Lesson 1: Ways of addressing people:

In Vietnamese, the personal pronouns in the first and second person are not just “I” and “you” as in English, but a variety of nouns can be used depending on the relationship between the speakers and the type of situation in which the speakers are in.

In formal and business settings, the first person singular usually used is “tôi”, and the first person plural is “chúng tôi”.

For example:

Tôi là giáo viên. (I am a teacher)

Tôi có thể giúp gì được cho ông? (Can I help you, sir?)

Chúng tôi sẽ cố gắng hết sức. (We’ll try our best)

To address the person we’re talking to correctly, two important factors that should be paid attention to are the other person’s gender and age. We’ll call them:

- anh – if the person is a grown up man and not an elderly.

Example: Anh làm ơn cho tôi hỏi, muốn đến khách sạn Nikko thì đi đường nào ạ? (Could you tell me how to get to Nikko Holtel?)

- chị - if the person is a grown up woman and not an elderly

Example: Chào chị, chúng tôi có thể giúp gì cho chị ạ? (Good morning madam, how can we help you?) (suppose this is morning)

In very formal or business settings, men are generally addressed as “ông”, and women as “bà”.

Example 1: Xin giới thiệu với ông, đây là ông A, giám đốc công ty X. (May I introduce to you Mr. A, director of X company)

Example 2: Chào bà, xin bà cho biết quý danh. (Good morning, madam. May I have your name, please?)

Summary table:

Personal Pronouns in the first person	Personal Pronouns in the second person	When used?	Example
Very formal
Tôi	Ông	When the person we are talking to is a man.	A (nói với B): Xin giới thiệu với ông, đây là ông C, giám đốc công ty X B (quay sang C): Rất vui được gặp ông C (nói với B): Tôi cũng rất vui được gặp ông A (to B): May I introduce to you Mr. C, director of X company B (turn to C): Pleased to meet you. C (to B): You too.
Tôi	Bà	When the person we are talking to is a woman	A: Xin hỏi, bà dùng gì ạ? B: Cho tôi một ly nước cam. A: Excuse me, madam. What kinds of drinks would you like? B: Orange juice, please.
Less formal settings, every day conversation
Tôi	Anh	When the person we are talking to is a man.	Anh làm ơn cho tôi hỏi, muốn đến khách sạn Nikko thì đi đường nào ạ? Excuse me. Could you tell me how to get to the Nikko Holtel?
Tôi	Chị	When the person we are talking to is a woman.	Cảnh sát: Chị cho xem bằng lái xe. Người đi đường phạm luật (là phụ nữ): Anh chờ một chút. (mở ví tìm bằng lái xe). Đây ạ. (đưa bằng cho cảnh sát) Police officer: Let me see your driving license Woman who violated the traffic law: Just a moment. (looking for the license in her purse). Here it is. (giving the license to the police officer)
Cháu	Bác	When the person we are talking to is an elderly who we think is as old as our parents or uncle/aunt	A: Bác làm ơn cho cháu hỏi nhà ông X có gần đây không ạ? B: Gần lắm. Cháu đi thẳng một đoạn rồi rẽ phải là tới. A (a woman): Excuse me, may I ask you something? Is Mr.X’s house near here? B (an elderly): Very near. Go straight on and turn right. You’ll see his house right away.
Peole use these words when talking to each other when they’re rather/very close to each other, or not too close but they want to establish rapport and bridge the distance between each other. This way of addressing people is like the way we call the members of our family.
Em	Anh	When the person we are talking to is a man who we think is older than us (just old enough to be our brother)
Em	Chị	When the person we are talking to is a woman who we think is older than us (just old enough to be our sister)
Anh (when the speaker in the first person is a male)	Em	When the person we are talking to is a around the age of our younger brother/sister
Chị (when the speaker in the first person is a female)	Em	When the person we are talking to is a around the age of our younger brother/sister
Cháu	Bác	When the person we are talking to is a man or woman who we think is around the age of our parents or our parents’ elder brother/sister
Cháu	Cô	When the person we are talking to is a woman who we think is around the age of our parents’ younger sister
Cháu	Chú	When the person we are talking to is a man who we think is around the age of our parents’ younger brother
Cháu	Ông	When the person we are talking to is an old man who we think is around the age of our grandparents
Cháu	Bà	When the person we are talking to is an old woman who we think is around the age of our grandparents
Friends/Peers/People around the same age (although do not know each other) addressing each other. Note: People who are older than the person they’re talking to sometimes use these words when addressing the other person when former wants to sound modest to the latter.
Tớ	Cậu/ấy/bạn
Mình	Bạn

Lesson 2: Family

Ồng: Grandfather

Bà: Grandmother

Bố: Father

Mẹ: Mother

Anh trai: Elder brother

Chị gái: Elder sister

Em trai: Younger brother

Em gái: Younger sister

Bác trai: Uncle (elder brother of father or mother)

Bác gái: Aunt (elder sister of father or mother)

Chú: Uncle (father’s younger brother)

Cô: Aunt (father’s younger sister)

Cậu: Uncle (mother’s younger brother)

Dì: Aunt (mother’s younger sister)

Mợ: Aunt (wife of mother’s younger brother)

Anh, chị, em họ: cousin

Note: It’s very common today that we also call our mother’s younger brother and sister “chú” and “cô” as we call our father’s younger brother or sister. Likewise, “mợ” is not used by many nowadays to address the wife of our mother’s younger brother, but we call her “cô” instead.

Con: children (son, daughter)

Cháu: grandson, granddaughter, nephew, neice

When we address people in our family, the pronouns we use indicate the relationship between us and the person we’re speaking to.

Example 1:

Ông (dỗ cháu đang khóc): Nín đi, rồi ông sẽ mua cho cháu một con gấu bông.

Cháu: Nhưng ông phải mua cho cháu con gấu thật to cơ.

Ông: Ừ.

Grandfather (soothing the crying grandson): Stop crying. I’ll buy you a teddy bear.

Grandson: But you have to buy a bigggg… teddy bear for me.

Grandfather: Ok.

Example 2:

Con: Mẹ ơi, ngày mai cho con đi chơi ra ngoại thành chơi với bạn nhé.

Mẹ: Con đã làm xong bài tập chưa? Mẹ thấy hôm nay con xem ti-vi suốt chắc chưa làm xong bài đâu.

Daughter: Mom, please let me go to the country-side with my friends tomorrow.

Mother: Have you finished your homework yet? I see you watch TV all day today. You couldn’t have finshed your homework.