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Pronouns & Basic Sentence Structure
Kinship-based pronoun system, SVO word order and basic questions
tôi
I (neutral, formal-ish)
toy
Safe, neutral first-person pronoun for most situations
bạn
you (neutral, used with peers)
ban
Common neutral "you" between similar-age peers
anh
you/I (older brother; older male peer)
ahn
Also used by a man to refer to himself with someone younger
chị
you/I (older sister; older female peer)
chee
Also used by a woman referring to herself with someone younger
em
you/I (younger person)
em
Used for/by someone younger than the person addressed
Trật tự cơ bản: Chủ ngữ + Động từ + Tân ngữ
Basic word order: S + V + O
-
The default sentence order, as in English
là
to be (equative)
la
Tôi là sinh viên. = I am a student.
có
to have
kaw
Tôi có một cuốn sách. = I have a book.
Đây là... / Đó là...
This is.../That is...
day la / daw la
Basic introducer phrases for identifying things
Bạn tên gì?
What's your name?
ban ten zee
Literal: You name what?