, may' in co the lam noi (do capable) 'can
do it'; chiu 'suffer, undergo' in chiu thua (lose) 'conceded defeat'; dinh
'intend' in dinh hoc luat (study law) 'plans to study law'; toan, tinh
'plan' in Toi toan/tinh qua nha Bac Ca choi. (go-over house uncle big
play) 'I thought of going to First Uncle's house for a visit.'; dam 'dare' in
Cháu khong darn hoi chu (nephew/niece not dare ask younger paternal
uncle) '[child to uncle] I did not dare ask you.'; danh 'be resigned to' in
Öng ay danh bó ca tú sách lai. (gentleman that resign leave all closet-book
behind) 'He reluctantly left his entire library behind.'; no 'have the heart to'
in Sao anh no bó em? (how elder brother be as cruel as drop younger
sister) '(Darling) how can you have the heart to abandon me?'; muoh
'want' in Anh ay khöng muon lam nhu the, nhung (fellow that not
want act like so, but ...) 'He did not want to act that way, but '; can
'need' in Con can suy-nghi them, (child need think-think add) 'You need
to think it over.'; phai 'must, have to' in Töi phåi roi khoi noi nay. (I
must leave away-from place this) 'I must leave this place.'; nên 'should'
in Em nên nghe chi. (younger sibling should listen to elder sister) '[older
sister to younger sister] You had better listen to me.'; quyet 'resolve, be
188 VIETNAMESE

determined' in Chang quyet (chi) phuc-thu cho cha (he resolve will avenge
for father). 'He resolved to avenge his father.' etc.
9.1.3 Preverbs may be degree markers that help identify stative verbs or
adjectives: rät 'very, quite', khá 'rather, pretty', khi 'a little too ....',
hoi 'a little', qua 'excessively', etc. (9.7.2.2) These same markers may
also precede verbs of feeling and knowing like yen 'to love', thich 'to
like', ghét 'to hate', nho 'to miss', so 'to fear', mê 'to love
passionately' (rät yen, rät thich, rät ghét, rät nho, qua yêu, qua so,
qua mê, etc.).
9.1.4. Preverbs may also be some fixed expressions like cång ... cång ....
'more and more' as in cång nghe cång thich 'the more I listen, the more I
like i t ' ; [cång] ngåy cång .... 'more ..... every day' as in [cång]ngåy cång
lon manh 'grows bigger and stronger every day'; möi ngåy mot ..... 'more
..... each day' as in möi ngåy mot tiêh-bö 'more progressive each day'.

9.2 The relative positions of preverbs. The determiners that precede the
head verb occur in specific order. The table below shows the relative
positions of some frequently used preverbs:

POSITIONS OF PREVERBS

cung deu van se rät khöng hay

con dang chang näng
da cha
vua chua HEAD
mói VERB

hay
chó
dung
 THE VERB PHRASE 189

Some preverbs are difficult to classify, but roughly speaking, those

which are farthest from the head verb show tense, time, etc., and those
marking negation and prohibition tend to come closer to the head verb. As
already mentioned in 7.1.3, efforts have been made to examine possible
sequences and co-occurrences [Nguyen Kim-Than 1963 & 1975; Thomas
1981]. The negators khöng, chang, cha 'not', chita 'not yet', cho and
dung 'do not', for instance, are mutually exclusive. So are dä 'anterior'
and van 'still', although da may appear after cung 'also' or deu 'all'.
In addition to several possible sequences listed in 7.1.3, we can mention
that in modern journalistic style one interesting construction includes all
three "tense markers" da, dang and se in that order:
Chung töi da, dang va se giúp các ban day lui nan nghèo-khó va
dot-nát.
(we exclusive ANTERIOR PRESENT and FUTURE help plural friend push
retreat disaster poor-poor and ignorant-ignorant)
'We have helped you, we are helping you, and we will help you
push back the scourge of poverty and ignorance.'
The pair of adverbs van and thuong 'usually, habitually' may co-
occur, and it is reversible: Töi vän thuong = thuong van tap boi vao
buoi sang. (I usually practice swim enter half-day morning) 'I usually
practice swimming in the morning.'
9.3 Postverbs. The determiners that follow the head verb could be
called "postverbs". They present a more varied picture, particularly with
regard to various objects or complements that a member of one given verb
subclass calls for. There are three possibilities: either the complement must
immediately follow the head verb, or it may require a connective, or the
situation may be indifferent.
9.3.1. There is no connective:
A. The verb is transitive and takes a direct object as in an com 'ate
dinner', hoc bai 'studied the lesson', dánh Pháp duoi Nhat 'fight the
French and expel the Japanese' [Vietminh slogan]', trong cay gay rung
'plant trees and start forests', viet sách 'wrote a book', mac ao 'wears a
shirt', giet vo 'killed his wife', thích mua thu (season autumn) 'likes
autumn', so lanh 'fears the cold weather', yeu nuoc 'loves one's
country', tang ban 'presents [something] to one's friend', viet but chi
190 VIETNAMESE

'writes in pencil', nhan tien 'received money', vay tien 'borrowed

money', muon dao 'borrowed a knife', bi ten 'was hit by an arrow',
phai long 'fell in love with', etc.
B. The verb of motion takes a complement which denotes a goal, a
destination as in den truong 'reached the school', di cha 'went to the
market', ve nuoc 'went back (to one's) home (country)', sang Thai-Ian 'went
over to Thailand', qua cau 'crossed the bridge', lên phong ngú tren gác
(ascend room-sleep space-above upper-floor) 'went up to the bedroom
upstairs', lên Da-lat 'went up to Dalat', xuong ga-ra 'went down to the
garage,' ra thu-vien (go out library) 'went out to the library', ra Ha-noi
(go out Hanoi) 'went up to Hanoi [from further south]', våo phong tarn
(enter room bathe) 'went into the bathroom', våo Hue (enter Hue) 'went
down to Hue [from further north]', etc.
C. The situational complement denotes state, manner, frequency, scope,
result, as in nam dat 'lay on the floor', ngú man 'slept under a mosquito
net',an cham 'eats slowly', keu to 'shouts loudly', än no 'ate until full',
tö hong 'painted it red', ra ngoai-quoc may lan (go out foreign country a
few time) 'went abroad several times', tam mot cái (bathe one time) 'took
a bath', den truóc (arrive before) 'arrived first', ve nhi (return second)
'came second in the race', chon song 'buries alive', Tur-Hål chet dúng. 'Tu
Håi died standing', tim nguoc tim xuoi (look upstream look downstream)
'hunted far and near', ó hai tháng 'stayed two months', mua nam
'subscribed annually', etc.
D. The coverb denotes result, direction or orientation, as in nghe thay
(listen perceive) 'heard [sound]', kiem ra (search out) 'found', tim thay
(look find) 'found [a lost object]', tao nên (create result) 'created', thuê
duoc nha re (rent gain house cheap) 'was able to rent a cheap house', lay
phåi vo xau (take suffer wife ugly) 'married an ugly wife', giam phåi gai
(step suffer thorn) 'stepped on a thorn', chay ra chay våo (run exit run
enter) 'runs in and out', gúi ve (send return) 'sent back', cap cho (grant
give) 'grants to, gives to', öm lay dúa bé (embrace take classifier small)
'hugged the child', etc.
E. The complement denotes causality, as in chet benh 'died of illness',
chet doi 'died of hunger, starved to death', chet bom 'died in a bomb
raid', chet dan 'died of a bullet', chet rét 'died of cold', etc.
 THE VERB PHRASE 191

F. The complement is a postposed adverb like lam 'much' (än lám

'ate a lot'), qua 'too, excessively' (lam qua 'worked too hard'), nua
'again, more, further' (lam nüa 'did it again'), roi 'already' (lay roi 'took it
already'), not 'finish up' (dich not 'finished the translation'), ngay 'right
away' (viet ngay 'wrote it right away'), lien 'immediately' (lam lien 'did it
right away'), hån 'definitively' (bo han 'gave up entirely'), dä 'first'
(nghi da 'rest first'), hang 'first' (an com häng 'eat dinner first'), luön
'often; immediately; to a full extent' (nói luön 'talks incessantly', san có
dip, lên luön Da-lat (available exist opportunity ascend right away Dalat)
'took advantage of a chance to go up to Dalat'), mäi /hoåi 'continually, on
and on' (khóc mäi /hoåi 'kept on crying'), dan 'gradually' (uohg dan
'drinks little by little'), etc.
[The reduplicated forms of the last three terms—luon luön 'constantly',
mäi mäi 'for ever', and dan dan 'gradually—are movable adverbs like
tuyêt 'super', qua 'too, excessively, so', het su 'utterly', vo cung
'extremely': they may either precede or follow the head verb.]
G. The complement denotes denial, prohibition or failure to notice, with
such verbs as tu-choi 'to refuse', bac-bo 'to reject', cU-tuyet 'to turn
down' (tcü-chói [khong cho] tang lüong 'refuse not give increase salary'—
'denied [somebody] a raise'), cam 'to forbid', ngan-cån 'to prevent' (cam
[khong duoc] hut thuoc la 'forbid not get suck drug-leaf—'prohibited
[somebody] from smoking', ngän-cån khöng cho vao thu-vien 'prevent-
stop not allow enter library'—'stopped [somebody] from entering the
library'), quên 'to forget' (quên [khöng]ghi vao só dia-chi 'forget not note
enter book address'---'forgot to write it down in the address book').
[Under French rule, one sign often found in the capital city of Hanoi
spelled out CAM KHONG DUOC DAI (the grammatical equivalent of DEFENSE
D'URINER). Ly Toet, a cartoon character from the countryside, read the four
romanized words the way he was taught to read Chinese characters—from
right to left—and argued with the agent de police that at that particular wall
people "can pass water (since) there was no forbidding": dái duoc khöng cam!
The gendarmerie should have made the sign read unambiguously CAM DAL]
9.3.2. There must be a connective:
A. The complement indicates accompaniment, association or
opposition, as in ó nha vói me 'stays home with his mother'; hoc vói ong
192 VIETNAMESE

Carjat 'studied with Mr. Carjat'; nói vói ban 'speaks to one's friend'; den
vói dong-båo 'comes to one's countrymen'; tro ve vói To-quoc (turn
return with fatherland) 'returns to one's fatherland'; tuyên-bo vói cu-tri
'announced to the electorate'; vui-thú vói vo-con 'enjoys home life with
his wife and kids'; trái vói nguyên-tac 'contrary to the principle', thanh-
cöng vói hai ban tay trang 'succeeded with two (hand white) empty hands',
Truong Chu Ván An dab vói Nguyen Trai 'Chu Van An High School
(fight with) is playing against Nguyen Trai.', etc.
B. The complement indicates an objective to pursue: an cho no 'ate
until one is full'; kiem cho ra, kiem bang duoc (search until out, search
equal obtain) 'try to find it at all costs'; lay cho ky/bang dwoc (marry until
equal obtain) 'married [her] at all costs'.
Such a construction as Lay but chi mau (pen-lead color) ma ve !
'Use a color pencil to draw [it]!' or Lay xe dap cua bo (bike property dad)
ma di cho! 'Use daddy's bike to go to market!' employs the connective må
with the meaning '(in order) to' following an (imperative) predication which
contains the "disposal verb" lay 'to take, use'.
Note: Some compound idioms exist without the connective: nói dúa
'said jokingly', (bon mon) än choi (four dish eat play) 'the four assorted
appetizers' [cf. Fr. amuse-gueules].
C. The complement indicates the second term of a simile: än nhu bo
ngoh co (eat like ox gulp grass) 'to eat gluttonously', lam nhu bon 'to
do easily as in play', de nhu thó 'to reproduce like rabbits', etc.
D. The object of the connective cua is the source of a gift, a loan,
when it follows a verb of taking, borrowing, stealing, seizing, etc., as in
lay cua öng noi nhieu tien (take property grandfather-inner much money)
'took a lot of money from his paternal grandfather'; vay cua bå hang xóm
möt bat duong (borrow property lady-hamlet one bowl sugar) 'borrowed a
bowl of sugar from the lady next door'; mWon cua thu-viên hai cuon tieu-
thuyet (borrow property book-house two roll novel) 'borrowed two novels
from the library'; nam 1862 Pháp chiem cua Viêt-nam ba tinh mien dong
(year 1862 France seize property Vietnam three province region east) 'in
1862 France seized the three eastern provinces of Vietnam'.
E. The complement indicates location, point of departure or focus: lam
viêc o ngay thu-dö 'works right in the capital city', ó Nha-trang ra (live
 THE VERB PHRASE 193

Nhatrang exit) 'came up from Nha-trang', xay-dung tai Håi-phöng

'builds in Håi-phöng' (cf. xåy-dung Håi-phöng 'builds up Håi-phöng'),
phát-trién ó mien duyen-håi 'develops in the coastal area' (cf. phát-trién
mien duyen-håi 'develops the coastal area'), tin ó su úng-ho cúa quan-
chung 'believed in the support of the masses'.
F. The complement indicates motivation: ra tranh-cú vi quyèn-loi cá-
nhan (exit run-election because of interests individual) 'ran (in the election)
because of personal interests', lua em ruot vi/tai tham cúa (dupe younger
sibling innards because of covet property) 'cheated his own sibling because
of greed', lam viec vi loi-ich chung (do job because of usefulness
common) 'works for the sake of the common good'.
G. The complement indicates the topic presented or discussed: nói
chuyen vè truyen nöm (talk-story about tale vernacular) 'spoke about the
narratives in nom verse', thåo-luån ve tho luc-bát (discuss about poetry
six-eight) 'discussed poetry in the luc-bát meter'.
H. The complement indicates attention or concern: dé y den (place
mind reach) 'pays attention to', chu-y toi (concentrate reach)'concentrates
on', cha döm-ngó gi den viêc hoc cúa con-cal (not glance-look
whatever reach business study property children) 'never takes a look at his
kids' schoolwork'.
I. The complement indicates some reason: bo nha ra di tai co vo kinh-
khúng do (leave house exit go because of classifier wife terrible that) 'left
home because of that terrible wife of his'; that-bai tai cái chính-sách bat-
nhat dó (fail because of classifier policy not-one that) 'failed because of that
inconsistent policy', Ke-hoach do vo la tai chúng no. (plan tumble-break
be because group-he) 'The plan collapsed because of them.'
J. The complement indicates an origin: gianh doc-lap tu tay nguoi
Pháp (wrest single-stand from hand person France) 'wrested independence
from the French', súa tú: dau den cuói (correct from head to end) 'to
revise from beginning to end'; thot tu trong day long (utter from inside
bottom heart) 'to express [feeling] from the bottom of one's heart'.
K. The complement indicates the beneficiary: nau cho lu con (cook
give band child) 'to cook for one's children', che-tao cho nguoi gia (make-
create give person old) 'to manufacture for the benefit of older people', viet
194 VIETNAMESE

cho bac tiéu-hoc (write give level small-study) 'to write [books] for the
primary level'.
L. The complement indicates some purpose: song dé huong-thu
(live in order to enjoy) 'lives to enjoy things', ra tranh-cú dé phuc-vu
dong-båo (exit run in order to serve compatriot) 'ran (in the election) in
order to serve his countrymen'.
M. The complement indicates the origin of an action or an attitude: do
boh phía dánh vao (originate four side strike enter) 'attacked from four
directions', do oc ky-thi (originate brain discriminate) 'because of
discrimination', do trí-thúc länh-dao (originate intellectual lead) 'led by
intellectuals' [this preferred to länh-dao bói trí-thúc, translationese for the
French construction containing the preposition par 'by'; see below].
N. The connective bói 'because of, on account of' is used to indicate
the cause or motive: bói máu ghen kinh-khúng cúa ba vo (because blood
jealous terrible property classifier wife) 'because of his wife's terrible
jealousy'; Gia-dinh tan-nát boi tính me co-bac cúa anh ay. (family
demolished because of habit addicted chess-silver property fellow that) 'The
family got broken up because of his addiction to gambling.'
Usually the complement indicates the actor, the doer, the agent : sáng-
lap bói nguoi Á-dong 'founded by (people Asia east) Asians', (Nuóc ta)
bi cai-tri boi thuc-dan Pháp trong hon 80 nam. (country we/us suffer
govern by colonialist France in more eighty year) 'Our country was ruled by
French colonialists for over eighty years.' [The active forms (do) ngifoi A-
dong sáng-lap and Thuc-dån Pháp cai-tri nuóc ta trong hon 80 nam are
considered more natural than the "passive" form, cf. 6.1.3.2.]
Lately, this boi-construction is tolerated in scientific discourse when used
in definitions, e.g. "Khoi la phan khong-gian gioi-han bói mot mat khép
kin." 'A volume is a portion of space bound by (one surface closed) a closed
surface area.'; "Góc la mot hinh tao bói hai núa dwong thång cung xuat-
phát tir möt diem." 'An angle is a figure formed by two straight half-lines
(together originate from one point) diverging from a common point.' [Tu-
dién tiêhg Viêt 1994]
O. The complement indicates the content of a belief or an opinion: tin
la that 'believes that [something] is true' (cf. tin that 'truly believes'),
biet la han 'knows that [it was] him' (cf. biet han 'knows him') .
 THE VERB PHRASE 195

9.3.3. A connective may be used or not :

A. The complement is a place or a time: nam (ó) trên giüong 'lies in
[on] bed'; ngoi (a) day 'sits [in] here'; bi té (våo) ngay thú sáu 13
(suffer fall enter day-sixth 13) 'fell down on a Friday the 13th'; gid da
(vao) lúc 2g sang (turn uterus enter moment two hour morning) '[of
expectant mother] started going into labor at 2 am'.
B. The complement indicates a means or an instrument: nói (bang)
tiéhg Pháp (speak by-means-of language France) 'speaks in French'; an
(bang) dua (eat by-means-of chopstick) 'eats with chopsticks'; di (bang)
xe buyt (go by-means-of vehicle-autobus) 'goes by bus'; chua (bang)
thuoc nam (cure by-means-of medicine south) 'cure by Vietnamese herbal
medicine', nuol (bang) sua me (nourish by-means-of milk mother) 'to
breastfeed'; tat (bang) gåu song (bail by-means-of scoop song) 'irrigate
by-means-of tripod-scoop'; etc.
But the connective is mandatory if a direct object, too, is present, as in
noi chuyên (talk story) bang tieng Pháp 'talks in French'; an com (eat
rice) bang dua 'eats rice with chopsticks'; di San José (go San José)
bang xe buyt 'goes to San José by bus'; chüa ung-thu (cure cancer) bang
thuoc nam 'cures cancer by Vietnamese herbal medicine'; nuoi con
(nourish child) bang sua me 'breastfeeds her baby'; tat ruong (irrigate
ricefield) bang gåu song 'irrigates the ricefield using the tripod scoop';
nhin tol bang cap mat nghi-ngo (look at me by-means-of pair eye suspect)
'gave me a look of suspicion', etc.
C. The complement is the content of thought or speech, as in nól rang
.... 'said that ', nhah manh (press strong) rang 'emphasized that
', nghi rang 'thinks that ', tin-tuong rang 'believes that
', xac-nhan rang 'confirmed that '. Chi ay bao (rang) Thanh-
Tung duoc nhan rol. (elder sister that say that Thanh-Tung get accept
already) 'She said that Thanh-Tung had been admitted.'; Chung toi ngo
(rang) ong ay chua có va (we exclusive thought that gentleman that not-yet
have wife) 'We thought (wrongly) that he is not married.'
D. The complement indicates the recipient or the provider ("the indirect
object") and the verb is one of giving (cho, tang, bieu) or receiving (lay
vay, muon)---a "double-object" or "ditransitive" verb—[see 6.1.3.6A]: e.g.
tang ban sách 'presented his friend with books' [= tang sách cho ban],
196 VIETNAMESE

muon anh ca-vát 'borrowed a tie from (his) elder brother' [= muon ca-
vát cúa anh].
E. The complement of a causative verb (lam 'to make', khiêh 'to
cause') follows the object of that verb: lam bo me buon 'makes his dad
and mom feel sad', khiêh moi nguoi 'caused everyone to worry', etc.
Other frequently used causative verbs (Vcause) [6.1.3.8] are cho 'let,
allow, permit', dé 'let', moi 'invite', ru 'invite for a Dutch treat', xin
'ask, request', yêu-cau 'request', doi 'demand', giup 'help', ép
'compel', khuyên 'advise', bat, buoc, bat-buoc 'force, coerce', etc.
They are sometimes called "telescoping" verbs since the object of the main
verb V1 is at the same time the subject of the second verb V2.
Several verbs denoting prohibition or opposition (cam 'prohibit', ngan
'prevent, stop', ngan-cam 'forbid, prohibit') that we already mentioned in
section 6.1.3.8 above, can also be included among the large subclass of
causative verbs.
F. The "factitive" complement of a verb of choosing—-a "double-
object" or "ditransitive" verb [6.1.3.6C]---occurs following the direct object
(DO) and the copula la/lam, in accordance with this formula:
Vchoose + DO + la/lam + COMPLEMENT
(Co) coi Chåu lå kè thú.
she regard Chau be enemy
'She considers Chåu an enemy.
(Ho) bau Quan lam chu-tich.
they vote Quån do chairman
'They elected Quån chairperson.'
Since the "ditransitive" verb at the central position expresses the idea of
evaluation, selection, .election, appointment or assignment (e.g. coi 'to
regard, consider', goi 'to call, name', chon 'to choose, select', tuyen 'to
select', bau 'to elect', cú 'to appoint'), its object and its complement are
co-referential, i.e. refer to the same entity [cf. Engl People call him a
crook ].
G. The head verb is a verb of insertion-—another "double-object" or
"ditransitive" verb [6.1.3.6B]—which denotes a limited movement and is
followed successively by its direct object (DO), a coverb of direction (v'),
and its complement (which denotes the destination of that movement).
 THE VERB PHRASE 197

The pattern is as follows:

Vinsertion + DO + V' + COMPLEMENT
(Anh) thoc tay våo tui.
he stick hand enter pocket
'He stuck his hand into his pocket/
(Nó) nhét qua cam våo bi.
he force fruit orange enter bag
'He forced the orange into his bag.'
(Tåi-xe) day ö-tö våo ga-ra.
driver push car enter garage
'The chauffeur pushed the car into the garage.'
(Han) gi sung vao tai vo.
he press gun enter ear wife
'He pressed the handgun against his wife's ear.'

9.4 The complement may be placed either before or after the head verb.
9.4.1. Several adverbs of manner like se, khë, tham may either precede or
follow the-head verb they modify: së / khë nói = nói së / khë 'speaks
softly', tham nghï = nghi tham 'thinks silently', etc. Others always
precede the head verb as in trom (surreptitiously) nghi, thiet
(hypothetically) nghi, thiên (shallow) nghï—all expressions used by a
speaker modestly expressing his opinion: '(I) humbly think, in my shallow
opinion', etc.
9.4.2. Other adverbs of manner, most of them disyllabic Chinese loanwords,
may also either precede or follow the head verb, e.g. nhe nhång, nho nhe
'[speak] soft(ly)' hoån-toån 'entirely, completely', tuyêt doi 'absolutely',
tuong-doi 'relatively', tich-cuc 'actively, positively', etc. in hoån-toån
tin-tuong = tin-twang hoån-toån 'to have full confidence'; tuyêt-doi trung-
thanh = trung-thånh tuyêt-doi 'to be absolutely loyal' ; tich-cWc lam viêc
= lam viêc tich-cWc 'to work actively'; etc.
In journalistic style, it is possible to use the phrase mot cach (one
fashion/manner) '-ly', Fr. '-ment' to express manner: trinh-båy mot
cach rö-rång 'presents clearly', tuyên-bo mot cach hon-xuoc 'rudely
stated', mot cach kiên-nhan 'patiently', etc.
198 VIETNAMESE

9.4.3. An adverb of time or duration can also be movable: suót dai vat-vå
= vat-vå suót dai 'worked hard all one's life'; tron dai hi-sinh = hi-
sinh trgn dai 'made sacrifices throughout her life'.
9.4.4. When the complement denotes frequency or a certain amount per time
unit, it may also be placed either before or after the head verb:
ån moi ngåy mot búa thöi (eat each day one meal stop) = möi ngay an
möt bua thoi (each day eat one meal stop) 'eats only one meal a day';
Hoi Tu-diên-hoc Bac-Mi hop hai nam möt lan (society lexicography
north America meet two year one time) = hai nam hop möt lan (two year
meet one time) 'The Dictionary Society of North America meets once every
two years.';
Bao Ngåy Nay ra hai tuan mot so (newspaper "Today" come out two
week one number) = hai tuan ra mot so (two week come out one number)
'The newspaper Ngay Nay is published every two weeks.'.
9.5 Finally there is a unique construction in which as many as three actions
are recounted in chronological order: the first verb is usually di 'to go', the
second verb denotes whatever activity takes place at the destination of the
first movement, then the third verb (always vè 'to return') denotes the
opposite direction of that first movement—hence the label "round-trip
phrase" (ngú khú-hoi) [Diep Quang Ban 1992: 74]. Examples are:
di bai 'swim' vè 'came back from swimming'
di hoc 'study' vè 'returned from school'
(mal) di chai 'play' Viet-nam vè 'just returned from a Vietnam trip'
(vira) di thu-viên 'library' vè 'just came back from the library'
(da) di den 'reach, arrive' nhå chú vè (roi) 'already'
'already back from Uncle's house'
The first verb can be any other verb, as in
chay ra cho Bên-thanh (mai) vè (bang xich-lo)
(run exit market Ben-thanh just return by-means-of pedicab)
'just came back from Ben-thanh Market by pedicab'
dua vo di my-vien (vira mói) vè
(lead wife go beauty-salon recently just return)
'just came back from taking his wife to the beauty parlor'
tien ban ra san bay ve (lúc nay)
(see-off friend exit field-fly return moment this)
 THE VERB PHRASE 199

'came back a while ago after seeing his friend off at the airport'
våo Såi-gön ra (roi)
(enter Saigon exit already)
'already came back up from Saigon'
lên Da-lat xuohg (hom qua)
(ascend Dalat descend day past)
'came down from Dalat yesterday'
9.6 The positions of postverb determiners present more variety than in the
case of determiners surrounding a head noun.
Following are some possible sequences:
roi cüng së chl (that-bai)
(then likewise shall only lose)
'will then only fail, too.'
roi cüng deu së (hoi-han)
(then likewise all shall repent)
'will all be sorry, too.'
roi cung van së lai (that- vong)
(then likewise still shall again disappointed)
'will still be disappointed again, too.'
roi cüng së khong chl (dau buon)
(then likewise shall not only hurt-sad)
'likewise will not only be grieved.'
Auxiliary verbs like phåi, chiu, no occur after the above markers :
khöng phåi tra 'does not have to pay'
chang chiu thua 'did not concede defeat'
khong no giet 'did not have the heart to kill'
Postposed determiners sometimes occur in a fixed order, sometimes do
not:
Töi khuan mai tú Son-täy vë day cho anh day !
(I carry continue from Son-tay return here give you there)
'I lugged this all the way from Son-tåy down here for you.'
Töi nghi mai khöng ra dap-so.
(I reflect continue not come-out answer-number)
'I thought and thought but could not figure out the answer.'
200 VIETNAMESE

Nó ba chan bon cang chay thing ve nhq.

(he three leg four leg run straight return house)
'He ran straight home as fast as his legs could carry him.'
But there is more freedom when the head verb has a V' (coverb) as
directional complement: the equivalent of 'took home two dictionaries' could
be mang /hai quyén tu-diën / ve nhå or mang / vè nhå / hai quyén tu-diên.
However, when the direct object is only a noun (like sách 'book, books')
instead of a [longer] noun phrase (like hai quyén tu-diên 'two + roll +
dictionary'), then the only order allowed is mang / sách / ve nhå 'took
the book(s) home'.

9.7 The adjectival phrase (tính-ngu)

The verb phrase whose head verb is one of quality (or a stative verb, i.e. an
adjective) also offers an interesting picture with regard to various possible
determiners occurring before or after that adjective.

9.7.1 Structure of the adjectival phrase.

9.7.1.1 First, whether a stative verb or adjective has an absolute meaning
or not is the relevant factor.
A. An absolute stative verb does not take a degree marker. Examples of
absolute adjectives are duc 'male', cái 'female', so '[of baby] first born',
riêng, tu 'private', chung 'common', cong 'public', chinh 'main,
principal', and such compound adjectives as chac nich 'very firm', trang
tinh 'pure white', xanh ngát 'dark green', tim bam 'black and blue', thorn
phúc 'especially fragrant', ram ri 'murmur-like', ri rao 'rustling', etc.
[6.2.2.3] Forms such as *rat chung (very public), *rat chinh (very
main), *hoi thorn phúc (a little fragrant especially) are ill-formed.
B. A stative verb with relative meaning can take a preposed degree marker
like rat, khá, khi, hoi, cuc, cuc ki, or a postposed degree marker like
Jam, qua, nua [6.2.2] . Examples of relative adjectives are tot 'good',
xau 'bad; ugly', dep 'beautiful', hay 'proficient, interesting', gioi 'good,
competent', do 'red', to, Ion 'big, large; great', nho, bé 'small, little',
cao 'tall', thap 'short, not tall', lun '[of person] short', dai 'long', ngan
'short, not long', khó 'difficult', dé 'easy', (sung) strong 'happy', kho
(so) 'unhappy, miserable', dé chiu 'comfortable', etc., which may appear
 THE VERB PHRASE 201

with a degree marker as in rat tot, hoi xâu, khí dài, khá de, sifong lam,
kho qua, khó nua, etc.
9.7.1.2 Second, some adjectives can take a complement but others cannot:
(1) Those mentioned in (A) above (duc, cái, chinh, phu, công, tu,
träng tinh, thom phúc, ri rào, mum mím) do not take a complement: Dây
là con duong chinh. 'This is the main road.' Cai này là chính, cái dó là
phu. 'This piece is the principal element, that one is secondary.' The
sequences *rát chính (very primary), *rái phu (very secondary) , either
in attributive function or in predicative function, are ungrammatical.
(2) Adjectives that can take a complement are "quantitative adjectives"
(6.2.1): lón 'big, large, great', nho 'small, little', nhieu 'plentiful, much,
many', ít 'little, few', giàu 'rich', nghèo 'poor', du 'sufficient,
complete', day 'full', dong 'crowded', da 'painful', buot 'stinging',
nhuc 'aching', thing 'straight', etc., as in giàu cůa nghèo con 'rich in
wealth but poor in children,---wealthy but having no or few kids', dong
hoc-trò 'crowded with students', day kiên 'full of ants', du tien 'has
enough money', không du súe 'does not have enough strength'.

9.7.2 Preposed determiners.

With the exception of the prohibitive preverbs dung, cho and hay, the
modifiers or adverbs placed before a stative verb are the same as those that
may precede a functive verb. [The admonition by Ho Xuân-Huong (1772
?-1822 ?) in one of her poems—Dung xanh nhu lá, bac nhw voi "Don't
be green as a leaf or white as slaked lime!" is a case of poetic licence.]
The permitted determiners express the following :
9.7.2.1 Negation and confirmation, as in   (EMPHATIC sick) 'is
sick', không 6m (not sick) 'is not sick', chang om-dau gì ca (not sick-
sick whatever all) 'was not sick at all', cha om lân nào (not sick time
any) 'was not sick once', không bao già om (not whenever sick) - chWa
ó bao già (not-yet sick whenever) 'has never been sick' [with the head
adjective in boldface type].
9.7.2.2 Degree, as in rât nghèo 'very poor', khá giàu 'pretty wealthy',
khí dai 'a little long', hai khó 'a little too difficult', quá tò-mò 'too
inquisitive', cuc tot 'extremely good', cuc-kí quan-trong 'extremely
202 VIETNAMESE

important', hêt súc rác-rôi 'extremely complicated', hoàn-toàn sai-lâm

'entirely erroneous, completely wrong', etc.
9.7.2.3 Tense and aspect, as in Giáp dä khoè. (ANTERIOR strong) 'Giáp
has been better in health', Giáp dä khoè chua? (ANTERIOR strong yet)
'Is Giáp feeling better yet?' Ât dang ô. (CONTINUOUS sick) 'Ât is
presently) sick', Tan (vän) con . (still still sick) 'Tân is still sick',
Cå lóp vän im-lăng. (all class still silent quiet) 'The whole class was still
quiet', Ho se giàu. (they shall rich) 'They will be rich', Bà Bình chua
manh hån. (lady Binh not-yet well completely) 'Mrs. Bình has not
completely recovered yet', etc. (cf. 7.1.2.4)
9.7.2.4 Uniformity, as in Đông nghèo; Tay cũng nghèo. 'Dông is poor,
Tây is also poor.' Nam cûng không giàu-có gì. (Nam likewise not rich-
have whatever) 'Nam is not rich either.' Hai ben noi ngoai cùng nghèo.
(two sides inner outer together poor) 'The parents on both sides are poor.'
Cå hai vo chong deu khéo. (all two wife husband equally skilled) 'Both
husband and wife are skillful.' etc.
9.7.2.5 Progression, as in Bác lai càng kiêu-ngao hon. ( even all-
the-more arrogant superior) 'á is even more arrogant', (càng) ngày càng
thát-vong (more day more lose-hope) 'more and more disappointed',
(môi) ngày mot hùng-cuòng (each day one powerful-strong) 'more
powerful each day', etc.

9.7.3 Postposed determiners.

The postposed complements that can follow an adjective consist of three
kinds: those that follow the adjective directly, those that are introduced by a
connective, and those that may or may not be present.
9.7.3.1 The complement directly follows the head adjective.
A. The complement is a functor whose function is that of a degree marker,
as in hay lám 'very interesting', hay quá 'so interesting', (ve sau se con)
hay nüa (return afterward shall still interesting additionally) 'will be even
more interesting toward the end', (sě con) nghèo mãi (shall still poor
continuously) 'will continue to be poor', dep tuyet 'extremely beautiful',
dò ròi (red already) '[of color] red enough already', X. (làm viec nhiêu
quá) ôm ròi. (X work job much excessively sick already) 'X. worked too
hard, so already got sick .', etc. [There is a slight difference between hay
 THE VERB PHRASE 203

lám 'very interesting (I'm telling you)' and hay qua 'so interesting (I saw it,
I read it)', móng lam 'very thin' and móng qua 'too thin (as is)'.]
B. The complement following a quantitative adjective is a full word (like an
adjective, a numeral or a noun phrase) which describes manner, scope,
extent or frequency: dep la-lung 'astoundingly pretty', dep dé so (pretty
easy afraid) 'awfully beautiful', dep lông-lây (pretty resplendent)
'glamorous', hay ghê (interesting awful) 'fascinating', cao qua sue tuong-
tuong (tall exceed force imagination) 'tall beyond imagination', om nhom
(skinny very) 'emaciated', map qua chung qua dôl (fat exceed extent exceed
scope) 'immeasurably obese', xinh nhát lap (cute first class) 'cutest in our
class', lón hon (large superior) 'bigger, older', dài muoi thwóc (long 10
meter) 'ten meters long', sâu bon thwóc (deep 4 meter) 'four meters deep',
nang 160 bòong (heavy 160 pound) 'weighs 160 lbs', chan hai tá (even-
numbered 2 dozen) 'exactly two dozens', hong may Ian (out-of-order a
few time) 'broken down several times', etc.
 The complement is a noun that completes some aspect of the content of
the head adjective, as in day klen 'full of ants', day bui 'full of dust',
dông nguòi (crowded person) 'full of people', dong con 'having many
children', váng khách du-lich (not-crowded visitor travel) 'deserted by
tourists', day cui (thick pulp) '[of fruit] with a thick pulp', đúng phuong-
pháp (accurate method) 'methodical', dung the-lê (accurate rule) 'in
conformity with the regulations', giàu cua nghèo con (rich property poor
child) 'wealthy but having no or few children', giàu kinh-nghiem (rich
experience) 'experienced', thùa tài-nguyên (have surplus resource) 'not
lacking resources', thùa suc (have surplus force) 'not lacking strength',
tôt go '[of furniture] made of good wood'---as favorably compared to tot
nWóc son 'having just a good coat of paint', xa nhà 'far from home', gan
ngày gio bo (near day memorial father) 'close to the anniversary of his
father's death', chúa-chan hi-vong (overflow hope) 'full of hope', etc.
D. The complement is a noun denoting a bodily part when the whole verb
phrase describes a physical defect or an ailment, e.g. gu lung (hump back)
'hunchbacked', còng lúng (curved back) 'bent-backed', què chân
(crippled leg) 'lame', hói dau, hói trán (bald head/forehead) 'bald-
headed', sút môi (cleft lip) 'harelipped', diec tai (deaf ear)'deaf', ù tai
(buzz ear) 'having buzzing ears', sái co (twist neck) 'having torticollis,
204 VIETNAMESE

having a wryneck', khan co (hoarse throat) 'hoarse', nhuc dan (ache head)
'having a headache', nhúc rang (ache tooth) 'having a toothache', mù
mat (blind eye) 'blind', chôt mát (spoiled eye) 'one-eyed', loá mat
(blinded eye) 'dazzled', lác mat 'cross-eyed', hoa mat (flower eye) 'see
stars', chóng mat (turn face) 'dizzy', sun/sâu rang (worm-eaten tooth)
'having a decayed tooth', etc.
E. The complement may be a verb, as in khó nói 'difficult to say', khó
tin (tin 'to believe') 'incredible, unbelievable', khó dién-tå (diën-ta
'express, describe') 'difficult to express', khôn nguôi (difficult abate) '[of
feeling] difficult to soothe', khéo vá (skillful mend) '[of clothing]
skillfully mended', sung-suóng duoc doàn-tu vói vo-con (happy get re­
united together-with wife child) 'happy to be reunited with his wife and
kids', etc.
9.7.3.2 The complement is introduced by a connective.
A. It expresses a comparison, and the sequence is a simile, e.g. dep nhw
tien 'pretty like an immortal fairy', xáu nhu ma 'as ugly as a ghosť, trong
nhu ngoc tráng nhw ngà 'pure like jade, white like ivory9, toi nhu muc
'as dark as ink,---pitch-dark', châm nhw rua 'as slow as a turtle', Iwoi nhw
hui 'as lazy as a leper', etc.
. It clarifies some kind of relationship to the receiver (tôt cho nguoi già
'good for old people', loi cho suc khoê 'beneficial to [your] health' [cf.
ich quóc loi dân 'useful to the country and beneficial to the people'],
nguy-hiem cho hánh-khách 'dangerous for the passengers', rui cho co
Kieu 'unfortunately for Miss Kieu'), or to the scope of the characteristic
(dung ve cân-ban 'accurate regarding fundamentals,---basically correct',
sai ve dwòng-lói 'inaccurate regarding guidelines,---incorrect according to
the guidelines', trái vói nguyen-vong cua loàn-dân 'contrary to the
aspirations of the entire population' ), etc.
9.7.3.3 The connective may be optionally left out, as in:
Ro-ràng (là) no giet vo và tình-dich. (clear be he kill wife and love-
rival) 'It is very clear that he murdered his wife and her lover.'
Dung [= Chinh ] (là) bon chúng cuóp nhà bang và bán canh-sát.
(accurate be band they rob house-bank and shoot police) 'It is precisely
they who held up the bank and shot the police.'
 THE VERB PHRASE 205

Nuóc ta giàu (vë) nông-sän. (country us rich regarding farm-product)

'Our country is rich in agricultural products.';
Em trai toi giôi (vë) chu nom nhung lai dot (vë) toán. (younger-
sibling male me good regarding script southern, but contrary-to-expectations
dumb regarding math) 'My younger brother is very good in nôm characters,
but poor in math.'
9.7.4 Order of determiners.
The sequential order of determiners surrounding a stative verb seems to be
less complex than in the case of a functive verb. Below are some examples:
Diëu ay quan-trong het sue doi vói chúng tôi.
(item that important exhaust-force face together we exclusive)
'That is extremely important to us.'
Thang Hoàn giong me no ve hai con mat.
(boy Hoàn resemble mom he regarding two classifier eye)
'Little Hoàn has his mother's eyes.'
Xuân kém Ha ve tri tuông-tuong.
(Xuân inferior Ha regarding mind imagination)
'Xuân has less imagination than Ha.'
Thu sành nghë làm tho hon Đông.
(Thu expert occupation make poetry superior Đông)
'Thu is more skillful than Đông in composing poetry.'

9.8 Coordination
We have examined two of the four basic patterns of grammatical grouping:
the pattern of modification reflected in the structure of a noun phrase
(Chapter 8, from section 8.1), and the pattern of complementation
reflected in the structure of a verb phrase (this chapter, sections 9.0 through
9.7). Before moving on to Chapter 10 to examine the sentence, which
displays the pattern of predication, we will conclude this chapter by
examining the third pattern---that of coordination, which may appear in each
of the other three constructions.
Coordination is achieved by a comma pause between two or more items
placed in juxtaposition and called "coordinates":
(1) Nhung, Ngoc, vo Ngoc, chúng tôi ....
'Nhung, Ngoc, his wife (and) the two of us'
206 VIETNAMESE

(2) quan-áo, sách-vô (cůa các cháu)

(pants coat book notebook property plural nephew [of yours])
'our children's clothes and books'
(3) noi-nieu, xoong-chåo
(metal pot earthenware pot frying pan wok)
'pots and pans'
(4) tam, giat 'bathing and washing clothes'
(5) ăn corn, hoc bài,  ti-vi
(eat rice study lesson watch TV)
'(They) ate dinner, did their homework, and watched TV.'
The items in concatenation may also be joined by a connective called
"conjunction". Connectives may occur singly or in combination.
Examples of single connectives are và 'and', hay 'or', hoac 'or',
nhung 'but', mà 'and, yet', now added to examples 1 to 5:
(la) Nhung, Ngoc, vo Ngoc và chung tôi
(2a) quan-áo và sách-vô cùa các cháu
() nôi-niêu và xoong-chåo
(4a) tàm va giat
(5a) än com, hoc bài vá xem ti-vi
Examples of paired connectives are: ca .... lån .... 'both .... and ....',
vita .... vùa .... 'both .... and ....', càng .... càng .... 'the more .... the more
....', không nhűng .... ma con ....'not only.... but also .... ', tuy .... nhung
'although .... (yet) '
(6) ca di län ve 'both going and coming back,---both ways; round trip'
(7) vùa dánh trong vùa än cuóp
(both beat drum and hold up)
'sounded the alarm drum and pillaged the village at the same time'
(8) càng lón càng dep
(more big more pretty)
'[of girl] is prettier as she grows older'
(9) không nhűng ben mà cón rè
(not only durable but in addition cheap)
'not only durable but also cheap'
(10) Cháu Khuê tuy con it tuoi nhung rat khôn-ngoan.
(granddaughter Khuê though still little age but very wise and nice)
 THE VERB PHRASE 207

'Although Khuê is still quite young she is wise and well-behaved.'

(11) co gì än náy (have whatever eat same thing)
'to eat whatever one has' (see 6.3.2.6)
(12) Cùa ai nay dung. (property whoever same-person use)
'Anyone uses his/her own [pen, towel, etc.].'
(13) Cha me dat dâu con ngói day
(father mother place wherever, child sit that same place)
'A child sits wherever the parents put him/her.'
(14) bao sao nghe vay (tell however, listen to that same way)
'to obey whatever one is told'
There may be a verb series, denoting actions that occur in chronological
order:
(15) ngù day (sleep + rise) 'to rise, wake up, get up'
(16) di hoc ve (go + study + return) 'returned from school' (see 9.5)
(17) om khôi (sick + recover) 'recovered from illness'
(18) X. nói xong, dúng day, cúi chào ròi r vè.
(X speak finish stand rise bow salute afterward exit return)
'So saying, X. got up, bowed, then left.'
 Chapter 10
The Sentence

10.0 The sentence as unit of communication

A sentence is understood as a linguistic unit designed for communication and
possessing a content to convey with the speaker's appropriate mood, attitude
and feeling, and a specific grammatical structure uttered in a specific stress
and intonation pattern. The content of the sentence may be affirmative,
negative, interrogative, imperative or emotive. Its grammatical structure is a
string of words carrying a meaningful message and obeying (syntactic) rules
about the arrangement of gradually smaller and smaller constituents.

10.1 The simple sentence

10.1.1. Basically a sentence (câu) follows an independent pattern of
predication (8.0), i.e. it consists of two immediate constituents---the subject
(chu-ngű) announcing a topic (de) followed by the predicate (vi-ngũ)
which provides a comment (thuyet) on that topic.
Examples are:
(1) Troi / mua. (sky, rain) 'It's raining.'
(2) Mat troi / moc (face sky, rise) 'The sun rises.'
(3) Chim / hot 'Birds are singing.'
(4) Nam / cao. 'Nam [is] tall.'
(5) Nam / là sinn-vien. 'Nam is [a] student.'
(6) Me toi / nguői Håi-duong. (mother me, person Håi-duong)
'My mother (was) a native of Håi-diiong.'
(7) Me tôi / mat nam 1943. (mother me, lose year 1943)
'My mother died in (the year) 1943.'
(8) Con chim ay / hót hay lanı. (classifier bird that, sing beautiful very)
'That bird sings very beautifully.'
210 VIETNAMESE

In each of the above predications or simple sentences, the subject is a

noun phrase which consists of a single noun (troi, chim, Nam in examples
1, 3, 4, 5), a compound noun {mat tròi in example 2), or a noun phrase {me
tôi in examples 6 and 7; con chim ay in example 8).
The predicate in each example is a verb {mua, moc, hot, cao) or a verb
phrase (là sinh-viên, [là] nguòi Håi-dyong, mat nam 1943, hót hay lám),
10.1.2. But sometimes the sentence consists only of a verb phrase, whose
head is a verb of existence, appearance or disappearance (6.1.3.3), or a verb
denoting a psychological state, or a weather verb, as in
(9) Co khách. (exist visitor) 'There's a visitor.'
(10) Het tien. (exhaust money) 'There's no more money left.'
(11) Buon qua! (sad excessively) 'How sad!'
(12) Mua ròi. (rain already) 'It started raining already.'
10.1.3. The sentence may also consist of a single word, which is an
exclamation, or an abbreviated note or comment, as in
(13) Mua/ 'It's raining.'
(14) Vol 'It's going to break! '
(15) Tuyêt! 'Great! Superb!'
(16) Trat-tu! 'Order!'[in law court]
(17) Nghiêm! 'Attention!' [to soldiers]

10.2 The subject-less sentence.

Very often the subject is absent.
10.2.1. The sentence begins with a verb of existence (Vexist):
(9) Co khách. 'There's a visitor.'
(18) Co nguoi khách o viěn-phtíong. [The Tale of Kieu]
(exist person visitor at far-direction)
'There was a stranger from afar.'
(19) Con nuóc, con tát. (still water left, still bail)
'If there's some water left, we'll go on bailing,---There's still some
hope, so we'll have to try.'
10.2.2. The sentence is some general statement or a proverb:
(20) O Nhât-bån phåi di bên tay trai.
(in Japan must go side hand left)
'In Japan you must keep to the left.'
 THE SENTENCE 211

(21) Nên lay chu hiêu làm trong.

(should take character hieu do heavy)
'People should emphasize [the notion of] filial piety.'
(22) "Ǎn qua nhó kè trong cäy. " [a proverb]
(eat fruit remember person plant tree)
'Eating a fruit, one should think of the person who planted the tree.'
10.2.3. The subject has already been mentioned or is obvious:
(23) Dao này toi it di boi, vi nguòi yêu và hay met.
(period this I little go swim, because body weak and often tired)
T haven't been swimming a lot lately because I don't feel very
well and tire easily.'
(24) My mua vào nhièu hon bán ra, thành ra bi thâm-thùng ngân-sách.
(America buy in much more sell out, result suffer deficit budget)
'The U.S. imports more than it exports, so it has a deficit.'
10.2.4. The sentence is a monologue, a soliloquy, or an exchange in which
only the context helps identify either interlocutor:
(25) Buon ngů qua! Mai làm not.
(feel-like sleep so-much, tomorrow do finish)
'I'm so sleepy! I'll finish it tomorrow.' [speaker talking to oneself.]
(26) Di dâu day? — Ra buu-diên.
(Go where there, exit post-office)
'Where are you going? — To the post office.'
[This is an exchange between friends and equals. Children would be
scolded if they do not use the appropriate terms of address : they are taught,
when the father asks "Con di dâu day?" (child go where there) to respond
politely "Thua bô, con ra buu-diên a." (report father, child exit post
office POLITE PARTICLE) 'Daddy, I'm going to the post office.' (cf. 6.3.2.2)]
(27) Thi chua? -- Chieu thú hai moi thi.
(take exam yet, afternoon Monday only then take exam)
'Have you guys had the test yet? — Only on Monday afternoon.'
[Schoolmates talking]
10.2.5. The sentence is an order (peremptory or not) or an exhortation:
(28) Im (di)! 'Quiet!'
Nín (di)! '[to child] Stop crying!'
Thôi(di)! 'Stop!,---Cut it out!'
212 VIETNAMESE

[The final particle di! (7.3.2) makes the order less abrupt.]
(29) Ãn nüa di! 'Eat some more!'
(30) Cu nói di! 'Go ahead and say it!'
(31) Hay chò day dä! (EXHORTATIVE wait there first) 'Wait there first! '
(32) Hay uong nüa di dä! (EXHORTATIVE drink more IMP first)
'Drink some more first! '
10.2.6. The sentence is a response to a yes-or-no question (of the type co
.... không?, dã.... chua?)  a content-question containing the interrogative
substitute ai 'who?':
(33) Ann  muô'n mua không? — Muön.
(elder brother EMPHATIC want buy or-not — want)
'Do you want to buy it? — Yes, [I] do.'
(34) Hoi-cho Têt co dông nguòi không? — Dvng lám.
(fair New Year EMPHATIC crowded person or-not — crowded very)
'Are there many people at the Têt fair? — [It's] very crowded.'
(35) Chi dã hiêu chua? — Hieu roi.
(elder sister ANTERIOR understand yet — understand already)
'Did you understand? — Yes, [I] did.'
(36) Cau bang long không? — Bang long chú!
(maternal uncle equal-heart or-not — equal-heart surely)
'Do you agree? — Certainly!'[boys talking] (On chú, see 7.3.2)
(37) Co ay làm cho ai? — Làm cho Toà Dai-sú My
(aunt that work give who — work give seat big-envoy America)
'Whom does she work for? — For the U.S. Embassy.'

10.3 The sentence without a predicate.

The predicate is omitted among equals, when the sentence is a response
(considered abrupt) to a question containing the interrogative substitute ai
'who?':
(38) Ai lay cái bút chi dô trên bàn này? — Tôi.
(who take classifier pen lead red space above table this — I)
'Who took the red pencil on this desk? — I [did].'
(39) Ai muőn phát-bieu? — Toi.
(who want express [opinion] — I)
'Who wants to speak? - I [do].'
 THE SENTENCE 213

(40) Ai là so-huu-chù ngôi nhà này? — Vo chong toi.

(who be own-er classifier house this — wife husband me)
'Who is the owner of this house? - My wife and I [are].'

10.4 The subject-less sentence with a reduced predicate.

This is the case of the shortened response to a question that contains an
interrogative word as complement:
(41) Chi viet gì day? — Thu.
(elder sister write what there — letter)
'What are you writing? — A letter.'
(42) Thu cho ai? — Bác Thuan.
(letter give who — uncle/aunt Thuan)
'A letter to whom? — Aunt Thuan.'
(43) Bao giò co Green ve My? — Tuan sau.
(what-extent time miss Green return America — week later)
'When is Miss Green going back to America? — Next week.'
(44) Co Green ve My bao giò? — Tuan truóc.
(miss Green return America what-extent time — week before)
'When did Miss Green go back to America? — Last week.'

10.5 The kernel < S-P > sentence.

The Subject-Predicate (S-P) construction can be examined in terms of its
two immediate constituents: (a) the subject is a noun phrase; (b) the
subject is a verb phrase; and (c) the subject is itself a predication (S-P).
A. The subject is a noun phrase (NP).
The, predicate may contain a functive verb, a stative verb, or it may be a
noun phrase introduced by là, or it may be a verb phrase (or a prepositional
phrase) introduced by là, or it may itself be a predication optionally
introduced by là.
10.5.1 SENTENCE = NOUN PHRASE + VERB PHRASE
The head predicative is a functive verb, i.e. a verb of action—either
intransitive or transitive. Examples:
(45) Tanı còn ngu. (still sleep) 'Tarn is still asleep.'
(46) Anh ban tôi chi an com Viêt-nam thôi.
(classifier friend me, only eat rice Vietnamese stop)
214 VIETNAMESE

'My friend only eats Vietnamese food.'

(47) Các bà áy làrn tho bát-cú.
(plural lady that, make poem eight-line)
'Those ladies write 8-line poems.'
(48) Tâm mua sách  Duong u-do.
(Tâm, buy book at road freedom)
'Tâm buys books on Tu-do Street.'
(49) Bo no phat no may làn roi.
(father him, punish him a few time already)
'His father has punished him several times.'
(50) Nó bi (bó) phat may lan roi.
(he, suffer father punish a few time already)
'He has been punished (by his father) several times.
(51) Bà hiêu-truong thuong tat-cå các câu hoc-sinh này.
(lady school-head, reward all plural classifier student this)
'The principal rewarded all these students.'
(52) Tat-cå các câu hoc-sinh này dëu dwoc (bà hiêu-trWong) thuông.
(all plural classifier student this, equally get lady school-head reward)
'All these students were rewarded (by the principal).'
[ On bi and duo, see 6.1.3.2C ]
(53) Toi quen anh Duy tù höi 1945.
(I, know fellow Duy from time 1945)
'I've known Duy since 1945.'
(54) Thua Bác, tuân nào chúng cháu cung di Vung Tàu a.
(report uncle, week any group nephew likewise go V. T. POLITE PART)
'Uncle, we go to Vung Tàu every week.'
(55) Các cháu ra Vüng Tàu hoài !
(plural nephew, exit V.T. continuously)
'You guys go to Vung Tàu all the time, don't you?'
(56) Toi chay ra thu-vien nhé!
(I run exit book-house OK?)
'Shall I run out to the library?'
(57) Trong bêp con gao nep không?
(inside kitchen remain rice glutinous or-not)
'Is there any sticky rice left in the kitchen?'
 THE SENTENCE 215

(58) Nhà này không có gao nép.

(house this, NEG have rice glutinous)
'This house doesn't have sticky rice.'
(59) Hoan vân không chiù lây va.
(Hoan, still NEG consent take wife)
'Hoan still would not get married.'
(60) Moi nguòi deu hi-vong trúng so.
(every person, equally hope hit number)
'Everybody hopes to win the lottery.'
(61) Cô ay thuong nghî vây.
(girl that, usually think thus)
'She usually thinks so.'
(62) Chàng thu-sinh trong truyen thành tiên.
(guy student inside story, become immortal being)
'The young scholar in the story became an immortal being.'
(63) Quan-công hiên thánh.
(Quan-công, become saint)
'Guan Yu became a deity [= was deified].'
[On verbs of becoming thành and hiên, see 6.1.3.4]
(64) Cô My-Huyen lac dau.
(miss My-Huyen, shake head)
'My-Huyên shook her head.'
(65) Me tôi gui tien cho toi.
(mother me, send money give me)
'My mother sends me money.'
(66) Thai gul rat nhieu tien cho va. (T. send very much money give wife)
= Thai gui cho vo rät nhiëu tien. (T. send give wife very much money)
'Thài sent a lot of money to his wife.'
(67) Toi sẽ phåi vay tien cůa nhà bang.
(I shall must borrow money property house-bank)
'I'll have to borrow money from the bank.'
(68) Tôi dä phåi vay muòi ngàn dò-la cůa nhà bang
(I ANTERIOR must borrow ten thousand dollar property house-bank)
- Toi dä phåi vay cůa nhà bang muòi ngàn dô-la.
'I had to borrow 10,000 dollars from the bank.'
216 VIETNAMESE

(69) Håi muon šách cùa toi. (property me) 'H. borrowed books from me.'
(70) Håi mWon nam cuon sách qui cùa tvi.
(Håi borrow five classifier book precious property me)
= Håi muon cua toi nam cuôn sách qui.
'Håi borrowed from me five valuable books.'
(71) Toi vån coi Nam là nguòi ban t v t .
(I always consider Nam be classifier friend intimate most)
'I always consider Nam my closest friend.'
(72) Uý-ban Chap-hành bau Thu läm chu-tich.
(committee executive, vote Thu do chairman)
'The Executive Committee elected Thu chairperson.'
(73) Thu duoc Uy-ban Chap-hành bau làm chu-tich.
(Thu, get committee executive vote do chairman)
'Thu was elected chairperson by the Executive Committee.'
[On ditransitive or double-object verbs (Vdo)—verbs of giving, taking,
insertion and evaluation—see 6.1.3.6]
(74) Thang luu-manh do lám chúng tôi xäu-hó.
(classifier crook that, make we exclusive ashamed)
'That crook made us feel ashamed.' [ làm is a Vcause (6.1.3.8) ]
(75) Luat ô day câm công-nhân (không duoc) hut thuôc lá.
(law at here, forbid worker NEG get smoke drug-leaf)
'The law here forbids workers to smoke cigarettes.'
(76) Ông bà Hoà vùa mài chúng tôi.
(gentleman lady Hoà, recently invite we exclusive)
'Mr. and Mrs. Hoà just invited us.'
(77) Ông bà Hoà vùa moi chúng tôi an com tői.
(gentleman lady Hoà, recently invite we exclusive eat rice evening)
'Mr. and Mrs. Hoà just invited us to dinner.'
(78) Ông bà Hoà vùa mòi an com tòi.
(gentleman lady Hoà, recently invite eat rice evening)
'Mr. and Mrs. Hoà just invited [X] to dinner.'
(79) Cu Thám Quynh day chu Hán.
(greatgrandfather T. Q., teach character Hán)
'Old scholar Thám Quýnh taught Chinese characters.'
 THE SENTENCE 217

(80) Cu Thám Quýnh day chúng tôi.

(greatgrandfather T.Q., teach we exclusive)
'Old scholar Thám Quýnh taught us.'
(81) Cu Thám Quynh day chúng tôi chu Hán.
(greatgrandfather T.Q., teach we exclusive character Hán)
'Old scholar Thám Quýnh taught us Chinese characters.'
10.5.2 SENTENCE = NOUN PHRASE + VERB PHRASE
The head predicative is a stative verb, i.e. an adjective. Examples:
(82) Suong thu (frost autumn) lanh. 'The autumn frost is cold.'
(83) Lá thu (leaf autumn) dep qua! 'The autumn foliage is so beautiful! '
(84) Com vita chin tói. (rice just ripe reach)
'Now the rice is cooked just right.'
(85) Cháu (nephew, grandson) Tùng cao lam. 'Tùng is very tall.'
(86) Nó cao hon anh no. (he tall superior elder brother he)
'He's taller than his older brother.'
(87) Ông Lai cao nhät nhà. 'Mr. Lai is the tallest in the family.'
(88) Cå lop van im-lang. 'The whole class was still quiet.'
(89) Anh Xuân rát vui tính. (elder brother Xuân very joyful nature)
'Xuân is very jovial.'
(90) Vuòn cu Phúc day hoa. 'Mr. Phúc's garden is full of flowers.'
(91) Cho Bêh-thành dong nguòi quá!
'The Bêh-thành Market was so crowded (with people).'
(92) Cap vo-chöng chúa-chan hi-vong. 'The couple was full of hope.'
(93) Bà áy that khéo ô! 'That lady acts so diplomatically.'
(94) Cu già khó chièu quá! 'The old man is so difficult to please.'
(95) Anh tôi kho vë thang con trai.
(elder brother me unhappy regarding classifier child male)
'My older brother suffered so much because of his son.'
(96) Chô này sâu nam mét. 'This spot is 5 meters deep.'
(97) Cài giang-dtfòng này rông quá nhi?
'This auditorium is very large, don't you think so?'
(98) Bài tap này hoi khó. 'This exercise is a little too difficult.'
(99) Thàng Khánh gióng het bo no. 'Khánh looks exactly like his dad.'
(100) Chung tôi lác mát (we exclusive cross-eyed).
'We were so impressed!'
218 VIETNAMESE

(101) Chuyên ây rác-rői het sue [= hét súc rác-rői]

. 'That issue is extremely complicated.'
(102) Em gái tôi rát giôi (ve) toán.
'My younger sister is very good in math.'
(103) Dieu dó trai vói nguyen- vong cùa toàn-dân.
(item that, contrary with aspiration property the whole population)
'That is contrary to the aspirations of the entire population.'
10.5.3 SENTENCE = NOUN PHRASE + Là + NOUN PHRASE
The sentences in 10.5.1 and 10.5.2 are those in which the predicate
describes the activity, status or nature of the topic announced in the subject
constituent.
The sentences introduced in this section are different. Each sentence cited
here contains the identificational verb (Vid) là (6.1.3.10), which, acting like
the "equals" sign [=], functions as the equivalent of English copula be.
This equative verb introduces the nominal predicate, which is equated with
the nominal subject, and the construction resembles an equation. Examples:
(104) Lien là cô giâo. 'Lien is a teacher.'
(105) Cô giáo là Lien. 'The teacher is Lien.'
In the 15th century, it was possible to say Núi láng-gieng, chim bàu-ban
(Nguyen Trai) 'Mounts [are] (my) neighbors, birds (my) friends.'
(106) Nam là sinh-viên nam thú ba. (Nam be student year third)
'Nam is a junior.'
(107) Nguoi sinh-viên nam thú ba là Nam.
(classifier student year third, be Nam)
'The third-year student is Nam.'
(108) Nguyên Trai là mot nhà-tho lón cùa chúng ta.
(Nguyên Trai be one expert-poetry great property we inclusive)
'Nguyên Trai was one of our greatest poets.'
(109) Tám cüng là giáo- viên trWòng dó.
'Tam is also a teacher in that school.'
(110) Giao-su dai-hoc bên ay (that side) deu là công-chúc.
'University teachers over there are all civil servants.'
(111) Dà-lat vân con là mot thành-phó dep lám.
'Dalat is still a very beautiful city.'
 THE SENTENCE 219

(112) Ben bò ho là nhüng cây lê-liêu thuót-tha.

'On the lakeshore are graceful weeping willows.'
(113) Bay giù (là) muòi giò. 'It's now ten o'clock.'
(114)  qua (là) chu nhat. 'Yesterday was Sunday.'
(115) Bay già là nam Ât-Dâu.
'That was the Ât-Dâu Year (of the Rooster).'
(116) Luc bay già là giüa tháng tam âm-lich.
'That [time] was the middle of the eighth lunar month.'
(117) Trên bàn thò là mot pho tWongDuePhat.
(space above table worship be one classifier statue virtue Buddha)
'On the altar is a statue of Buddha.'
(118) Me toi (là) ngwài Hâi-diïong.
'My mother is a native of Håi-duong.'
(119) Cai anh tây ba-lô dó (là) quoc-tich Ca-na-ča.
(classifier brother west knapsack that, be citizenship Canada)
'That young backpack westerner has Canadian citizenship.'
(120) Ô-mê-ga (là) dông-hò Thuy-sí. (copper vase Switzerland)
'Omega is a Swiss watch.'
(121) Cu åy chin muoi tuoi roi. (greatgrandfather that, 90 year already)
'He's already ninety years old. '
[*Cu áy là chin muoi tuoi ròi. would be ill-formed.]
(122) Nho không hot này hai dô-la mot kí.
(grape NEG seed this, two dollar one kilogram)
'These seedless grapes cost $2.00 a kilogram.'
(123) Cuôn tù-dién này (là) cua cô giao. (property aunt teach)
'This dictionary belongs to the teacher.'
(124) Ai là sô-huu-çhu ngôi nhà ay? — Vo chong toi (là so-hüu-chu ngôi
nhà áy).
(who be own-er classifier house that — wife husband me ....)
'Who is the owner of that house? — My wife and I are.'
10.5.4. SENTENCE = NOUN PHRASE + Là + VERB PHRASE
The subject of the sentence is usually an abstract noun meaning 'idea', 'hope',
'purpose','method', etc. (5.1.3) and not a concrete noun. Examples:
(125) Uóc-muôn cùa toi là hoc y-khoa. (wish-want property me ....)
'My wish is to study medicine.'
220 VIETNAMESE

(126) Nhiêm-vu quan-trong nhâi là chőng nan that-hoc.

(task important most be fight scourge illiteracy)
'The most important task is to combat illiteracy.'
(127) Bon-phân law con là phåi phung-duong cha me.
(duty act child be must serve-nourish father mother)
'A child's duty is to take care of one's parents.'
(128) Muc-dich duy-nhat cua tôl là cung-cap tài-liêu cho dôc-gia tre,
(goal single property me be provide material give read-er young)
'My sole objective is to provide materials to young readers.'
10.5.5. SENTENCE = NOUN PHRASE + Là + PREP(OSITIONAL) PHRASE
(129) Hai cai tui ây (là) bang ni-lôn g.
(two classifier bag that, be by-means-of nylon)
'Those two bags are made of nylon.
(130) Viêc tai-tiêhg dó là tai ông tinh-truong.
(business scandal that, be because of gentleman province-chief)
'That scandal was due to the province chief.'
(131) Ung-thu phoi là vi /do khói thuőc lá.
(cancer lung, be because of smoke drug-leaf)
'Lung cancer is caused by cigarette smoke.'
(132) Su thành-công cua han chi là nho gia-dình nhà va day thôi.
(fact succeed property he, only be rely family house wife there all)
'He was successful only thanks to his wife's family.'
10.5.6. SENTENCE = NOUN PHRASE + < PREDICATION >
The embedded <SUBJECT - PREDICATE> structure provides a descriptive
attribute of the subject NP, and the utterance can be analyzed as a complex
sentence. Examples:
(133) Anh Trinh Quang < nhà rät khá-gia >.
(brother T.Q.---family very well-to-do)
'Trinh Quang comes from a well-to-do family.'
(134) Cô ay <khô nguòi cao ráo >. (girl that—stature body tall)
'She's tall in stature.'
(135) Cây quynh này < hoa do >. (plant cereus this—flower red)
'This night-blooming cereus has red flowers.'
(136) Xe dap cůa tôi <phanh không an >. (bike of me—brake not eat)
'My bicycle has brakes that don't work.'
 THE SENTENCE 221

(137) Ông Hän Thanh < bung phuonr>.

(gentleman academician Th.—belly protrude out)
'Academician Thanh has a fat belly.'
(138) Läo già dé < mát lim-dim >. (old old lustful—eye half-closed)
'The old satyr half-closed his eyes.'
10.5.7 SENTENCE - NOUN PHRASE + Là + < PREDICATION >
Here, too, the embedded <SUJECT-PREDICATE> construction qualifies the
utterance as a complex sentence. Examples:
(139) Thiën-kiêh cůa toi là < chung ta dëu phåi co-gang hon nua >.
(shallow opinion of me be we equally must try more further)
'My shallow opinion is that we all must make further efforts.'
(140) Chi-thi cůa B là < moi Ti Tiêu-hoc mokhoá tu-nghiêp riêng >.
(order of ministry be each office primary ed open session
upgrade separate)
'The directive from the Ministry says that each provincial
educational office should organize its own refresher course. '

B. The subject is a verb phrase (VP)

This structure is used mostly in definitions and in explanations (to justify
something). Except for the first type (10.5.8), all examples contain là (Vid).
10.5.8 SENTENCE = VERB PHRASE + VERB PHRASE
(141) Hoc di dôi vói hành. (study go pair with practice)
'Study goes hand in hand with action.'
(142) Hoc nói di trWóc hoc doc. (learn speak go before learn read)
'(You) learn to speak before learning to read.'
(143) Hoc doc di kem vói hoc viet.
(learn read go together with learn write)
'You learn to read and to write at the same time.'
10.5.9 SENTENCE = VERB PHRASE + Là + VERB PHRASE
(144) Tap thé-duc là giü-gin sue khoê.
(drill physical education, be preserve strength healthy)
'To exercise is to preserve one's health.'
(145) Hi-sinh là chap-nhân mot sümát-mát nào dó.
(sacrifice, be accept one matter lose whatever that)
'Hi-sinh means to accept to lose something valuable.'
222 VIETNAMESE

(146) Hi-sinh cüng nghîa là chët vi môt lí-tu'ong cao-dep.

(sacrifice, likewise mean be die because of one ideal lofty-pretty)
' Hi-sinh also means to sacrifice one's life for a lofty ideal.'
10.5.10 SENTENCE = VERB PHRASE + Là + NOUN PHRASE '
(147) Gå chong cho bacon gai là ý-muôh cùa ông bà hang xóm.
(marry off husband for three classifier child female, be desire of
gentleman lady row hamlet)
'Marrying off their 3 daughters is the wish of our neighbors.'
(148) Chay cho câu con cå sang My du-hoc là női lo-âu cùa ho.
(run for classifier son oldest go America study, be classifier worry
of them)
'Their concern is to take the required steps to enable their oldest
son to go study in the U.S.'
10.5.11 SENTENCE = VERBPHRASE + Là + < PREDICATION >
(149) Hop-tác là < mol nguoi hop nhau lai cùnglàm>.
(cooperate be every person gather each-other come together work)
'To cooperate means everyone works together on a project.'
10.5.12 SENTENCE = VERB PHRASE + Là + PREP(OSITIONAL) PHRASE
(150) Làm cach-mang là de thay-dói dai song va xä-hoi.
(make revolution be in order to change-exchange life and society)
'(The point of) making a revolution is in order to change life and
society.'

C. The subject is a predication

Following the embedded <SUBJECT - PREDICATE> in the subject position, the
predicate of the kernel sentence can be a VP, or a NP or a PREP(OSITIONAL)
PHRASE, introduced by là. That predicate in the first three examples does
not need là. Examples (151) and (152) contain a causative verb (Vcause).
(151) < Ho ciíoi khúc-khích > làm chung em then
(they laugh giggle make group younger sibling embarrassed)
' (The fact that) they giggled embarrassed us.'
(152) < Thàng cháu Håi nói líu-lo > khién cáe bác buon cuòi.
(boy nephew H. speak babble cause PLURAL uncle feel laugh)
'Little Hai's babbling made all uncles and aunts smile.'
 THE SENTENCE 223

(153) < Nuóc áy thua trân > dä ro-rang ngay tù dau.

(country that lose war ANTERIOR crystal-clear right from head)
'That it will lose the war has been clear from the start.'
(154) < Chi cu-xù nhv thë> là rát dúng.
(elder sister behave like so be very correct)
'It was very correct of you to behave that way.'
(155) < Anh nói thê > không dúng han.
(elder brother say so NEG correct completely)
'What you said isn't completely true.'.
(156) < Ông áy giai-thích the > là sai.
(gentleman that explain so, be incorrect)
'His explanation is incorrect.'
(157) < Bà áy dòi hai tram > là rè qua roi.
(lady that demand two hundred, be cheap excessively already)
'She asked for two hundred? That's quite cheap.'
(158) < Anh tù-choi > là rát phåi. (elder brother refuse, be very right)
'Your declining was the right thing to do.'
(159) < Anh không du buoi hop hôm no > là mot dièu hay.
(elder brother NEG attend half-day meet day other, be one thing good)
'Your not attending the meeting the other day was a good thing.'
(160) < Chung ta dong thué thu-nhåp > là nghîa-vu công-dân dáy.
(we inclusive pay tax income, be obligation citizen believe me)
'For us to pay income tax is indeed a citizen's obligation.'
(161) < Bác Quang làm the > là vi moi nguòi trong ho.
(uncle Q. do so, be because of every person inside family)
'Uncle Quång did so for the good of everybody in the family.'
(162) < Xä-hôi cu phat-triên châm-chap > là tai câc tâp-doàn phong-kiên.
(society old develop slowly, be because PLURAL group feudalist)
'The old society developed slowly because of feudalist groups.'
(163) < Hai dúa bo nhau > là tai gia-dình thäng chong.
(two individual leave each other, be because of family guy husband)
'They divorced because of his family.'
(164) < Cu Nhàn chóng khói > là nhò ông bác-sí tan-tårn.
(greatgrandfather N. fast recover, be rely gentleman doctor devoted)
'Mr. Nhàn recovered fast thanks to a dedicated doctor.'
224 VIETNAMESE

10.6 Adjuncts to the kernel < S-P > sentence

Outside the essential Subject-Predicate structure, a simple sentence usually
contains some adjunct constituents, which serve a number of functions to
further modify the central predication.
We can distinguish a vocative adjunct, a circumstantial adjunct, an
appositive adjunct, a focal adjunct, and a transitional adjunct.
10.6.1 The vocative adjunct.
This constituent consists of relatively emotional words or phrases, which
express an exclamation, a call, a curse, or an oath simply added to the main
predication. This vocative adjunct usually begins an utterance. But it can
also be placed at the end of an utterance or even between the subject and the
predicate. Examples:
Ôi chao! met qua! (oh tired too much) 'Oh, I'm exhausted!'
Troi oil Tinh sao bay già? (oh heaven figure out how now)
'Heavens! How can I cope with it?'
Minh ai! Cúu em vói! (oh darling rescue me please)
'Honey! Help me!'
Ai! Dau qua! (ouch hurt too much) 'Ouch! It hurts.'
Chet! Sao no  bò ao làm gì?
(death, why he exit edge pond do what)
'Woe! What was he doing near the pond?'
Ui chào! Trên này sifong mù ghê thenày à!
(wow space above this fog mist awful manner this really?)
'Wow! Is it always this foggy up here?'
Chua toi! Lai bao to nüa! (lord me again storm big additionally)
'My Lord! Another hurricane! '
Hú vía! May má chúng toi không čáp chuyéh máy bay dó!
(call soul, lucky that we exclusive not ride trip plane that)
'Phew! A narrow escape! Luckily we were not on that flight.'
Không phåi dâu, anh Binh a. (not correct anywhere, brother  voc)
'It's not like that, Binh.'
Cai kéo cua Bà, qui-sú, hong mat ròi!
(classifier scissors of grandma, devil, out of order loss already)
'The devil! Someone broke my scissors! '
Ua! Anh tói hòi nào day? 'Hey, when did you get here?'
 THE SENTENCE 225

Me kiep! Ô-tô lai chet may roi!

(mother fate, automobile again die engine already)
'My damned fate! The car engine is dead again!'
Lêu leu! Mac co! (oh oh shame, ashamed) 'Shame on you!'
10.6.2 The circumstantial adjunct.
This adjunct is no other than an adverbial phrase, which adds some meaning
to the main predication in terms of circumstances of time, place, means,
purpose, manner, state, etc. The adverbial phrase may consist of just a
noun or a noun phrase, or it may be a prepositional phrase.
Examples:
Time and Place :
Nam nay, Cali mua nhieu. (year this, California rain much)
'California has a lot of rain this year.'
Mai, chung toi ra song Potomac câu cá.
(tomorrow, we exclusive exit river Potomac catch fish)
'Tomorrow we'll go fishing on the Potomac River.'
Ő San José, co nhieu nguòi Mê-hi-cô.
(at San José, exist many person Mexico)
'There are many Mexicans in San José.'
Ö nhà que, ve mùa gat, vui dáo de.
(at house village, return season reap fun radically)
'In the countryside there is great fun during harvest time.'
Ve mùa hè, tren San Francisco, hay co suong mù.
(return season summer, space above SF, often exist fog mist)
'In the summer, it is often foggy in San Francisco.'
When they co-occur, the time adverbial usually comes first:
Den dai nhà Tran, Nho-giáo hau nhW thành quoc-giáo.
(reach era house Tran, Confucianism almost become state religion)
'Under the Tran dynasty, Confucianism nearly became the state
religion.'
Thinh thoång, ông ay dung xe buýt lên tham chung toi.
(once in a while, gentleman that use bus ascend visit we exclusive)
'Occasionally he takes the bus to come up and visit us.'
Lâu lâu, bà áy lai rů chung toi di Cha Trai.
(long long, lady that again invite we exclusive go market sky)
226 VIETNAMESE

'Every now and then she invites us to go with her to the Flea
Market.'
Sang nam, cå haichágai dèu ra truong.
(come over year, all two niece [of yours] equally exit school)
'Next year both our daughters will graduate.'
Xua nay, cha ai hôi vo kiéu dó!
(from before until now, not whoever ask wife fashion that)
'From ancient times until now, nobody has looked for a wife
that way.'
Purpose:
Vi sinh-ke, anh ay phai don Jên tan Alaska.
(because livelihood, he have to move ascend all the way Alaska)
'To make a living he had to move all the way to Alaska.'
De tiêt-kiem thì-già, chúng ta hay nên bàn ngay van-de áy dä.
(in order to save time, we inclusive EXHORTATIVE should discuss
right away problem that first)
'To save time let's discuss that problem right away first.'
Means and Comparison:
Bang con mát nghi-ngò, ông thu-ki già quay sang nhin tôi.
(by means of classifier eye suspect, gentleman clerk old turn over look
me)
'The old clerk turned around and gave me a suspicious look.'
Theo chi-thi cua  Giáo-duc, don xin hoc-bong phåi nop truóc
ngày 15 tháng giêng.
(follow order of ministry education, application ask scholarship
must submit before day 15 month principal)
'According to the Education Ministry directive, applications for
scholarships must be submitted before January 15.'
So vói nam ngoái, bà áy map ra nhieu.
(compare with year past, lady that fat out much)
'She's much fatter (now) than last year.'
So vói ông cå, ông ba trông già hon day.
(compare with gentleman oldest, gentleman third look old more I say)
'Uncle Number 3 looks older than Uncle Number 1.'
 THE SENTENCE 227

Manner:
Lê phép, me con chi Dau cùng cui chào. ("Tat den")
(polite, mother child elder sister D. together bow salute)
'Dâu and her child politely bowed down and said good-bye.'
Ôm dúa con vào long, bà ay lay khan tay lau nuóc mát.
(hug classifier child enter bosom, lady that take kerchief hand wipe
water eye)
'Hugging her child in her bosom, she used a hankie to wipe her
tears.'
Ngac-nhiên, toi bô ra khői phòng dé kiem ông giám-dôc.
(surprised, I leave exit from room in order to find gentleman director)
'Surprised, I left the room to look for the director.'
Tà-tà bong nga ve tay. (slant shadow bend toward west)
'The sun was slanting toward the west.'
Mit-mù däm cat doi cây. (dust-mist trail sand hill tree)
'Sand trails, wooded hills clouded in mist'
Xâp-xè én lieng lau không. (rustle swallow hover tower empty)
'Swallows rustled through the empty home.'
[These three lines from The Tale of Kieu each start with a reduplicated
adjective full of imagery.]
Chân nam [= dam] dá chân chiêu, nguoi say ruov trå lai lo gach.
(foot right kick foot left, person drunk wine return back kiln brick)
'Staggering, the drunkard returned to the brickkiln.'
10.6.3 The appositive adjunct.
A noun or noun phrase may be placed after another as an explanatory
equivalent, both of them having the same syntactic relation to the other
elements in the sentence:
Nguyên Du, nhà tho Ión cua Viêt-nam, dä dé lai mot truyên nom
bat-hù gòm 3.254 câu tho.
(Nguyên Du, expert poet great of Vietnam, ANTERIOR leave behind one
tale southern immortal consist of 3,254 line verse)
'Nguyên Du, Vietnam's great poet, has left an immortal tale
composed of 3,254 lines of vernacular nom verse.'
Linh-muc Lê Van Lý, nguyên Vien-trďong Viên Dai-hoc Dàlat, là mot
nhà ngű-hoc kiêt-xuat.
228 VIETNAMESE

(priest LVL, former rector institute university Dalat, be one expert

linguist outstanding)
'Father Lê Vän Lý, former Rector of Dalat University, was an
outstanding linguist.'
Nam 1010, Thang-long---ngày nay là Hà-nôi—diïoc Lý Thái-to chon
làm thù-dô.
(year 1010, Thäng-long day this be Hanoi get Lý Thái-to choose do
capital)
'In 1010, Thang-long—present-day Hanoi—was chosen by Emperor
Lý Thái-to to be the capital city.'
Chung tôi ô choihaihôm vói anh chi Nguyên Hiêu—là tho-công
thành-phô Niu-Oóc.
(we exclusive stay play two day with elder brother elder sister NH,
be kitchen-god city New York)
'We spent two days with Nguyên Hieu and his wife, who really
know the city of New York inside out. '
Vu giêt nguöi dó, mà báo-chí dä tuong-thuât day-du, dáng làm cho
công-dông ta xáu-hó. [The adjunct is enclosed with commas.]
(affair kill person that, which newspaper magazine ANTERIOR relate
fully, merit make community we inclusive ashamed)
'That murder—of which (incidentally) the press has given a full
account—rightly makes our community feel ashamed. '
[cf. Vu giet nguòi < mà báo-chí dä tuong-thuât day-dů >
'The murder of which the press has given a full account ']

10.6,4 The focal adjunct.

One word or one phrase within the main predication may be fronted so as
to highlight a fact, a phenomenon, an idea, which is thus "topicalized", i.e.
made into a topic or a "theme". The latter is followed by a comma pause,
following which the rest of the utterancce is optionally introduced by thi
Examples:
Tôi (thi) tôi hoàn-toàn tan-thành. < Tôi hoàn-toàn tan-thành
(me then I entirely approve)
'As for me, I fully approve of it.'
 THE SENTENCE 229

Rông thi cai van-phòng dó rông iám. < Cai van-phòng dó rong lam.
(spacious then classifier office that spacious very)
'As for size that office is very large.'
Lap-xuóng (thi) con hai dôi, chú trúng muôi (thi) hët sach.
(sausage then remain two pair, but egg salted then finish clean)
< Con hai dôi lap-xuòng, chú het sach trúng muoi roi.
'Of Chinese sausages, there are two pairs left. As for salted eggs,
though, we are completely out of them.'
Giàu (thi) tôi cung giàu roi. < Toi giàu roi.
(rich then I likewise rich already)
'Speaking of being wealthy, I have been wealthy.'
Cai anh sinh-viên ay thi toi biet ro quá roi.
(classifier fellow student that, then I know clearly excessively already)
< Toi biet qua ro cai anh sinh-viên ay roi.
'That student? I know him too well.'
Chuyên dó, con xin dé thày me quyët-dinh a.
(matter that, child beg let dad mom decide POLITE PARTICLE)
< Con xin dé thày me quyët-dinh chuyen dó a.
'Mom and Dad, on that matter, I'll leave it for you to decide.'
Ruou không uong, thuoc iá không hut, ma cüng bi ung-thu!
(wine not drink, cigarette not smoke, yet likewise suffer cancer)
< Không uông ruov, không hút thuoc iá, ma cûng bi ung-thu.
'No drinking, no smoking, yet he has cancer just the same! '
Cò-bac không, ruou-chè không, that là mot nguòi chòng lý-tuong!
(chess gamble not, wine tea not, really be one classifier husband ideal)
< Không cò-bac, không ruou-chè: that là mot nguoi chòng li-twòng!
'Doesn't gamble, doesn't drink—really an ideal husband!'

10.6.5 The transitional adjunct.

This element makes the transition (from one sentence or one thought to the
next) smoother. The transitional adjunct, which introduces the second
thought, is usually a word or a fixed phrase, such as
cuoi cung 'finally', do do, do vây 'therefore', dai-khái là 'roughly
speaking', hèn chi, hèn gì 'no wonder', hon nűa, ngoài ra 'moreover,
besides', huôhg chi, huông ho 'all the more reason, much less', mat khác
230 VIETNAMESE

'on the other hand', nói cho cùng 'to carry the argument further', (nói) cùa
dáng toi 'well, to be fair; well, actually', nói khác di, nói mot cach khác
'in other words', (nói) tóm lai 'to sum it up', thåo nào 'no wonder', that
vây 'indeed', trai lai 'on the contrary', tuy nhiên 'however, nevertheless',
vå chäng, va lai 'besides, moreover', etc. Some examples:
Toi không xin. Vå chäng co xin cüng chäng duoc.
(I not apply, besides EMPHATIC apply likewise not get)
T did not apply. Besides, even if I apply I will never get it.'
Thôi, khuya roi, không dánh nűa. Va lai, anh con dang ho, can ngù.
(stop late already not play more, besides you still coughing need sleep)
'Let's quit [the card game], it's getting late. Besides, you're still
coughing. You need some sleep.'
Nói tóm lai, dó là mot vah-de tu-do ca-nhân.
(speak sum up, that be one problem freedom individual)
'To sum it up, that is a question of personal freedom.'
Trai lai, vè phuong-dien pháp-lí, co ay vô toi.
(contrary back, regarding viewpoint legal, aunt that not guilt)
= Ve phuong-dien phap-li, trai lai, cô ta vô toi.
'On the contrary, from the legal point of view, she is not guilty.'
Nguoi dung ông ây con giúp, nua là [= huong chi] chô ho-hàng.
(person stranger gentleman that still help more reason place related)
'He helps strangers, all the more reason for him to help a relative.'
Nó o. — Hèn chi [= thåo nào] không tháy den lop.
(he sick no wonder whatever not see come class)
'He's sick. — No wonder he didn't come to class.'

10.7 Sentence expansion

Thus far we have reviewed a large number of sentence structures. Not
counting the adjuncts, the essential kernel structure consists of two immediate
constituents: a topic and a comment. Each of these positions is filled by a
single word, as in the three simple sentences cited earlier in 10.1.1 :
(1) Troi mua. (sky rain) 'It's raining.' (3) Chim hót. 'Birds are
singing.' (4) Nam cao. 'Nam is tall.'
But in a real speech situation, normal sentences exchanged between two
native speakers are likely to be longer than the minimal forms we have seen.
 THE SENTENCE 231

Indeed sentence (1), for instance, can easily be expanded into several larger
sequences:
(la) Troi sap mua. 'It's going to rain soon.'
(lb) Troi mWa roi, me oi! 'Mom, it already started raining.'
(lc) Trai vùa mua vùa náng. 'It's both rainy and sunny.'
(1d) Hom kia, troi mua to. 'It rained hard day before yesterday.'
(le)  qua, troi không mua. 'It didn't rain yesterday.'
Sentence (3) can also be expanded into such utterances as:
(3a) Chim sé hot cung hay. 'Sparrows also sing well.'
(8) Con chim áy hót hay lám. 'That bird sings very beautifully.'
(3b) Con (chim) này vá con (chim) áy deu hót hay cá.
'Both this bird and that bird sing beautifully.'
(3c) Các con kia chang hót gì cå.
(plural animal over there not sing whatever all)
'The ones over there don't sing at all.'
(3d) Con ga trong này gay to va an khoe.
(animal rooster this crow big and eat strong)
'This rooster crows loudly and eats a lot.'
Some expanded forms of sentence (4) can be as follows:
(4a) Em Nam cao qua nhi ! 'Brother Nam is so tall, don't you think?'
(4b) Nam nay Nam cao hån lên.
(year this Nam tall clearly upward)
'This year Nam grew noticeably taller.'
(4c) Nam va Bác cao bang nhau. (Nam and  tall equal each other)
'Nam and a are of the same height.'
(4d) Dông vùa cao vùa khoê. (and tall and strong)
'Dong is both tall and strong.'
Historically vùa vùa 'both .... and ....' (in examples lc and
4d) used to be va ..... va
Coordinators [7.2.2; 8.0 (4)] used in the above sentences are:
vùa mua vùa nang (example lc)
con (chim) này yà con (chim) áy (example 3b)
gay to yà an khoè (example 3d)
Nam yà Bác (example 4c)
vùa cao vùa khoê (example 4d)
232 VIETNAMESE

Not only words (Nam, Bác) and phrases (con chim này, con chim ay;
gay to, än khoé; vùa mua, vùa nang; vùa cao, vùa khoê) can be conjoined
in juxtaposition. Two or more sentences can also appear in sequences: S1 +
S2 + S3, etc.—with or without the help of connectives.
The occurrences of complex sentences will be examined in the next
chapter after we take a look at different types of single sentences from the
point of view of their structures and meanings.
 Chapter 11
The Sentence (continued)

11.1 Types of sentences

In terms of their semantic content, sentences can be divided into different
types: the affirmative sentence, the negative sentence, the interrogative
sentence, the imperative sentence, and the exclamatory sentence.

11.1.1 The affirmative sentence.

Almost every sentence cited in the previous chapter is an affirmative
sentence, since each of them amounts to an assertion, e.g.
(1) ô nay, no hoc dán. (day this he study piano)
'He has his piano lesson today.'
(2) Nam thông-minh. 'Nam is intelligent/
(3) Nam là cháu ông ay. (Nam be nephew gentleman that)
'Nam is his nephew.'
But when the assertion is emphatic, a common device consists in using
the adverb co (7.1.2.3) or some particle before the predicative, e.g.
(4) Horn nay, no co hoc dan. 'He did have his piano lesson today.'
(5) Nam  thông-minh that (really). 'Nam is really intelligent.'
(6) Nam chinh là cháu ông ay. 'Nam is [precisely] his nephew.'
(7) X. c an hôi-lô. 'X did take bribes.'
(8) Toi co gui thu mài ông  !
(I EMPHATIC send letter invite gentleman that I told you before)
'I did send him an invitation.'

11.1.2. The negative sentence.

A. Negation of the content of the predicate is expressed by means of
an adverb {không, chang, chå 'no, not', chua 'not yet') placed before the
head verb (7.1.2.3) in "the comment", as in
(9) Ho nay, no không hoc dan. 'He didn't have his piano lesson today.'
(10) Nó chang nói, chang rang. (he not speak not say)
234 THE SENTENCE (CONTINUED)

'He did not say a word.'

(11) Nó cha an gì cå. (he not eat whatever all)
'He doesn't eat anything at all.'
(12) Nó chua an qua sang (he not yet eat snack morning).
'He hasn't had breakfast yet.'
(13) Giáp không thông-minh lám. 'Giáp is not very intelligent.'
But to negate a nominal predicate—introduced by the equative verb là—
one must use not không, chang, chua, but không phåi, chång phai, chWa
phåi as in
(14) Nam không phåi là cháu ông áy.
(Nam not correct be nephew he)
'Nam is not his nephew.'
(15) Nó chång phåi là gì cå dòi vói co ay.
(he not correct be whatever all face with she)
'He is not anything to her.'
(16) Nó chua phåi là công-dân My.
(he not-yet correct be citizen America)
'He's not a U.S. citizen yet.'
When the predicate contains a stative verb—which describes a quality, an
attribute—there is a slight difference between không and không phåi là.
Contrast
(17) Chuyên dó không khó giåi-quyét.
'That matter is not difficult to solve.'
(18) Chuyên dó không phåi là khó giåi-quyét.
'It's not true that that matter is difficult to solve.'
When someone has said, for instance, that "the matter is difficult to
solve," sentence (18) is a stronger denial (= 'That matter is easy to solve.')
than sentence (17), which merely states that the matter isn't difficult to solve.
B. Negation can also achieved by placing the negator không, chang, chå,
chua before the subject, if that subject is an indefinite substitute like ai,
nguòi nào 'whoever', (cài) gì 'whatever', dâu 'wherever', etc. (6.3.2.6).
(19) Không ai quên chuyên áy.
(not whoever forget affair that)
'Nobody has forgotten that.'
 THE SENTENCE. (CONTINUED) 235

(20) Chang ai hôi den no. (not whoever ask reach he)
'Nobody talked to him.'
(21) Cha ai hoi den no. 'Nobody talked to him.'
(22) Chua ai tra chìa khóa ca.
(not yet whoever return key lock all)
'No one turned in their key yet.'
(23) Không nguòi nào trå no cå. (not person whichever pay debt all)
'Nobody paid their debt.'
(24) Không gì quý bang tu-do. (not whatever precious equal freedom)
'Nothing is so precious as freedom.'
(25) Chang dau dep bang Hà-nôi. (not wherever pretty equal Hanoi)
'No place is so beautiful as Hanoi.'
(26) Chiïa kê-hoach nào xong cå. (not yet project whichever finish all)
'No project has been completed yet.'
C. The whole sentence, i.e. the entire < S-P > predication, may be
negated by placing không phåi (là), chång phåi (là) at the beginning:
(27) Không phâi (là) tiêu-bang Cali thieu tien.
(not correct be state California lack money)
'It's not that the State of California lacks money.'
(28) Chang phai (là) anh chong biet.
(not correct be fellow husband know)
'It's not that her husband knew about it.'
(29) Không phåi Nam là cháu ông ay.
(not correct Nam be nephew he)
'It's not true that Nam is his nephew.'
D. The utterance may contain a double negative.
(30) Không ai không khen no. (not whoever not praise he)
'Everyone praised him.'
(31) Chi ay không the không khóc. (she not can not cry)
'She couldn't help crying.'
(32) Không phåi là tiêu-bang Cali không thieu tien. [cf. ex. (27)]
(not correct be state California not lack money)
'It's not that the State of California doesn't lack money.'
(33) Chang phåi là anh chong không biet. [cf. ex. (28)]
'It's not that her husband doesn't know about it.'
236 THE SENTENCE (CONTINUED)

(34) Cha ngày nào là Hoàng không goi day nói ve Viêt-nam cho va.
(not day whichever be H. not call wire talk return Vietnam to wife)
'There's not one day when H. does not call his wife in VN.'
(35) Chang dêm nào là ông không day ba bon lan.
(not night whichever be Grandpa not rise three four time)
'There isn't a night when Grandpa doesn't get up three or four times.'
E. The utterance may use the final particle dâu! to state a strong denial
(6.3.2.3; 7.3.2) as in
(36) Hong-công có rê dâu! (Hongkong EMPHATIC cheap where)
'Hongkong is not cheap.'
The element dâu (with heavy stress) may begin the predicate, as in (37):
(37) Hong-công dâu có rê! 'Hongkong is not cheap.'
(38) Hong-công không re dâu! (Hongkong not cheap where)
'Hongkong is not cheap. [Don't kid yourself.]'
(39) Tôi (co) muon bút cua anh dâu!
(I EMPHATIC borrow pen of you where)
'I did not borrow your pen.'
(40) Truóc dây tôi co quên cai gì dâu!
(before here I EMPHATIC forget thing whatever where)
'I did not forget anything in the past, did I?'
(41) Ông My này có an cay duoc dâu! [ = không an cay duoc dâu! ]
(gentleman American this, EMPHATIC eat peppery-hot OK where = not
eat hot OK where)
'This American gentleman can not eat spicy stuff.'
(42) Mòng 5 tháng tu thi chWa xong giay-tò dâu!
(day 5 month four then not yet finish paper-sheet where)
'We won't get all the papers by April 5.'
(43) Chi dùng lo  com: chúng tôi än trên tàu, không dói dâu!
(you PROHIBITIVE worry cook rice: we exclusive eat on train
not hungry where)
'Don't bother to cook. We are eating on the train, so won't be
hungry at all.'
(44) Có ay không chiu dâu! 'She won't agree to that. [don't insist.]'
F. The complement of a verb denoting prohibition, refusal, forgetting,
cessation or omission often takes không (see anecdote in 9.3.1.7), e.g.
 THE SENTENCE (CONTINUED) 237

(45) Cam không duhut thuóc! (forbid not get smoke cigarette)
'No smoking!' [= Cam hut thuoc!]
(46) Toi tù-choi không du bua tiec dó.
(I decline not attend meal banquet that)
'I refused to attend the dinner.'
(47) Cheti Toi quên không bo thw! (death I forget not drop letter)
'Gee! I forgot to mail the letter.' [= Toi quên bo thu! ]
(48) Nó quên không dán tem. (he forget not stick stamp)
'He forgot to put a stamp.' [= Nó quên dán tem. ]
(49) Anh áy thôi không dánh con nűa.
(elder brother that stop not beat child more)
'He stopped beating his child.' [= Anh ay thôi dánh con roi. ]

11.1.3. The interrogative sentence.

A. The choice question. One type of question—the "yes-or-no"
question—requires either 'yes' or 'no' as an answer, so has been also called
the "alternative question".
1. The pattern of coordination is used by placing the disjunction
connective hay (là) 'or' between two words or two phrases, as in
(50) Chi hay (là) chi Thao di truóc? (you or elder sister Thao go before)
'Are you or sister Thåo going first?'
(51) Cái áo ba-dò-xuy này, Bo tính cho anh Chinh hay (là) anh Hien?
(classifier coat overcoat this, dad plan give brother  or brother H.)
'Daddy, this overcoat, you plan to give it to Chinh or to Hien?'
(52) Em muôn mua r ô Safeway hay (là) Pho Tàu?
(younger sister want buy vegetables at Safeway or town China)
'Honey, do you want to buy vegetables at Safeway or in Chinatown?'
(53) May ông mua vé theo gia chinh-thúc hay (là) theo gia cho den?
(few gentleman buy ticket follow price official or follow price
market black)
'Did you gentlemen buy your tickets at the official rate or at the
black-market rate?'
(54) Hai cô muon dao pho, sám dò hay ngòi nhà xem ti-vi?
(two young lady want stroll street, buy thing or sit home watch TV)
'You want to walk downtown, shop or stay home and watch TV?'
238 THE SENTENCE (CONTINUED)

2. The disjunctive phrase co không? or da chua? is used, e.g.

(55) Anh co tien le không? (elder brother have money odd or-not)
'Do you have some change?'
(56) Anh co can tien lé không?
(elder brother EMPHATIC need money odd or-not)
'Do you need some change?'
(57) Anh da linh luong chua? (elder brother ANTERIOR receive salary yet)
'Have you received your pay check yet?'
The query in example (56) is understood to be the result of successive
reductions from
(56a) Anh co can tien le hay không can tièn le?
(... emphatic need money odd or not need money odd)
(56b) Anh co can tien le hay không? [after deleting can tien lé ]
(... emphatic need money odd or not)
(56) Anh co can tien lé không? [after deleting the connective hay].
A final — optional — deletion of co would result ultimately in
(56c) Anh can tien le không? , which contains only the question particle
không and which means exactly 'Do you need some change?'
Thus in informal situations, the pre verb da 'anterior' as in sentence
(57) can be omitted, and the final particle chua can by itself help the
speaker ask whether an action or a state has happened yet, as in
(57a) Anh linh luong chua? 'Have you received your salary yet?'
(58) Thi chua? '[Did you] take [your] exam yet?'
(59) Com nuóc gì chiía? [rice water whatever yet]
'Have you eaten yet?'
B. The content question. The second type of question, which seeks
some precise information, requires the use of question words ("who?,
what?, where?, when?, why?, which?, whose?") that are interrogative
substitutes like ai?, gì?, dâu?, bao già?, sao?, or equivalent phrases like
nguoi nào?, cai nào?, chô nào?, khi nào?, the nào?, cůa ai?, etc. (6.3.2.3)
Additional examples:
(60) Ai khát nuoc? (who thirsty water)
'Who is thirsty?'
The interrogative substitute ai occupies the slot which is filled by the
answer in the response, for instance Tôi khát nuóc. 'I am thirsty.'
 THE SENTENCE (CONTINUED) 239

(61) Chung mình dai ai? (we inclusive await who)

'Whom are we waiting for?'
Answer: (Chung mình) dai Giao-su Hieu.
'We're waiting for Professor Hieu.'
(62) Câu uong gì? (maternal uncle drink what)
'What do you want to drink?' [asking a young man]
Answer: Toi uong tra nóng (tea hot). TU drink hot tea.'
(63) Ai uóng gì nào? (who drink what come-on)
'Who drinks what?'
(64) Xin mâu don ô dâu? (ask model application at where)
'Where do you ask for an application form?'
Again, the substitute dâu occupies the slot potentially filled by the answer,
for instance Xin mâu don å så buu-diên. (ask model application at office
post-and-telecom) ' You ask for an application form at the post office. ' The
word order in question (64) suggests that Vietnamese speakers have to learn
to place the English interrogative word in front. On the other hand,
speakers of English will find it easy to formulate such questions in
Vietnamese if they keep in mind the "We wait for who?" "You know what?"
"He go where?" "She think how? " word order.
(65) Ô dâu co bán dâu phu? (at where EMPHATIC sell tofu)
'Where do they sell tofu?'
Answer: Dwong Stockton có bán dâu phu. 'On Stockton Street. '
Samples of content questions have been given in 6.3.2.3. Note the
exception regarding a 'when' expression like bao gio, may gio, horn nào, etc.
(66) Bao gio may bay tói? (when machine-fly arrive)
'When is the plane coming?'
(67)  y gid bat dau hát? (what o'clock catch-head sing)
'What time will the show begin?'
(68) Co Green ve nWóc bao gid? (Miss G. return country when)
'When did Miss Green go home?'
(69) Ông Brown ve nuác hôm nào? (Mr. . return country day which)
'When did Mr. Brown go back home?'
Examples (66) and (67) ask about a future event, and questions (68) and
(69) are about a past event.
240 THE SENTENCE (CONTINUED)

 The tag question. A tag question comparable to English "is it

not?", "do you?", "weren't they?", etc., French n'est-ce pas?, and Spanish
no es verdad? consists in seeking confirmation on some situation, as in
(70) Co muôn ghi ten, phåi không?
(you want register name, correct or not)
'You wish to register, don't you?'
(71) Quyén này dát hon, phai không?
(roll this expensive more, correct or not)
'This one [book] is more expensive, isn't it?'
(72) Bài tho do là cua Nguyen Trai, dúng không?
(text poetry that be of N.T., accurate or not)
'That poem is by Nguyen Trai, right?'
D. The final particles. Final particles such as à?, sao?, u?, ha?,
chang?, phong?, nhi? may be used also to seek corroboration on some
supposition. The first four examples connote surprise on the part of the
speaker, though sao? is used more often in the Saigon dialect. While (73)
through (76) are unproblematic, (78), (80), (82) and (83) are less so.
(73) Horn nay anh ban à? (day this, you busy, I'm surprised)
'So you are busy today?'
(74) Anh không met à? (you not tired, I'm surprised)
'Aren't you tired [after working so hard]?'
(75) Chi binh (hay) sao? (you sick, or somehow) 'Are you sick, sister?'
(76) Me chua tiêm (hay) sao? (mother not-yet have shot or somehow)
'You haven't had your shots yet? [How come?]'
(77) Không phåi -sa hay sao? (not correct marijuana or somehow)
'Isn't that marijuana?'
(78) Chi co hai tram thôi u? (only exist two hundred stop really)
'Only two hundred? [I expected more]'
(79) Het phim hå? (finish film, huh) 'Are you out of film?'
(80) Cô ay bang long lây ten dó ho?
(she agree marry name that, I'm surprised)
'So she consents to marry that guy?'
(81) Ho quên chäng?
(they forget I wonder)
'Could it be that they forgot? (I wonder)'
 THE SENTENCE (CONTINUED) 241

(82) Mình dap chiec xe buýt kia phong?

(we inclusive board classifier vehicle bus over there right?)
'We're boarding that bus over there, aren't we?'
[The final particle phong? is a contracted form of phai không?]
(83) Chong bà Chi là ai nhi? (husband lady Chi be who, do you know)
'Who is Chi's husband? I wonder.'
E. The rhetorical question. Finally a sentence which has the structure
of a question may actually be an affirmative sentence, and does not expect
an answer, e.g.
(84) Đòi nào co ây chiù lay ông già ay?
(era whichever she consent marry gentleman old that)
'Never will she agree to marry that old man! '
Cf. the paraphrase in (84a):
(84a) Không dòi nào co ay chiu lây ông già ây đâu !
(not era whichever she consent marry gentleman old that where)
'Never will she agree to marry that old man [believe me].'
(85) Nó lo the, ai mà tha duoc?
(he insolent so, whoever that forgive okay)
'He was so insolent, who on earth can forgive him?'
This sentence can be paraphrased as (85a).
(85a) Nó láo the, không ai tha duoc!
(he insolent so, not whoever forgive okay)
'He was so insolent. Nobody can forgive him.'
(86) Ai chang biet? (who not know) 'Who doesn't know that?!'
(87) Sáng nào minh chang làm hai tách cà-phê?
(morning whichever you not do two cup coffee)
'Is there any morning you don't drink two cups of coffee, honey?'
Cf. the two paraphrases (88) and (89) :
(88) Sáng nào mình chång làm hai tách cà-phê là gì ('be what') ?
(89) Sáng nào minh chang làm hai tách cà-phê dó sao ('there how') ?
The latter three highly idiomatic sentences uttered by a wife all mean
something like "Don't you already as a rule drink two cups of coffee every
morning? [You can't deny it.]"
242 THE SENTENCE (CONTINUED)

11.1.4. The imperative sentence. This type of sentence formulates an

order, a request, a compliment or an exhortation.
A. The final particles. In "emergency situations" a verb alone will
suffice---with the help of intonation: Im! 'Quiet!' Nín! '[to child] Stop
crying!' Thôi! 'Stop! That's enough!' Can-thân! 'Careful!' Đúng lai!
'Halt! Freeze!' However, the most common imperative structure contains a
final particle like di! 'go ahead and .......' or vói! 'together; so that
we/you can be together', the former used as an injunctive addressed even
to one's own group, and the latter used in earnest requests or entreaties.
(90) Thôi mày im di! (stop thou quiet IMPERATIVE)
'Shut up!' [arrogantly to "inferior" or "equal"]
(91) Mày có im di không? (thou EMPHATIC quiet IMPERATIVE or-not)
'Won't you shut up?' [arrogantly]
(92) Anh ǎn di dä! (you eat IMPERATIVE first)
'Go ahead and eat first.'
(93) Cho toi vói! (await me together with)
'Wait for me, please.'
(94) Cúu toi vói! (rescue me together with)
'Help! [I'm in danger.]'
(95) Ông ngoai cho thang Khánh nó di vói!
(grandfather outer let boy Khánh he go together with)
'Grandpa, please let Khánh go with you, will you?'
B. Tne imperatives hāy, dùng, chó. These adverbs help formulate
some advice or admonition, and the counsel may be either positive or
negative, e.g.
(96) Hāy bình-tĩnh. (EXHORTATIVE calm) 'Keep calm!'
(97) Con häy nên co-gang làm cho bo vui lòng.
(child EXHORTATIVE should endeavor make father pleased heart)
'Be sure to try to please Daddy.'
(98) Nguoi Viêt-nam, xin dùng quên!
(person Vietnam beg PROHIBITIVE forget)
'Vietnamese! Please don't forget.' [a popular song by Tham Oánh]
(99) Chó có theo ban mà thů ma-tuý nhé!
(PROHIBITIVE follow friend and try narcotics, hear me)
'Don't you let your friends talk you into trying drugs!'
 THE SENTENCE (CONTINUED) 243

(100) "Sông sâu chó loi, dò day chó dì." [a proverb]

'River deep—don't ford it; ferry crowded—don't ride it.'
C. The polite request. Regular verbs may be used to make requests,
e.g. "(I) invite you", "(I) beg you", "(I) request", "(I) suggest", as in
(101) Moi bo me xoi món cá này a!
(invite dad mom eat dish fish this POLITE PARTICLE)
'Dad and Mom, please help yourselves to this dish! '
(102) Xin hai anh cu ǎn tu-nhiên!
(beg two elder brother go ahead eat naturally)
'Please help yourselves. Don't be shy! No ceremony! '
(103) Yêu-cau quý-vi chú-ý!
(request distinguished-persons pay attention)
'Please may I have your attention, ladies and gentlemen?'
(104) De-nghi chúng ta cho các cháu bé än trúóc.
(suggest we inclusive let plural nephew/niece small eat before)
'May I suggest that we let the children eat first?'
It is customary to use a pleasant tone of voice, especially in a large crowd
that includes several older persons, who deserve all the honorific terms.
Shouting across the room is not considered polite behavior.

11.1.5 The exclamatory sentence. Any narrative or descriptive sentence

can be turned into an exclamatory sentence, especially with the help of the
final particle thay! 'how ...!', a phrase like Jàm sao! 'how ...!', biet bao!
'[heaven] know how much ...!', biet chùng nào! '[heaven] know extent
whichever', xiet baof '[one can't describe] adequately how much' — and a
crescendo intonation (2.10), e.g.
(105) Hay qua! (interesting excessively)'How interesting! How clever!'
(106) May thay! 'How fortunately!'
(107) Bùc tranh son-thuy dó mói dep làm saol
(classifier painting mountain-water that only-then beautiful how)
'How exquisite that landscape painting is!'
(108) Sao mà con My-Khuê giong me no the!
(how girl My-Khuê resemble mother her so)
'My-Khuê looks so much like her mother!'
Sometimes thay or sao is placed inside the sentence, e.g.
244 THE SENTENCE (CONTINUED)

(109) Dau-dón thay, phan dàn-bà! (painful how, fate woman)

'How sorrowful a woman's lot!' ["The Tale of Kieu"]
(110) Mat sao dày gió dan sifong! (face how endure wind bear frost)
'How weather-beaten her face has been! ' ["The Tale of Kieu"]

11.2 The compound sentence

The compound sentence can be generated through three different processes:
concatenation, the use of paired substitutes, and the use of connectives.

11.2.1 Concatenation of simple sentences.

The first process consists in forming a string of simple sentences placed in
juxtaposition, thus Sentence1 + Sentence2 + Sentences3, etc. The structure is
loose-jointed, there can be any number of constituents, and the order in
which they appear is purely arbitrary, e.g.
(1) Nó chay, nó nhay, nó boi. 'He ran, he jumped, he swam.'
or 'It ran, it jumped, it swam.'
(2) Tàu cuoi, Tay khóc, Nhat no.
'The Chinese are laughing, the French are crying, the Japanese eat
their full.' [This refers to the situation in 1945 Vietnam.]
(3) Troi mua, tôi không di. (1.11) 'It's raining. I'm not going.'
The semantic relation between the elements in (1) and (2) is not clear,
and the series of simple sentences often denote sequential actions or
simultaneous activities. The two constituents of (3), on the other hand,
may reveal some semantic relation in various contexts:
'When it rains, I don't go out.'
'If it rains, I won't go.'
'Because it's raining, I am not going.'
(The disambiguating process depends on the use of connectives.)
(4) Tôi lâw, no làm. Tôi nghi, no nghi. is another example of a series
that may mean variously
'When I work, he works. When I stop, he stops.'
'If I work, he works. If I stop, he stops, too.'
'He worked because I worked. And he also stopped because I
stopped.'
 THE SENTENCE (CONTINUED) 245

11.2.2 Correlative pronouns.

Forms such as nay 'that same one', ay 'that', vay 'that same way', day
'that same place', bay 'that same extent' are used in correlation with an
indefinite substitute like ai 'whoever' or nào 'whichever'. Examples are:
(5) Ai làw nay chiu, (whoever do, that same person suffer)
'Whoever did it has to suffer.'
(6) Manh ai nay chay. (strong whoever, that same person run)
'It was a run for your life.' [Fr. "sauve-qui-peuť\
(7) Ban chåi cua ai, ngilòi ay dung.
(table brush of whoever, person that use)
'Each one uses his/her own (tooth)brush.'
(8) Viec ai nây làm. (Job whoever, that same person do)
'Each one takes care of his/her own job.'
(9) Co ai nay phat. (flag whoever, that same person wave)
'Each waving his/her own flag.'
(10) Cha nào, con nây. (father whichever, child that same one)
'Like father, like son.'
(11) Cha me dat dâu, con ngoi day.
(father mother place wherever, child sit that same place)
'You sit wherever your parents put you.' [fig. "You marry
whatever husband your parents selected for you."]
(12) Ai å dâu  day. (whoever stay wherever, stay that same place)
'Wherever you are, you should stay there.'
(13) Va no báo sao no làm (nhu) vay.
(wife he tell however, he do like that same way)
'He does exactly how his wife tells him to do.'
(14) Kiem bao nhiêu, tie bay nhiêu.
(earn however much, spend that much)
'He spends whatever he earns.'

11.2.3 Connectives of coordination.

Thirdly, the structuring of compound sentences relies upon connectives
that express various relations (7.2.2) , e.g.
• conjunction (và 'and', còn 'whereas, while'),
• disjunction {hay, hay là, hoac, hoac là 'or'),
246 THE SENTENCE (CONTINUED)

• cause and effect (vì nên ; tai cho nên ; s ò d ĩ la vi

'the reason why.... is because .....') ,
« condition or supposition (mà thì 'if then '; he là
'as soon as , then ....'; neu thi 'if then ....,'; dong
là 'as soon as then '),
• concession (tuy nhung 'although [yet] '; thà chú
không 'rather .... than '; dù van 'even though still
.....'; mac dau van 'even though still '),
• progression (càng càng 'the more the more '; không
nhuhg/chi ma con 'not only , but also ') , etc.
Strictly speaking, these relations are relations of INTERDEPENDENCE
rather than relations of SUBORDINATION.
(15) Anh tôi thích Dà-lat, còn tôi thích Nha-trang.
(elder brother me like Dalat, as for me like Nhatrang)
'My brother likes Dalat, and I like Nha-trang.'
(16) Anh ve ngay hay ô lai?
(elder brother return immediately or stay behind)
'Are you leaving right now or are you staying?'
(17) Chi di cho hay là em di cho?
(elder sister go market or younger sibling go market)
'Sis, are you going to market or am I?'
(18) Bà mua ót chuông hay ót cay? — Öt tay hoac ót ta cung duoc.
(lady buy pepper bell or pepper hot — pepper west or pepper ours
likewise okay)
'Do you want to buy bell peppers or pimentos, ma'am? — Either
western peppers or Vietnamese peppers will do.'
Whereas the connective or conjunction hay (là) is used in choice (yes-
or-no) questions (11.1.3A), hoac cannot be used in such an alternative
question. Instead, when a statement contains hoac---as in the response in
(18)—the connotation is that the alternatives are not mutually exclusive
("either one would be fine") .
(19) Anh deh 8 già hoac [= hay] 9 già cüng duoc.
(you come 8 o'clock or 9 o'clock likewise okay)
'Either 8 o'clock or 9 o'clock will be fine.'
 THE SENTENCE (CONTINUED) 247

(20) Hoac bo hoac me, mot nguài phåi co mat ô dây chú !
(either dad or mom, one person must have face at here I'm sure)
[mother speaking to child] 'Either dad or I, one of us definitely
has to be present, I hope.'
(21) Vì không can-than nên tôi bi móc túi.
(because not careful consequently I suffer pick pocket)
'Because I was not careful they picked my pocket.'
In this structure [vì S1 nên S2], S1 that denotes a cause and is often
called a "circumstantial clause" [Tran, Pham & Bùi 1942: 23-27], can be
placed after S2 (the "effect clause") : in that case, the element nên 'as a
result, consequently' will be deleted from the fronted S2, as in
(22) = Tôi bi moc túi vi không cân-thân. 'id.' [S2 vi S1]
Several analysts, including the three above-cited co-authors, consider
the circumstantial S1 a subordinate sentence. We prefer to treat this as a
case of coordination.
(23) Tai ho chu-quan cho nên mói bi thät-bai. [tai S1 cho nên S2]
(because they subjective consequently only then suffer failure)
'They failed only because they were subjective.'
(24) = Ho bi thät-bai tai (ho) chu-quan. 'id.' [S2 tai S1]
(25) So dì cuoc hop bi hoan lai là vì van-phòng ông bô-truong chua
duoc chuan-bi [The order of the two linked sentences is fixed.]
(the reason why session meet suffer postpone behind be because office
gentleman minister not yet get ready)
'The reason why the meeting was postponed is because the
minister's office had not been made ready for it.'
(26) Pháp ma thi-hành dao luat ay thi dân-chung se phân-doi lien.
(France if carry out classifier law that then people shall oppose
immediately)
'If France implements that law, the people will immediately
protest.'
In the S1 denoting condition, ma can be used with neu 'if', and the
combination is fronted, as in
(27) = Neu ma Pháp thi-hành dao luat ay thi dân-chung se phan-doi
lien, 'id.'
(28) = Dân-chung se phan-doi lien nêu (ma) Pháp thi-hành dao luât ây.
248 THE SENTENCE (CONTINUED)

(29) Neu tôikhônglam thi truóc 1975 ông ta làm quân-trWÔng.

'If I am not mistaken, [then] he was a district chief before 1975.'
The connective may express either condition or supposition. Contrast the
two sentences (30) and (31) :
(30) Neu co tien, chúng toi se mua cái nhà áy.
(if have money, we exclusive shall buy classifer house that)
'If we have/had money, we will/would buy that house.'
(31) Neu co tien, thi chúng tôi dä mua cai nhà ay roi.
( , then we exclusive ANTERIOR buy classifer house that already)
'If we had had money, we would have bought that house.' [But we
don't have money.]
Here giá 'if, by any chance' can substitute for neu.
Sometimes the connective neu does not express either condition or
supposition, but comparison, e.g.
(32) Neu Pike co công soan cuôn "Phonemics" thi Nida co công soan
cuôn "Morphology".
(if P. have credit compose book "Phonemics" then N. have credit
compose book "Morphology")
'Whereas Pike was credited with the.book Phonemics, Nida
contributed the one on Morphology.'
(33) Ông nhà toi he nói là làm!
(gentleman house me as soon as say be do)
'Once my husband says it, he does it!'
(34) Ông ay khó tính lam: dong hoi den là gát.
(he difficult character very: move ask reach be holler)
'He's a very difficult man: as soon as you ask him something, he
bursts into angry words. '
(35) Tuy no mói co muòi tuoi nhung no thông-minh bang ngúòi
muòi bon muòi lăm.
(though he only have ten year (of age) but he intelligent equal person
fourteen fifteen)
'Though he is only ten years old, he is as intelligent as somebody
14 or 15 years old.' [no need to translate nhung]
Unlike the case in English, the S2 that follows the concession has to be
introduced by the connective nhúng or song 'but, however'.
 THE SENTENCE (CONTINUED) 249

The two juxtaposed sentences S1 and S2 can switch position, too :

(36) Thäng bé thông-minh iám tuy mói có muòi tuoi.
(boy small intelligent very though only have ten year (of age)
'The boy is very intelligent although (he is) only ten years old.'
(37) Dù / dau con co muon cũng không duoc.
(though child EMPHATIC want, likewise not okay)
'Sonny, even though you want it, you still can't have it.'
(38) Mac dau tròi mua, ho van dá.
(though sky rain, they still kick)
'They [= the soccer teams] still played although it rained.'
(39) Dû muôn du không, minh cûng van phai dai cho thäng Ninh hoc
xong đã.
(though want though not, we inclusive likewise still must wait for
boy Ninh study finish first)
'Whether we want it or not, we still have to wait until Ninh finishes
his studies.'
(40) Dau sao chang nua, Pham Quynh cûng dä có công góp phan vào
viec xây-dung nen quôc-vän mói.
(though whatsoever not additional, Pham Quýnh likewise ANTERIOR
have credit contribute share enter task build up classifier national
literature new)
'At any rate, Pham Quýnh deserved credit for his contribution to
the buildup of a new national literature.'
(41) Twang Phùl bao vo : "Thà ehet chú không dau-hàng".
(general Phú tell wife: would rather die but not surrender)
'General Phú told his wife: "I'd rather die than surrender." '
(42) Khi chàng du-hoc-sinh trô ve thi moi tinh  nàng lai càng
däm-thám hon nüa.
(time when classifier student turn return, then classifier love of her
even increasingly intense more additionally)
'Upon the young scholar's return from studying abroad, her love
for him grew even more intense.'
(43) Ông ay càng van xin thi dám thanh-niên càng la ó.
(he more pray beg, then mob youth more shout holler)
'The more he begged, the more loudly the crowd of youths roared.'
250 THE SENTENCE (CONTINUED)

(44) Gùng càng già càng cay. (ginger more old more pungent)
'The older ginger is, the more pungent it becomes.'
(45) Chi Kim-Hoàn trông càng ngày càng dep ra.
(elder sister Kim-Hoàn look more day more beautiful out)
'Sister Kim-Hoàn looks prettier every day.'
(46) Hoc-phi moi ngày mot cao. (study fee each day one high)
'Tuition fees are getting higher and higher.'
(47) Các van-si không nhung làm thiphu, ma con làm các thè van
khác nua. [Duong Quång-Ham]
(plural writer not only do poem rhyme-prose, but also do plural genre
writing other additionally)
'Writers not only composed poetry and rhyme-prose, but also wrote
in other genres. '
(48) Không chi ky-su co-khi, ma ca ký-stí hoá-hoc cững khó kiem
viêc.
(not only engineer mechanics, but even engineer chemistry likewise
difficult find job)
'Not only mechanical engineers, but also chemical engineers find it
hard to land a job. '
More examples of coordination:
(49) Chiec cau dó, hophâi mat gan muiòi nam moi xâyxong.
(classifier bridge that, they must lose nearly 10 year then and only
then build finish)
'They had to spend almost ten years before that bridge got built.'
(50) Ai, no cững vay tien. (whoever, he likewise borrow money)
'He would borrow money from anyone.'
(51) Dát baonhiêu,. toi cüngmua.
(expensive however much, I likewise buy)
'I'll buy it no matter how expensive it is.'
(52) Me an (cài) gì cüng dtíoc.
(mom eat whatever likewise okay)
'Anything would be fine for Mom to eat.'
(53) Nhieu vu-khi the má van thua day!
(many weapon so yet still lose there)
'Despite all those weapons they got beaten just the same.'
 THE SENTENCE (CONTINUED) 251

11.2.4 Within one compound sentence, each constituent can in turn consist
of two or more submembers tied by some similar relation of interdependence:
(54) Neu anh muon mua ma chi ay không dòng-y, thi anh không nên
mua, tuy rang do co the là mot vu dau-tu hay.
(if you want buy yet sister that not agree, then you not should buy,
though that has possibility be one affair invest interesting)
'If you want to buy that property but your wife doesn't go along,
then you shouldn't buy—although that could be a good investment.'
(55) Hoa quynh lứe no thi that dep, nhung nó chóng tàn, ma da tàn thi
không dep nua tuy vân cón thorn.
(flower night-blooming-cereus time open then really beautiful, but it
fast wilt, and ANTERIOR wilt then not beautiful more, though still
fragrant)
'The night-blooming cereus is really beautiful when the flower
opens, but the bloom doesn't last long, and once it is wilted it no
longer looks pretty—though the fragrance still lingers on.'

11.3 The complex sentence.

We can distinguish two kinds of complex sentences: those that contain an
embedded completive sentence, and those that contain an embedded
determinative sentence.
11.3.1 The embedded completive sentence serves as complement of the
"mother" or "matrix" sentence, which it follows, e.g.
(56) Dong bi < vo bo >. (Dong suffer: wife abandon)
'Dong's wife left him.'
(57) Nam duoc < bo me vo cho chiec ô-tô mói >.
(Nam gain: father mother wife give classifier automobile new)
'Nam's parents-in-law gave him a new car.'
(58) Tam duoc < Liên yêu >. (Tarn gain: Liên love)
'Tárn is loved by Liên.'
(59) Ho bau Quân < làm chù-tich >. (they vote Quân: do chairperson)
'They elected Quân chairperson.'
(60) Co coi Châ < là kè thù >. (she regard Châu: be person foe)
'She considers Châu an enemy.'
252 THE SENTENCE (CONTINUED)

(61) Tôinghî (rang) < anh kia dung >.

(I think that: fellow other correct)
'
I think that the other guy is right.'
(62) Toi tuong (là) < các anh không thích >.
(I thought wrongly that: plural fellow not like)
'I thought (wrongly) that you fellows don't like it.'
(63) Bác biet rang < các cháu nhó nhà >.
(uncle know that: plural nephew/niece miss home)
'I [your uncle] know that you are homesick.'
(64) Chứng mình dùng hòng < no giup minh >.
(we inclusive PROHIBITIVE hope: he help us inclusive)
'Let's not entertain any hope that he will help us.'
(65) Gia-dinh chúng tôimong < quy-vi luong-tinh tha-thú>.
(family we exclusive hope: distinguished persons sympathize forgive)
'Our family hope that you will understand and forgive us.'
(66) Me da nói rang < chứng minh phai cho ông ngoai >.
(mom ANTERIOR say that: we inclusive must await grandfather outer)
'Mom said that we have to wait for Grandpa.'
(67) Chung tôi deu tin-tuong rang < chfnh-nghîa quôc-gia se tháng >.
(we exclusive equally believe that: just cause national shall win)
'We all believe that the national cause will prevail.'
(68) Bo Ngoai-giao xác-nhan rang < Công-chua chua dong-ý >.
(ministry foreign confirm that: princess not yet agree)
'The Foreign Office confirmed that Her Highness had not agreed.'
(69) Bên nào cung nhân manh là < minh tuân-thu thoa-uóc ngùng bán >.
(side any likewise emphasize that: self obey agreement stop-fire)
'Each side emphasizes that it abides by the cease-fire agreement.'
(70) Van-thu cua nhà truòng båo rang < no không hôi du diêu-kiên >.
(letter of school say that: he not gather complete requirement)
'The note from the school says he doesn't meet all requirements.'
(71) Tóingő < no nói dùa >. (I thought: he speak jest)
'I thought he was kidding.'
(72) Toi biet thùa rang < tcn dó không thât-thà >.
(I know surplus that: name that not honest)
'I've known all along that that guy is not honest.'
 THE SENTENCE (CONTINUED) 253

(73) Anh ay tuong rang < cô äy chê anh xäu trai >.
(he thought wrongly that: she slight he ugly boy)
'He got the wrong impression that she thought he isn't handsome.'
The matrix sentence in each of the above examples contains a verb of
saying, thinking, knowing, guessing, hoping, evaluating, etc. In the
following examples, on the other hand, the matrix sentence contains a
causative verb.
(74) Bà ây cho <ho nghi sóm >. (she let: they rest early)
'She allowed them to quit early.'
(75) Anh dé < toi làm ngay bay giù >. (you let: I do right now)
'Let me do it right now.'
(76) Nó làm < chúng tôi xäu-ho >. (he make: we exclusive ashamed)
'He makes us feel ashamed.'
(77) Ho dòi < anh ay (phai) tù-chuc >. (they demand: he must resign)
'They demand that he resign.'
(78) Luât-lê cam < sinh-viên không duoc hut thuoc lá >.
(law forbid: student not allowed suck drug-leaf)
'The law prohibits students from smoking cigarettes.'

11.3.2 The embedded determinative sentence—commonly known as "the

relative clause"—serves as an attribute modifying the NP in the matrix
sentence (7.1.2.1; 8.1.7), e.g.
(79) Noi < tôi ra dòi > dä bi bom dan phá-huý.
(place <I exit l i f o ANTERIOR suffer bomb bullet destroy)
'The spot where I was born has been destroyed by bombs and shells.'
(80) Cái ông < deo kính den > chác là tay mât- vu.
(classifier man <wear glasses black> surely be hand secret-affairs)
'The man with dark glasses must be a Secret Service agent.'
(81) Nhûng cài máy tính < nhà truong vùa mua tuan truóc > bi mai roi.
(plural classifier machine calculate <school just buy week before>
suffer lose already)
'The calculators the school just bought last week have been lost.'
(82) Nhung ai < làm ca dêm > dèu duoc trå luong phu-troi.
(plural who <do shift night> equally gain pay salary supplementary)
'All those who work on the graveyard shift get overtime pay.'
254 THE SENTENCE (CONTINUED)

(83) Những ông bà nào < chua giu chô > se phåi trå khoan phu-trôi.
(plural gentleman lady any <not yet retain seat> shall must pay
item extra)
'Those who didn't made reservations will have to pay an extra fee.'
(84) Cai dòng-hò < (ma) chu toi vùa gui cho toi > không phâi lên dây.
(classifier watch <which uncle me just send to me> not must wind)
'The watch that my uncle just sent me does not need any winding.'
(85) Cài nguoi tho may < den sang ngày > cat ao khéo.
(cl cl artisan sew <arrive morning day> cut coat skillful)
'The tailor who came this morning is very skillful.'
(86) Tôi thích ngôi nhà gach to-tuóng < (ma) ba no vùa moi tau >.
(I like classifier house brick huge <that dad he just recently buy>)
'I like the huge brick house that his father just bought.'
(87) Nguoi < (ma) tôi kính-trong nhat > lai là mot giáo-su nghèo.
(person <that I respect most> unexpectedly be one teacher poor)
'The person I respect most happens to be a poor teacher.'
(88) Cái ô-tô < trong dó canh-sát khám thây ma-tuý > là chiêc Ford cu.
(classifier car «cinside that police search find drug> be classifier
Ford used)
'The car in which police found drugs is an old Ford.'
(89) Dó là cài chính-sách < vi dó Pháp mat mat >.
(that be classifier policy <because that France lose face>)
- Dó là cài chính-sách < (ma) nò da khiêh cho Pháp mát mat >.
(that be classifier policy <which it ANTERIOR cause France lose face>)
'That is a policy which has caused France to lose face.'
(90) Viêt-nam gui môt phái-doän < do Giáo-su XYZ cam dau >.
(Vietnam send one delegation <origin professor XYZ hold head>)
'Vietnam sent a delegation led by Professor XYZ.'
(91) Ho dä tu-tiên in lai quyen tù-diên < cua tôi soan hoi 1976 >.
(they ANTERIOR brazenly print again classifier dictionary <property I
compile time 1976>)
'They printed a pirate edition of the dictionary I compiled in 1976.'
(92) Cây ói < cua anh Hién tròng nam kia > ra bao nhiêu là qua!
(tree guava <property brother Hién plant year other> give out so many
fruit)
 THE SENTENCE (CONTINUED) 255

'The guava tree Hién planted two years ago has borne so much fruit.'
(93) Quyên bách-khoa < (ma) toi mua hôm no > bi an cáp mat roi.
(book encyclopedia <which I buy day other> suffer steal lost already)
'The encyclopedia I bought the other day has been stolen.'
(94) Tät cå chi co 130 thuyen-nhân < dä däng-ký tu-nguyên hoi-huong >.
(all only exist 130 boatpeople <ANTERI0R register voluntary
repatriate>)
'In all there are only 130 refugees who signed up for repatriation.'
(95) American Technologies, < ma so thuong-vu hang nam lén tói gan
100 trieu My-kim >, là mot công-ty Viêt-nam.
(AT, <which amount commercial affairs yearly ascend reach nearly
100 million US dollars> be one company Vietnam)
'American Technologies—whose annual business [incidentally]
amounts to nearly 100 million dollars—is a Vietnamese corporation.'
The adjunct enclosed by commas is a "non-essential, non-restrictive"
predication introduced by the "relative" connective ma meaning variously
'which, to which, of which, from which, against which, whose, etc.'
 APPENDIX 1

PARTS OF SPEECH

I. FULL WORDS = CONTENT WORDS ( thuc-tù )

A. SUBSTANTIVES ( the-tu )
1. Nouns ( danh-tu )
la. Classifiers ( loai-tù )
2. Locatives ( phuong-vi-tu )
3. Numerals ( so-tu )
B. PREDICATIVES ( vi-tu )
4. (Functive) Verbs ( dông-tù )
5. Stative Verbs = Adjectives ( tinh-ttf )
C. SUBSTITUTES ( d a i - t u )
6. Substitutes ( dai-tu )
Pro-nouns ( dai-danh-tu )
Pro-verbs ( dai-vi-tu )

II. EMPTY WORDS = FUNCTION WORDS ( hu-tu )

D. ADVERBS (phó-tù)
7. Adverbs ( phó-tù )
E. CONNECTIVES ( quan-hê-tù )
8. Prepositions ( giói-tu )
Conjunctions ( liên-tu )
F. PARTICLES ( tieu-tu tinh-thái )
9. Initial and Final Particles ( tình-thai-tù )
10. Interjections ( cam-thán-tu )
 APPENDIX 2

TEXTS

1. FOLK VERSE ABOUT THE LOTUS

Trong dam gì dep bang sen,
(inside pond what beautiful equal lotus)
'Lotus in a pond: what a great beauty! '

Lá xanh bông trang lai chen nhi vàng.

(leaf green flower white and mix stamen yellow)
'Leaves shiny green, petals pure white, yellow stamens.'

Nhi vàng, bông tráng, lá xanh :

(stamen yellow, flower white, leaf green)
*Yellow stamens, white petals, green leaves.'

Gan bùn ma chang hoi tanh mùi bùn.

(near mud yet not putrid noisome odor mud)
'It grows in mud, yet has no mud stench.'

This quatrain, which compares the incorruptible "superior man" to the

lotus flower, consists of two couplets, in which a line of eight syllables
follows a line of six syllables, hence the name luc-bát or "six-eight" meter.
The sixth syllable of line 2 (chen) rhymes with the final syllable of line 1
(sen). Likewise, the sixth syllable of line 4 (tanh) rhymes with the final
syllable of line 3 (xanh).
The most popular narrative, artfully crafted by Nguyen Du (1765-
1820), is the 3,254-line Tale of Kieu, which consists of 1,627 such couplets.
258 VIETNAMESE

2. EXCERPT FROM A NOVEL

Dialogue between Bà An (A), the widow of a judiciary mandarin (án

sat), and her son Lôc (L), who came to confess his love for Mai and asked
for the permission to marry her. The mother uses different pairs of personal
pronouns "I-you": me - con, tôi - anh, tao - mày, toi - cau.

A : Chác con co dieu gì phien-muon ma con giau me.

(surely child have matter whatever worry that child hide mother)
'You must have something troubling you're trying to hide from me.'
L : Vâng, co the. Bam me, con kho lám.
(yes, emphatic so. respectfully report mother, child unhappy very)
'Yes, I have. Mother, I'm very unhappy.'
A : Chuyen gì the con?
(story what so child)
'What is the matter, son?'
L : Me co tha tôi cho con thi con mói dám thua.
(mother emphatic forgive sin to child,' then child only-then dare report)
'Mother, I dare tell you only if you forgive me.'
A : Con cú nói.
(child go-ahead speak)
'Go ahead and say it.'
L: Co Mai....
(miss Mai)
'Mai....'
A : Con Mai. Co phái con bé nhà-quê no quyëh-rû anh không? The sao?
(girl Mai. emphatic correct girl little country she seduce you or-not so,
how)
'Mai? The country girl who tried to seduce you, son? What about her?'
L : Bam me, bay giù co áy ván o vói con, cô áy dä
(respectfully report mother, now she still live with child, she has ...)
'Mother, she's still living with me. She is '
 TEXTS 259

A : The thi mày gioì that....Mày doi tao, mày danh-lùa tao ....
(so then you good really .... you lie me, you strike-dupe me ....)
May di thuê nhà riêng de ô vói no.
(you go rent house private in order to live with her)
May con coi tao  gi nua, thàng kia ?
(you still regard me as anything further, rascal there)
'So you really did it! You lied to me, you tricked me. You rented
a separate house to live with her. You rascal, what are you taking
me for?'
Muón song ngày mai phai ve day ô vói tao. Con con bé
(want live day tomorrow must return here live with me. remain girl
thi tao se trình so cam bát bo vào nhà thó.
then I shall report office commissioner arrest drop enter house earth)
'If you want to live, you come back here tomorrow to live with me.
As for that girl, I will report her to the police commissariat and have
her put in a brothel. '
L : Bam me, nguoi áy dä là vo con.
(respectfully report mother, person that anterior be wife child)
'But mother, she has been my wife.'
A : Vo may! Ai hői no cho may?
(wife you. who ask her for you)
'Your wife? Who asked her in marriage on your behalf?'
L : Con hoi lay.
(child ask myself)
'I asked her myself.'
A : A, thàng này gioi that, vuot quyen cha me.
(ah, boy this, excellent really, go beyond authority father mother)
Phai roi! Cau van-minh! Câu tü-do két-hôn.
(correct already you civilized you freely get-married)
Nhung dû the nào câu cűng phåi xin phép toi da chú?
(but though whatever you likewise must ask permission me first, I'd say)
'Oh, this boy really did it! Ignore your parents' authority! I know.
You are civilized. You want to freely choose your wife. But in any
event you must ask for my permission first, must you not?'
260 VIETNAMESE

L :  , con dä xin phép me,

(respectfully report mother, child past ask permission mother,
nhung me không bang long
(but mother not agree)
'I did ask for your permission, mother, but you didn't give it.
A : Vây tôi không bang long thi cau cú lay, co phåi không?
(so I not agree then you go ahead take, emphatic correct or-not)
'And even if I don't agree you still go ahead and marry her, is that it?'
Nhung thôi, toi không can nhièu loi. Can con muôn trông tháy
(but stop, I not need many words. you still want look-see
mat tói nűa thi phåi lap-tuc tóhg co con dì äy di,
face me more then must at once expel neck classifier slut that away,
roi ve day ô vói tôi.
then return here live with me)
'Enough, I don't need to speak so much. If you still want to see my
face, you must immediately kick that harlot out, then come back
here to live with me.'
L : Bam me, that con không tuân theo ý me duoc.
(report mother, really child not abide follow wish mother possible)
'Mother, really I cannot obey your wish.'
Dâu me giet, con cüng cam chiù,
(even if mother kill, child likewise content suffer)
vi nguoi áy da co chua vói con
(because person that anterior have pregrancy together with child)
'Even if you kill me, I'll be willing to suffer, because she is now
pregnant by me.'
A : Nhung con dä chac dâu rang no co chua vói con!
(but child anterior sure anywhere that she have pregrancy with you)
'But how can you be sure that she is pregnant by you?'
Ròi con se ro Thôi, the này.
(later child shall see clear stop, way this.
'Later you will see For now, here is the thing.'
Neu anh muon lay con bé áy làm le, thi tôi cüng cho phép anh.
(if you want take girl that do concubine, then I likewise give
authorization you)
'If you want to marry her as a concubine, I'll authorize you to do so.'
 TEXTS 261

Làm trai lay nam lay bay mac ý.

(be man take five take seven never mind wish)
'A man may have five to seven wives if that's his wish.'
Nhung phai nghe tôi: den tháng tám này toi cuói con quan tuan
cho anh day.
(but must listen me: come month eight this I marry daughter
mandarin governor for you there)
'But you must listen to me: this coming eighth month I will get
the governor's daughter as your wife.'
Tuy anh nghi sao thi nghl
(depend you think however then think)
'It's up to you to think what is right.'
Nua chùng xuân
by Khái-Hung (1896-1947)

3. EXCERPT FROM A NEWSPAPER ADVERTISEMENT

TRUNG-TÂM DICH-VU XYZ

(center service XYZ)
XYZ SERVICE CENTER

Quoc-tich — INS : Dac-biet mién thi nhâp-tich

(citizenship INS : special waiver exam naturalization)
'Citizenship., Immigration & Naturalization Service: Special Waiver of
Naturalization Exam'
NhữhgngWdi bênh-tât dang nam tai nhà-thuong hay tai nhà,
(plural person sick-infirm presently lie in house-wounded or at home,
không the tói so di-tru duoc, chúng tôi se moi mot nhân- viên sô dó
not able come office immigration ok, we shall invite one staff office that
tói ngay giuong benh de phông-vâh cho qui-vi, khôi
come right bed sick to interview give distinguished persons, not obliged
lo phåi di-chuyen
worry must move around)
'For those of you, distinguished clients, who are sick lying in bed in the
hospital or at home, unable to go to the Immigration Service, we'll invite a
staff member of INS to interview you, so that you would not have to travel.'
262 VIETNAMESE

Dành rieng cho nguoi già yeu, bênh-hoan, tât-nguyën, câm, mù,
(reserve special give person old weak, sick, disabled, dumb, blind,
diec, mental không nói hay viet tieng Anh,.... dang lanh SSI,
deaf, mentally ill, not speak or write language England now receive SSI
theo düng tiêu-chuân dieu-kien mói nhat INS ban-hành.
follow exact standards conditions new most INS issue)
'Special service for people who are old, sick, disabled, dumb, blind, deaf,
mentally ill, unable to speak or write English, currently receiving SSI*
following exactly all standards and requirements most recently issued by the
Immigration and Naturalization Service.'

*The initials SSI stand for "Supplementary Security Income", a financial aid granted to
people with low income.

Chung tôi se lo moi dich-vu mién thi, phông-vân va

(We will take care every service waiver examination, interview and
tuyên-thê lay quoc-tich cho qui-vi.
swear take citizenship for distinguished persons)
'We will take care of all services including applying for the test waiver,
preparing the interview and the oath of allegiance so as to secure US
citizenship for you, our distinguished clients.'

Doàn-tu gia-dình : dem vo con, vi-hôn-thê, vi-hôn-phu sang Hoa-Ky,

(reunite family: bring wife kid, fiancée, fiancé over USA
khoi can ve Viet-Nam. Qui- vi se dón ho tal San Francisco tu 6 tháng.
not need return VN. You shall meet them in SF from six months)
Dien con nuôi, con ghé, con vo 1, vo 2.... ket ô Viêt-Nam.
(category child adopted, stepchild, child wife 1st, wife 2nd .... stuck in VN)
'Orderly Departure Program [ODP] : bring your wife and kids, your
fiancée or fiancé over to the USA without having to go back to Vietnam and
apply there. You will meet them in San Francisco in six months.
Or those falling under the categories of adopted children, stepchildren,
children of your 1st wife, of your 2nd wife, who got stuck in Vietnam.'
Thòi-bao (San José, California)
May 29, 1997 issue
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 INDEX

a! 168. a ha ! 168 Archaic Vietnamese 5, 69

à! 166, 168 article 96, 97
a! 166 aspectual words 88, 153-154
abstract 56: — adjective 56; — noun 55, association 191
72, 89, 94, 97, 176, 177, 210; -- verb attenuation 45
119 attribute 174, 181
accompaniment 191 attributive position 120
adjective 40, 82, 88, 107, 108, 119ff, 121֊ Aubaret, G. 83
122, 188, 217: abstract - 56; compound Austro-Asiatic 2, 4
— 75-76, 122; concrete — 56; qualitative auxiliary 4 1 , 87, 108: -- verb 118, 187
- 119, 121; quantitative - 120, 121; ây 92, 95, 96, 133-4
reduplicative — 122; — -adjective
compound 75; — -noun compound 75; -- bà 43: as classifier 178
-verb compound 75; larger forms 51-53 bả < bà 43
adjunct (in sentence) 224: appositive — bác 178: as classifier 178
227; circumstantial - 225; focal - 228; Bahnar 2
transitional — 229; vocative — 224 bán- 61
adverb 87, 140, 161 bán-hu-tù = semi-empty word
affinity w i t h Chinese 2 bán-thục-từ = semi-full w o r d
affix 59ff. bao 132: - giò 132; ~ lâu 132; - nhiêu
affixation 59: infixes 60; prefixes 60-63; 132; - x a 132
suffixes 63-66 27, 162, 174
ai 131, 212, 238-9: ai ... nấy ... 124, 245 'by means o f ' 192
ái! 168: ái chà! 168 (verb of contrast) 105
alliteration 42-43, 47, 69 44
alliterative patterns 42-43, 47-48 (classifier) 178
âm-tiet = syllable 168
âm-vi = phoneme - 63
analytic language 17 - 6 1 , 62, 122
Ancient Vietnamese 5 116
-ang 54 134: - giò 42, 134; - nhiêu 134
anh 43: as classifier 178 134: - giò 42, 134; - lâu 134; -
ánh < anh 43 nhiêu 134
Annamese 1 because of 193
Annamite 1 belief 194
antonym compounds 70ff bèn 157
appearance and disappearance 113 bên 98
appointment 196 < bên 43, 98
Archaic Chinese 6 beneficiary 193
 INDEX 277

bi 111, 112, 214 108, 140, 149, 150: -- 150,

117 152, 161, 186
bilingual 11 ! 168
162, 194 chi = gì
186 chi < chi 43
borrowings 36-38, 74-76 chi 142, 186: - 142
bound morphemes 60 chi 43
Bru 2 178
búc 178 Chinese 2, 3: — characters 2; — script
Buddhism 5, 11: Hinayana 5; Mahayana 2; - loanwords 2, 40, 42, 76, 79,
5; Cao Ðài 5; Hoà Hảo 5 119,171; Cantonese 80; affinity w i t h
Buddhist monasteries 7 - 2
Bùi Ð ú c T i n h 83 chính 165
Bùi Kỷ 83, 179 chịu 111, 112
Bulteau, R. 96, 179, 182 cho 115,117, 163, 169, 174, 192, 194
cho 108, 159-160: -- có 160, 242
cà 39 choice question 237
cà-phê 39 choi 192: ăn -- 192
cà- 39 chọt 186
cá 165. cả 165 Chrau 3
các 131, 140, 141, 143, 145, 177 chú 178
Cadière, Léopold 83, 129 (N) 170
cái 79, 92, 93, 95, 96, 97, 98, 169, 178, (ADJ) 170
179: cái- N ' , cái ông, cái 180 = subject
cám-thán-từ = interjection 164
117, 191, 196 166, 212
160, 187 6, 15: - Hán 6, 12; - nho 6, 12; -
càng .... càng .... 188: (càng) ngày — 188 nôm 6, 7, 8, 12; - 6, 8, 9,
canh 182 10, 12
Cao-Dài sect 5 chua 100, 149, 151, 152: chita .... dã ....
cardinal numbers 101,102,177 151; chüa? 151, 152, 145, 166,
categorical (nouns) 88, 9 1 , 92, 94, 95, 96, 200; chua! 152
129, 174, 175, 183 chúng 124, 125, 131: - bay, - mày, -
Catholics 5 mình, - ta, - tao, - tôi 124-125
as classifier 178 chừng 104
causality 190 circumstantial complement 110
causative verb 117,196, 216, 222 class conversion 168ff
cây 178 classifier ( N ' ) 88, 9 1 , 92, 94, 95, 96, 129,
chá 108, 149, 150, 186 174-175, 178ff, 183
chá < cha 43 ó 113: ó .... [emphatic] 152, 186; 
chao (ôi) ! 168 187
chăng? 150 ó 'only' 142
150 ô 43, as classifier 178
 278 INDEX

< ô 43 content 93, 179: - question 32, 212; -

 ! = kia ! word 36, 85, 107, 139, 168
coda 18 contentive 139
coi 116 context 86
collective nouns 55, 92, 176, 177 continuity 108, 143, 145, 146, 147, 186
color 76, 181 continuous 87, 108, 153, 154, 186, 188
commands 158 contour 13, 25
comment 16, 86, 180: t o p i c — 16 contraction 42
common nouns 90, 91 contrast 143
comparative (hon) 122, 123 coordination 172, 205ff, 207
comparison 143, 186-187 coordinator 163
complaint 88 copula 86
complement 109, 189ff correlatives 145
complementation 171 counter 92
compound 66, 77: alliterative — 69; courtesy name 91
antonym — 70; archaic — 69-70; coverb 109: - of direction 109,111,163,
coordinate — 66-67; generalizing — 67- 190; - - o f result 4 1 , 1 1 1 , 1 6 3 , 1 9 0 ; --of
68; idiom — 71; pseudo- ~ 122; orientation 163, 190
reinforcing — 70; subordinative — 71ff; cửa 87, 115-116, 162, 1 6 8 , 1 7 3 , 1 8 4 , 1 9 2
synonym - 70; characteristics of — 68; cùng 163, 186: - voi 163
reversibility 68; — word 15, 59, 66ff; cūng 144ff, 161, 186: - deu 186. --
V - 0 - - 7 4 ; V - C - - 7 4 ; V-Result -- 74 không 186
compound adjective 75, 122 cuộe 97
compound name 90ff cuoi 98
compound noun 71ff, 172, 173: N - N - - 72; cuon 178
N-Adj - - 7 2 ; N - V - - 73 curse 88
compound verb 74: V - O - 74 cứ 108, 145, 146, 147, 186: hãy -- 147;
con 79, 92, 93, 95, 96, 145, 178 van - 147
còn 108, 113, 145, 146, 147, 186: -- nhu cứa 42
164; hãy --, - 161; không - 161; cực 161: - kỳ 161
sẽ -- 161 cùng < cúng 42
concatenation 244
concern 193
confirmation 152, 167, 186 da ! 168
Confucianism 5, 7, 11 dám 187
conjunction 40, 87, 162, 163-165: - of dăm (ba) 104
coordination 163-164, 245; - of dân-tộc it 1
subordination 164-165 dân- 1
connective 87, 162-165, 191-194, 195-197, 191: 191
204-205, 245ff 164: -- 164
co-noun (= classifier) 92-93, 96 164
consonant 18ff: initial - 19ff; final--23ff definite word 180
container 93, 179 degree marker 108, 160-161
 INDEX
279
demonstrative 42, 92, 95, 96, 107, 133-134, dâu 132, 134, 135, 136, 239
175, 179-181 dâu ! 136, 166, 236
departure 192 98
derivative 45, 50-53, 59 dây 42
descriptive 55 42, 134
destination 111, 190 ! 166
determiner 141, 175ff, 186, 201-205 = topic
dialects 4, 9: class-related — 4; Hanoi -- 117, 163, 164, 194: -cho 164
--, Saigon —, V i n h — 9 - 103-104
Dictionarium Annamiticum Lusitanum et 162: - cả 165; - 164
Latinum 1 145,186
Quang Ban 198 di 109, 111: d i . . . . 198
D i f f l o t h , Gerard 55 di! 160, 167
direct object 109, 115-116 dích 165
direction 109, 163, 190: - a l verbs 109 97
disyllabic 35, 36 Ðinh Văn Ðúc 83
ditransitive verb 115-116, 196, 215-216 dinh 118, 187
diversity 9 dó 96,133: t r o n g - 183; vì - 183
do 162, 184, 194 -ďô 65
double negative 150 Châu 50
double nucleus 22, 23 do 104
double-object verb 115-116, 196, 215-216 dòi 117
dù 164 dôi 178
Dubois, Marcel 27 doi vói 173
Durand, Maurice 55 dông-bào Thuọng 1
dự-dinh 118 dộng-từ ngoai-dông = transitive verb
dự-tính 118 dông-từ nội-dông = intransitive verb
duói 98, 163 don- don-âm- = monosyllabic
dùa 192
= polysyllabic dừng (có) 108, 159-160
dã 'anterior' 83, 87, 108, 148, 149, 151, duợc 111-112, 113, 143
152, 153, 154, 186, 189: dã .... chua? duong 153
151, 152, 166, 186, 238; dã, dang và
sẽ.... 188
dã! 154, 166 ê! 168
DáiXuânNinh 83 earlier records 33
dai- 62 Emeneau, Murray 28, 5 6 , 8 3 , 84, 151,
dai-từ = substitute, pro-noun, pro-verb 161, 174
dang 87, 108, 146, 153, 154, 161, 186, empty words 36, 84, 85, 139, 168
188, 189 endomotivus verbs 109
dành 187 English 11
99 English loanwords 79
< 43 environment 86
113, 114 eo ôi ! 168
 280 INDEX

equality 145 giới-từ = preposition

equational (= equative) verb là 118, 218- 114
219 98
etymon 60 given name 90
etymology 39, 76-77, 78: folk- 39 glide 22
evaluation 196 glottal 27: - i t y 25, 26, 27
exclamation 88, 210 goal 111
exhortative 108, 121, 147, 159, 160, 187, grammatical behavior 86
211 Grammont, M . 83
existence 113 Greek 78
extended state verbs 108 Gregerson, Kenneth 33, 154
exomotivus verbs 109
explosive 31 h ả ? 167
expressive 55 ha- 62
Hán-Việt see Sino-Vietnamese
factitive 116: — complement 196 Hanoi dialect 10, 21
family name 90 126
final 18: - consonant 18, 23-24; - 191
particle 4 1 , 88, 166ff, 212-213, 240, ! 191
242 Hashimoto, Mantaro 37
first (= given) name 90 164
focus 192-193 = suffix
foreign borrowings 39, 78 Haudricourt, André 3, 27
fraction 103 hay 'or' 164: - - l à 164, 237-238
French 11: - loanwords 20, 39, 78 hay 'often' 186
frequency 190, 198 hãy 88, 108, 146, 147, 154, 159, 161, 187,
Fries, Charles 84 242: - còn 146, 161
from 192 head noun 174ff
f u l l words 36, 84, 85, 139, 168 head verb 186ff
function 86: - word 36, 85, 87, 139, hèn chi 164
168 Henderson, Eugénie 27
functive verbs 86, 88, 107, 186 165
functors 139, 165 113, 114, 105: -- sức 161; - thảy 134
highlanders 1
gã classifier 178 Hinayana Buddhism 5
genetic relationship 3-4 hình- = morpho-syllable
Geneva Armistice 4, 34 hình-vi = morpheme
gì 131 Hoa-di dịch-ngū 5
-gia 63 Hoà-hao Sect 5
giá (mà) 164: giá nhu 164 hoá 114
-giả 63, 87 -hoá 65, 87
giả sử 164 hoàn-toàn 161, 197
giảm- 63 Hoàng M i n h 28
giöi-ngũ = prepositional phrase Hoàng 28
 INDEX
281
164 item noun 92, 176
-hoc 64
hoi (thanh) 26 Japan(ese) 2: Japanese loanwords 79
< hôm 43 juncture 30-31
hoi 108, 119, 121, 140, 160, 188
! 168: - ôi ! 168 Kampuchea 2
homorganic consonants 48 164: - lai 164; - mà 164
hon 121 65
Honey, Patrick J. 83, 84 kernel (S-P) sentence 213ff
honorífics 126ff khá 108, 119, 121, 140, 160, 188
hú! 168 khả- 61
hừ! 168 Khái-Hung 261
hû! 167 khē 197
dialect 9 k h i 128, 155, 164, 183: dang -- 164; sau
! 168 - 164; trong - 164; truớc - 164
chi 164 khí 160, 188
164 196, 222
(thanh) 26 ! 168
hu-tíř = empty word Khmer 2
huóng 98 Khmu 2
-khoa 64
identificational verb là 11 khoảng 104
53-54, 56, 59 ! 168
imagist 55 không 108, 140, 149, 150, 186, 234-236,
immediate constituents 209 237, 238: -- 150-151; - chi
imperative 121, 160, 242 151; có không? 152, 139, 167,
implosive 31 238; - p h a i là 118
impressive 55 kia 42, 92, 95, 133-134
indefinite substitute 33, 134-137 kia! 133-134, 167
indirect object 109, 115-116 kìa 42, 133
individual noun 91-92 kinesics 11
infix 60 kính 80
inflection 41 kinship terms 43, 96, 123, 127-131
initial 18: - consonant 18, 19-22, 29; - Korea(n) 2
particle 165 -ký 65
injunction 158
instrument 195 là 85, 86, 104, 108, 116, 118, 120, 194,
intensification 45 196, 218-219,221-223
interjection 4 1 , 88, 168 lá 178
interrogative substitute 131-132, 211 labio-velar co-articulation 24
intonation 31-33 lai coverb 109
intransitive verb 109, 110 lai adverb 146, 147, 148-149, 187: lai
ironical 55 .... 147; lai 147; lai còn 147; lai
isolating language 17 147; dã lai 147
 282 INDEX

làm 117, 196 manner 190

lăm 42, 44 mạo-từ = article
119, 120, 121, 140, 160, 191 marker 108
language unification 33 Martinet, André 139
Lao 17 M a r t i n i , F. 98, 99
(láy) 44ff Marxist thought 11
larger forms 47-48 Maspero, Henri 3, 5, 9, 27, 37
Latin 78 mass noun 93
lâu 133: bao -- 134; bấy ~ 134; lâu lâu material 174, 181
186 máy 73, 80
(disposal verb) 192 mày 124: mày tao m i tớ 125
(coverb) 163, 190 111, 112
Le Parler Vietnamien 79-80 mặc dau 164
L ê Khả Kế 63 măng 39
Lê Loi 7 măng-cut 39
L ê Ngoc-Vuọng (Trà-Ngân) 83 mat 98
L ê Quang T r i n h 83 113, 114
Lê V ă n Lý 27, 83, 159, 168, 180, 183 132
lên (coverb) 109, 111, 163 meaning 40: — differentiation 47ff;
lêu lêu 168 grammatical — 40; lexical ~ 40
lexeme 14, 34, 59, 139 means 162, 195
lexico-grammatical 86 measurement unit 92, 93
lexico-syntactic 83, 86 medial 19, 25
lexicon 35-36, 61-63 medium of instruction 4
lien 157, 191 medical term 63
linking verb 114 melodic 27
literacy campaign 34 m i = mày
loại-tù* = classifier, categorical noun ( N ' ) middle name 90
location 167 Middle Vietnamese 5, 7, 33
locative 43, 44, 88, 98-101, 163, 169, Mineya, Toru 37
176 mình 126: chúng - (= chúng ta) 126
104 mixed origin 78
lower register 27, 28 moc 113
lúc 164: dang - 164 modal 88
lục-bát meter, 12, 257 modality 88: — marker 153
luôn 172, 191: luôn luôn 191 Modern Vietnamese 5
L u u V â n Lang 83 modification 171, 172ff
modifier 172, 173
mà 162, 174, 183, 192 moi 103, 140, 142, 145, 177
mà! 167 94, 97
Mahayana Buddhism 5 103, 140, 142-143, 177: ngày
m ã i 191: m a i m a i 191 m ộ t . . . . 188
Malay loanwords 39, 78 140, 153, 156-157, 186, 188: vừa --
Mandarin Chinese 11 140, 153, 156, 186, 188
 INDEX
283
momentary action verbs 108 ngay 'right away' 191
M o n 2: Mon-Khmer 2, 3, 4 nghe ! 167
monème 139 nghï 117
mồng = mùng 60 ngoài 98, 99, 163
monologue 211 ngoåi < ngoài 43, 99
monosyllabic 13, 35 ngôi 178, 181-182
montagnard 1 ngon 178
mood marker 88 Nguyễn Ann Que 139
morphème 139 Nguyễn Bat-Tuy 91
morpheme 12, 13, 15, 29, 34, 35-36, 38-40, Nguyễn Du 12, 134, 247
8 1 , 139: s u b s y l l a b i c - 29 Nguyễn Dăng L i ê m 112
morphological processes 41-44 Nguyễn Dình-Hoà 34, 37, 77, 9 1 , 97, 112,
morphology 14, 34 115, 129, 163
morpho-syliable 81 Nguyễn Dúc Dân 69
mot 42 Nguyễn Hiến Lê 54
mot cách .... 197 Nguyễn Khác Hiếu 91
motivation 193 Nguyễn Khác Kham 91
muon 197 Nguyễn K i m Than 28, 83, 9 5 , 1 6 1 , 1 8 9
muoi 42, 44 Nguyễn L â n 83, 95
muón 42 Nguyễn Quang Hong 28
Muòng 3, 4, 69 Nguyễn Quí-Hùng 54, 182
Nguyễn Tài Cẩn 83, 179
name 90: family - 90; first - 90; given Nguyễn Trãi 7, 70, 77
-- 90; middle - 90 ngữ = phrase
năng 186 ngữ-khí-từ = final particle
năng (thanh) 26 nguóc 42
nào 95, 131: nào nấy 145. nguòi 1: - K i n h 1; - - t a 126; - Việt 1;
nào ! 167 as classifier 178
nay 42, 133 nhau 137
này 42, 92, 95, 133, 134 nhăm 42, 44
này ! 168 nhất 122-123
nãy 133, 134 nhỉ ! 167
nầy = này nhiêu 42: bao - 42, 137; bây - 42, 137;
nây 133, 134, 136, 137, 145 bấy - 42, 137
negation 108, 140, 149-151, 186 nhieu 42, 87
nên 'become' 114: trỏ— 114 nhu 164, 192: cờn 164; cüng ~ 164;
nên 'should' 159, 187: dừng - 159 duòng - 164
nên 'consequently' 164: cho — 164; — chi nhung 164, 172: - mà 164
164 những 136, 140, 141-142, 177: -- ai 136;
94,97 -- dâu 136; - gì 136; -- x là x 53,
neu (nhu) 165 142; những .... as much as 142; chi --
ngã (thanh) 26 142
ngáng 42 nhuọc bằng 165
ngay 'even' 165 n i 133
 284 INDEX

7 9 , 9 7 , 169 orientation 111, 163, 190

-niệu 66 then and only then 156-157
nó 87-88, 123, 124, 125: chúng - 125
no 133, 134 Pali 5
nõ 187 particle 165: final -- 40, 166-168, 240;
nói Iái 28-29 initial - - 1 0 5 ; polite - 166, 211
113 parts of speech 83ff, 107ff, 139ff
79, 92, 169 passive verb/voice 111, 112,168
nom 7, 44: nôm characters 8, 12 past tense morpheme 17
nom 44 peak of sonority 17
nominal expression 110 pejorative 55
nominalization 79 pen name 91
nominalizing suffix 63-64, 87 personal substitute 124
non-inflectional 17 phải "passive" 111,112
non-reversible compound 68 phải 'must, have t o ' 160
not 191 phải (opposite of duọc) 163
noun 40, 88ff: abstract — 94; categorical phải ! (response) 168
— 94ff; collective - 92; common - 91ff; Pham D u y K h i ê m 83, 179
item - 92-98; locative - 98-101; mass PhanKhôi 83,95
-93; proper - 90-91; t i m e - - 9 4 ; unit phản- 61
-- 92; verb to - 169; adjective to - -phân 66
169; - to adjective 170 phi- 6 1 , 122
noun phrase 171, 172ff, 179-184,213-221 Phi Tuyết H i n n 48
Nửa chừng xuân 258 -261 phía 98
nũa 119,147,148,155,156,157,191 phó-danh-tù = classifier, categorical noun
numeral 40, 4 1 , 42, 89, 90, 9 1 , 101: phó-từ = adverb, auxiliary
approximate — 104; cardinal — 101-103; phoneme 12
ordinal-- 103-104 phonemic 25
numerator 174 phonetic modification 4 2 f f
phonology 17 f f
ô ! 168: ô hay ! 168 phrase 14
 168 phuong 98
σ! 168: o hay ! 168; o kìa ! 168 phuong-vi-từ = locative, relator noun
ỏ 99, 163, 193 pig-Latin 28
object 109,  pitch level 13
objective 116, 192 place w o r d 99-100, 101
oi ! 168 [-pleasant] 112; [+pleasant] 111-113
ông 43, 178, 182 plurality 140
< ông 43 pluralizer 89, 90, 140-141, 177
onomatopeia 4 1 , 46, 49 polite particle 166,211
onset 18 polite request 243
open syllable 23 polysyllabic 13, 35
opposition 191 portion of space 99
order 158ff, 187,211 position 99: - w o r d 88, 98, 99, 163
 INDEX
285
possession 162, 174, 181 178
possibility 187 quyết 187-188: - chí 188; - tâm 188
possible syllables 28
post-verb 143, 189ff  coverb 109, 111, 163
pre-verbs 186-189 rang 117, 121, 164, 165, 185
Pre-Vietnamese 5 rất 87, 108, 112, 119, 120, 121, 140,
predicate 16, 86, 108, 209 161, 185, 188
predication (See sentence) 172, 209ff, 222, recent past 156
233ff recipient 195
predicative 85, 105, 107ff: — position recurrence 147, 187
120; - substitute 132-133 reduced predicate 182ff
prefix 60-63 reduplication 27, 36, 44, 49-57, 122: total
preposition 4 1 , 87, 98, 142 - 46-47; partial - 47ff
prepositional phrase 162-163, 184, 220, 222 reduplicative adjective 122
preverb 143, 186 reforms 33-34
prohibition 108, 158-159, 187, 191, 196 register 27: lower - 27; upper - 27
prohibitive 187, 191, 196 reinforcing compound 70
pronoun = substitute relative: - clause 141, 182, 183, 184; -
proper name 91 pronoun 182, 183,184
proper noun 90 relator-noun = locative
Protestant 5 relaxed 27
Proto-Vietnamese 5 religion 5
pro-verb See substitute response 88
proverb 210,211 result 163, 190
provider 195 resumption 187
Przyluski, Jean 3 reversible compounds 68
pseudo-compound 60ff, 63ff, 122 Rhodes, Alexandre de 7, 33
pseudonym 91 rhyme 18, 22-23, 28-29
rhyming patterns 49-50
quá 87, 120, 140, 160, 188, 191: -- xá 161 roi 87, 152, 158
qua classifier 178 root 59
qualitative adjective 119, 121 "round-trip" phrase 198
quality 174, 181 Ro-ngao 3
quan-hệ-từ = connective (prep., conj.) Russian 10
quán-từ = article ruỏi, ruõi 42
quantifier 103, 176, 177
quantity 174 sac (thanh) 26
question 31-32, 237: choice — 237; Saigon dialect 10, 21
content — 238; — intonation 31; Sanskrit 5, 79
rhetorical - 2 4 1 ; tag - 240 sao 132
Quốc-âm thi-tâp 1 sao! 167
quoc-ngū 8, 9, 33: earlier records 33; sáp, sắp sửa 153, 155, 186
reforms 33-34 sau 98, 163
quotati ve verb 116-117 Schmidt, W . 2
 INDEX
286
scope 190 special classifier 88
se 87, 108, 153, 155, 186, 188, 189: -- specifier = demonstrative 89, 92, 93, 107
không còn 161; — van còn 161 Spooner, W . A . 28
sẽ = khẽ 171 spoonerism 28
selection 196 stative verb See adjective
sémantème 139 status pronoun 96, 124
semantics 13 stem 59
semelfactive classifier 97-98 stress 31-33
semi-active verb 110-111 The Structure of English 84
semi-empty w o r d 85 style (name) 91
semi-full word 85 stylistic effects 49-51
semi-substantive 105 subject 16, 86-87, 209-210
semivowel 23, 24 subject-less sentence 210ff
sentence 14, 209: adjunct - 224ff; submissive verb 111,112
affirmative — 233; appositive — 227-228; subordinative compound 71-73
circumstantial - 225-227; completive - subordinator 163, 164-165
251-253; complex — 251ff; compound substantive 85, 88ff, 98ff, 101ff
- 244ff; correlative - 245; declarative substitute 40, 42, 43, 83, 87, 88, 123ff,
- 32; determinative - 253-255; 177: demonstrative - 133, 134;
exclamatory - 243; focal - 228-229; indefinite — 134-137; interrogative —
imperative — 242-243; interrogative -- 131-132, 134-137; personal -- 124ff;
237; kernel ( S P ) - - 213-223; negative-- predicative — 123, 132, 133; reciprocal
233; simple - 209-210; subjectless - ~ 137; reflexive - 137; status - 126ff
210-212, 213; transitional - 229-230; subsyllabic morpheme 29
vocative — 224; — concatenation 244; - suffix 4 1 , 60, 63-66
expansion 230-232; - types 233ff; - sứng 80
without predicate 212-213 suot dòi 198
-sĩ 63 -su 64
Siamese 3 su 79, 97, 169
siêu- 61 superlative (nhất) 122, 123
simile 192 syllable 11, 12, 17, 18, 8 1 : - boundaries
simple w o r d 40ff 30; - structure 11, 12, 18; syllable-
Sinitic culture 2 morpheme 15, 57; below the -- 28;
Sino-Vietnamese 5, 6, 7, 36-38, 63, 74, possible syllables 28
76ff, 78,80,81 synonym compound 70
situational complement 190 syntactic 88: syntactic behavior 88;
size 174, 181 syntactic relationship 88
Smith, Kenneth 55 syntagm 149, 171
socio-economic mobility 4 synthetic language 17
soliloquy 211
song (le) 164 ta 124,125: chúng - (= chúng mình) 124
sỏ dĩ là vì 164 Taberd, Jean Louis 33
source 192 Tai 
spatial locative 98-101 tai 'at' 193
 INDEX 287
tại 'because' 162, 164: -- vì 164 thuợng- 62
tâm 178 tích-cực 197
T ả n Ðà 91 tiên-danh-từ = pre-noun
tăng- 63 tiên-to = prefix
tao 124, 125: chúng - 124 tieng = (syllable-) morpheme, w o r d
Taoism 5, 11 tieu-từ tình-thái =particle
tất cả 134,142,145 time 186: time noun/word 94, 100
Tay-Nung 69 tính 187
telescoping verbs 196 tình-thái-từ = particle
temporal locative 98-100 toan 187
tên 178 toàn-bộ 134
tense marker 87, 108, 153, 154, 186, toàn- 92, 134
188, 238 tôi 124, 130: chúng - 124
term of address 123, 124-131, 211 tôi-nghiêp ! 168
terminology 62-63 tonal harmony 27
thà 165: thà .... chú không 165 tone 13, 18, 19, 25-27: - categories 27; -
Thai 3 change 42; diagram 26; - register 27,
Thailand 3 46; tones in poetry 27
tham 197 - 61-62
than ôi ! 168 tonogenesis 4
thàng 43, 178: - ây 43; - cha 43 topic 16, 86, 180: topic-comment 16
< 43 totality 140, 142, 145, 174, 175, 177
thanh(-diêu) = tone totalizer 92
thanh-mảu = initial consonant tờ 178
thành 114: tro - 114; - thử 164 tớ 125
thảo nào 164 tói (coverb) 102, 167
thật 161 trà phê 39
thay ! 167 trắc 27
thấy 163 Trần dynasty 7
the 87, 123, 132-133 Trần Ngoc N i n h 83
the ! 167 Trần Trong K i m 83, 130, 179, 247
thì 87, 153, 154-157, 165 trang-từ = adverb
-nghĩ 197 transitive verb 109, 1 1 0 , 1 1 1 , 1 8 9
thiet-nghĩ 197 transliteration 63
thieu- 62 trên 98, 163, 169
thỉnh thoảng 186 < trên 43, 93
Thomas, David 161, 189 trisyllabic 36
Thompson, Laurence 3 1 , 65, 67, 70, 7 1 , 84, 113
115, 126 tro nên = tro thành 114
thuyet = comment trộm nghï 197
thú- 60, 103 tron dòi 197
-ihúc 64 trong 98, 99, 163
thực-từ = f u l l word trong < trong 43, 99
thuờng 186: - = - 189 trung- 62
 288 INDEX

trung-to = i n f i x ve 'about' 162, 193

truóc 98, 163 verb 40, 42, 107, 108ff: action 86, 107,
Truong Văn Chình 54 110; appearance 113; becoming 114;
Truong V ĩ n h K ý 83, 104 bodily movement 114; causative 117;
Truong V ï n h Tong 179 choosing 116, 196; direction 109;
-trirỏng 64 disappearance 113; ditransitive 115;
từ 174, 193 existence 113; feeling 111;
từ = word: — ghép = compound; — goc giving/taking 115, 116; identificational
Hán, — Hán-Việt = Sino-Vietnamese; — 118; insertion 116, 196-197; intransitive
láy = reduplication 109,110; linking 114; motion 111,163,
từ-tố = morpheme 190; quality 86, 107, 188; quotative
tự ' f r o m ' 193 116; semi-active 111; semi-transitive
tự- 'self' 62 110; stative 119ff; submissive 111;
tựng 103, 140, 143, 177 transitive 109, 110; volition 118, 187;
tựng 157, 158, 186: chua - 158; dã - verb phrase 185ff, 213ff, 217ff, 219,
158 221ff; verb-complement compound 74;
Wỏng 117 verb-object compound 74; verb-result
tuy 164: — rầng 164; tuy-nhiên 164 compound 74
tuyêt 161, 191 verbalizing suffix 65
tuyêt-đoi 161, 197 vì 162, 164: - rang 164; boi --, tai ~ 164;
sỏ dì .... là - 164
U! 167 ví 164: — bang, — dù, — nhu, — thů 165
ừ! 168 vi 178
unanalyzed f o r m 81 -vi 64
-ung 54 vi-ngū = predicate
uniformity 143, 144, 145, 186 việc 79, 97
unit noun 92, 93 viêm 63, 66
unit of measurement 178 viên 178
upper register 27 -vien 64
Ức-trai di-tập 1 Vietnamese: earlier records of 33; history
of 5; reforms 33; — word order 78
va 126 Vietnamese-Portuguese-Latin dict. 7, 21
và 87, 162, 163, 172 vô- 62, 122
vá 164: — chăng 164; — lai 164 vô cùng 191
vài(ba) 104 vocalic nucleus 19, 23
Valiot, Pierre G. 56, 83 vocative 88
vào coverb 109, 111, 163, 195 vói 162, 163, 172, 191-192: cùng -- 163
văn-ngon 6 voi ! 168
108, 145ff, 161: - - c ò n 146 volition 187
vân-mâu = rhyme vowel 18, 19ff, 22ff: - alternation 44; -
vâng ! 168 nucleus 18
vây 123, 132-133 vùa (moi) 140, 153, 156, 186, 188
vây ! 168 Vuong Lộc 69
ve (coverb) 111
 INDEX
289
we, exclusive 124 xe 73
we, inclusive 124, 126 xong 152
witness w o r d 108 xuong (coverb) 109, 111, 163
writing systems 6
word 14, 35: content — 168; empty --
36, 84, 85, 168; f u l l -- 36, 84, 85, 168; y 126
function — 168; simple — 40; — order yes-or-no question 32, 150, 212
77