Vietnamese sentence structure

Mục lục bài viết

A complete sentence must include subject and predicate. In addition, there may be additional components. To communicate well in Vietnamese, you must know how to use those components appropriately.

Distinguish between major part and minor part of a sentence

Major parts are subject and predicate. A sentence can’t be made without them.

A minor part is the adverb, which is not a required element of a sentence.

Example:

Vietnamese	English
Hằng ngày, bố mẹ tôi đi làm.	Every day, my parents go to work.

Analysis:

Hằng ngày (Every day): adverb
bố mẹ tôi (my parents): subject
đi làm (go to work): predicate

If the adverb is omitted, the sentence “Bố mẹ tôi đi làm.” (My parents go to work.) still makes sense.

If the subject is omitted, the sentence turns out “Hằng ngày, đi làm” (Every day, go to work). That sentence is meaningless as the subject doesn’t exist. The same happens if the predicate is omitted.

Subject

Subjects can be composed of the following components:

Subject is a pronoun

Common pronouns:

Vietnamese	English
tôi, anh, chị, chúng tôi/chúng mình, bạn, ông, bà, etc.	I, he, she, we, you, grandpa, grandma, etc.

Example:

Vietnamese	English
Mẹ tôi nấu ăn rất ngon.	My mom cooks very well.
Mỗi buổi sáng, tôi thức dậy lúc 7 giờ.	Every morning, I get up at 7 am.
Chúng tôi sẽ đi Đà Lạt vào cuối tuần này.	We will go to Da Lat this weekend.

Subject is a noun

Example:

Vietnamese	English
Hà Nội là thủ đô của Việt Nam.	Ha Noi is the capital of Vietnam.
Xe máy là phương tiện đi lại hằng ngày của tôi.	Motorbike is my daily means of transportation.
Cái cặp này được làm bằng da.	This bag is made of leather.

Subject is a verb

Subjects can be verbs acting like nouns.

Example:

Vietnamese	English
Tập thể dục sẽ giúp cơ thể khỏe mạnh.	Doing exercise will keep your body healthy.
Trồng cây có thể giảm thiểu ô nhiễm không khí.	Planting trees can reduce air pollution.
Hút thuốc lá có hại cho sức khỏe.	Smoking is harmful to health.

Subject is an adjective

Subjects can be adjectives acting like nouns.

Example:

Vietnamese	English
Kiên nhẫn là một đức tính tốt.	Patience is a virtue.
Gian dối có thể làm mất lòng tin của người khác.	Dishonesty may lose the trust of others.
Nóng tính là điểm yếu của John.	Bad-tempered is John’s weakness.

Predicate

Characteristic of the predicate

Predicates combined with adverbs indicating the time relation, such as đã, sẽ, đang, từng, mới, sắp, etc. (to be, used to, be about to, etc.)

Depending on the meaning, object, and purpose of communication, we add adverbs before the predicate appropriately.

Example:

Vietnamese	English
Em trai tôi đang chơi đá banh.	My younger brother is playing soccer.
Elen đã xem bộ phim này vào tuần trước.	Elen watched this movie last week.
Tôi sắp đi du lịch Việt Nam.	I’m going to travel to Vietnam.

Structure of the predicate

Predicates can be nouns, noun phrases, verbs, verb phrases, adjectives, adjective phrases, etc.

There can be one or more predicates in a sentence.

Example:

Predicate is an adjective.

Vietnamese	English
Harry rất dũng cảm.	Harry is very brave.

Predicate is a noun phrase.

Vietnamese	English
Mai là một cô gái xinh xắn và tốt bụng.	Mai is a beautiful and kind girl.

Predicate is a verb phrase.

Vietnamese	English
Nhà tôi nằm sát bên khu chợ náo nhiệt.	My house is located next to a bustling market.

So far, we’ve gone through basic sentence structure in Vietnamese. Found this article useful? Follow our websites for more interesting lessons like this.

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