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Pronouns & Basic Sentence Structure
Kinship-based pronoun system, SVO word order and basic questions
Đại từ nhân xưng = từ xưng hô họ hàng
Pronouns double as kinship terms
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Vietnamese has no single fixed word for "I" or "you"
ông / bà
you/I (grandfather/grandmother; for elders/respect)
ong / ba
Shows respect toward an older or higher-status person
Lựa chọn đại từ theo tuổi, giới, quan hệ
Pronoun choice depends on age, gender, relationship
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The "right" pronoun shifts with every new conversational partner
chúng tôi vs chúng ta
we (exclusive) vs we (inclusive)
chung toy / chung ta
chúng tôi excludes the listener; chúng ta includes them
họ
they (third person plural)
haw
General third-person plural pronoun
tự
oneself/by oneself
tuh
Reflexive marker attached to a verb or pronoun
của tôi, của bạn
mine, yours
koo-ah toy, koo-ah ban
Possession formed the same way as with regular nouns
Không chia động từ theo ngôi
No verb agreement by person
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The verb form never changes regardless of subject
Câu hỏi: cùng trật tự + tiểu từ hỏi
Question formation: same word order + question particle
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No inversion — just add a question word or particle
Tên bạn là gì?
What's your name? (formal phrasing)
ten ban la zee
A slightly more formal alternative to "Bạn tên gì?"