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Personal Pronouns & Address

Pronoun choice reflects age and social relationship

Pronouns encode the speakers relationship

The correct pronoun depends on the relative age and status of speaker and listener.

📊 Core pronouns
Person Term Use
1st sg. formal tôi neutral
strangers
1st sg. informal mình friends / close
2nd sg. older male anh speaking to older man
2nd sg. older female chị speaking to older woman
2nd sg. younger em speaking to younger person
3rd pl. họ they (general)
💬 Examples
Anh ơi, anh có khỏe không?
Hey (older brother), are you well?
📝 anh = older male; speaker is younger
Em chào chị!
Hello (older sister)!
📝 em = younger person speaking to chị
tôi is the safe neutral first-person pronoun

Use tôi with strangers or in formal writing; mình with friends.

💬 Examples
Tôi là giáo viên.
I am a teacher.
📝 tôi = formal / neutral I
Mình thích cà phê lắm.
I love coffee a lot.
📝 mình = informal I (among friends)
Address terms double as third-person pronouns

anh/chị used for he/she when referring to a specific person.

💬 Examples
Anh ấy đang học tiếng Việt.
He is studying Vietnamese.
📝 anh ấy = he (older male)
Chị ấy làm việc ở đây.
She works here.
📝 chị ấy = she (older female)